Art Heads Custom Framing

These kids did a wonderful job on a tour poster I had them frame. Unfortunately when I ran my debit card their machine wasn’t taking it so I had the lady ringing me up run my card as credit which worked. the lady told me I was punching in the wrong pin number. I don’t think a shop should tell a patron that the patron had done the transaction wrong. Telling me I did it wrong just made me angry as I later found out it was my new magnetic money clip. This is a case of «the customer is always right». The patron should not be told they are «doing it wrong». The card worked as credit. That should be enough. «Doing it wrong» just made me angry. It’s a shame as I’ve around 15 items to get framed for my place. There are so many other frame shops in town. Time to try a new shop.

Art Heads is fantastic. Every time I go in, the people are over-​the-​top nice and they go out of their way to help me with my framing projects. I’ve priced frame jobs out at other shops and Art Heads always comes in lower, too. They’ve got a great selection of frames and materials. They’re the best. Super friendly, super helpful. Love this place.

I went in three different times dealing with 3 different people and never felt welcome. I was looking forward to supporting one of my neighborhood businesses (50^th & Hawthorne), but instead I feel ripped off and bitter that I gave my money to so rude, inconsiderate people. Sorry I interrupted your day by coming in to your store. We ended up purchasing some frames at Fred Meyer that were equally attractive and less expensive. I see now they have a Groupon, so I felt inclined to write this before people wasted their money with these bitter people.

I have been using Art Heads for many years and have always been very impressed with their professional service and competitive pricing. They have always exceeded my expectations and are very good at helping with the design process.

This is a long one. Please read…
Having had several framing experiences at numerous frame shops in Portland, I have to say this is THE WORST experience ever. Granted some of this is my own fault, the employees, manager and owner himself give the worst possible customer service and the poorest of business practices I have ever witnessed. Let me describe…
I had to get a replacement piece of 16×24 conservation clear plexiglas for a frameless framed (ie: clip frame) photograph. I had become pretty dedicated to Art Media’s framing department, but had decided to try Art Heads since they were closer and easier to deal with regarding parking and easy access while juggling twin toddlers. Not thinking that there would be much variance in price for just the plexi and not the framing itself, I walked in and ordered what I needed without asking the cost (my fault). The woman taking the measurements knew I was ordering it for a frameless frame. She saw the piece sitting right in front if her. She went to the back and cut the piece, came out, wrapped it up (didn’t offer to put it together for me) and rang me up. A SHOCKING $ 75 FOR THE PLEXI! Yikes! Totally my own fault for not asking first, I paid for it and left the store in horror. Just to confirm my belief that I had been robbed, I got home and called Art Media immediately. Just as I had remembered, they quoted me $ 30 for the same product. I then called Art Heads to place a complaint about the cost and try to return it. I didn’t think it would be possible since it was a custom cut, but thought perhaps they would at least apologize and try to price match. Nope. No apology, and at first — no price match. Not until I called a second time and said that I wanted to speak to the manager was anything ever done to rectify the situation. Did they call ME back? NO. I called back after 3 hours of not hearing anything. He (the owner) allowed a $ 50 in store credit. Not what I was looking for, but at least this made up the price difference. Not happy, but fairly satisfied.
The next day…
I decided I would put the picture behind the plexi and get this expensive thing up on my wall. I peeled the paper off the plexiglas only to discover the cut edges were chipped to hell and back. It looked awful. There was no way this would look good in a frameless frame because you see all of the edges. Extremely irritated at this point, I took it back. I walked in and told the same woman that the edges were chipped and showed them to her. Did she apologize? NO. Did she make excuses as to why that happens with plexiglas? YES. I have had plexiglas cut before and have had smooth edges every time. There is a saw you can use instead of the cutter. She did not offer anything, so I left it all there and told her to contact her boss, the owner, whoever, to sort out how they were going to settle this and to contact me when they figured it out.
If they were incapable of making a clean cut for a frameless frame, they should have informed the customer of this before cutting and perhaps suggested something else. If they knew that the cost was pretty significant, they should have informed the customer before making the cut. THEY SHOULD HAVE INFORMED THE CUSTOMER OF THE COST BEFORE MAKING A CUSTOM CUT, REGARDLESS!
2 DAYS LATER… I CALLED THEM. I immediately asked for the manager. I explained who I was and he said the owner was not willing to budge since it was a custom cut and asked if I was told about the $ 50 store credit. I said I didn’t want to shop at a store that was going to inevitably rip me off. He said again that the owner was not willing to budge. I told him this was poor business practice to which he responded «We’ve been in business for a long time». FUMING at this point. I simply said I wanted to speak with the owner. He said he would call Bob and have him call me. Did Bob call me? Of course not. From the beginning, it was apparent that «Bob» just wanted me to go away. He showed this by not contacting me at all to try to resolve this matter. The manager called me back and said that Bob was going to just eat the cost and give me my money back. About time they did something somewhat right.
It’s a shame that it didn’t save them from this horrendous review.

Art Heads is A-​Ok in my book (yup, that’s what Unilocal says the three star rating means). I bought myself a really cool limited edition signed print of a Roots poster at Flatstock in Seattle last summer (if you’ve never been to Flatstock, you’re missing out), and I needed to get it framed. It’s no Monet, but it did cost me a nice little chunk of money, so I decided that rather than tack that shiz to the wall, putting countless little holes in the corners until one day the corners tear off completely, I should get it framed. Plus, I had a law school diploma and some other random stuff that should probably go in a frame someday, but the real focus was my $ 20 signed Roots limited edition print.
So I go local. I go to the cool looking little framing shop called Art Heads on the corner of Hawthorne and 50^th. I walk in with a 24xwhatever poster and ask about framing. I was not ready for what I was about to encounter. Guess why most people you know don’t have anything in their house framed in anything other than cheap, store bought frames? IT’S FREAKIN’ RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE to have anything framed. I am talking, like, in the neighborhood of $ 200 to have a fairly basic, double-​matte frame job done on my small diploma. YOWCH! I know that stupid piece of paper cost me over $ 100K to get, but shit, at that price I kinda feel like I should get a free frame or at least a 50% off coupon or something.
Ok, so sticker shock done, I decided that I was only going to go with my top priority item today — the Roots poster. I opted for this cool dual-​glass framing system where they custom cut 2 pieces of glass to fit the poster, then give you a system to clamp the glass together and hang the glass from a string. So essentially, for $ 50, I got two custom cut pieces of glass, some clamps, and a string. I had to put it together myself (hey, it saved me $ 25).
So yes, these guys were conscientious and careful with my work when I brought it in. Yes, they can do all sorts of cool stuff like fix old photos that are stuck to the framing glass, and do fancy matted framing, etc. But hey, I don’t have that kind of bling, and I am not sure why it costs so much anyway. Had I the cash and the drive, I would be framing everything in my house including the cat.
But for my purposes, this was a wash. I spent more than twice the value of my «art» to get something that, while it looks cool and protects the art, does not even really count as a frame.
So 3-​stars it is. A-​Ok. I can’t gripe too much about pricing, because, well, it’s probably industry wide. I just wish they had some reasonable discounted options for things like posters.
Good people. Quick enough service.