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BUYER BEWARE! SCAM!
My brother and I wanted to purchase a few master embellished giclees by Leonid Afremov. After watching Afremov’s video, I called [protected] which was the number provided by www.afremov.com, and wanted to verify that Leonid Afremov was in fact the person painting on these master embellished giclees. I asked to speak with Leonid and it was his son David on the phone impersonating him! I was able to tell from the video on Leonid Afremov because Leonid speaks in the video. This immediately grabbed my attention and I continued to ask for Leonid. He put me on hold and his brother Boris Afremov picked up also impersonating Leonid Afremov. I insisted I speak to Leonid and was then transferred back to David who admitted they both had impersonated Leonid! This is fraudulent representation! This whole thing is extremely suspicious. I called several times and each time there was an excuse as to why I am not able to speak to the artist himself (on vacation, technical difficulties, too busy…etc.) So who is the person painting on the “master embellished” giclees? Where is Leonid Afremov? Why is he being impersonated? SCAM!
First of all, I asked to speak with Leonid Afremov EVERY single time, NOT "Mr." Afremov. I wouldn't be writing this complaint if I asked for "Mr." Afremov, and I surely would have no reason to get suspicious of the sneaky things you are doing in this company.
Second of all, "Leonid, " you say you are located in Boca Raton, FL. Your company is located in Orlando, FL. This is approximately a 3 hour distance by driving. For your day to day transactions there is no way you travel 3 hours there and 3 hours back home just to paint on giclees. I don't believe you are sent these master embellished giclees to your studio in Boca Raton, FL either because shipping costs would be too expensive.
Third, Leonid Afremov's and William Burns' comments were posted almost exactly 2 hours apart, both with spelling and grammar mistakes. Something tells me you guys are closely related...that is if it isn't the same person writing this.
Fourth, Leonid Afremov wrote up a whole response to my complaint but in his video he barely speaks English and has a translator? Interesting.
Really tired of my smart comments and nonsense? Very professional way to go about this situation let me tell you.
I would love to know who is writing Leonid Afremov's comments, and I still haven't figured out why David and Boris Afremov were impersonating him on the phone...Once again, I specifically asked for "Leonid Afremov" not "Mr." Afremov, and both David and Boris pretended to be him by saying "yes, this is Leonid." The funniest part is that David actually admitted that Leonid isn't even around, even though both his brother and he said they were Leonid Afremov.
Nobody is questioning whether Leonid is a good artist or not, that entirely depends on people's taste. But what IS being questioned is who touches up and signs these master embellished giclees? This very suspicious behavior of Leonid Afremov being impersonated is now public and I just wanted consumers to know what they are getting themselves into. Also, to respond to a consumer with "really tired of your smart comments and nonsense" should give you an idea of what kind of people you are dealing with.
This is more for the consumer to know than for you to respond with YOUR nonsense, so maybe you SHOULD stop responding.
I am not talking about the artist wanting to talk to me or not. I am also not talking about where he lives or where his business is located anymore. The primary issue here is that he is being impersonated. If they can impersonate his voice they can surely just touch up and sign his paintings as if it was him as well.
Once again, if you haven't understood the first time, the issue is that Leonid Afremov is being impersonated! I completely understand an artist needs his time, an artist needs to paint, an artist would like to be left alone, fine, but having people impersonate him to make a sale? You must be joking.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
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He is a piece if sh+t
Somebody should sue this [censored]bag
Regarding "friends81" and his comment that "the Chinese dont paint that good" in response to my suggestion that perhaps the Chinese are painting his crap, let me restate my prior assertion: Watch his videos in which he allegedly does he pallette knife painting. Do any of these videos show him doing a painting from start to finish? Find one that does. THEY DO NOT EXIST! All you ever see is some fat old ethnic looking dude with an exaggerated grin on his face placing blobs of paint on a partially complete canvass. The video is cut and paste. YOU NEVER ACTUALLY SEE HIM COMPLETE ANYTHING.
He is a freaking scam artist. He is unfortunately chilling the ability of legitimate artists to have a place to sell their work. After this [censored]bag, I am done buying art on the internet.
I looked at these videos. However, as I said above, they do not actually show this "artist" completeing anything. It is all cut and paste. He never COMPLETES anything. Therefore it proves NOTHING. He is an artist alright- a SCAM ARTIST. Very pathetic.
I purchased one of his reproductions through his auction afremov.com during a Black Friday special he was having. I paid nearly $300 for "Morning Mood". The painting I received looked nothing like the image on the auction. My painting looks like a child painted it and the colors are way off and that destroys the effect I was attracted to in the picture. I paid extra to have the canvas stretched onto a frame, and again it appears that a child has attempted to do this...it is wrinkled. I am very disappointed with my purchase and even more disappointed to read of so many other unhappy consumers. The original artwork is absolutely gorgeous and he should have no reason to scam people.
I purchased a painting the 4th of the month and have received a run around ever since. I have contacted Inessa and emailed back and forth to no avail I am out my money and no painting why has the authorities not done anything to these people.
This operation is laughable. I wonder how old AFREMOV has the time to do these hundreds of originals and further, even if he could there would always be differences in color and quality. I'd still like one if he will let me pay for with a $3 dollar bills.
swilcann
Wow. I just recently discovered his paintings and fell in love with them. My wife and I are building a new house and wanted to purchase a few of his originals for our new place, but after reading these reviews we will defiantly look elsewhere for our arts. Thank you and sorry for everything that happened to you all.
I also bought 3 paintings from Leonid Afremov, the first one I received was absolutely beautiful! I love it soo much. I ordered 2 more and the are absolutely disappointing. Both lacked detail, depth, and pride. Unfortunately, I will not buy anymore paintings from Leonid. I think he has gotten to the point he will risk the pride in his work in order to fill in the orders. Which is certainly not a good practice as an artist. I am an art collector and have various artist paintings in my house. I will not be displaying Leonid Afremov's art as it does not come close to being artist quality.
QUANTITY is more important then QUALITY here!
I was just about to buy a piece when I saw that "shipping" worldwide was free! That got me suspicious and started searching for fraud and thank God I ended up here!
Pitty to see works of an artist being scammed this way.
I ordered 4 paintings from Leonid Afremov, and I am very happy with quality, will order much more
Hi there,
I am an artist as well and I can without a doubt there is no way I would ever stop a painting to talk to somebody. Only painters seem to understand why. It is because we step into the painting, into another world and getting us out of that world could ruin the effect you are creating. Enough said.
Thanks,
Artist Kevin Bowers
Very happy with the art works that I received
Dear friend, Hello!
My name is Dmitry, I am in charge of customer service of afremov.com
I saw your posts, that you are not happy with our company, I am sorry about that
Please contact me about any issue, and you will receive or painting or refund within next 24 hrs, as long we know the problem, we can help
My email is dmitry@afremov.com
While I can't comment on the quality of the Afremov recreation work I can say there is absolutely no way he produces all the recreations as is stated on all his sites. Looing at Etsy.com alone is latest account AfremovArtStudio has sold over 2, 000 paintings since March 2013. Thats 113 paintings a month, 4.5 paintings a day with no holidays. His prices don't line up with the actual cost of doing the work. When you watch him paint on YouTube the videos are an hour or more long and you see only parts of the painting getting done. I estimate based on these it takes him 3-5 hours to do a painting. Average that out and it is 14-18hrs a day painting, no breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And this is only one of his sites. He also sells on his own site and on eBay. This kind of volume is simply not trustworthy. I believe what happened is the chinese started knocking him off (because his original work is fabulous!) and his way to combat it was to outsource the work to china so he gets paid. I actually don't have a problem with that but be HONEST and say that. Warhol did it why not follow his lead. Don't tell people they are getting a painting painted by the artist himself say it is a recreation done by others for the artist of his original work. Lastly his prices are absurd. Especially when you consider he does buy one get one free and he ships for free. No one can do all that by themselves and make a decent profit or any profit in some cases. The cost of material and delivery (free worldwide! Insane) would be at least $50 a painting and you can get two for as little as $200 even less some days. So he makes $100 on 8-10 hours of work? Plus, his sons do all the online portion which is easily a full time job and they need to get paid too. Simply crazy. He is really destroying the arts community online and I hope no one buys these thinking they are getting the real deal because you're most certainly not. As much as I love his original work; the stuff he actually does which does sell for a lot more, I can't support anything this "artist" does because of his shady tactics and devaluation of original art as whole.
To ewww, please check his site:
http://afremov.com/pages.php?pageid=20
he never says that he paint all paintings by himself, of course artist of his level have helpers and students, all famous artist have a team that work with them,
he honestly tell it when you buy paintings from him, and all this stated on his site and on his blog, you buy artwork created by afremov studio, but under his supervision and I think he finish the paintings him self, with his technic it can be done really fast.
When you buy his original, he will charge at list 2000 usd or even more
Recreation, is different way of art product that allows him to sell paintings not only to the reach people but aloso to regular collectors that don't have allot of money,
regular person that want to have oil on canvas, not a print will buy his art work, no matter if he created 100% of it or his studio created this paintings together with him
Check his feedbacks on etsy or ebay or any of his sites, he almost have no issues, that mean people love what they received, so the quality is good
I am artist my self, and in this time is very hard to sell, so Afremov created new product that allows buyers with limited budget to own oil on canvas paintings not a prints,
My opinion don't be jelice to his success, paint better, don't count somebody else money
Afremov good artist and as I see really good business man
Sorry for my english
Alber, france
First, I would like to say that I am not an art collector. I do not claim to have any "real" knowledge on art. My expertise and interest lie in other fields. Having said that, I do have a nice home and enjoy having beautiful paintings, regardless of their value to others. So, I don't know what my Leonid Afremov paintings are worth, but they are very beautiful and do not, in any way, lack in quality. I have received countless compliments on his work...including from other professional artists. So, if you just want something nice for your home, then you can not go wrong with Leonid, in my opinion. I should think that if you are a serious collector, you would have all your homework done on the artist before making a purchase.
Secondly, he is quick to respond to emails. I think that is professional and not a red flag for fraudulent activity. Additionally, I went out on a limb with the second painting I ordered from him and asked him to make a color change. He did so gladly and we were very pleased with the results. My point of commenting on this very old thread is, whether or not there is anything shady, you do get your art in a timely manner, it will be beautiful and you will not spend a fortune on it. Whomever you are speaking to in customer service is friendly, accommodating and prompt. I will definitely order from him again.
Stephanie B.
I'm seriously concerned with the responses I've been reading here. These are not professional responses. What kind of professional stoops to name calling. I just bought four works, and am already regretting it. There was a buy two originals get one free deal. With a disclaimer that you might not get the one I the photograph. Also, these alleged originals were leftovers that didn't sell at a recent exhibition. So there is no way to track it. I fear I've been duped. How could there possibly be a deal like that for ORIGINAL paintings? I feel like a real sucker. You get what you pay for. CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Thank you for your review. I am thinking of buying the same deal plus one more. how do you know that were leftovers from an exhibition?
I also made a purchase of surprise paintings 3 for 198$, received within a month, so all fine, paintings look just super:)
OMG! I can't even get thru all this rubbish. If you like the painting, buy it. If you don't like it, or think it's too expensive, don't buy it. If you have a question, ask someone who respresents the company. Why the hell do you need to speak with the artist himself? Who cares where the hell he lives? Stalker.
Who the hell are you to tell people what they want and how they should proceed! If I am spending my hard earned cash on an object, I would like the real thing, from the person it's supposed to be from! I work hard, I purchase something from that hard earned cash, it better well be what it says! Thank you.
Original: https://afremov.com/image.php?type=P&id=18771
Copy: http://i.imgur.com/1DJycKy.jpg
Bought and received Misty Mood II - 40 x 30 inches. I attached a photo. The back is signed Leonid Afremov. Don't know if it was really him or an apprentice or someone in Mexico. The signature on the painting front - looks like it may be a stamp, but for the $165, the painting is 100% beautiful and I am 100% happy with it. I had a small issue when the item shipped and it was quickly answered and resolved by Boris Afremov (or whoever answers the mailbox). As the description said it would be, my painting has slightly different colors and the trees are in different places than the original, but overall theme and quality are perfect. I can see the palate knife strokes and believe this was hand painted. It is not a Giclee print or anything like that. I paid $150 for a nice Giclee Photo of a painting at the DC Smithsonian, and it is nice. I paid about the same for this hand painted painting and it is more than worth every penny. I am very happy and ordered a second one last week.
For $165, I honestly believe you have been ripped off. You can clearly see how mediocre the painting is compared to the image online. Yes, I am happy about a couple of paintings I purchased from Afremov. My experience after that was horrendous.
See https://afremov.pissedconsumer.com/honest-review-of-afremov-buyer-beware-201802111187374.html
SOME GOOD EXPeriences and many bad and some horrific. I am still on the fence. As someone 9n this thread sais - if u like it, buy it- if not don't. That is s8lly and misses the point of the issue. It could be interesting to read what reddit has said if afremov and their experience and why they hanned this company. Evidence of many fake profiles talking up the work .
I agree it doesn't matter to me who recreates Afremov's original paintings. The originals are beautiful and the price for the recreations is a bargain for original oils and the size. The Afremov organization provides a money back guarantee if you don't like what you get. My issue is the Afremov business is misleading customers by making them believe Afremov is actually painting all these thousands of recreations. It's not humanly possible and deceptive, which taints Afremov's professionalism.
Trying to buy an original or even a personalised print from UK is a mine field. Mr Afremov has said online, numerous times, he has collectors in the UK and boasts "No shipping cost". When you want to add gallery wrapping, the cost is way through the roof, this costs more that the print by it's self! My friend love these bright art works by 'some artist' embellished by Afremov?! Won't burst my friends bubble, but his birthday present will have more class.
As far as I was aware, Leonid Afremov answered my email on Etsy?! Very arrogant man told me I was purchasing a fake when I declined to buy from this website
Leonid Afremov died some years ago. I tried to meet him and it was impossible, and nobody saw him in the last years. His children run this business.
To JBika
Check my facebook page, visit my gallery open 10-5 PM, join my webinars. Tomorrow 24.12.2017 10 AM EST I have live broadcast from my studio, there you can see me and ask any questions that you like
https://www.facebook.com/leonidafremovofficialpage/videos/1111056009028610/
https://www.facebook.com/leonidafremovofficialpage/videos/1123926434408234/
I recently bought an Afremov "recreation". Have not yet received my painting, BUT, things have not gone smoothly thus far. I will reserve further comment until my painting arrives. I did have a phone conversation with David and it was not a very nice conversation on his part. That's all I will say right now.
First time I knew about an artist Leonid Afremov from the Internet. His paintings are practically everywhere in social networks because there are many people who like them and share.
The first painting by Afremov, which I saw was ‘Paris of my Dreams’. I was just strolling down the page when it attracted my attention. It was a real explosion of colors! Moreover, it seemed to cast pleasant yellow light from the screen into my room. I immediately got interested in this artist.
Then, I discovered that he has his own web site, which looks like an online art gallery and sales his works globally directly from the artist without any margins.
I really like his romantic paintings. He has a whole series dedicated to couples strolling down misty alleys close to each other. I have decided to purchase one of them as a birthday gift to myself. I have just moved to a new apartment, which looked pretty empty without any decoration. The walls in my studio were white and the furniture was blue, so I wanted to find something matching.
The artwork I like the most is ‘Melody of the Night’. There are several reasons why I have chosen this canvas. First of all, it’s a typical Afremov’s work: very colorful and colorful, which seems to be casting mild cozy light. I admire the cheerful blue palette of this painting in the contrast with yellow and orange. Secondly, I just love how this canvas makes me feel.
I do not have a girlfriend right now, and I believe that this painting will attract love into my life. The atmosphere, which it creates in my small apartment, is very special. Instead of an inhospitable bachelor’s harbor, it turned into a quite romantic place where lives a profound and sensitive guy, dreaming of sharing his life with someone special.
The website is very simple to use. You can use a word search, choose the subject of canvas, for example, ‘Urban’ or ‘Animals and pets’. You can also go to the online gallery and choose any product you like. In addition to paintings, there are also smartphone cases with his works printed on them, suitable for different models of smartphones. I am thinking about ordering one for myself too.
The paying process is very easy. They accept Paypal payments as well as any credit card. It is completely safe, so you do not need to worry about your data.
I ordered my painting on 20th of November. The shipment is free. FedEx shipment company delivers parcels all over the world. After the payment process had been completed, a manager contacted me by email and informed me about all the details about my order.
I live in Canada, so shipping was free for me and very fast. It took just around two weeks. However, if you do not live in the USA, Mexico or Canada, check the delivery conditions for your country. As far as I know, it is free internationally too, but only for unframed paintings. Actually, it could be a advantage, because you this way you can choose any kind of frame you like.
When the parcel arrived, I was so excited. It was packed very carefully, which I appreciate. I have ordered a gallery wrapped painting, because I wanted to hang it on a wall in my house. I am absolutely satisfied with what I saw after I opened the parcel! The painting looks even better in real life. It is not too small or too big, and is just perfect for my place.
I initially purchased a recreation. I asked for a photo of the actual painting for approval before shipment and was very happy when it arrived.
On the next orders for original one of a kind paintings, I was enticed that I could get more original painting for free with my orders. I asked for photos before shipment but I was assured that I will get the same thing as what was in the website image. I am now feeling sorry and stupid that I relented. To my disgust, the paintings that I received were mediocre compared to the online images.
I did receive a full refund. I have asked for return labels for the mediocre paintings.
I am sharing this experience to protect potential buyers. Read my detailed review at https://afremov.pissedconsumer.com/honest-review-of-afremov-buyer-beware-201802111187374.html
Received my painting today, payed $139, I think it is super nice deal
Just found Leonid' post, he specially ask all buyers to list his paintings online, so others will see them
https://www.facebook.com/leonidafremovofficialpage/photos/a.122356081231946.21134.110456462421908/1168121196655424/?type=3&theater
It's awful. You got ripped off an he didn't paint it obviously.
All of these complaints have a stark similarity to complaints seen in fake Chinese sites: fake tracking numbers, very long delivery times or no delivery at all...and when delivery is actually made, the delivered product is always different from the one advertised. Which artist creating original works have warehouses? I firmly believe that this site is located in China and the art is being churned out like shoes in a factory
This is all a scam! I ordered a painting for $199. Cute that they’re selling all the dad’s paintings after his death right? Well I immediately tried to cancel after I got a run around email. I called customer service. I emailed. I messaged on Facebook. NOTHING. Then today I pressed 2 for sales. Someone answered! I was told to call back and press 1 for customer service. Noooooo, not going to do that. I said I was going to dispute my charge (which I did). I had a refund 4 hours later. Mmhmm. Scam.