Customers of a Pittsburgh fur coat retailer aren't at all happy about having to twice pay summer storage fees on their coats.
The retailer, Jerome Wolk Jr. Furs Inc., has fallen behind in payments to a North Huntingdon Township fur storage company, which is releasing the coats to their owners only after they pay the storage costs -- in cash.
Wolk's customers say they already paid Wolk for the storage.
Jackie Hansen, of Greensburg, has been storing her fur coat with Jerome Wolk for years. But this week when she went to pick it up, she was told Wolk didn't have it.
Her coat was at the Joseph Krow Co. storage facility in North Huntingdon. Before Krow would release it to Hansen, she had to pay Krow the fee for storage that she says she paid Wolk in April.
Wolk owes Krow $40,000, said David Rosenblatt, Krow's president.
Hansen conceded that in the context of current world events, the issue of a $42 fur coat storage fee may seem trivial. But it's the principle, she said.
"I know it's not like the war in Iraq, but I'm so tired of people hurting the consumer," she said. "I think it's terrible that good customers are stuck in the middle of this."
Hansen said she questioned Wolk last year about his financial problems and he assured her he was not going bankrupt.
A check of U.S. Bankruptcy Court records shows no filings on behalf of or against the company.
"There has to be some moral line that these people shouldn't cross," Hansen said.
Wolk could not be reached for comment. A man who answered the telephone at the store on South Braddock Avenue said he would have no comment.
"You don't have to keep calling, there will be no comment," he said before hanging up.
Rosenblatt said his company has been doing business with Jerome Wolk for about 40 years. Krow routinely stores about 1,500 Wolk-sold coats through the warm-weather months. About 800 of those coats remain to be collected.
"I've known Jerry Wolk for a long time. He feels bad," Rosenblatt said.
But business is business. And Joseph Krow Co. is not a nonprofit agency, he noted.
The coats are safely locked in a vault at the company's plant in the township, Rosenblatt said.
He asks that customers call ahead before showing up to collect their garments.
"We ask for one day's notice, and we will only accept cash, no checks or credit cards, for understandable reasons," he said.
The Fur Information Council of America recommends that furs be kept in "cold storage" during the summer months in temperature-controlled, low-humidity vaults. Fur does not respond well to heat.
Even air-conditioned homes sometimes have too much humidity for fur storage, which can cause the leather backing of the fur to dry out and crack.
Despite Wolk's current woes, Rosenblatt said he is willing to do business with him in the future -- "but C.O.D. only."
"You never refuse business," he said.
State Attorney General Jerry Pappert's office has not taken legal action against Wolk, according to spokeswoman Barbara Petito.
Consumers who wish to file a complaint may do so by calling the attorney general's Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-441-2555 or online at www.attorneygeneral.gov .
