Owed thousands in sales from South Portland store, local crafters may take fight to court
SOUTH PORTLAND (WGME) -- As more Maine craft makers come forward saying they're owed money for sales from a South Portland consignment shop, there is some hope legal action could help make them whole.
The CBS13 I-Team began looking into the concerns last week when a Maine beekeeper said he hadn't been paid in months. Now at least six vendors have reached out saying they're in the same boat.
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"I have all the emails showing how much they owe me for the sales," Danielle Perreault, who owns The Deep Blue in Kennebunk, said. "They need to find a way to pay their vendors."
Perreault, who makes crafts out of sea glass and shells, is one of at least 20 vendors who partnered with the "Hand Made-in..." consignment shop at the Maine Mall.
Each vendor signed a contract, agreeing to pay rent each month in exchange for the store selling and stocking their items. According to a copy of the contract obtained by the I-Team, vendors were supposed be paid for sales, minus rent, starting on the 10th of each month, but some vendors say those payments stopped earlier this year.
"I've been relentless in trying to collect my money and get this straightened out," beekeeper Mark Bogue, who says he's owed more than $1,000, said. "I want my money and my product, basically, and be done."
When CBS13 went to the store in the Maine Mall last week, one of the store's owners initially told us they had "no comment" on the situation. However, the owner went on to say they are offering payment plans to each of the vendors they owe money to.
It's an option some of the vendors say hasn't worked out.
"They offered me a payment plan and I accepted it, but then they stuck to it for three weeks and stopped," Perreault said.
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I-Team Reporter Dan Lampariello: "Do the vendors have some course of action they can take?"
Attorney Dan Mitchell: "Sure. Essentially what we have going on here is it's a breach of contract."
Mitchell leads the Litigation Practice Group at Bernstein Shur. He believes the the best course of action in cases like this is to file suit in small claims court.
"With the amounts of money that are stake, it sounds like going the small claims route would really be the way for them to go," Mitchell said. "You'll get heard, you'll get a fair hearing and, in a case like this, it's not that complicated."
Perreault says she's already filed a suit against the store's owners in small claims court and, as the process moves forward, hopes it will prevent other vendors from people put in the same position.
"It's heartbreaking," Perreault said. "They're still open and still advertising for more vendors when they haven't paid the ones they have."
The I-Team has reached out to the owners of "Hand Made-In..." seeking more comment since our story first aired, but have not yet heard back.
According to Kennebunkport police, one of the store's owners was issued a summons last week for Negotiating a Worthless Instrument and has a court date set for September.