By now, one difficulty of recovering lost deposits is that credit card companies won't help. Charges can only disputed within six months of the transaction, and Apt has been closed since late 2008.
I have identified two routes for complaint. The first route is to file a complaint with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs; click here for more information. The second route is to file a complaint with the New York State Attorney General, for possible prosecution of fraud. For more information click here. Note that the Attorney General's office says it will not investigate your complaint if you file in Small Claims Court.
Friday, July 10, 2009
More about Renkovski
Here's a repository of information about Guy Renkovski, owner of Apt-NY Furniture, which over a period of many months took deposits from customers without delivering furniture. The information was obtained using freely available Internet resources. Some may be out of date.
Date of birth: June 1, 1977. Current age: 32.
Apt Ideas, Inc. address: 1723 East 12th Street, Suite 4 or Suite 5-R, Brooklyn, NY 11229.
Renkovski's last publicly known address: 212 Malone Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10306.
Other names used: Guy K. Renkovski, Superrrguy (Meetspot), Guy Supera (2totangle).
Web domains: apt-ny.com, 2totangle.com
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Apt furniture store owner, Guy Renkovski
No store. Phone disconnected. The website, apt-ny.com, is gone. What's a consumer to do? These days, use the Google.
Apt-ny.com was owned by Guy Renkovski. He used several email addresses: furniturepimp@gmail.com and superrrman@msn.com, among others.
At one point Renkovski was the owner of 2totangle.com, now listed as being owned by Guy Supera. An obvious pseudonym. Are there others?
On MySpace, user superrrguy is Storm Cummings. Is it him? As his friend wrote: "Guy Motherfuckin Renkovski!!! Yo great to hear from you however you located me..."
Guy is 32 years old. He says he likes to "smoke crack and take candy from babies." He claims that he went to the Dwight School, an expensive private K-12 school in Manhattan, where he "majored" in "embezzlement." His favorite movie? Trainspotting. Well, of course.
A picture of "furniture pimp":
The black rectangle is his idea.
Apt-ny.com was owned by Guy Renkovski. He used several email addresses: furniturepimp@gmail.com and superrrman@msn.com, among others.
At one point Renkovski was the owner of 2totangle.com, now listed as being owned by Guy Supera. An obvious pseudonym. Are there others?
On MySpace, user superrrguy is Storm Cummings. Is it him? As his friend wrote: "Guy Motherfuckin Renkovski!!! Yo great to hear from you however you located me..."
Guy is 32 years old. He says he likes to "smoke crack and take candy from babies." He claims that he went to the Dwight School, an expensive private K-12 school in Manhattan, where he "majored" in "embezzlement." His favorite movie? Trainspotting. Well, of course.
A picture of "furniture pimp":
The black rectangle is his idea.
Customer stories
At first, Apt made a splash online, with favorable writeups at Apartment Therapy and Yelp. However, from the start there were problems. Let's consider my story. Call me "Rooked."
When Mrs. Rooked and I walked into the store in January 2008, we decided we wanted a stylish sofabed for a guest room. It was affordable at $1250 - cheaper than other options in fashionable Soho.
The sofabed was out of stock. In order to order anything, we had to put down a large deposit. Delivery time was three months. And to top it off, staff members were arrogant and unhelpful. Still, we wanted the piece. In mid-January we called back and placed an order.
Three months later, Mrs. R. called and was told by S. that she had been misinformed, the original clerk had been fired, and that delivery was delayed to July. In July, S. said that the manufacturer had gone out of business, but some might still be shipped and the color we wanted was possibly obtainable - and the item would not be available until January 2009. In early 2009, Apt-NY was unreachable by telephone and had apparently gone out of business.
In retrospect, there were several warnings, all of which have been experienced by other Apt-NY customers. Click the links to read their stories. More can be found here.
1) The price was too good for Soho - but only by a little. Looking back, this was very Bernie Madoff.
2) Most items were out of stock.
Sofa shopper Linda:
Michael D:
Daniel G:
3) The staff was unhelpful and rude. Perhaps they knew what they were doing. Maybe it was their contempt for the customers showing.
4) Deliveries were delayed repeatedly. Customers were given the runaround: "...it was shipped and recently received in the US..." After Apt closed, customers pleaded online: "please contact us to negotiate the delivery of the sofa..."
pmsvoboda:
When Mrs. Rooked and I walked into the store in January 2008, we decided we wanted a stylish sofabed for a guest room. It was affordable at $1250 - cheaper than other options in fashionable Soho.
The sofabed was out of stock. In order to order anything, we had to put down a large deposit. Delivery time was three months. And to top it off, staff members were arrogant and unhelpful. Still, we wanted the piece. In mid-January we called back and placed an order.
Three months later, Mrs. R. called and was told by S. that she had been misinformed, the original clerk had been fired, and that delivery was delayed to July. In July, S. said that the manufacturer had gone out of business, but some might still be shipped and the color we wanted was possibly obtainable - and the item would not be available until January 2009. In early 2009, Apt-NY was unreachable by telephone and had apparently gone out of business.
In retrospect, there were several warnings, all of which have been experienced by other Apt-NY customers. Click the links to read their stories. More can be found here.
1) The price was too good for Soho - but only by a little. Looking back, this was very Bernie Madoff.
2) Most items were out of stock.
Sofa shopper Linda:
it takes up to 16 weeks to get it shipped in....EVERY [sofa] I wanted was out of stock!
Michael D:
...they don't have stuff in stock very frequently. The things I asked about are all on back order for about a month. You have to put down a deposit for anything on back order -- they won't call to let you know if the thing's come in unless you put money down.
Daniel G:
Paid for a sofa, in advance of course, months ago.
3) The staff was unhelpful and rude. Perhaps they knew what they were doing. Maybe it was their contempt for the customers showing.
4) Deliveries were delayed repeatedly. Customers were given the runaround: "...it was shipped and recently received in the US..." After Apt closed, customers pleaded online: "please contact us to negotiate the delivery of the sofa..."
pmsvoboda:
We ordered a couch in May and were told over and over it was coming. Then we were told it would be late Sep/early Oct. Paid in advance and can't locate anyone.
Apt: not just any furniture store
In late 2008, a fashionable furniture store in lower Manhattan closed: Apt, on 61 Greene Street in Soho. The store filled a niche by promising city dwellers a source of furniture that was stylish, cheap, and cheaply made.
Normally the closing of a small store would not attract much attention. But in this case there's a wrinkle.
Many customers were left in the lurch after putting down deposits on furniture. The way that the store operated suggests that in many cases, the store had no intention of ever delivering the ordered items.
This website serves as a collection place for information about Apt, its owner, and options available to Apt customers.