Need Some Help - Juneau Studios / Johnson Animatronics

[mckamera]

Hello, I'm really concerned about a situation I'm having with TWO VENDORS who owe me over 26,500 combined in cash and merchandise. I'm seeking suggestions from haunters who have experience in these matters. I have a charity home haunt so we don't make a penny. I do this for the fans and it's really upsetting that these two vendors have ripped us off. I have spent literally 3 years trying to get these matters resolved. I also don't want to see anyone else get taken by these two individuals. JUNEAU STUDIOS (Jay Juneau), is one of the vendors, and is nothing but excuses. I have spent well over 17,000 on his items. And to be honest...the quality is HORRIBLE. Nothing ever worked. Seriously...pure junk. I bought his items before I saw the quality of real vendors such as Distortions. It has been a constant battle for him to repair his items...which he never does. JUNEAU STUDIOS owes me 5,300.00 for an item that he never completed, and the remainder (4,700.00), is for items that he will not deliver. I even loaned Jay Juneau 5,000 ft of really nice lockable panels, compressors, facade etc. for his own haunt. I am a total sucker because I paid them both up front because I believed they were honest...they are not. The other vendor is BRENT JOHNSON from JOHNSON ANIMATRONICS. He will not respond to me whatsoever. I paid him 16,500 up front for a project that he just stopped working on. All I was able to recover was four doors, a wall morgue facade and a slab table. PLEASE...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. These two vendors really hurt me financially and they couldn't care less. BUYER BEWARE for JAY JUNEAU and BRENT JOHNSON.

Respectfully, Russ McKamey

[drfrightner]

Russ,

If there is a guy out there who buys more stuff for a home haunt I don't know who it is... holy cow your haunt is loaded soup to nuts with cool stuff. So I trust that a vendor would want to take care of you because you order so much every season. I also trust that if you say these guys screwed you I believe you.

Reality is a lot of guys have been on the forums to bash a vendors and I'd say 80% of the time it was uncalled for and actually I don't' appreciate it. I think buyers should work out their problems OFFLINE with vendors... any problem can be solved and typically there is always two sides to every single story. On the flip side we've seen cases where yes the vendor just flat out ripped off the buyer, and we've seen cases where the buyer ripped off the vendor as well. It goes both ways actually.

In your case however I have to say I've heard a lot of negative things about Johnson animations so many in fact that I totally believe every word your saying. Maybe someone can help you contact them... if they can't help you fix your problem I want to say that in the next issue of the magazine we are going to address this issue once and for all and EXPOSE bad vendors.

In the case of Jay Junue I think this is a clear cut case of a fast talker... this guy has called me multiple times bashing on others, snitching them out, and he even asked me if I would buy his company so he could come work for me. I rejected that idea for the simple case that I don't think his stuff is any good... I don't see the talent there. But when you get case after case after case of people saying THIS GUY SCREWED THEM at some point we need to go to Transworld and demand that they can't showcase their products any long. We need a website and way to expose vendors who are fast talkers with no intention of coming through on anything they say.

Jay actually owes me like $1000 and countless calls and emails go unanswered as well... last time I spoke to him he said he would pay it but did not. There was a thread on these forums you can search for it where he was getting bashed on for NOT delivering as promised.

I think we as an industry just needs to once and for all EXPOSE bad vendors, vendors who have no insurance, unsafe equipment to protect our industry for more of this non-sense.

At this point I think Jay is going on my BAD DO NOT BUY FROM LIST! Hopefully he comes through for you but doesn't look like it... in the day of age where you can send an email from a phone there is NO excuse for lack of communication.

On a closing not let me say I may be way off base here because as I said there are two sides to everything maybe he'll say you screwed him... who knows but based on what you said, my owner personal situation with him, and the other comments I've seen on these forums it seems Jay is a BAD vendor. Maybe he can come on and shed light with his side of the story.

Larry

[Darksidestew]

well J. studios I know a lot about. He will twist it around and say you ripped him off and you will never get your item.
He did this to someone I know personally who is one of the best vendors in this industry in my experience and started trashing him as a thief and copy cat which was 100% false and this administrator kicked him from this site , because of that false info...

Sorry for the bad news, but that guy will never make it right.

I have told people on this forum since he pop in , he was trouble and stay away. He has a way with words to make you think he is supper nice guy. A real smooth talker, that guy.

Watch what happens when he sees my post. He is going to say Im the other guy who got booted forfalse info....

Charles stewart
Stew[/QUOTE]

[haunter1313]

I have not purchased from him before but spoke to him at Transworld maybe two years ago. He was just bashing on Pale Night and some other vendors. I decided he wasn't worth my time or money. Glad you guys gave us all the heads up. This only confirms what I had already felt about that guy.

[Gore Galore]

I am really sorry to hear you are having such problems Russ.

Every vendor has issues sometimes. It happens.
It sucks but it happens. We are running late on a few orders right now. We are busting ass trying to get ALL our orders filled in short order.

But this doesn't sound right?

I have given alot of thought to situations like this.
Mainly because I am a vendor, and I think when Vendors screw a customer it hurts my business too. When vendors copy other vendors work it hurts our entire industry.
Buyers are less likely to spend money in the future because of an order gone bad.

I have nothing I can say about either vendor, I have had no dealings with them.
BUt I know there are some BAD vendors in this industry.

The real question becomes what can you do about it.
SO, I pose the question.

How can the buyers and the vendors keep things like this from happening?

[Darksidestew]

Call him as someone else with a big order and I bet he answers. However, that will still get you no where. sorry....

Stew

[mckamera]

More folks who had problems with JUNEAU STUDIOS

I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I'm not a rich person...I do a charity haunt, and more than 26,000 is a lot of money. I trusted both these vendors and paid them cash or cashiers checks. I have the receipts and in regards to BRENT JOHNSON, I have the contracts and written agreements and the cashiers checks. Do I go to court? This has been going on with these two for three years. Any suggestions?
R/Russ McKamey




Alright, hopefully someone can help me out here. I hate coming here asking for help with this kind of bullshit.

Jay from Juneau Studios called me a week before transworld last year asking for a half mask ($250 mask) for one of his animatronics. I went out of my way to make sure he had a mask to complete his prop. I brought the mask to the show and gave it to him a few days before the show opened. He said he would pay me for it at the end of the show. Show ended, no money. I have tried calling him, email, facebook on both his page and company page, and have had NO communication back.

I was about the get in touch with him for a few short messages on facebook in june saying he would be home in august and would pay me then. So i waited. Sure enough, STILL NOTHING!

It's only $250, but what bothers me most is how i went completely out of my way to make him something and then for him to just screw me over like this.
If anyone is planning to order from him i would be careful. I cannot speak for others, but as for myself i would never purchase from him with this kind of communication and service.
Jarred Alcala
Owner
Shattered FX



Sorry for your dilemma. Mine is worse. I am into him for $3,000.00 for a product that we contracted to be delivered in May 2013. A couple of phone calls, but now the cell is unanswered, the emails get no response and I can't find him anywhere. I am so panicked because this prop is the center of my Haunt and I can't do a thing without it. I've even offered to drive down to North Hollywood to get it, but I believe he is at a warehouse in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The address I sent a money order to is at a residence on Cliffrose Drive, but lists as a residence. Transworld and Haunt World all give him rave reviews, but Jay Juneau has disappeared.

So disappointed,
Nancy Weatherman
The Junipero Haunting
Atascadero, CA

[shawnc]

He's still listed under the vendors on this site, and with high marks. Maybe that needs to be deleted?

[Darksidestew]

The center of your haunt? Really that guy cant build anything right, let alone a center piece prop.

A half mask for his new product? Really? Sounds like he is coping someone else again...

I met this guy before he even came onto this site or transworld and I WARNED everyone to stay away.

What happened? Larry gave this guy praise and credits that were not deserved and kicked off a great vendor because that vendor warned him as well and it got turned around on the vendor and he was booted by Larry...

so I believe , people started ordering from this guy, and he was brand new in the industry with zero track record.

Larry, my opinion, you have some responsibility here , giving a guy no one knew so much praise like working for Disney and in turn got people to deal with this guy..

and you kick off one of the best vendors we have, because he got in your face with facts......at the end of it, the kicked off vendor won each and every lawsuit Larry said he would lose....
Larry has a track record for sticking up for the thiefs of this industry. FACT! Scareparts, Nightscream,Janue and so on.........


After this post, im sure Im next......or this will be deleted....I do not care if he does
Stew


Stew

[drfrightner]

Stew,

I do NOT delete comments that have at least a thread of accuracy to them... there is only a slight truth to your post but mostly its not accurate.

I do NOT stick up for thieves in fact once all the facts are ON THE TABLE I call a spade a spade every single time. I have blasted several vendors including Nightscream whom I would NEVER work with under ANY circumstances. As for Scareparts, I'm not defending what he's done in the past however he's always had the right intentions and has always tried to fix past mistakes. I give him credit for that but has he made mistakes sure but so has probably almost every vendor in the biz. Would I work with Scareparts again sure if all the conditions where right. In the case of say Spookywoods FX I wanted to find out the facts first and as it turned out yes he was scamming people, and he never made good on his promises, he got blasted.

Here is my stance on the issue... there is always two sides to each story even if one side is a total lie! You can't judge people or a business based on one person review or dealings. I don't want to jump to conclusions you want to get the facts first... I wouldn't let several vendors advertise in my magazine if I knew without any doubt they are out there screwing people.

In the case of Jay... I don't remember playing him up to anyone I personally think his stuff is cheap looking. If I liked his stuff I would have bought it... did I NO NEVER! There are many vendors out there that make stuff that I think is WEAK and I would NOT buy from them... JAY's stuff blows! I wouldn't buy that stuff in a million years. So how do you figure I'm supporting him? I'm not!

As for a link to his company I'll remove that right now where did you see it post a link and consider it deleted...

I think Jay's inaction to reply to the negative comments about his business says everything...

To answer Kevin's post I have a few thoughts here...

I talked to John who's now running the HAA and I said to him this is something they could sink their teeth into and they can.

Publish a list of vendors who have product liability insurance, those who don't, produce BBB listings for vendors, maybe do a rating for vendors not on their products but confidence in business relations with that company, blah, blah.

I can tell you what I CAN DO RIGHT NOW... once the season is over I'll revamp my vendor section so ALL YOU GUYS CAN post your reviews of vendors ... so in that case should we DELETE bad vendors or leave them up so you can let people know about your dealings?

You tell me what I can do and I'll do it...

Lastly Kevin I think that Jennifer should get involved here and start BANNING vendors from being allowed back to the show. I think that is the key right here...

TRANSWORLD could SOLVE almost every complaint because if say Minions Web who I personally WOULD NEVER EVER NEVER EVER consider buying anything from was to get several buyers complaining and TW said hey we can't have you back... well then where would that leave them?

Maybe solving their issues?

I think so!

Larry

[damon carson]

Not trying to take sides here.

I think Jay & Russ are both good guys! Larry is right about there is two sides to every story! I think they should find a way to settle this other than resorting to the forums as a last resort. Every vendor runs into problems. But anymore its to easy to put it out in front of everyone on here to hurt someones credibility. Im not talking just about this situation. Its happened to me once. But I fixed the situation. I hope Jay & Russ can fix this. They have worked together for many years!
Damon
www.frightmasters.weebly.com

[drfrightner]

Damon,

Actually I'm not saying that, although I am saying that. LOL

What I'm saying is yes I like to learn both sides to a story FIRST before judging anyone. However no I don't think Jay is a good guy I've had emails and phone calls over the past year from people telling me almost the same story. Yes on the other hand I'm saying you need both sides to a story so yes there could be more than meets the eye. The last time Jay got called to the carpet he responded this time he says nothing... what does that tell you?

I also have personal dealings with him and he's lied to me as well. My personal opinion is his products aren't good they are cheap looking, then to top it off he's doing this to people that in my book is a double whammy.

Okay so there might be his side to this story well we don't have that side... so yeah MAYBE maybe. But then I can flat out speak about my side he lied to me several times and he failed to pay his bills to me. So I can say without a doubt at least with me he's a thief.

I'm going to talk to Jen from TW to see that he never gets another booth at TW until he can resolve some of these issues with customers.

Larry

[Darksidestew]

When it comes down to Jay...really, how many other sides of the story you need from him. The smooth talker...
This has to be over 20 people he has ripped off. He has at least 7 ebay id's with only one good one left because the others were booted.

Crazy, go ahead and buy all you can from him....lol

stew

[drfrightner]

Funny you should mention ebay accounts because he actually told me some other people on these very forums, vendors, had fake ebay id's and where using them to sell my stuff illegally. Turns out he was right... and well clearly he understand the whole ebay fake id scams because he explained it to me.

Look and again I'm not a supporter of his... I agree he's ripped people off and no one should order from him unless he can somehow explain this situation to people. Two sides to every story but I wouldn't totally disagree that seems he has a lot of problems.

The real issue is why would anyone want that junk in the first place?

Larry

[RJ Productions]

Perhaps they look at how IAAPA handles vendors? I believe there is a seperate committee that reviews vendors. Vendors can also go to this committee if for example you feel your prop has been ripped off. This ould not only handle complaints, but vendor rip offs as well. Maybe someone with some insight can expalin IAAPA's procedures?