An open letter to Ron Wisner
As I have been waiting for a very long time for a refund from Wisner for a returned product, I am now publishing an open letter to Ron Wisner. It is my hope that Mr. Wisner will finally honor his original commitment for a full refund of the purchase price.
My open letter to Mr. Wisner is published at my personal website. Once the issue is resolved this letter will be redrawn from public view.
www.vinberg.nu/pages/lettertowisner2005-07.htm
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Heard similar stories many times which is precisely why he needs to scale back to a smaller factory. He is one bad businessman.
I`m sorry you have neither your refund or camera. Bummer. Pay by credit card next time and you can always reverse the payment yourself.
I bought a Zone 6 and am very happy with it.
An open letter to Ron Wisner
If this is the type of service one can expect from Wisner, then it appears the LF community would be better served to take their purchases elsewhere.
Thanks for letting us know.
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Lars buddy, $4200 for an 8x10 camera back in 2002? What were you thinking?
In any case, I hope you resolve your problems. How did you pay for this camera? If you paid by mail, the US takes Mail fraud very serious, even if it is International mail. OTOH here are addresses to other sites, you better get busy and post your public letter in them. It seems the only way you can force Wisner to give the money back, given that this is not the first time we hear a similar story.
www.apug.com
www.photo.net
I have nothing against Wisner and I hope his re structuring does his reputation a world of good, but there is no reason or excuse to hold a refund for 2 years for a camera I am sure he has already sold to another person. I am amazed at his lack of integrity and at the patience some of you have shown. I would have taken a plane and been on his ass like stink on s***.
Word of advice to the new LF guys in this forum, you want a Wisner camera, get it from Emile or from Quality Camera, it is not worth the hassle to get it from Wisner direct.
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Personally I would take him to small claims and be done with it.
After two years I highly doubt he has any intention of a refund, nor intimidated by an open letter.
His business reputation is already slumping so he most likely won't give a damn about the letter, but at least you are exposing his biz practices to enlighten others.
File a small claims when you get back to the states. Maybe find out if you can do it in LA or SF to make him appear there.
I don't know law pertaining to that aspect, but sounds like you would be done with this and win hands down.
BTW, nice seeing you at Per's last month...
Regards, Matt
An open letter to Ron Wisner
We have made some major changes at the Wisner Company as many of you know. This includes cleaning up old business and obligations. We have finished many orders and sent many refunds and will clean up every last refund or order on our books. If you look at our website or talk to our dealers you will find that we voluntarily stopped taking orders (much to the dissapointment of many customers ) in May and will not accept new orders until all old business is completed.
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Going to court (might or might not be small claims depending on the jurisdictional limits of the relevant court) probably wouldn't do anything for you even if you were able to get a default judgment. It might allow you to place a lien on the business assets assuming he keeps doing business through the same corporate entity he's been using but he's probably smart enough to not do that. And even if you're able to place a lien on the business assets I suspect there are lenders or other lien holders who would come ahead of you so it's not likely you could force a sale of some of the assets and get any money, plus you'd be involved in some potentially lengthy and complex legal proceedings.
You might try contacting a collection agency and see if they'd take it for a percentage of any recovery. But in truth, I don't think there's a lot of hope of getting your money back. If I were you I'd try to negotiate a deal where he gave you a new camera in satisfaction of your claim, then you could at least sell it on ebay. Why should he be out there making cameras to fill back orders for other people while you sit there with nothing?
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Mr. Vineberg will not need any help getting his money. We are prepared to give his refund TODAY as soon as he writes back with the expiration date for his card, which has expired. This applies to ANY other customer who has unfinished business with us. Immeditate refund.
We have been going over our books and systematically shipping product or making refunds, which ever is preferred by the customer or faster.
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Just to be clear, the following notice was posted on our website some time ago. Although refunds are not mentioned (most order have not required them) this policy includes all obligations:
Notice: No new orders will be accepted until Sept.1st, 05. This decision has resulted in some speculation about the company, so we have decided to explain here. We elected not to accept new orders starting in May pending the fulfillment of all old orders. This decision has resulted in some disappointed customers who did not mind the long waiting lists. Nevertheless, our decision is to clear the orders and start fresh.
This will not effect warranty support, and we will continue to supply basic accessories like lens boards, but no other orders will be accepted.
I invite any customer to contact me if we have overlooked you. Your issue will be handled with utmost dispatch.
Ron Wisner
An open letter to Ron Wisner
Mr. Wisner,
Why didn't you just cut a refund check to Vinberg since you keep the "book" and have his address? Do you sleep very well every night? Don't play the game, be a MAN.