ALLENDALE, Mich,-- A 70-year-old man felt he was robbed by a Kent County consignment store. He said they owed him close to a thousand dollars and has the contract to prove it.
“It’s like stealing as far as I’m concerned. It’s stealing. You are in a contract. Contract says you are due some money. The guy takes off with the money. That’s stealing. There’s no two ways to it,” said Phil Holmes.
Holmes has been trying to get his money back for several months, so he called the Fox 17 Problem Solvers to get to the bottom of it. Holmes thought the contract was iron-clad. He and the owner, Joe Levandoski, signed it.
“I am from the old school. When you give your signature and your handshake, you keep your word. As fast as I’m concerned, he didn’t keep his word,” said Holmes.
The contract was signed on September 8th. According to Holmes’ online account, he noticed money was rolling in and a lot of his items were selling.
“I would look at the listing and I would tell my wife ‘oh good! That sold!’ And I would tell her what it sold for and you had a running account and you could see what you had coming to you at that point,” said Holmes.
At the end of October, before his contract was up, Holmes called to claim his profits.
“That’s when I found out this wasn’t Jazzy Junk anymore, and the owner is no longer there,” said Holmes.
Not even 60 days later from the time Holmes signed his contract, the owner, Joe Levandoski had closed up shop. Jazzy’s Junk Store had vanished. Instead it’s Jazzy’s Consignment Plus store. Besides the similar name, there’s no relation to the former consignment store. Jazzy’s Junk Store website was wiped, the Facebook page had little action, and there was no warning of its closing anywhere.
“You don’t just wake up in the morning and say, ‘oh I am going to close down today.’”
A copy of Holmes’ account said 25 of his items were sold and he was owed $845.40. “I want my money,” said Holmes.
After trying several numbers, e-mails, calls to the Better Business Bureau, Facebook, and trips to different areas he might live, we were able to get a hold of Levandoski. He spoke to us on the phone and explained what happened from his point of view.
“It happened quickly and I tried to keep it [Jazzy Junk Store] open because I had been there for four years and it went out from under me,” said Levandoski.
He said with sales down, and rent increasing, he had no choice but to close its doors.
“He could have still made an effort to contact people and let them know what’s going on,” said Holmes.
Levandoski said he had an automatic e-mail that he thought went out to all his clients, but Holmes said he didn’t receive that e-mail until recently.
“I’m still trying to clear out and make sure I have everyone taken care of,” said Holmes.
After a long couple of months, Levandoski finally made a good faith gesture to Holmes.
“So he came over today and brought me a money order for $200, which is 25% of what he owes me, which is a good thing,” said Holmes.
Holmes accepted his apology and is giving him the benefit of the doubt he will pay him back in full in due time.
“I am happy about that. I did tell him if he had been more upfront and contacted me after I contacted him, he could have avoided a lot of heartache. I think a person’s word means a lot to me and when they give me their word, I expect them to abide by it,” said Holmes.
If anyone else is looking for their money from Jazzy’s Junk Store, and didn’t get it before it closed down, you can e-mail jazzyjunkstore@gmail.com. He is working on paying all his consignors what he owes them.
