Trump Cheated Me: Freehold Piano Store Owner Refutes Candidate's Bad Job Claim

The retired owner of a Freehold music store is firing back at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying the candidate's claim that contractors who accuse him of failing to pay them performed unsatisfactory work are nonsense.

"He's always suggesting that the people who worked for him didn't do the right job, didn't complete their work on time, that something was wrong," J. Michael Diehl of Millstone, the retired owner of Freehold Music Center, wrote in an op-ed piece published Wednesday in the Washington Post. "But I delivered quality pianos, tuned and ready to go. I did everything right. And then Trump cheated me. It's a callous way to do business."

Diehl's story was first highlighted in July, not long before Trump was confirmed as the nominee at the Republican National Convention. A report on Trump's casino dealings in the Asbury Park Press mentioned Dielh's predicament, where Trump offered him $70,000 for eight pianos worth $100,000 ordered for Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in 1989.

Hillary Clinton's campaign picked up on Diehl's story and highlighted it in a video tweeted out shortly before the Republican convention:

On Wednesday, Diehl again recounted what happened in 1989 when he tried to get paid for the grand pianos from the Trump corporation.

"After a couple of months, I got a letter telling me that the casino was short on funds. They would pay 70 percent of what they owed me. There was no negotiating. I didn’t know what to do — I couldn’t afford to sue the Trump corporation, and I needed money to pay my piano suppliers. So I took the $70,000," Diehl wrote.

"Losing $30,000 was a big hit to me and my family," he said. "There was no money to help grow my business. I had fewer pianos in the showroom and a smaller advertising budget. Because of Trump, my store stagnated for a couple of years. It made me feel really bad, like I’d been taken advantage of. I was embarrassed."

The Trump campaign has not responded directly to Diehl's claim at any time since it first surfaced in July.

“Seven years ago, I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered,” Trump said in the first GOP debate. “And I made a lot of money in Atlantic City. And I’m very proud of it.”

Diehl called Trump's response an attack he takes personally.

"I'm one of the many small business owners who've been used by Trump, exploited and forced to suffer a loss because of his corporation's shady practices," Diehl said. "We need a president who cares about small business owners, and about honoring his commitments. That’s not Trump."

Read Diehl's full commentary here.

J. Michael Diehl photo: screenshot from Clinton campaign ad