I sold Trump $100,000 worth of pianos. Then he stiffed me.

[spanone]

My relationship with Trump began in 1989, when he asked me to supply several grand and upright pianos to his then-new Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. I’d been running a music store for more than 30 years at that point, selling instruments to local schools and residents. My business was very much a family affair (my grandsons still run the store). And I had a great relationship with my customers — no one had ever failed to pay.

I was thrilled to get a $100,000 contract from Trump. It was one of the biggest sales I’d ever made. I was supposed to deliver and tune the pianos; the Trump corporation would pay me within 90 days. I asked my lawyer if I should ask for payment upfront, and he laughed. “It’s Donald Trump!” he told me. “He’s got lots of money.”

But when I requested payment, the Trump corporation hemmed and hawed. Its executives avoided my calls and crafted excuses. After a couple of months, I got a letter telling me that the casino was short on funds. They would pay 70 percent of what they owed me. There was no negotiating. I didn’t know what to do — I couldn’t afford to sue the Trump corporation, and I needed money to pay my piano suppliers. So I took the $70,000.

Losing $30,000 was a big hit to me and my family. The profit from Trump was meant to be a big part of my salary for the year. So I made much less. There was no money to help grow my business. I had fewer pianos in the showroom and a smaller advertising budget. Because of Trump, my store stagnated for a couple of years. It made me feel really bad, like I’d been taken advantage of. I was embarrassed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/28/i-sold-trump-100000-worth-of-pianos-then-he-stiffed-me/?utm_term=.e917c73af7dd

[CincyDem]

1. When people show you who they are, believe them. n/t

[cwydro]

11. Yes.

Indeed.

[Angry Dragon]

2. He met the Real Donald Trump

[spanone]

3. this shows the true character of the man....an asshole.

[Cracklin Charlie]

6. And there only seems to be one.

Perpetual asshole. Through the generations.

[ck4829]

4. So "short on funds", not because he did a "shoddy job"

The real Donald Trump, a broken plan, and just plain broke.

[ProfessorGAC]

44. Exactly

How is a casino short on funds? Were the slot machines rigged and they had nobody who knew to check or take them off the floor.

This is nonsense. Casinos are a money printing machine. If they were short on funds, it was because the casino cash flow was going to cover the losses of his other business boondoggles.

[Chiyo-chichi]

5. again and again...

There was no suggestion that the music store owner "didn't do a good job." The pianos were delivered and were likely perfectly tuned. But time and again, Trump has stiffed small business owners. I just don't see how any working class people can vote for him. These repeated actions should outrage anyone who does an honest day's work and expects to be fairly paid for it. Between this and Trump's pledge to stop manufacturing plants from going to Mexico and China... when he makes ties, shirts, suits, furniture, etc. all over the world... I don't see how anyone who works for a living can support him.

[awake]

7. "O.P.M." Other Peoples Money that is what Trump says is one of the keys to his great wealth

Trump is proud of how he uses O.P.M. to line is pockets while not taking risk. What a A-Hole!

[AllyCat]

25. Hey, "that's business!"

[spanone]

26. yep, and he's the republican party nominee...the party of unbridled hypocrisy

[sheshe2]

8. The payback is going to be when...

The voters stiff Donnie in November. That will be the ultimate stiff.

Thanks Spanone!

[Crash2Parties]

18. Not necessarily...

He may have gone into this campaign thinking of it as a way to make money; the presidency was secondary. He may end it laughing because he was able to siphon other people's money to himself. It's not as though GOP candidates doing so is an unheard of phenomenon...he just did it on a larger scale.

[sheshe2]

19. Perhaps.

Yet his huge, really huge ego will suffer at a loss.

[Crash2Parties]

21. If he's a true narcissist, either cognitive dissonance will kick in or he'll destablize.

[NewJeffCT]

49. he's going to claim it's rigged

and threaten to sue everybody in any state that was reasonably close - the state governor, secretary of state, mayors, local registrars of voters, etc.

of course, it will be laughed out of court, but he'll still have the sycophants around him telling him it was rigged and that the judges are biased because they were appointed by Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, or were Mexican or Jewish or African-American, etc - even if they were appointed by W and are white.

[tblue37]

34. Yet he has ruined his brand and brought federal investigative attention to his and his kids'

shady dealings. He will lose money in the long run.

[GetRidOfThem]

48. Actually his divisiveness is already hurting his new hotel

Guests are staying away form the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. This has been covered by several newspaper articles.

I remember when I wanted cufflink shirts at Macy's a couple of years ago, and they steered me towards Trump. I told the salesperson I could not buy a Trump shirt because I doubted its birth certificate. The guy started roaring in laughter. Story over.

Now Macy's has dropped all of his clothing lines. And event planners are saying that they are not planning to use Trump's new hotel, because it has too much of a stigma.

The guy has such an ego he is actually blowing up his own business! Yes, the fact is: Donald Trump is a poor businessman!

[geardaddy]

50. I love your birth certificate line!

[Crash2Parties]

61. Delicious, isn't it? Perhaps he does NOT have "all the best ideas"...

[BSdetect]

9. Its not uncommon for business rip off artists

Another trick I heard of back in 1969 was that a large chain store or business would order some new product to the extent that the victim business would buy new machinery and build inventory etc. Then they would cancel or drastically change the the order. Often orders were made on trust or had escape clauses one would never expect a respectable business to exploit.

When the victim had to sell to pay debts they would buy them out or offer to pay cents on the dollar for the inventory.

It often comes down to a case of "sue me" and we'll take years to settle in court.

If you sense that they are "smart" be very cautious. Avoid them.

[machoneman]

36. Wal-Mart!

I had extensive experience with WalMart execs over a long period of time (14 years) and was shocked at how they ran roughshod over small US businesses. Here's the trick they employed, the "long game" as I now call it.

1- place big orders with a going USA based concern, usually a small and/or family owned business.
2-keep ordering ever more quantities until one day, sometimes over a 3-4 year period, Wal-Mart becomes say 90% of said business's sales and likely profits.
3-one day, lower the boom, show up from Bentonville, AR with company lawyers in tow and break the bad news. Wal-Mart will yank all orders, bankrupting the firm, unless the owners move to China, Taiwan, etc. immediately, fire all US workers, and train workers in that pre-selected country with a plant already outfitted and near ready-to-run.
4-increase profits dramatically with a lower cost-base and screw the now former owners who only had a 1 year contract to train said foreign workers.

Talk about putting a gun to the owner's head!

[Doreen]

55. PLEASE

Please do not get me started on Wal-Mart. I do not hate Wal-Mart, I LOATH Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is evil in pure form. Uhmm like I said do not get me started.

[lpbk2713]

10. This is Trump's modus operandi.

He will use anyone for whatever he can get out of them and then leave them
sorry for ever hearing his name. Maybe now that he has been exposed more
people will be aware of his reputation and Trump will then find it hard to find
suckers to take advantage of in the future.

[MyOwnPeace]

28. But saying........

"Maybe now that he has been exposed more people will be aware of his reputation and Trump will then find it hard to find suckers to take advantage of in the future."

My God, we can only HOPE that will be the case.

And if he's elected.........................

I pray for our country..............

[Jim__]

12. I wonder if he still has that letter.

It would look great on billboards across the country.

[Duppers]

15. Brilliant! nt

[ffr]

13. It was a shitty Xmas I'll bet too.

No commission. Footing the bill for Donald's mistakes. Probably why Russia wants Donald to win so badly.

[hatrack]

14. 70%? Shit, he's one of the lucky ones . . .

.

[spanone]

31. yes he is, and a certain segment thinks this asshole trump is a great guy!

he's the very guy who will fuck the guy who votes for him

[gratuitous]

16. "Like I'd been taken advantage of"

Ya think?

And that $30,000 haircut the piano store took didn't make one whit of difference to the Taj Mahal's bottom line. It still nearly went bust, and was bought out by another wealthy sucker. But then, the casino is named for a famous mausoleum, so what would anybody expect?

[TexasBushwhacker]

29. Sounds to me like it's their normal MO

Sign a contract and then plead poverty and trim off 30% or more. To Trump "that's business". Of course when his businesses went bankrupt there were dozens, if not hundreds of smaller contractors who probably didn't get 10 cents on the dollar. For Trump, that's "taking advantage of the laws". And he ALWAYS got his salary.

[mjvpi]

17. Profit is supposed to be realized at the end of a job.

That is how I learned that free enterprise was supposed to work. That's the American way. Trump spends it before he makes it. He lives on cash flow. This illustrates one big flaw with "The Invisible Hand" of capitalism. Good guys don't finish first and are often laughed at.

[Delmette]

20. A question for an accountant.

If this business owner wrote off the $30,000 loss, would he be able to send a 1099 to Trump? The 1099 would be considered income to Trump and the IRS would have their copy to check against his tax return.

[dhol82]

24. That's an interesting point

Wonder if anybody knew about this and thought to pursue it?
Might be another thing for the IRS to investigate.

[BadgerKid]

40. I think that's true for loan forgiveness

Such as in the stock market or student loans.

[Delmette]

42. Interesting...

I would think that Accounts Receivable would be included especially for anything over $500.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Not An Accountant

But i took those classes for my MBA and familiar with our systems here.

There was never any revenue and accounts receivable is not a loan. It's a contract for payment for remuneration for services rendered or product provided.

So, the piano store owner only has to claim the $70k as revenue, not $100, and his expenses to the piano companies would bring that to write off. His profit was stolen, basically.

So, there was no forgiveness. He did not have much choice otherwise he would have started paying carrying charges to the piano makers.

The Trump idiots apparently decided that this was their business model and screw the supplier. They made no money, just didn't pay $100k for $100k of pianos. They probably all patted themselves on the back for their "ingenuity" in saving money.

By the way: Several pianos, including grands, for $100k? The Taj Mahal wasn't exactly buying high end stuff.

[Delmette]

46. Thank you.

That was a good explanation.

And Good Morning.

[malaise]

22. King Con is a fucking thief

Lock him Up!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. The Art of The Steal.

[Thinkingabout]

27. He is a fraud, plain and simple.

[kacekwl]

30. Why couldn't he remove the pianos ?

Just asking.

[ailsagirl]

32. drumpf probably knew all along he wouldn't pay and "bought" them anyway

What a crook

[indigoth]

33. Given the number of times

This sort of thing has shown, I'm beginning to wonder how much of trumps money is just from stiffing people.

[dobleremolque]

35. Then there's Betty White's wonderful tweet

From last night during the debate.

" if you're staying at the Trump Hotel, refuse to pay the bill. Tell them you were dissatisfied. Donald himself says it's okay."

[malaise]

39. I missed that

Thanks

[spanone]

41. K&R...

[Raine]

60. I love Betty, she's a sweetheart .... THANKS for posting that! nt

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

37. Trump wouldn't pay because the pianos had some black keys

[world wide wally]

38. And Trump voters are the exact kind of people he will stiff if he ever gets the chance to

[BlueMTexpat]

43. This ...

I was embarrassed.

One feeling that all too many have towards those who have abused them. Trump is not only a cheat but a serial abuser.

[alarimer]

47. Most business owners don't treat their customers this way.

Why does any Republican small business owner even think of voting for this guy?

Are most small business owners (so lauded in politics) really cheats like this? I don't know, but I doubt it.

[spanone]

51. trump would then use this guys 30K to keep it in court forever

[DFW]

52. That's how he does business

That's how he became a Republican candidate for President (promises a candidate, gives them 50% of the competence a presidential candidate should have). That's what he would be like as president, too. Promise to do a full-time job, and then spend 75% of his time playing golf.

[The_Casual_Observer]

53. I have run across this sort of business dealing

Numerous times over the years. I think is is fairly common practice in the property management business.

Let's face it the little guy is always going to get screwed over by the big guy. There is no winning against a guy like Trump in business. I'll bet all kinds of people were screwed over on that post office/hotel deal but we will never know, since he'd instantly sue you if you spoke out and bankrupt you.

[Orrex]

54. Does this count as organ trafficking?

Ivory trade?

[Initech]

56. Grifters gonna grift.

[Doodley]

57. Give me your vote and I will pay you back by making millions of jobs and making America great again.

No. Trump will never pay back the hope and trust his supporters have given him. Trump knows no other way than to lie and cheat to get what he wants.

[cstanleytech]

58. I am wondering if Trumps wealth is built on a giant ponzi scheme now.

You know, he takes out x loan, then uses the money to pay x loans which then pay x loans and which then pay xx loans and so on and so on.

[Quantess]

59. K & R