75

ARTS
ART RESOURCE TECHNICAL SERVICES

December 30, 1987

Office of the Manager
Jacobs/ Gardner
5121 Buchanan Street
Hyattsville, Md. 20781

Dear Sir:

Your catalogue of office supplies and furnishings continues
to come to us, yet I am concerned about our offer to purchase
supplies totaling more than $700 from your firm September 9, 1987
only to be ignored, as I was told by office personnel, at the
request of a Mr. Aerial.

We were assigned an account number (540 09 35), yet we were
willing to pay upon receipt of the goods. We were encouraged
to open an account with you. This we thought we were doing until
Mr. Aerial called and conducted an extensive interview about
the number of people working at ARTS, etc. Evidently he was not
pleased with the information given: that being, we are a small
consulting firm working as exhibition specialist, artist archival
services and art appraisers, employing 1 fulltime employee and
2 part-time specialists. (Incidentally, one of our accounts is
"The Cosby Show"). When we tried to reach Mr. Aerial to inquire of
the progress of the order, someone always took the message and
said he would get back to us. No calls ever came back.

We have since ordered the supplies we needed from another
company and have established a fine working relationship with
them but it puzzled me that a consumer would be treated in
such a manner. While I know that you are free to sell to whom-
ever you wish, I feel certain that the Chamber of Commerce and
indeed, the Federal Trade Commission do not encourage such conduct
as was practiced here. I simply thought you might like to know
about this situation.

Sincerely,

DCD/c David C. Driskell
Director