Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but I wanted to let people know about a well known customizer (kitbasher) who recently decided to rip me off for $100.00. I know that kind of money is probably nothing, and to be honest, it is not really about the money. It is about someone who offered customizing classes online, and would have two to three classes going at one time. Now the problem is this person would have people rush to sign up, let us join a board in Facebook and we were promised to have videos available on his website, and then discussions on these Facebook group boards. At first the classes he offered were for individual figures like FOC Grimlock, or Motor Master. Then he got into combiners, and would be seriously delayed in either sending the kits, or posting videos, a lot of times it was both with lame excuses for whatever it was that prevented these classes from starting. Well fast forward to June 2014, where he promises the videos are ready to go, and the kits were shipping within a week or so. Well time goes on and nothing happens except he decides to add more classes for other projects, and take peoples money. Well fast forward a few months and still nothing except excuses and general BS. So I ask for a refund since I never received the kits or videos I paid for, then he tells me to give him some time to get the money or try and sell my spots to someone else. That was September, now it is Feb. 2015 and we still have not had a single kit arrive after several promises, and there has been no activity on the boards for several months. Time for me to again ask for my refund, and since I made a few of the boards for him, I decided the best way to get him motivated was to boot him from the boards until he refunded my money. All of a sudden he is in constant contact, threatening to sue me for taking over the boards that I created. I informed him that until I received my refund for only the classes and kits he did not send, I'd ban him from the boards since I was the Admin. Well he starts with the excuses again and by this time I've had enough. So I made sure that he was NOT on any of the boards I was an admin on so he's get something going. Well apparently after seven months, he decides to get the ball rolling again, and pays me a partial refund with the promise of sending the rest a week from then. Well that week has gone by and he's made new boards and is doing everything possible to not pay me the money he owes. Since it has been so long, I am not covered under Paypal, and he is trying to scare me with more legal action. Well the only problem with that is, I know more about the law than this person could ever hope to know so every time he tries to threaten me, I shoot his empty threat down and tell him to stop with the nonsense and refund me what he owes me. So whether you'd consider this a scam, or whatever, I know that a bunch of people have paid for his classes, and they have NOT received any of the items that they paid for. OK, Venting is over.

 

Who is it?

 

1) Probably wrong forum to post this.

2) Good thing that you're letting people know, but it would probably help if you said who it was.

 

1. $100 IS something. Hot damn.
2. I believe I know who you are referring to, with their first classes being on Grimlock and Motormaster but...to avoid creating drama I'll zip it.

 

Getting scammed is always a terrible thing to go through. Definitely contact the mods to see if anything can be done on their end.

 

$100.00 is still a lot of money and not meeting promises that have been paid for needs to be reported no matter what.

Just a friendly reminder to use the Enter key every now and then.

 

I don't know who you guys are talking about and I don't care, but I will say that by not naming the person you only create problems for the other customizer's reputation.

People are already speculating this Encline guy. If it is not him, you need to clarify so. If people are not given all the information, their imagination will fill in the rest. This is how rumors start and before to long it turns into gossip, and then it becomes truth.

I would say take down this thread, but the damage has already been done. You should tell people who it is so they don't make the same mistake, and not pass blame at the wrong guy.

 

Now that I looked, there are not a lot of people on. I would take this thread down.

 

If it's who I'm thinking, I believe that person is already banned from tfw, but I don't want to be the one whipping everyone up into a frenzy. Not my bot, not my rumble.

 

Yeah sorry for the long paragraph, I guess I just ramble on and things smash together.

It is NOT Encline. Also, I believe a lot of you actually know who it is even if I never said his name, and that in itself says something about this person's character and their less than Stellar business habits.

 

Why would you suggest I take this down? Seems like an odd thing to say unless you had some personal stake in this. I just posted this and it is already on it's second page with most of the people knowing who it is without me even having to say the name. That in and of itself should be more than enough to keep this up and running.

 

FR been taking on alot projects (and money) and not being able to deliver for years now. Not sure why people keep giving money to the guy.

 

Most interested parties will know who he's talking about, as custom classes aren't that commonplace outside of botcon, so yeah, names aside, I'm sorry to hear that this happened, it always sucks when such talented people take advantage of their notoriety and are unable to deliver on their end of the project, hope everything turns out well in the end for everyone

 

Sorry to say but I'm not surprised at all.

 

i'm not sure if this will be taken down or not.. but i have a VERY good idea as to who it is.. google helped and the hints in the comments have cemented it lol.

i, as a fan and collector, would like to know about scams and unreliable sellers or dealers. so, in my opinion.. i say keep the thread.

i know that sometimes someone who does a scam isn't scamming everyone or isn't unreliable all the time. but, going into a deal it's nice to know that in the back of your mind and act accordingly and keep an eye on things.

but, it's not up to me whether or not to close this thread. either way.. thanks for the info and i'm sorry that happened to you. $100 is a lot of money these days.

 

actually it's not that much given that he has apparently scammed thousands out of other people.

 

Wow, this sucks man, sorry to hear your predicament.

Which reminds me of a personal true story I had the displeasure of happening to me a few years ago: I know a guy in Malaysia who does the same thing. (and is still currently posting his pics actively on one of TFW2005's thread: no names, now, but* hint* more MP pics!   ) .....and somehow, yet people STILL gives this dishonest guy their hard earned moolah. What an asshat.  

Scammers are the bane of collecting and everything wrong with this hobby.

 

wow, really?

that blows.

i don't want to jinx it.. but i've never been scammed the entire time i've been in this hobby.. which is like 20+ years. i would be furious if i gave someone my money for something or a service and i received nothing in return. i can't imagine that feeling.