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Field of Dreams in Las Vegas sold me a Babe Ruth Forgery.

I bought a Babe Ruth piece from Field Of Dreams at the Rio Casino a few years back and I have battling with them to refund my money without any success. Instead they tried to over me a replacement for even more money. JSA confirmed that this autographed piece was not authentic even though it came with a Christopher Morales COA. This has been an on going battle with them for years that has gone from the store to the parent company that sells their Franchise Licenses. All I can say is Buyer Beware!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 3, 2012 at 6:00am

The Last correspondence that I had with Mr. Salvat at Dreams Inc the Licensee for Field Of Dreams Franchises is as Follows:

Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 8:04 AM
To: Jorge Salvat
Subject: RE: Marily Monroe Memorabilia - Images-

Jorge,

Come on,

To be Clear, my only leverage at this point is the piece and yes I still have it. I don't feel Dreams Inc (Brett) was trying to resolve the issue by selling me something that would incur an additional expense. I'm sure that many of the FOD stores have something of equal value or less. In fact you yourself mentioned that you source items from multiple sources through your buyers, there are plenty of Babe Ruth cuts on eBay that are UDA or Donruss Certified. You could have resolved this by purchasing one of those as a replacement. Instead you have Brett call and try to find me something of more expense. I think that I suffered enough with this and just want to be done with it. I disagree with you on the Credit Letter, you could have put a statement on it and still can, that says it's contingent of the return of the "Babe Ruth" piece. I still don't understand why you just can't get another Babe Ruth cut and replace this one. You will still have this one with the Christopher Morales COA so you really aren't losing anything. Trying to resolve a customer satisfaction issue by making the customer purchase something that incurs an additional expense is just plain bad business period. I worked twenty years in the Customer Service Industry and Dreams Inc approach to resolving this is very poor. FOD in Las Vegas did have one complaint filed at the BBB and it was by me because It took a year of asking for the COA from Michael Novelli. It's funny how I got it shortly after I filed the complaint, so in good faith I closed it.

I would just like to put this behind me and not have to incur any additional expense, if we can get that done

we could end all of this. But if it's your intention to have me spend more than the credit owed to me it will never happen.

Thanks and have a good day,

Bill

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 3, 2012 at 6:29am

Salvat was a franchise specialist. Before Dreams Inc., Salvat spent the past six years as president and CEO of Cartoon Cuts, LP, a chain of hair salons catering expressly to children.

If I am thinking the same thing here ... Dreams Inc., the parent company of Field of Dreams at that time.

If so, I seem to recall that Fanatics Inc., out of Jacksonville Fl., aquired Dreams Inc. this year. Perhaps you can contact them with regards to this situation. Start way up the food chain though as in the chairman or CEO as something like this is best to roll downhill from the top.

http://www.wearefanatics.com/FanaticsInc/?p=521

also you can indicate that Dreams Inc., didn't share the current mission statement of Fanatics; Our Mission: to consider the customer first in everything we do

If this is correct then;

Kevin Bates, President – Dreams: Kevin Bates has been Divisional President of Retail Operations at Dreams Inc. since 2003. Kevin founded FansEdge® in 1998 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. When Dreams, Inc. acquired FansEdge in 2003, he became President of its e-commerce division. From 1996 to 1999, Kevin served as President of Galvin and Wright, Inc. He holds various technology certificates from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, and Internet Webmaster E-commerce Professional from Net Guru Technologies of Oak Brook, Illinois. Kevin holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 3, 2012 at 6:38am

I'm wondering if Jorge Salvat is staying on board with this recent acquisition, I don't see him mentioned anywhere!

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 3, 2012 at 6:59am

doesn't look like it... might have a name and number for you shortly so hang in there.

what's really bizarre is at one end Mountain Memories was one of Dream Inc's subs and apparently on the other end there is Field of Dreams. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 5, 2012 at 2:41pm

just a short update blurb for others. Contact was made and discussions ensued with a Fanatics Service Recovery Specialist. Bill has the con as we sit and wait to see what the new parent company can do to rectify this fraud and deception. I hope Bill achieves some measure of satisfaction.

Since representatives have been provided with this link, have read it and I'm sure copied and distributed it, do keep it on subject if you feel compelled to respond which is why Bill & I removed a subthread discussion we were having on football items.

It would however be beneficial to examine the wizard of oz cut signatures authenticity that Bill posted around page 6 (at the moment). When last left it needed some larger pictures and some expertlike opines.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 11, 2012 at 12:38pm

I have an update on this, I received a call from John Polisano, Director Of Operations for Field Of Dreams today. He has agreed to take the piece back and issue me a store credit for the full amount. I find this to be acceptable and will choose a piece that I feel has all the proper authentication paperwork that meets my satisfaction. I will keep everyone on hear posted once this has been done. I am heading to Vegas at the end of this month and hope to have everything resolved by then. Thank ou DB for all your help as well as the people at Fanatics Inc.

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 11, 2012 at 12:47pm

Bill, good for you. Glad it seems to be working out at this junction.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 25, 2012 at 12:48pm

Another Update, I sent the Babe Ruth piece back and it was received at FOD warehouse on Monday 10/22. The arrangement that I have is to meet their Sales Rep in Las Vegas on Oct. 30th. I have been given a Store Credit for the full amount of what I paid for this back in 2006. I will report on here once I have met the store rep and let you know the final outcome. Stay Tune!

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 25, 2012 at 12:58pm

Wouldn't it be nice if Fanatics took a personal interest in the "entire" inventory of items that Field of Dreams offers. While there Bill do some recon on others if you have time.

Speaking of which I have Elvis on my xmas List! Good Hunting.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on November 3, 2012 at 8:58am

I'm back from Vegas and I wanted to give you an update on what happened out there. I was scheduled to meet Dan Fox at FOD @ Caesar's Forum Shops on Tuesday 10/30. Instead I went there on monday to check out their inventory. While I was there I ran into Michael Novelli the owner of the Rio store where I purchased the Ruth piece. I approached him and we started a discussion about the Ruth. He informed me that Jorge Salvat never informed him of what happened or he would have taken care of it back then. Believe it or not I take people on their word unless given a reason to do otherwise. Michael told me that John Polisano the Regional Director for FOD told him to take care of me. Michael wanted to take care of me right there and then but I chose to wait until tuesday and deal with Dan instead. I was told that I had a credit of $4800 and nothing in the store was off limits, in fact Michael told his staff to give me $5000 in credit and ship the items for free. I went back on tuesday and for my credit I picked out a 49 er's full sized authentic game helmet signed by Jerry Rice and Joe Montana with HOF inscription dates. My second item was a 16 X 20 signed and framed photo of Larry Bird & Michael Jordan signed by both depicting the game that Michael scored a record 60 points against the Celtics. My final item was an autographed limited edition of 50 photo framed of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, & Dan Marino "Fastest To 50 Touchdowns". Now you might say that these items aren't worth $5000 and I might agree but, I look at it this way, I had a worthless piece and now I have something that has value and is authentic. That was what I was trying to accomplish and I believe that I did. I have DB to thank for this because he was the one to get the ball rolling and help me with this. Without him I would still be sitting on a worthless Ruth. Thank you DB for your help. Bill D

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Permalink Reply by DB on November 3, 2012 at 9:11am

Bill - all excellent choices. while they aren't babe ruth they are each equal greats in the sports they represent. If you tire of the Jordan/Bird one I take gifts ;-) & can put it right aside of one of my Bird 24 x30 USA Olympic signed one!

A special thanks to Erin of the Fanatics Service Recovery lead for playing an instrumental role in a satisfactory resolution and outcome.

We can only hope they now take the opportunity to do some overdue houskeeping on FOD inventory.