Hey all, Ive noticed in some of the past threads here of people getting the shaft when it comes to trading. I have been a victim of this situation as well not too long ago. I met this clown on yahoo that was from Charleston, WV. I live maybe 80 miles or so from there. Well anyway I had an extra Tamiya Tiger I kit that I wanted to trade even for his supposed Tamiya Leopard A5 Kit and a few Panzer Crew kits for a few of his. Well, I mailed mine to him and weeks went by and I never recieved anything back. And from where I live I can send a letter to that area in almost less than two days. He avoided my e-mails when I asked him what was going on...polite at first because I know things tend to happen. Then after 4 weeks I began to get irrate and send him nasty-grams. Months would go by until I decided to attend a model show in that area. As luck would have it or the Pagan Gods shined thier furntune upon me..I ran into this guy. How did I know I had the right person? Simple, If you are going rip someone off..never post your photo on your profile and 2..never tell people where you enjoy hanging out etc...Well after confronting him by not telling him who I am at first I get into a conversation with him by telling him Im looking for a Tamiya Leopard A5 to buy or trade even for my extra Tiger-I. He claims he had already a Tamiya Tiger I he had traded sometime ago to a guy down south. Heh, I could'nt hold back any longer. I said" You mean for that Leopard that you never sent and the one that you ripped me off for"? He then tried to avoid me and deny it. Well lo' and behold as time went on, a few other people recognized him..not good for him. However I kept it proffesional whilst being at the show but kept an eye on him to leave. Well, as he left I also walked out behind him. I asked him for either my stuff back or my money to cover the kits I sent him. He got nasty about it, then I got nasty right back. One thing led to another and it got ugly fast. Im not sure how most people would handle this situation but I find it hard to understand why someone would want to take an assbeating over approx. $60.00. It wasn't so much the money as it was the principle of honesty and making things right. So to make things worse, the law shows up (thankfully I had witnesses that saw him shove me first).I get cited for disorderely conduct..but it gets better, it turns out they had multiple warrants on him for Fraud and few for mail Fraud. Its ashame that some people push things to that point. But, if it took me a little embarassment and fine to expose a thief or fraud like this guy. It was well worth it. So heres to you guys who are thinking of ripping someone off..you never know when someone will show up or where..and for frigs sake if you are going rip someone off...don't put your pic and personal info on the internet.

So, is this person someone we know by chance? The kit sounds familiar from something past

Congrats and chears to you sir . Some folks let greed get the better on them. As Mark asked is this a person we would know ? I'm from Ohio about an hour from West Virginia. I try to get to some shows in the area when I can. Can you give me a little something as a heads up ?
Harry

Interesting.
Too bad about the fine for you though.
But sometimes a few bucks is well worth the satisfaction of seeing someone with a rather shaded past and warrants catching up with them.

I'm sure myself and a few others would love to see the same thing happen to a few of the thieves that have pulled their crap here, and other sites. Be even worth a fine, kind of like paying an admission to the real world of "it ain't nice to steal from a small community, and think you can continue to get away with it".

Somewhat related{without pic though}...my daughter's chair from her play house outside went missing last week{was in the back yard}...was visiting a neighbor down the street and saw these kids playing and suddenly a chair that looked just like my daughter's was visible to me...I walked over while telling my friend about what had happened, and the kids father came out to greet us{new folks to the neighborhood}...I asked if that chair was new and he said no, but good luck getting it from his kid...so I said if my daughter's name is on it I can take it home...he says it's his...I lift the chair, flip it upside down and show him my duaghters name in permanent marker on the bottom of the leg...he gets mad at me for accusing him of taking it so I tell him no, I'm not acussing "him", but I will take my daughter's chair home now if that's ok by him. He had the never to ask what I was going to do for his kid for compensation...so I replied, how about "not" calling the police to start with?...and, uh, welcome to the neighborhood.
Maybe some obscure marks on those kit boxes might make them easy to trace or at least be seen.....

Solution #1 is to post the name. Inform the online modeling community as to whom to avoid dealing with. For some insane reason, guys who are well known cheats just make the rounds at the various websites. Then folks who are cheated do not post the names.

All it takes is a quick search on some of the major websites (Armorama, ML, HS, TL) to see if anyone has some integrity issues.

While I didn't get cheated out of cash on this particular event, I did get a cheater tossed from a contest. A good friend was doing some commission work for a guy. It was a Tiger and its crew. He showed it to me the night before he was to box it up and give it back to the guy. He proceeded to show me the interior of the hull which was painted with his name and the date of the build completion in it. About a week goes by and I'm at a contest and I see this very familiar tank and its crew being placed on the table. I quietly approach the guy and ask if he's the builder. He says yes, and I call BS immediately, quietly, but immediately. I tell him I know the builder and it isn't cool to enter this as his build. He say it is...this goes back and forth for several minutes. I finally spot the head judge and let him know the deal. He promptly gathers all of his judges and approaches the guy. They ask him about the Tiger and he says its his. The head judge asks if I can prove he didn't build it. I tell him about the hull interior and proceed to take the turret off where lo and behold there is my buddies name and the date of the build. He turned about 6 shades of embarrassed as they told him to pull all of his stuff and leave immediately. I doubt he ever competed again at least at that contest. I for one applaud your actions in whipping the bozo's ass. Sucks about the fine, but I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes. Good on ya' "Q"

Hey again all, The guys name is Dennis Jones. Im not sure if he was a user at the other armor sites. All I know is since then his mother sent me a check for $60.00, which I sent back for the fact that it wasn't her that done it and it wasn't her that should have to pay for her sons stupidity and underhandedness. So I wouldn't accept her money for being on a monthly fixed income. Also I wouldn't have felt like I would be any better than that piece of pondscum.

Way to go! Hell, if I had the Leopard kit I'd send it to you just for giving this slacker what he deserved. And sending the check back to his Mom was the icing on the cake. The poor woman has probably been bailing his butt out of similiar situations for years. She probably needed a break.

[pondscum]
That's a excellent way to put it. Such people are actually lower than pondscum. "I'm mad as H#$% and I'm not going to take it anymore." Good for you guys for not taking it anymore.

Ive seen some threads going on about this guy elsewhere as well .... wonder if its the same Jonesy who was here, a while back?


Can you pay double to kick his ass again ... we´ll have a collection to pay the extra. I have been burnt once in 6 years,and its not a pleasant experience. I agree it doesn´t matter squat about the money .... its all about principle!

I had a situation a few years back when I was involved in a suspicious deal. It had been about a month after money was sent with no kit or response by e-mail.
I posted on T-L that maybe people would want to enter into any transaction with this individual with caution. Never called the guy a thief ( which he ended up being).
Mr. Owens promptly deleted my post and told me that he wouldn't allow posts of that nature because he could be liable.
He also said that if I didn't like it, that I was free to not use the board again.
I thought I was doing folks a favor. I also felt that those responsible for running the board would want to know if there were people abusing the privelige.
When the post was deleted, I felt as if those running the site were enabling those involved in this type of activity ( which I'm sure was not Mr. Owens' intention at all).
It's a shame when it seems that at times the guilty are given more consideration than those who have been ripped off.
Perhaps there has been a change of heart at T-L. I really don't know as I've only visited the site a couple of times since then. It's a shame because they do have a very nice site.
Never been to H-S, but will say that I think Armorama and Fine Scale are first class.
It's great that this site does allow posts concerning under handed individuals.
Joe

No, Jonesy was Jeff C. Jones of Traverse City, Michigan. I still see his posts on RMS on occasion. It is an unmoderated modeling USENET newsgroup so he can't be banned, unlike most modern forums.