Are you sitting down?!?!?!?!?

[sKrewed]

If you aren't sitting down, please do, because you aren't going to believe this.......

I got a refund...... no kidding...... I'm serious.........

If you want to see the complete history of my botched Kamado purchase, see the post "One year anniversary fast approaching". The condensed version is, I ordered in December 2007, I paid by check (their credit card machine was down, and I was dumb enough to believe it), and I never received anything. The last I heard from Richard was February 2008 when he informed me by email that my shipment would be delayed another 3 weeks due to all the great improvements they were making to the Kamados. He assured me that the delay would be worth the wait. Of course I never heard from him again and all my calls and emails went un-answered.

Fast forward to 2009, and I purchased a Komodo Kamado. In an email I had sent to Dennis Linkletter asking about the KK's, I mentioned that I had invested $780 in a POSK and never received anything. Dennis forwarded that email to RJ saying "hey Richard, another customer you've forgotten", and within a day, I got an email from RJ. Now, this is another sit down moment. In the email, Richard said "oh so sorry, we still haven't been able to get your special order tile". Un-freaking believable. He went on to offer me an in stock 7 with blue cobalt tile.

I replied that I had no use for the #7, because AFTER WAITING FOR 14 MONTHS, I purchased the much superior KK. I politely requested a refund explaining that it was surely reasonable to give me my money back since I had waited so long without any contact nor explanation of the delay. Guess what??? He crawled back under his rock and didn't respond.

Then it dawned on me that he might respond if I acted like I wanted to buy the cobalt blue POSK, so after not hearing from him for a week, I sent him an email telling him that as it turned out, I had a friend that was opening a beach bar and he was interested in the Kamado. Guess what???? Richard responded within an hour wanting to close the deal. He also suggested that I keep the Kamado for myself and give the KK to my friend. Yeah, right Dicky boy.... Anyway, I asked for an updated invoice with the balance due, including shipping. I figured even though I had the cancelled check, it would be nice to have an updated invoice from them proving that they acknowledged the down payment. Guess what???? He crawled back under his rock again....

So, after waiting another week or so, I sent him an email telling him that I wanted my refund by Wednesday of the next week, or I would forward all of our recent correspondence to the United States Postal Fraud Inspector assigned to my claim. Still no response. Then I found this link off the USPS website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/adv/bus02.shtm. In a nutshell, this is a Federal Trade Commission rule that says if you order something by phone or mail, the supplier has to ship within 30 days or they have to send you a refund, no questions asked (I think it says that, it reads like a typical legal document). It also says that violation of the rule can lead to penalties up to $11,000 per occurrence. I sent another email with this information to Richard and told him to send me a cashiers check, or I would get the FTC after him in addition to the USPS.

That following Monday, I received an email from him with a jpeg image of the refund check, and a promise that the check would be mailed later that day. I held my breath for the next 4 days, and I'll be damned if I didn't recieve the check the following Friday. All $780 dollars. No kidding.... It's been two weeks since I cashed it, and it hasn't bounced and he hasn't stopped payment, so I thought it was safe to finally post this information on the fraud forum.

I'm not sure what finally prompted him to give me my money back, but hat's off to Dennis Linkletter for sending that initial email......

[Unbelievable]

[fishtail-99]

What got RJ out from under his rock was a credible threat of legal action against him.

[curly]

Wonder where he got the money. He had to rob Peter to pay Paul don't ya think?

Hopefully other's will use this post as a template to get their refunds.

[Admin]

[defrauded]

SKrewed, you are awesome!

I tried the Better Business Bureau and the Nevada Dept of State, and got nowhere. I got lucky because I had paid with VISA but could not find the statement (I had moved and could not find it). Even a year after the purchase, when I found the receipt and filled out their form, VISA honored my request and returned my down payment on a Meridian that RJ and his band of thieves had no intention of building.

For the rest of you who have nothing to show for your aggravation, please consider dropping a dime on this d-bag family. The more complaints they receive about a person or a company, the more the place increases in rank in their sh*tlist

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

[The Spanker]

Congratulations sKrewed! Good to hear a success story.

Your anecdote about the Johnsons never returning your calls or emails until RJ thought he was going to make a sale was priceless. Guess the take home message for anyone inclined to give RJ and company the benefit of the doubt when they can't get a response is this:


They GET all your messages and emails. They CHOOSE to not respond.

[Unbelievable]

[Gerard]

[defrauded]

All prosecutors and state/federal agencies are vested with the discretion of which cases to try and the charges to raise. There aren't enough resources to go after everyone, so the FTC could never guarantee that they would investigate him or go after him.

I think by adding complaints to the FTC's database, though, you make it more likely that the govt will take the case, that's all. Perhaps if we made enough complaints, the pantload Johnson family would end up on their radar screen.

I spoke to my personal lawyer about going after RJ before I was fortunate enough to find my VISA bill. Not only do you have to show up in RJ's home court/jurisdiction (Nevada) to file a claim, even if you win a judgment, then you have to spend more time and effort to try collecting it. The POSK /POS meridian losses pale in comparison to travel, court, and lawyer's fees, and scumbags like RJ are all too aware of this.

[fishtail-99]

Yes, Nevada has proven to be a safe haven for RJ. He couldn't live in Mexico, he wasn't save in Indonesia, California was after him, but Nevada seems perfect. They have a nice super-glitzy city for him to live in. Plenty of cheap buffets for him and the girls to belly up to. Lots of glamour for the girls to giggle and point at. They can't be valley girls, but hey, they can pretend to be Vegas girls. And perhaps not that many customers there that he has pissed off. Who knows, maybe he doesn't accept any orders (and thus screw) from anyone in Nevada.