Bryan Owen Conservation

Whatever you do, stay away from this man, Bryan Owen! I brought two Asian brush-stroke paintings on white paper, damaged by water marks, for him to assess. Due to COVID, we stood outside in his parking lot, with both framed paintings displayed, side-by-side, on the back deck of my SUV. He had indicated that, at first viewing, he would give me a preliminary estimate range, to be followed by a more exact estimate after removing the paintings from frames and examining more carefully. When I asked him what the preliminary estimate range would be to repair the paintings, he said to me – simply – “between $200 and $400.” Since that seemed in line with expectations, I left the paintings with him for further analysis and to get his “final” estimate. A short time later, via email, I received it: $500. He indicated the paper itself, “attached with minimal tape” would be “straightforward to remove” and that he was “confident” the stains “will be reduced greatly – 80%.” I expressed my surprise, given the rather “straightforward” nature of his assessment of the work, that his final price was actually 25% higher than the top of his preliminary estimate range. It was only then – to my utter astonishment! – that he informed me that he had meant his $200 to $400 estimate range to apply TO EACH PAINTING – something he had COMPLETELY NEGLECTED TO STIPULATE at our initial meeting. As I continued to object to the sloppy – and possibly deceptive – way he had handled the pricing of this project, ineptly neglecting to make the terms of his pricing fully clear to this customer, he became increasingly haughty, condescending, pompous and dismissive. Needless to say, I retrieved my paintings without hesitation. My warning to anyone who would consider Bryan Owen for conservation work is, at best, he is incompetent in dealing professionally with a client. At worst he is dishonest. Either way, his arrogance and pomposity are completely out of keeping with the requirements of effective customer service. I write this, gladly, in the hopes of protecting others from Bryan Owen’s incompetence or dishonesty and to spare them the insult of having to deal with his unmitigated arrogance. Once again, stay away from “Bryan Owen Conservation.”