88MPH Cancels Refund Request...2 years 3 months later!?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by dakroland, May 8, 2006.

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  1. dakroland

    dakroland I fix toys.

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    Dead Horse, meet Mr. Bat. Commense beating. :horse: 

    You've probably heard this story a thousand times. On January 31st, 2003 I pre-ordered the 88MPH Studios book, Transformers Genesis with a PayPal payment of $32.48 US. I was excited to see the original Box Artwork for the G1 toys, that was my main reason for ordering the book. A year passed by and so far, no book. Word started going around that some people were getting their book, but nothing ever arrived in my mail box. Finally, I inquired several times about where my book was. Apparently, some people weren't going to get their book, so Sebastien Clavet, Mr. 88MPH himself, asked everyone who wanted a refund to request it through Paypal. This was Feb. 26th, 2004.

    I submitted my request for a refund and waited. No refund was ever received. On Sept 10th, 2004, I wrote an email to inquire what happened to the refunds, and CC:'d it to several 88MPH addresses. I got the following as a response....

    I received it twice. Form email, again. No refund...again.

    Several inquiries have been sent to Sebastien at his various email addresses since then, but no response has been received from Mr. Clavet since 2004...

    2 years and 3 months later, I get an email from PayPal stating that 88MPH Studios has cancelled my request for a refund. No reason for it was stated. It was simply cancelled. I have officially gone from being generally pissed and mad to being infuriated. But this should come as no surprise. Wikipedia listed his issues with giving refund as..

    I think the man is simply a fraud and a thief. $32 may not seem like much to some, for me and my daughter, it's groceries for a week, or a tank of gas that will last me 2 weeks...it's money from my pocket that was given in good faith for what seemed like an exciting and wonderful book. But that money was in fact stolen, no book given as promised and after repeated promises to give a refund, no money returned.

    Does anyone know of any recourse to get this man to pay up? Should I contact PayPal? Or am I just simply wasting my breath, and my energy on that pathetic pile of horse crap known as Sebastien Clavet?
     
  2. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    Whenever I've brought this up in the past, I've generally been greeted by a series of "give up, you're never getting your money back" posts.

    I think this guy should be sued, and we should keep doing whatever it takes to get our money back. If you pursue this further, let me know what I can do to help.
     
  3. nkelsch

    nkelsch Do you know this Icon? TFW2005 Supporter

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    Mine was cancelled this morning as well.

    I Promptly issued another paypal 'REQUEST FOR PAYMENT.'

    People should continue to keep this issue around so it can forever scar his future business relations with companies until he can resolve it.
     
  4. Nightrain

    Nightrain Senior Villain

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    In before lock and destruction of the world!

    88MPH = coolest carny company ever!
     
  5. Joe Moore

    Joe Moore Is Not Jim... Veteran

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    Uhm, there's no lock coming...So long as I don't see personal attacks against other board members, or anything else out of line, then I don't see a need to lock it.
     
  6. KnightSaberAmi

    KnightSaberAmi Nyan Nyan

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    okay when i did a search on the web this is what i came up under the link:
    "Everyone stay away from any dealings with Sebastian Clavet or 88MPH studios. ... as the money from the West End production have made it a real class..."

    However here is the link itself and scroll down till you see chucked again there's nothing there ....

    http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=1839

    But I do wish you the best of luck in finding a resolution
     
  7. dakroland

    dakroland I fix toys.

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    0MPG Studios is in Quebec Canada...so we can't sue them in a US court... I wonder if there's anyone in Canada who can look up law for an international class action lawsuit against him? I wonder how many people got ripped off by this con artist? There has to be at least 500 who never got refunds or the like.
     
  8. Deefuzz

    Deefuzz Beard On! Beardmaster! Veteran

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    yep got that email this morning too...reminded me of alot of bad feelings. That was one of the straws that broke the camels back and kept me away for quite some time.

    Glad to be reminded of it.
     
  9. Primus

    Primus Beware, the modelers. Veteran

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    I got the email this morning as well. Same old $h!t. And just because he is in Canada doesn't mean he can't be sued in a US court.

    Like Nick said, I suggest reissuing the request for payment. That's what I'm going to do. And at the same time im going to go to paypal with it.

    I'm sure the reason that he's going through and doing this is because paypal has probably frozen some money and he is trying to unfreeze it by closing these requests.
     
  10. dakroland

    dakroland I fix toys.

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    I submitted my re-request for the refund before I posted here. I'm not sure it'll do much good, but I won't give up.

    As for being able to sue a business in Canada in a US Court, could someone cite case law that would allow this to happen? I am seriously considering organizing a class action lawsuit again this guy.
     
  11. Boo

    Boo Addicted to candy canes.

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    Wow. I thought this stuff was all over and taken care of. Guess not. Glad i never got involved in this whole thing.

    I sincerely hope you all get this sorted out.
     
  12. flywheels

    flywheels Decepticon Assault Team Veteran

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    So how many copies of this Genesis book are floating around out there? Somehow, my wife was able to secure this book for me several years ago.
     
  13. dakroland

    dakroland I fix toys.

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    Unknown. I remember back in Nov-Dec of 2003 hearing word that the book was shipping, and that it had showed up on Amazon.com and in comic book shops for around $20-$25, much LESS than he had requested from us for Pre-payment. (not to mention that the original plans for the book were split in 1/2, with the original box art images cut from the book to be placed in a 'follow up volume 2' to be produced much later. Just like the refunds, the volume 2 never happened.) There was never an offer to refund the difference, but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted the book. But by the end of Feb 2004, I just wanted (and still want) my money back.
     
  14. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

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    What. The. Fuck.

    This is beyond ******ed. Really. Instead of skirting round it, just say "NO REFUNDS" and strap on a bullet proof vest. This is a scab on the fandom that won't heal until Clavet comes out and simply says "This is over, I cant pay you back, sorry.".

    What a joke.
     
  15. Blue Meanie

    Blue Meanie Hello from the Gutter

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    Don't bother with the lawsuit. I tried to get one organized years ago. Nobody was interested or sent me any of the details of their case. So I dropped it. I tried to take care of things for myself, and 6 months later I got my refund. :horse: 
     
  16. Backscatter

    Backscatter Autobot Brainmaster TFW2005 Supporter

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    I actually got a refund from 88MPH about a year after my Paypal order. I later found the Genesis book on eBay. I feel for anyone who hasn't gotten their cash back. It sucks.
     
  17. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    Frankly, this should not mean "don't bother," but simply that louder voices and more dedicated effort will be required. Those who have paid money for this have been stolen from, and they need to keep at it until justice is done.
     
  18. dakroland

    dakroland I fix toys.

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    I never heard of your lawsuit attempt, otherwise I'd have joined in. What did you do to get your refund? Do you have any direct contact information? I'd kill (or maim) for a direct phone number.
     
  19. Ops_was_a_truck

    Ops_was_a_truck JOOOLIE ANDREWWWWWS!!!!!!

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    You know, reading this dispute, I started thinking about the number of shisters that have appeared in the TF fandom who have claimed, at the time being, that they were common-minded fans and later turned out to be there for the purpose of making a swift buck.

    It's kinda interesting, from a "boy, people really do fucking suck" perspective, to think that so many people see a way to quickly make some cash off of a group of fans. That there are people with morals and pursuits so base that they don't really care about the end product or any sort of customer service beyond the initial sale impresses me - and that they continue to show up in this fandom, preying on our interests, is odder still.

    I haven't seen much of this in the Star Trek fandom, although I'll admit it does exist. Here, though...yikes. I won't name names, but even in the last year and a half (since I completely joined the fandom by signing on here,) I've seen some pretty malicious attempts by so-called "like-minded fans," who are pushing a grandiose Transformers product, to take the money and run.

    Sometimes they get away with it - they swindle the innocent - and sometimes they don't. Still, it's a real shame that it keeps happening. It'd be nice to see the fans really, truly organize against some of these low-key shisters and show them what happens when you screw with a fan base.
     
  20. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    At the very least, I don't see why people who've gotten this "cancelled refund request" note from PayPal can't turn right back around and re-request their refund. If only to say "Hey! You can't do that without giving us legitimate reason why you're cancelling!"
     
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