Custom Framer and Gallery — Attraction in Lexington

Transparency and respect, the basis for trust between a small business owner and their customer. Unfortunately, Custom Framers lacked these important qualities during my experience. On July 19, 2022 I visited Custom Framers to ask for a quote on framing seven paintings. The owner, Donna, explained to me she works with a gentleman Bill from Bill Barney & Association Inc , who stretches out these paintings onto a canvas. When I asked her for an estimate she estimated $150, but to be sure she requested to hold on to my pieces to get an exact amount. The owner stated she would notify me the next day about the amount after providing the measurements to Bill. The next day I did not hear from her and decided to give her a call on July 21, 2022 for an update. The owner informed me she had given the seven paintings to Bill (without my permission), which during our initial visit she stated she would just give him the exact measurements and she would hold onto them. She provided me with a total amount of $422. I requested she move forward on framing two out of the seven paintings only, providing me with a total of $160 for the two framings. I asked her to make sure Bill is aware that I do not want the other five framed. The owner informed me she would notify Bill and would contact me when they are ready. With no updates I called the owner on July 26, 2022 and left her a message requesting an update and reminding her that I was only interested in framing two out of the seven paintings. Two days passed without hearing from the owner, so I proceeded to call her on July 28, 2022 requesting an update. She informed me that Bill has not provided an update and she would call him. I reminded her to make sure he only frames two out of the seven paintings and she confirmed my request. The owner called me back 30 minutes later to inform me she spoke with Bill, he was completing the pieces, but he framed ALL of the seven paintings. She went on to state that Bill was to drop them off the following week. She stated since it was her fault she would pay the five extra paintings for now. I asked her to notify me the day Bill drops them off. On August 2, 2022 I received a call notifying me the paintings were ready to be picked up. When I asked her to confirm the amounts, she was charging me $180.18 for the two paintings that initially were quoted for $160. I reminded her of the amount she had given me on July 21, 2022 of $160 and insisted that was just an estimate. Even after Bill took the paintings and made the measurements. I later went on to discuss the 5 paintings she had framed without my consent. I explained to her those were not in my budget to frame at the moment or anytime soon. She went on to offer me only ONE solution, to give her half the amount now and the other half later, a total of $262. She felt the need to tell me, “you were going to frame them anyway, now you do not have wait”. I attempted to compromise with reducing the amount, but she would not listen as she continued to make remarks “I made a mistake, but I did you a favor and payed for them” “I didn’t have to do it” ‘It’s just just a few dollars, you can’t spare to save ten extra dollars”. I respectfully asked Donna to listen to my concerns and my position as a customer, but she refused. She ended the phone call by telling me “I don’t have time for you, get your canvases when you are ready” and proceeded to hang up. Later that afternoon, my husband and I went to visit the shop to reason with her, but once again she refused to listen to our reasoning and would go on to tell us “are you going to pay them or not”. Seeing that there was no way to reason with this person I had to pay the full amount as these were meaningful paintings to me. As a customer, I never felt so frustrated and disrespected by a small business owner. I expect mutual respect between us. Despite the distasteful experience with Donna, Bill did an amazing job stretching my paintings onto a canvas. Please do yourself a favor and contact him directly for your...

They SOLD the items I brought them (my boyfriends signed Carolina jersey’s) that I took to them to have shadow boxed. I wasn’t given a quote when I dropped them off (my stupidity) but excuse me, she was busy. I called and left NUMEROUS messages to get it! Was told it would be at least a month to get them done but one week later they were done. I went to see/retrieve/make a payment my items and was told the final cost which I wasn’t prepared to pay because I had never received a quote nor gave them the go ahead to do the work. When I showed up I payed several 100 dollars and wasn’t allowed to take any of my property with me. I went back the following week to pay more and SHE SOLD THE jerseys! I was able to get one photo they framed and was told they needed to pay their rent. The Jersey’s were acquired together with my boyfriend and his NOW late father. I hope they paid their rent! REST IN PEACE JERRY W....

Nancy and Jerry are very professional. My wife has used their services for more than 20 years with great results. My visits recently were to have repaired a prized LeRoy Neiman signed print ... Nancy restored the framing and matting to its original quality. Based upon these positive experiences, I have decided to entrust Nancy with a special project: the creation of a photo timeline from restored photos of my "fathers" dating back 5 generations ... we can't wait to see the end results ... if our almost a quarter century of doing business with Nancy is an indication, joy and delight are ahead. We confidently recommend...