Tom J. Fontaine rockandrollinvestments.com. Signed collectible memorabilia of The Beatles, Hendrix, Morrison, etc. Tom Fontaine of rockandrollinvestments.com totaled $4,000 in web deign costs and refuses to pay for services rendered. Tom Fontaine is a BAD business alliance. Same thing occurred to designer who foll Indianapolis, Indiana

I've known Tom Fontaine for approximately three years. I was introduced to Tom who was seeking a web site designer for redesign, copy writing, and general consultation.
We spoke by phone, agreed on a direction, and began working on a new site for his RockAndRollInvestments.com site.

Because we spent a great deal of time in 'consultation', Tom began to share very personal and rather confidential information about notable individuals in the entertainment memorabilia (The Beatles in particular) industry.  He would talk endlessly about what these people had done to him, how they were still 'out-to-get-him (turning customers away from his business), and the physical harm they would cause he and his wife if he were to stand his ground.

As time went on, and beginning to understand Fontaines anxieties better,  I continued to work with Tom to improve his site.  I thrice reconstructed his entire website.  I did endless 'emergency' site changes and rush changes were often called for as 'situations' came up.  This included early morning and late evening calls.  There were changes that needed to be accomplished 'within the next ten minutes'.   What I've described is a great deal of time-intensive labor, often working weekends and a number of all-night emergencies.

As I came to know Tom Fontaine, I was better able to get a feel for his 'paranoia' and situations that either supported, or diminished the fears he had.  I felt badly for him and, through a 'friendliness' that developed between us, often did not charge him for work as he had not had a sale in a year.   He told me regularly that he was becoming destitute and "just keeping his head above water". 

Most recently (last 3 months), Tom asked me to completely redesign his entire web site.  I pointed out that he had an outstanding balance with me, and that what he was proposing would not be inexpensive - even with my 'discounts'.  He said there was no problem.

After a weekend of working all night and a full week of design and consulting by phone, the new web site was finished.  He was delighted and told me so.  I have e-mails that support all my commentary.  I added all the projects I'd completed, factored in an amount for 'emergency (now!) service, and e-mailed Tom an invoice totaling $3,900.    

I did not hear from Tom Fontaine for two weeks.  This was very unusual.  I left two messages on his answering machine checking to see if he was alright.  My calls were not returned. 

Within a week, checking my E-mail, I found a Cease & Desist order served by Fontaines attorney Rabah Soofi (Ice Miller LLC in IN.).  It ordered I was to have no contact with Mr. Fontaine whatsoever.  The letter went on to explain that Tom Fontaine would NOT need to pay me because I conspired against him.  As I mentioned above, Fontaine shared the most profoundly intimate details of his business and industry of Signed Rock And Roll Memorabilia. I had files at that point that, if it were my agenda, could have caused Fontaines business immeasurable harm.  I removed these files when the C & D order was sent. My point is simply that had my agenda been to hurt Fontaines business, I could have.  Thats not who I am.

My interest was/is solely in collecting the $3,900 that Fontaine owes me.

I have support from the web designer that took my place with Fontaine declaring that the web site I built for Tom Fontaine was beautifully done.  She and I have become friends borne of the unfortunate experience of working for Tom Fontaine. She too was just recently denied payment when she invoiced Tom.  She is willing to testify on my behalf, that the web site she encountered, when starting work with Fontaine was perfectly sound fine work.   There was NO incidence of poor workman ship, let alone my hurting Fontaines business.  What we both experienced was a rather paranoid Fontaine and his problem with paying his bills.  Fontaine is unable to provide a shred of reasoning or evidence of wrong doing on my part that would be grounds for the C & D.    

I began speaking with Fontaines most recent designer/firing.  As we compared notes on working with Fontaine a friendship developed.  Most recently she had invoiced him for her work, and again he declined to pay.  His premise was he could not afford the $1,900 invoice and settled with her for $500. 

Fontaine came to her home to work out the settlement. While at her home to pay her, she felt frightened by Fontaine.  He also advised her that he, and his attorney Rabeh, would start working on getting Ron.  This reference Im convinced became the C & D order the two concocted, to attempt a ploy for Fontaine to not have to pay monies owed me.

Interestingly enough two weeks before Fontaines attorney served me with the C & D, he and I discussed finances by phone.  He complained of the lack of sales, and was not in touch with me for trying to keep his head above water.  He asked if he could pay me $1k as payment towards the full $3,900.  I declined, assuring him I knew he was good for it, to relax and pay when he was able.  This frames the C & D in a much more conspiratorial light, groping for a way to divest himself of his obligation to pay for services rendered.  I believe this is keenly demonstrates how things came together.

I don't know how dangerous or emotionally unwell Tom Fontaine is, I can only recommend passing on any business alliance with him - whatsoever - which would include involvement in purchasing costly entertainment memorabilia.  I have come to question his sense of reality and see that this man who proclaimed to be devoutly spiritual easily decided to defraud me out of fees I worked very hard for.  He is a sad and unwell individual in my opinion.

SECOND ENTRY IN RIP_OFF_REPORT:

As addendum to my report regarding Tom Fontaine of RockAndRollInvestments.com, I have been contacted by a law firm/collection organization about the $3,900 Fontaine never paid for.  They are involved in an investigation into Fontaine's business practices representing several other companies (not involved in Fontaine's web site) interested in damages for monies Fontaine would not pay. 

It would seem that I, and the webmaster that was hired as my replacement, are not the only service providers victims of Fontaines distaste for paying his bills.  

Well see what happens in collections.  The preceding is my views of Tom Fontaine, his attorney Rabeh Soofi, and remains my right to express (First Amendment) to provide others with information who might consider any alliance with Tom Fontaine of rockandrollinvestments.com. 

*UPDATE*

On 9-23-09 I sent Tom Fontaine's attorney, Rabeh Soofi a Cease and Desist letter via email and received a return receipt indicating she received the email and it was displayed on her computer. Today, 9-24-09, I received an additional email from Rabeh completely ignoring my Cease and Desist request. I decided to call her and confirm in a recorded conversation that she understood what a Cease and Desist meant. She then told me "Cease and desist does not apply to attorneys". Hmm, this is not true and could possibly cause her and her firm a huge problem when complaints are filed with the Bar Association. My biggest concern is that she is continuing to try to intimidate me and make claims that are not justified, nor have any real merit. Bottom line is, my experiences have shown that this "lawyer" has behaved unprofessionally and has been another nightmare to deal with. I am copying and pasting the contents of our last few emails below "for your viewing pleasure" ************************************************************ Rabeh, Tom should be able to provide you with all of the things you are needing. He has copies of everything. Again, Tom is not involved with this site anymore as per his email to me, therefore I am not able to provide you anything. You are not representing the other parties involved, so therefore I can not provide you with anything that was agreed to by them. You indicated yesterday that you were only representing Tom. I am no longer concerned with getting the cancellation form signed at this point. Tom has changed the domain names with Godaddy and therefore I now consider this matter closed. I received confirmation of this by email. Your client provided false information to me several times and caused a huge concern with trust and therefore I decided to part ways rather than take legal action, however if he continues to pursue this, I am prepared to take any and all legal action necessary. I will not be interested in cooperating with Tom in regards to his issues with Ron Kolman and have decided to part ways in every aspect. Please be advised that the final cost for Tom's website issues was only $500.00 and a copy of the invoice was sent to Ron and his attorney for their records. Please advise your client he needs to Cease and Desist in further contact and communication with me, my companies and business relationships. I regret that I will not respond to any additional emails, but feel there is nothing more I can do to help you or Tom. I have removed all copies of Tom's website files from my computer, the email address was closed(webmaster@rockandrollinvestments.com). In closing, please Cease and Desist in further contact to me by email, phone, mail, in person, etc. Thank you, Chris ************************************************************** Let us be clear in addressing the various points raised by your email below: 1) RockandRollInvestments.com Website. It is our understanding, and you have confirmed in your email below, that you are no longer involved with the Rock and Roll Investments website and that Tom Fontaine owes no other obligations to you for any reason related thereto. Accordingly, this is a demand that you refrain in the future from associating yourself with Tom Fontaine and/or Rock and Roll Investments in any way, taking any action or omission that would cause third parties to believe you are in any way connected with Tom Fontaine and/or Rock and Roll Investments, and remove all references to Tom Fontaine, Rock and Roll Investments, and/or the RockandRollInvestments.com website from your websites, business portfolio, or other material connected to you or AWDS. 2) Communications with Ron ******. Thank you for informing us that you independently contacted Ron ****** and/or Ron ******s' attorney regarding the work you performed after Ron ****** deleted the RockandRollInvestments.com website several weeks ago. Your email below and prior communications with Tom have stated that the total bill was for $500.00, and not the Invoice for $1,963.55 dated August 18, 2009 (attached), which in a conversation with me you stated was your final bill and would not be reduced at all for any reason because of the overnight effort and urgent nature of the work which was performed. It is now our understanding that the August 18, 2009 invoice was false and fabricated because you wished to "stick it to Ron," and that the true and accurate bill for your services was for $500.00. In your email below, you stated you forwarded your $500 bill to Ron ****** and/or his attorney. Please be advised you had no authority to communicate with Ron ****** and/or his attorney as Tom Fontaine did not authorize you to take any such actions. Accordingly, this is a request that you: 1) Provide me with a copy of all communications/letters/emails or other information you sent to Ron ****** and/or his attorney; and 2) that you cease and desist and refrain from contacting Ron ****** and/or his attorney in any manner for any reason connected to Tom Fontaine and or the RockandRollinvestments.com website. 3) MusiciansClassifiedsOnline.com Website. You previously stated to me via telephone and email that your cancellation form was mandatory and required per your website policy. Your email below now states that no cancellation form is needed. Accordingly, this is confirmation of your position that no agreement/document need be signed by Tom Fontaine to formalize the termination of your services from the MusiciansClassifiedsOnline.com website, insofar as Tom Fontaine is concerned. Given the $350 cash payment already paid to you by Tom Fontaine (on behalf of himself and Lenny Van Orton) (which receipt is attached), Tom Fontaine and Lenny Van Orton owe you no further obligations or amounts in connection with the MusiciansClassifiedsOnline.com website, and have parted ways with you completely and fully. 4) Letter from Fox Rothschild. On September 3, 2009, you were sent a letter by the law firm Fox Rothschild in connection with a series of telephone calls and emails you made to First Data Independent Sales (letter attached). It is our understanding that you were asked to stop harrassing FDIS personnel by making at least 31 phone calls to one FDIS employee on Sept. 2, 2009, calling the employee a "f**king coward" among other improper communications, threats, and false statements, as set forth by the Fox Rothchild letter. The Fox Rothchild letter states that a police report was filed in response to your harrassing communications. Please be advised that you had no authority to engage in any of these actions by Tom Fontaine and/or Rock and Roll Investments, as Tom Fontaine has never and would never condone such conduct. You similarly had no authority to undertake such conduct representing yourself as Rock and Roll Investments' webmaster. Accordingly, we will be notifying Fox Rothschild that your actions were independent, unauthorized, and as astonishing to us as they must have been to the FDIS employees. 5) General No-Contact Demand. As a final matter, given the friction and breakdown of the relationship between you and Tom Fontaine, we are making a no-contact demand, namely, that you refrain in the future from contacting, calling, e-mailing, writing, or in any way communicating with Tom Fontaine, his family, Rock and Roll Investments, in any way, whether in person, electronically, verbally, or otherwise. Please let me know immediately if you do not intend to comply with this request so Tom Fontaine can proceed accordingly. Otherwise, we will consider all matters with you closed, with no further need for any other action needed by Tom Fontaine. We wish you luck in your future pursuits and appreciate your cooperation. If you have any need to reach Tom Fontaine for any reason in the future, direct your inquiry to my attention. Regards, Rabeh M. A. Soofi Attorney at Law ICE MILLER LLP Legal Counsel One American Sq. Suite 2900 Indianapolis, IN 46282 Telephone: (317) 236-2173 Facsimile: (317) 592-4272 Email: Rabeh.Soofi@icemiller.com ************************************************************ Rabeh, 1. You were informed to Cease and Desist in contacting me. You have not respected that and emailed me again today, which constitutes as harassment and a police report is being filed now. 2. Per my policy and the agreement Tom and I had, his website link will remain on my portfolio as I did complete the work and he accepted the discounted rate which permitted me to include him in my portfolio. I will NOT remove that as I did complete all of the work for him. 3. You do not speak or represent Ron ******, and therefore you can not "demand" me to "cease and desist" in communicating with him. I already spoke with him about the situation and my concerns, so what is done is done. I was paid by Tom, $500.00 in which he was provided a receipt. (Attached copy) He was advised the prior invoice was to be disregarded as we negotiated a lower price to cut me out of the picture and get me paid for the work I completed. 4. As explained to you previously, you do not represent the other partners, therefore you need to "CEASE AND DESIST" in making claims and/or references to them. When Tom forfeited his involvement, he forfeited his claims/rights to the domain and website. This was explained to all parties. If (they) failed to stick with the site for the trial, I would keep the domain and website. Therefore the domain was not transferred from MY NAME (as I purchased it) and I am continuing to maintain MY website. 5. I never received a letter from Fox rothchild. in fact Tom agreed to email it to me and never did. I was Mr. Fontaine's webmaster, and had the email address to prove it, among several emails and recorded calls with Mr. Fontaine. If this was such a "concern" to your client, why did he continue to use my services????? Again, just a simple intimidation tactic....not scared or worried about this. I have all of my ducks in a row. Again, DO NOT contact me, you and your client, your law firm are hereby notified a final time they are to CEASE and DESIST in further contact. Police reports will be filed for each violation of this request, and formal complaints to the Bar Association will soon follow. Chris *************************************************************** September 24, 2009 Rabeh M. A. Soofi AND ICE MILLER LLP One American Sq. Suite 2900 Indianapolis, IN 46282 REF: Tom Fontaine, Rock and Roll Investments Dear Rabeh M. A. Soofi and Ice Miller LLP: You are hereby notified that your services are no longer desired. You and your law firm and your client, Tom Fontaine must CEASE & DESIST all attempts of contacting or communicating with me via email, phone, letters, person, mail, etc. Failure to comply with this law will result in my immediately filing a complaint with the Bar Association, local Police Departments and the Indiana Attorney General's office. I will pursue all criminal and civil claims against you and your law firm. Let this letter also serve as your warning that I will continue to utilize telephone recording devices in order to document any telephone conversations that we may have in the future. Let it also be known that Rabeh's statement that the law does not apply to her and that "Cease and Desist request to lawyers does not apply" is not only inaccurate, but highly unprofessional conduct and behavior for an attorney. I may decide to file a complaint with the Bar Association and include the recorded conversation with Rabeh, in which she stated that the Cease and Desist request does not apply to her after speaking with my council in depth about this tomorrow. Your client has no claims against me as everything he has alleged is contradicted by his continuing to use my services, and is simply in retaliation of me deciding to terminate my relationship with him. For one final time, I will advise you that in the last few conversations I have had with you, in fact every phone call I do believe, has not been pleasant for me. You have a very over- aggresive, demanding and intimidating personality and Rabeh, you are very emotional. (Although you TRIED to say I am emotional when I a not and everyone that knows me, knows that is simply NOT me or my character, to be "emotional") I do not do threats, or attempted intimidation. I find it unprofessional, rude, and down right "dirty". I am a woman that will stand up for what is right and if pushed too far I will fight back if needed. Your client agreed to my terms when he hired me. He was given my website address and access to my purchase policy and agreed to my terms when he hired me. Mr. Fontaine accepted a discounted rate on his website, www.rockandrollinvestments.com and www.carpedesignsonline.com. That meant he agreed to be included in my company portfolio and a link back to his site. If Mr. Fontaine would like to "null" that agreement, he may make a payment for the difference of the discounted rate, which is $300.00 for each site. Once that is agreed and paid, his website links will be deleted from my portfolio. No problem. In regards to musiciansclassifiedsonline, Mr. Fontaine and the other partners forfitted their agreement to stick with the site for a minimum of 2 months. When they signed up, they agreed to allow me to purchase the domain names and I also provided hosting services for 2 months. They understood that if they pulled out of the agreement, they forfitted the domains to me. Mr. Fontaine changed his other domains that he had purchased with Go Daddy from pointing to my servers and his domain names are secure and in HIS possession. Thise domains, he does own, however I Own www.musiciansclassifiedsonline.com as it was agreed that I would purchase the domain and host the site for two months. Since there was no way to get the domain name for "two months" I gave them a discounted rate for the domain names to own them for "two months". After that two month trial, they would purchase them from me at the difference in the proce (approx. 7.00) and then we would re-negotiate all of the terms and where we would go from there. Therfore, there are several huge concerns I would like to address. 1. Partners forfitted the domain and I am allowing the site to remain active, as it now belongs to me and is registered to me. Your client and other partners do not have any claim to the domain name, the website, it's files or anything to do with www.musiciansclassifiedsonline.com. Please advise your client that all partners have been blocked and banned from the site. 2. Payment was late and still left a outstanding late fee balance which is gathering additional late fees for having a outstanding balance. In regards to the issues with FDIS, again, if this was a concern to your client, why did he not forward a copy of the letter as requested? Why did he not provide a copy when he came to make payments to me? Why did your client continue to use my services? Why did your client continue to try to get me to do more work on his website? Therefore, for this I am not concerned. Your client was provided an explanation and the explanation speaks for itself. I have done nothing wrong, and in regards to your statment that I was not allowed to represent myself as Mr. Fontaine's webmaster? This is surely the crazy thing I think I have seen from you. There are links on Tom's home page that link back to the email address that set me up as the web master. I was available to Mr. Fontine day and noght, what did he "think" I was? His personal assisitant? LOL! In fact, I had to re do Mr. Fontaine's Buy it Now buttons, which was an additional $300.00 in which he never paid me for. In regards to Ron ******, again, you are not his lawyer. I do not have an agreement with Tom stating that I wont discuss my problems with someone else. If your client had not behaved in such a way to make me question his character and acting so parinoid, I probably would have had no reason to question things. The fact remains that I have spoken with Ron ***** and now know that my experiences with Mr. Fontaine were not only valid, but known to others. I find it odd that a few months ago you were gunning to "getting Ron" and yet now you are speaking to a cease and desist? This makes no sense and I will tell who ever I want about my experiences. I also communicate with other web designers throughout the country and believe you me, I HAVE warned them of my experiences. I want the vicious cycle to end! I sent you a original invoice that totalled approx. $590.20 dated on 8-15-09. We later discovered more work needed to be done on the website. Therefore I sent you a updated invoice for $1963.55 dated on 8-18-09. You then called me and began yelling and attempted to argue with me and became so rude and biligerate, that I had to terminate the call. You insisted that the invoice was "too high" and "would not get paid" At which point Tom negotiated me down to $500.00 just so that I would get paid something instead of nothing. This was extortion and blackmail in my opinion. Again, my position is FIRM and if you feel the need to fight this further, I recommend beginning the litigation process. I am fully prepared to do so as well, if needed. If your client wishes to resolve his debt obligations, payment may be made in the form Google Check Out. I will send a final invoice via google check out following this email. *************************************************************** Again, my purpose in posting this information is to allow people to make an informed decision when dealing with these individuals. I would stress again to use extreme caution!

I am the other designer named in the report above. I contacted the original poster to this complaint about Mr. Fontaine when I began experiencing very serious issues with Mr. Fontaine. I recently began to question much of what he had been telling me and became quite concern for myself when Mr. Fontaine threatened me in a recorded phone call on 9-18-09. My experiences with Mr. Fontaine were very similar to the other website designer, in fact, so similar and scary, I now am somewhat hesitate to post this complaint. Mr. Fontaine contacted me after a mutual "friend" referred him to me. I spoke with him about his website and serious accusations and concerns he had. I, too, can verify that I spent long hours on the phone with Mr. Fontaine and even allowed him into my home. I worked with him for well over 200 man hours with "emergency removals/additions/etc". Mr. Fontaine called me at all hours, expecting me to stop what ever I was doing and assist him with his site. I also gave Mr. Fontaine huge discounts because I felt sorry for him and I guess because deep down, I have a good heart and always try to help those I feel are in need. I guess I am just a good designer. In all of the years I have designed sites, I have never lost a client until dealing with Mr. Fontaine. I worked with Mr. Fontaine for a few months and each time he became more and more scary to deal with and to trust. I have caught him in several lies. Each and every time Mr. Fontaine called me, I was available for him. Even at 10:00 PM and even as late as 2:00 AM. I spent many nights working for him and running my web design business during the day. I would literally receive a call from him at night needing something fixed on his site instantly and then he would notice additional things he wanted to do and have me do them. This ran into me working all night, until the early hours of the morning, neglecting other clients and new potential clients. One night in particular, I worked from 8PM until 10AM. I literally ran myself dry. In the end, I gave Mr. Fontaine HUGE discounted rates with the agreement that he would continue to use my services and was (in the end) giving me a lot of business. I can not say if he is a bad business man, I can say my experiences with him were stressful, terrifying and a experience I will never forget. I have learned in a lot of ways and now know what to look out for in the future. I decided to part ways with Mr. Fontaine because I knew I had enough. I also know that no other designer is going to deal with what I dealt with. I am hoping that web designers will see this and understand that Mr. Fontaine is a very needy person (in my opinion) and will demand more than the usual client. Chances are you will end up experiencing similar issues if you deal with him, although this is my opinion. Again, to sum it up, I can not say Mr. Fontaine is going to be a horror to deal with. I can only tell you of my personal experiences and advise caution. There is much more to his behavior, but I guess it is really too much to sit here and type. I hope you understand the issues and concerns. I also wanted to clarify that Mr. Fontaine did have a small balance with me, however I will chalk it up. Heck, if that is all it took to get rid of him, I am happy to loose it. In regards to the actual cost for the site changes, Mr Fontaine did negotiate me down to a MUCH smaller cost and did pay. I never threatened to call the cops on Mr. Fontaine, this is a misunderstanding. I actually said that if I need to call the cops on him I will, meaning if he shows up at my residence or is seen on the property, the cops will be called. I really hope it does not come down to that. I really want to stress that I did TRY to help Mr. Fontaine. I was a friend to him when he needed one and tried to cut him some slack. I feel like he took advantage of my kindness, my trust and caused me to question him. I can not say for certain, however based on the behavior I have seen, Mr. Fontaine showed signs of paranoia and moments of extreme highs and lows. I would see him "super excited" one moment and then in a super jumpy, paranoid man. I actually began to question if he is taking medicine or abusing drugs. I am a honest person and a blunt person. I am only posting my experiences to better inform the public. I am not trying to damage Mr. Fontaine's reputation, nor am I trying to bad mouth him. I am simply stating my experiences and stating that I feel I made a bad choice in dealing with Mr. Fontaine and regret meeting him.