This week an auction is scheduled to sell-off the contents of a well-known manufacturer of log homes in Central Pennsylvania, and some of its subsidiaries. But the liquidation has some customers feeling like the company took their money and ran.
Mary Boudman recently ordered a new sofa from American Heritage Crafters in Milton. When she called the store to check on her sofa, she got an answering machine.
"I started emailing them, phoning them, leaving messages. No replies," Boudman said.
Boudman says she put an $824 deposit on the sofa. When she emailed the manufacturer, she was told the furniture was never ordered.
"So after that I knew that now I'm out of my money. I'm getting that now. The store is closed and permanently closed," Boudman said.
The store owner then sent out this letter, saying that store, as well as Kuhns Brothers Log Homes closed for good.
"They literally slammed the door shut in our faces. As far as I'm concerned, they could have kept it open another day and told everyone with gift certificates to come in and redeem them," Pam Koch said.
The company is holding at least eight public auctions. The first is this Wednesday at 1pm. It's going to be auctioning off everything inside these buildings. That is more than $3.5 million worth of merchandise.
Pam Koch has $250 worth of gift certificates to American Heritage Crafters. She was told she could not use her gift certificates at the auction! Both women plan to attend the auction in Milton and hand out flyers, so people know what happened to them.
"They took my order, they took my deposit. I want my deposit back or I want my sofa," Boudman said.
Boudman was recently contacted by Angel Kuhns, one of the owners of the store. She said, "We deeply regret to inform you that we cannot refund any money at this time. This is not a choice of the Kuhns family, it is instead the decision of the bank; they will not allow us to refund or place any orders. I'm sorry for this inconvenience."
No one answered the door at American Heritage Crafters. The owners have not returned calls or emails to Newswatch 16. Both women filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office.