Troubleshooters: Philadelphia framing store makes demands of customer to get artwork back

This is the story of a relationship between a local business and one customer gone very, very wrong.

Kevin Huang has mixed feelings when he looks at his framed watercolors.

"I'm happy, but every time I look at them, I'm reminded of the ordeal I went through and I just say, I don't think anybody should be subjected to that," Huang said.

Rewind to the spring and summer of 2014.

Huang brought his paintings to Framing Philadelphia in Northern Liberties.

He had the owner, Timothy Martin, frame two first.

Then on July 15th of last year, Huang gave Martin a $1,000 deposit to frame the 10 others.

Martin wrote, "...expect to be able to deliver/install all of them this Sunday, July 27th."

But then delays, excuses, and empty promises.

"It's like he's holding the ten watercolors hostage," Huang said.

Over six months, Martin misses at least five expected meeting dates with these excuses:

- July 25th: "We had a power outage...."

- August 20th: "My 96-year-old mother was hospitalized..."

- September 1st: "I have been ill..."

- September 6th: "I can't make the appointment today. At hospital with Mom."

- November 14th: "In a car accident and won't be able to meet"

Huang gets an attorney to try to pick them up on his behalf, but that really sets Martin off.

On December 11th, Martin tells Huang's attorney, "This mess is Dr. Huang's fault."

The paintings will be returned, he continued "only on my terms" which now include, "a written apology to me from Dr. Huang" and "a guarantee of no negative social media...about me or Framing Philadelphia."

And in January and February, according to Huang, Martin says, "I want the money deposited to my account and only when it clears will then I give you your artwork back."

Finally, Huang calls on the Troubleshooters.

Martin told me he has "no comment whatsoever," but did finally release the framed paintings after Huang went by the shop one more time

"Action News certainly put the fear of God in him and I'm very grateful for that," Huang said.

But we still wanted an explanation from Martin.

"Listen, I'm not going to get into this. I'm not going to have this conversation with you. The transaction is over," Martin said.

We asked why he won't answer our questions.

Martin said he answered our questions and closed the door on our cameras.

We never did get his explanation.

Now, we don't know of any other complaints like this against Framing Philadelphia, but this story goes to show even if a business has a seemingly long, solid history, you need to take precautions.

The emails Huang kept are helpful to document his story, but he should have gotten a signed written contract.

No matter what kind of work you're getting done, get an invoice that details price, job, materials, and a start and finish date.

If you end up in a dispute, that could be a key document.