Doing business with Marv Lerning: a cautionary tale

[Perez]

I wrote this for another forum I post on but figure I'd post it on this one too.

So it's about time someone said something, as even though I see a post pretty steadily on his FB page to the tune of "hey, it's been a year, just wondering when I'm going to get my shit." nobody seems to be willing to call him out publicly, probably due to some of the company he keeps. But whatever, any gripe I have about him has nothing to do with his associates. With that being said. Wow. What a fucking huge piece of shit is guy has turned out to be. So April 1st 2011 I contacted him about building me a custom pair of machines. He told me his wait was about 6 to 8 weeks. No problem. Paypaled him $900 for the set. About 4 weeks later he had his grinder accident, total bummer, and I understood 100% that homeboy would need some recovery time. 2 or 3 months later he was back up and running, cool. I figured I'd have me shit at the most a month and a half after that. Nope. He comes to the US on vacation to build. I hit him up when he's back in NZ he says "just got back from the states im a touch behind but yours will be done in the next couple weeks for sure!" Bullshit. That was August, November rolls around and I still haven't heard jack shit, but what I HAVE seen is him taking a bunch of vacations and building machine after machine for sale on Facebook. I ask Seth about this at the Richmond convention and he tells me he's noticed it as well and has no idea what was up. So I decided fuck it, I bought a machine off Seth with the intent of just writing Marv and telling him "Deal's off, I want my money back." and just calling it a day. Which I do that evening via Facebook at the hotel. I don't hear shit from him again, big surprise. I keep seeing other people inquiring about their shit on facebook and him saying "just email me bro" so a few days ago I sent him another email to his email address, explaining just how fucking pissed off I was that it hand been almost a year and he completely blew me off and that I wanted my money back or I was filing a dispute. Well DOUBLE joke is on me, because not a single word from him (Shocking). But come to find out the limit for filing a dispute via PayPal is 41 days, and through my credit card company 3 months. And there's nothing I can do legally since he's in New Zealand. So basically this asshole has Greg Calhoon-ed me (and probably more than a few others) out of $900 bucks and there isn't a goddamed thing I can do about it short of shame him on the Internet and hope he decides to do the right thing. I mean I know it's his little Internet schticky thing but seriously, FUCK Marv Lerning, for real.

[Scott R]

wow perez that sucks hope he makes right. People dont usually get away with that kind of business for too long

[slayer9019]

Damn dude that is not a small bit of scratch. I have a feeling that since it's not a small group of people so it probably can't last that long. Reputations and hard to build, easily to lose and damn near impossible to rebuild

[gougetheeyes]

You're still waiting on those fucking things>?!

[ian]

looks like another guy posting on his facebook page is having the same kind of trouble getting ahold of him...

[Perez]

No surprises, another dude on a messageboard i posted this on posted this fucking horror story:

Im in the same boat Perez..I was able to get a set of machines off Marv about 3 years ago. The nipple on one of his speed bars came loose, not a big deal, but I emailed him about it, he said to send the pair in and he would take care of it, that was the last I seen of them. Back and forth the emails went, they done yet? Sorry bro, ill get em to ya next week, this was on myspace. after about a year I got a hold of him on Facebook, back and forth the emails went, then the hand in the grinder incident. I emailed him, saying I want my money back....He then emails me, says, sorry its been so long, the least I can do is hook you up with a machine for 300$ instead of 450$ I relented, but I thought I would give him the benefit of the doubt. Marv told me he had a bunch of machines ready to go, all made up for some convention, and he would just send me one of those, along with my other two. I sent a paypal for 300$, says he will get them to me in the next few days, this was in January. Got a couple random emails from him saying he's sorry, get em out next week..blah blah blah. Haven't heard nothing from him for about a month, after several attempts. I know Im a sucker, shouldn't of fell for that shit, He swore he would get them out to me. I thought buying a machine would motivate him to send the others back.....Im a damn fool

[BoMcConaghie]

Dont know him but I hope you get it sorted. Good luck.

[Scott R]

I googled him trying to find out who his associates are that you spoke of perez found he has lots of machines for sale on his twitter Twitter

[Ursula]

It always blows my mind when fellow "artists" (in quotes cause i hate to call this guy one) rip you off. Sounds like another one who needs to visit the broken fingers line, although it sounds like he did that to himself already and still didn't pay attention to karma.

Maybe someone should email him the link to this thread and the one of the other board so he can see for himself what kind of reputation he's putting out there.

And who are these other machine builders that are letting an asshole like this come on vacation to their place and make machines? Shame on them for letting this guy continue the trend (that is, if they are aware of his apparent sketchiness)

[Perez]

shit already went down on my facebook whee i posted this and tagged every tattooer im friends with and him. its been interesting.

[ShawnPorter]

Reading his responses I was almost compelled to send him an 'customer service 101' primer. here's a tip:

Eat the shit sandwich.

"Andy, I'm so sorry this has taken so long and I'd be happy to refund you and even send you a machine on me to make up for your terrible experience."

Then refund.

Then ship the comp'd machine.

KISS A LITTLE ASS.

There are tons of people making machines; you have options out the ass when you're buying a new one. So when someone has a bad experience... hustle. Kiss that ass. Make it right.

People never learn.

Good luck with the refund, Duder.

[Reyeslv]

It always blows my mind when fellow "artists" (in quotes cause i hate to call this guy one) rip you off. Sounds like another one who needs to visit the broken fingers line, although it sounds like he did that to himself already and still didn't pay attention to karma.

Maybe someone should email him the link to this thread and the one of the other board so he can see for himself what kind of reputation he's putting out there.

And who are these other machine builders that are letting an asshole like this come on vacation to their place and make machines? Shame on them for letting this guy continue the trend (that is, if they are aware of his apparent sketchiness)

BEFORE we order any finger breaking can we insure that this guy doesn't also have cancer.... :D

[Duffa]

@Reyeslv - cheers homie. Now I have to go clean my shoes ;) LMAO (I was drinking my coffee when reading this and did not expect your response - but I did enjoy the surprise lol)

[Reyeslv]

@Reyeslv - cheers homie. Now I have to go clean my shoes ;) LMAO (I was drinking my coffee when reading this and did not expect your response - but I did enjoy the surprise lol)

THANKS! Always looking to cheer up someone's morning!!!!

[WeRnDoG]

Were not all assholes in NZ, He is sure doing a good job of people thinking otherwise.

[dari]

@Perez, wow, what an ass. I looked at his FB, tons of machines for sale, can't believe he's been putting you off for a year. But as bad as getting ripped off by him must feel, I bet it feels worse to be him. Karma's only a bitch when you are one, right?

[JAllen]

Instagram “[email protected] if you'd like this pair.”

i don't see any reason why these couldn't have been already on their way to YOU? @Perez

[Perez]

Dude those are but two of approximately 40 machines he built for this trip to Sydney, that he's posted pictures of, all for sale. I heard from a friend of his he was backed about 100 orders. Well, there's almost half of them right there! Not to mention he built them all pretty quick for being "just one guy who does everything myself".

[Shannon Shirley]

I just wanna say, Is his stuff any good? You coulda got a Juan, or a Scotty....what a shame. This biz will always have predators surrounding it, stalking in the shadows.

[Perez]

I just wanna say, Is his stuff any good?

Guess I'll never know will I? Yeah, as soon as I get my money back it's going straight to Jimmy Whitlock and Seth.

[askass]

Andy I'm so sorry to hear that. I just saw last night on instagram he posted another pair up for grabs and I thought about tagging you in it, but instead I just unfollowed him. You're a nice dude a good tattooer and you don't deserve that. Hope everything works out for you.

[piercinggeert]

Hello,

I have the same experience with Marv Lerning. Bought a first machine in 2009, no problem, got it after 6 weeks. I ordered another one in august 2010, and then problems started : it should be ready for september 2010..... during 2 (two) years : same story as for everybody (and believe me, we are plenty) : sorry I was sick, sorry I was in Australia, sorry I ran out of armature bars.... etc...

2 years later :"did you get your machines?" No Marv, when did you ship them, to which adress and could you give me the tracking number? answer : No sorry I can not find that back, but : I will refund you. Since september 2012 waiting on the refund....My question : could we try to regroup ourselves and make a complaint for international internet fraude? He took at least 50.000 dollars from people without never ever sending them the machines

Geert, tattooist at Casablanca, Morocco

[Cary Brief]

wow that is totally fucking lame. Sorry to hear this guy ripped you off.

[deaddreamnation]

yeah that sucks bad. I was one of the many who got Greg Calhoon-ed...but i also would assume that Marv had a good rep since he kind of runs with some of the machine building big dogs. Karma is a bitch, and she will take you out quick if you're not careful. good luck dude.