Owners of pianos left in the care of a Ross music shop say their experience with the business has hit a sour note.

Bruce's Music in the Shoppes at Northway in Ross has apparently closed without notice. Bruce Eckman's customers can't reach him, and they are frustrated after unsuccessfully appealing to police and mall officials for help.

Eckman, who has operated the shop since 1989, according to state records, could not be reached for comment on Friday. The Tribune-Review attempted to locate him at his shop, on his cell phone and at his home.

"Everyone's been nice, but it doesn't seem like anything is happening," said Jane Rosenzweig, a writing teacher at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., who left her Steinway baby grand piano at Bruce's Music on consignment. "It's valued at $20,000. It's not a small amount of money."

Rosenzweig and her sister, Amy, inherited the piano from their father, Richard L. Rosenzweig of Squirrel Hill, after his death in 2008. They took it to Eckman's shop after friends recommended him. Her sister signed a contract in September 2010 that said they would receive at least $17,500 from the sale. Eckman would get the rest.

Amy Rosenzweig of Chicago said Eckman told her in January there was an interested buyer, but he began to string her along.

"A couple times he said he was going to send me a $2,000 check, but he told me he couldn't find a stamp to mail it," she said. "A couple months later, he finally told me it had fallen through."

Then, a few weeks ago, the store's website mysteriously disappeared, the phone number stopped working, and the store closed. Eckman stopped answering his cell phone.

"It was very strange," Jane Rosenzweig said. "I just have no idea what went on. I don't think that when we signed this contract with him he had any intention of making off with my piano."

The lights were off at the store yesterday; a metal gate had been pulled shut to block the entrance. More than a dozen pieces of mail were scattered on the floor just beyond the gate, including correspondence from Duquesne Light, Verizon and District Magistrate Linda Zucco of Plum. A dozen pianos could be seen inside, two of which had "sold" signs on them.

Ross police Detective Brian Kohlhepp said two people who have pianos on consignment there have come forward, complaining they can't reach Eckman.

Kohlhepp said he's unsure whether his department can do anything because there's no proof their property is in Ross. Additionally, Kohlhepp was unsure whether their complaints would be civil or criminal in nature. If Eckman broke a contract, it's a civil case; if he took their property with the intent to defraud them, it's a criminal one.

Joseph Anthony, executive vice president of Zamias Services Inc. of Johnstown, a leasing agent for The Shoppes at Northway, didn't know whether Eckman's lease had expired or of any other circumstances surrounding his swift departure.

"Certainly we will do our very best to ensure the owners get their property back," he said.

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