Warning: Scuba rip-off artist Rick Adams
Mike Ross
Apologies for the length but I wanted to give full evidence, there
aren't (I hope!) all that many complete crooks in our sport.
Giving all a heads-up to beware if buying scuba equipment from anyone
in the Toronto, Ontario area... make sure you're not dealing with a
character called Rick or Richard Adams.
I bid on an AUL video light of his on ebay. Didn't meet reserve but he
said he'd sell for the high bid price anyway. Paid by paypal, he
shipped the light. He did a lousy job of packing and the canister
arrived smashed. Emailed him: what to do?
He asked for a picture, I got him one. He then told he he'd spoken to
AUL, I was to send the light to AUL. They would replace the canister,
he would pay them, the light would be sent back to me. Did so.
Time went by. Nothing happened. Emailed him. No response. Then a
response from 'Leslie' at his email address, claiming he was on a
business trip to Japan.
More emails, no response. Finally got a response a couple of weeks ago
from the same email address from someone called 'Maxwell' saying they
had reviwed the photos, it was 'obvious' that I had 'broken the light
myself', under no circumstances would they pay AUL, and any
arrangements would have to be made with 'Richard Adams' P.S. 'Richard
is no longer with this firm'.
I'm morally certain that 'Richard', 'Maxwell', and probably 'Leslie'
are all the same person. For instance, in his email, 'Maxwell' uses
exactly the same written language as 'Richard', even down to using
'of' where most people would use 'have' - 'I should of...' instead of
'I should have...'. They all use the same email address, with the same
sig file.
Since then I've learned some more about 'Richard Adams'. When I talked
to AUL today, they had never heard from him - all they had was my
light and my note. But they did say 'I'll bet he's the same Candian
who ripped us off for $2,000 of demo gear a while back'. I don't know
if it is or if it isn't...
I did some web research, and found someone else with nothing good to
say about him. It seems our Mr. 'Adams' is a collector of vintage
diving equipment, but he doesn't like paying for it:
http://www.goingunder.net/vintg4sale.htm
Where it says:
"* Special notice and warning to other vintage collectors; I have
sent product to Richard Adams of 17A Galt Ave. Toronto, Ontario and
have not been paid, ever. He will not reply. Recently he posted an
email that he will sue me for slander. Is it slanderous to state the
truth? I have proof that product was mailed after an Ebay auction.
Check my customer satisfaction record against his. If you would like
other verification of non payment to other collectors, please call."
In fact you can't check Mr. Adams 'customer satisfaction record'
because 1. he has been deregistered on ebay and 2. he has made his
feedback private. Wonder why?
http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=spirotechnique
His userid at ebay was spirotechnique, the main email address I have
for him, and the one he used on ebay, is divingtec...@yahoo.com
He also uses this email address at paypal, where he is a 'verified
international member' - not for much longer when I've finished with
him! He uses other email addresses - I've had one from
seah...@gosympatico.ca
He used to have (all down now, but available through archive.org)
websites at:
http://www.aqualungs.cjb.net
http://www.interlog.com/~reefs/aqualungs.html
and
http://www.divingtechnologies.cjb.net/
I wonder if this is also him?
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=38F53646.85F10D89%40idirect.ca&output=gplain
Or maybe this?
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20000603133552.00304.00001050%40ng-fu1.aol.com&output=gplain
The physical address for 'Richard Adams' is:
Richard Adams
17A Galt ave.
Toronto, Ontario.
Canada
M4M-2Z2
There is no phone number for 'Richard Adams' at that address, but
there is for 'Leslie Mackeen' - 416-462-3614
This fits, the most recent email (from 'Maxwell') originated at
24.103.51.113. According to samspade:
24.103.51.113 has valid reverse DNS of
Richard-Adamas---Leslie-Mackeen.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
It comes together. Mackeen is an unusual name. Either 'Leslie' IS
'Richard', or a close associate. Googling has revealed that 'Leslie'
is a medical photographer/opthalmologist at The Hospital for Sick
Children, part of the University of Toronto -
http://www.sickkids.on.ca/ , telephone 416-813-1500. This is the same
'Leslie' as at the Galt Ave. address.
My next business will be with enquiring with the Sick Kids hospital,
to see if they have any policy on employing crooks, or their close
associates.
The moral? Deal fairly with hackers... I warned him I would make this
public, he ignored me.
Be warned. Anyone with any experiences or information with this guy,
please get in touch.
Mike
http://www.corestore.org
FOR SALE - Al Qaeda rifle. Never fired. Dropped once.
Mike Shelley
from anything supposedly for sale on it...
Brian Nadwidny
>
> I bid on an AUL video light of his on ebay. Didn't meet reserve but he
> said he'd sell for the high bid price anyway. Paid by paypal, he
> shipped the light. He did a lousy job of packing and the canister
> arrived smashed. Emailed him: what to do?
>
Snip
Well firstly I thought you'd get little sympathy from me because you
went outside of ebay (which they warn you not to do) to make the
transaction happen. On the other hand I sympathize with your plight and
I'm glad you did post this to expose this POS. It's folks like him that
undermine the whole process. I've done over a dozen deals and have not
yet (fingers crossed) been fucked on ebay.
Hopefully someone from the T.O area will recognize this chunk of waste
and deal with him as they see fit.
Brian
Edmonton, Alberta
Brian
Edmonton, Alberta
ben bradlee
"Mike Ross" <aba...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:2m4utu407povceq7v...@4ax.com...
> Folks,
<snippo the post to save space>
If feedback is private or negative, don't buy on ebay.
I wonder if anyone realizes how much information you uncovered by having had
one or two people give you a little?
Dan Bracuk
:My next business will be with enquiring with the Sick Kids hospital,
:to see if they have any policy on employing crooks, or their close
:associates.
The topic never came up when they hired me.
Dan Bracuk
Toronto Canada
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.chaoticarts.com/~scuba/
Never use a big word when a diminutive one will do.
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Mike Ross
Just a point on the ebay comments - his feedback wasn't private or
negative when I did the deal!
And to be fair, this is the first time I've encountered a rip-off in
around 200 transactions on ebay. It isn't a den of iniquity; I suspect
that the ratio of honest folks to crooks is about the same there as
anywhere else - at least for the type of merchandise I normally
transact there.
Alan Street
<aba...@attglobal.net> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Apologies for the length but I wanted to give full evidence, there
> aren't (I hope!) all that many complete crooks in our sport.
>
> Giving all a heads-up to beware if buying scuba equipment from anyone
> in the Toronto, Ontario area... make sure you're not dealing with a
> character called Rick or Richard Adams.
>
>
>
> My next business will be with enquiring with the Sick Kids hospital,
> to see if they have any policy on employing crooks, or their close
> associates.
>
> The moral? Deal fairly with hackers... I warned him I would make this
> public, he ignored me.
>
> Be warned. Anyone with any experiences or information with this guy,
> please get in touch.
>
> Mike
> http://www.corestore.org
> FOR SALE - Al Qaeda rifle. Never fired. Dropped once.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Here's a site that might help you
with some anti-fraud resources.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/fraud
Alan
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