Amanda helped me originally in the framing department, and she was delightful--an asset to the company. She knows her stuff, and in my estimation, should be the manager here. To be fair, my order was originally placed at the end of July, and it took me a while to get the photograph just right, having learned photoshop in the interim since placing the order. I DID stop by to let Amanda know to take my order off of the schedule, being sensitive to their scheduling. When I brought the print in last Saturday, I had just called to confirm that Amanda was working. The African American receptionist there is extremely rude and abrupt, and nearly every time I've called, she has cut me off while I was talking to put me on interminable hold, or given me erroneous information about whether Amanda was working or not. Knowing this, I literally walked out the door immediately, and was there in less than 10 minutes, by which time I was told Amanda wasn't working. Frustrating, because I trust her, and didn't want to work with anyone else. There was a nice heavy set black guy who took my artwork, and checked with Dawn, the manager to see if they could fit it--I didn't ask for it right away, but he seemed to think I might be in a hurry to get it back, as I had explained that the frame should already be ready for the artwork to be installed. Dawn said they would try to get it done that day, or they would have it done by Sun. Great. I asked if they would call when it was done, and she said they would. Something told me they wouldn't, given how hard it is to get through to a person in the framing dept. with the laissez faire attitude of the receptionist, and the fact that there is seemingly a shortage of staff in the framing dept. I was right. Nobody called me. I called on Mon. because I had told my client it should be ready by Tues, giving myself a couple of extra days. Dawn said it was ready. I took a look at it, and after all of that, had refit it myself because there was trash all inside the glass. Dawn was aware of the problem fitting it dust-free, and said it would be a few days until they could refit it. When asked if they had used the air compressor (found in every frame shop I've EVER worked in) to spray air onto it to remove the dust she said they didn't have a one--unimaginable in an operation this size. I worked in framing for over 20 years at much smaller places than Michael's, and never, EVER worked anywhere where they did not have an air compressor. It's frankly unimaginable in framing not to have one. Pressed for time, I got my fitting fee refunded, and took the piece home myself to refit. Heck, even WITHOUT a compressor to blow the dust away, I did a better job
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