Re: IML: Johnny Rosen warning!!!

[chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I joined Smitty on this "buying adventure".  I had been alerted that he had NOS seat covers and material for the restoration of my '59 Imperial Crown.  Another IML member had purchased red leather seat covers for his '59, and generally was pleased with the transaction, notwithstanding Mr. Rosen's occassional profane tirades.  I went into the deal with some trepidation, and was only willing to deal with him in person and take the material myself.  I was not going to hand over cash and then get into some battle about shipping delays and cost disputes.  I made a special trip in January 2004 to Phoenix from Washington, DC to inspect the material in person.  I felt that this method, even if it added several hundred dollars in travel charges, was much preferable to the potential for grief in trying to get sight-unseen material shipped after he had my money.

 

I went into the transaction by being unfailingly polite to him, and bent over backwards to respond to his questions and accomodate his requests.  For example, he wanted me to send back every scrap of material I didn't end up using, and to send the salvageable material from my old seats.  Why he wanted old faded material and leather was beyond me, but I sent it back anyway.  I found him quite eccentric, but he did do what he said he'd do (as did I), and his price for my seat covers and some extra padding was quite reasonable.  The seats have been redone and look terrific.

 

However, and THIS IS A BIG HOWEVER, many other IMLers have had quite a different experience with him.  Profane letters, phone calls in the middle of the night, extreme rudeness, shoddy or inaccurately-described parts are not unknown.  One friend bought a supposedly rust-free straight bumper core for a '60 Imperial, which turned out to be bent and have holes drilled into it, which rendered it unuseable.  Mr. Rosen refused to refund anything, and was profanely rude to this customer, who for obvious reasons will never use him again.  If you want to transact business with him, I strongly suggest doing it in person.  Anyone with a short fuse or who's impatient or who can be the least bit confrontational should proceed at their peril.  Forwarned is fore-armed, as it were.

 

Neal Herman

1959 Imperial Crown

1966 Imperial Crown

et al.


-----Original Message-----
From: SALVAGE04@xxxxxxx
Sent: Jun 7, 2005 9:26 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: Johnny Rosen warning!!!

 I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET JOHNNY (AND HIS PET PIG) LAST YEAR... I WAS WITH A FRIEND ON A PARTS BUYING ADVENTURE.IN ARIZONIA ..

 I FOUND JOHNNY VERY POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL IN DEALING WITH HIM. HIS PRICING WAS FARE.  HE IS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND AN  ASSET TO HAVE AROUND.

 HE HAS A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND PARTS,  IF YOU ARE DOING A LATE 50'S OR EARLY 60'S  IMPERIAL.

HE MIGHT BE A LITTLE ECCENTRIC, BUT I FOUND HIM PROFESSIONAL IN EVERY MANOR

 THANKS SMITTY

-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm