(COMMERCIAL) Do not do business with 'Masq-Mini"!!

[Too Bo Coo]

Well, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH 'Masq-Mini"!!

Masq-Mini Tube Tool
http://masqmini.com/index.php/tubetool.html  <<< used to be solid slime green, now comes in clear plastic.

I ordered this and the fur maker (50 euro) 6 weeks ago, 'Stephan' keeps emailing me that the label keeps getting damaged in the post, but none of the 'tracking numbers' comes back to anything.  I've disputed with Paypal, but I'm also thinking about contacting my local police and the police in his town in Germany for a theft complaint. 

His last email was just a slap in the face.  After sending a bogus 'tracking number' he told me 'it's in the mail'!  and will be very happy to give me a refund.....when I return the items he never sent.

I am so angry right now....

So a warning to my fellow modelers to steer clear from this trainwreck....

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

weird,i've never had any Troubles with Stephan,he's a great Guy to Deal with in my Experience 

[Andrew May]

Stephan can be slow sometimes but I've also always had good service. The only time I had a long wait was for a hand made tool.

[Malebolgia]

Always had good service from him. Great products and ditto delivery.

[Too Bo Coo]

Perhaps times are changing, there have been several small operations that had good service and went down the tubes.  I can only speak from my experiences and it has been absolutely miserable.  After 2 weeks of nothing I sent him an email asking what was the status of my order.  I got no response.  Then 2 weeks later I made a complaint to Paypal asking for a resolution....bam, email in 10 minutes.  Literally.  Not a good sign in my book when a vendor is motivated to reply to a customer only when the billing company steps in.  After scolding me for not contacting him first, laughable, he told me that 'it was in the mail'!  Then emailed 5 minutes later to say, "Well, not in the mail, it came back from a damaged label..."  That was Dec 5.  he said he sent it out the next day and even sent Paypal a tracking number....that is a bogus number that comes back to nothing.  Then he tells me that he can only refund my money when I send him back the product he never sent....  A very sleazy business person in my book and I would strongly discourage anyone from doing business with an obvious thief who stole my 50 euro.  I'm quite happy to let paypal and the local police deal with this theft.

[Too Bo Coo]

Contacting the police today

[Too Bo Coo]

Paypal just contacted me and said that because Masq Mini sent them a fraudulent tracking number that they would refund my money today!  In fact, it's back in my account!

[Cherno]

Glad to hear you got your money back without problems! Still annoying.

[Too Bo Coo]

Me too!  I still think it's important to support small business in our hobby, but it's also important to warn each other about bad experiences.

The vendor Stephan just sent me a snarky email telling me that I now have his product and my money...  Absolutely outrageous.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Maybe it's just lost in the mail?

[Too Bo Coo]

Sure, I think that could happen, but that was the vendor's excuse the first time.  This is now the 'second mailing'....  My first clue of trouble was the unresponsded to emails after 2 weeks.  I only filed a dispute (I've never had to do this with a vendor ever) with paypal after waiting a month with no product and no response.  In two email the vendor Stephan claimed a) it was sent and then b) it was returned with a damaged label.  But that was about 2 weeks ago....  When Stephen, or Masq-mini, sent the postage info to Paypal he used a bogus number.  At this point I have no problem using the words 'fraud' and 'theft' to characterize this dealing.  Had i not gotten my money back I would have sought out the police to make a legal complaint.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

An error with the number could be an error...somebody else's selected by accident, for example.

I once sent a package to a guy in the states and it sat on their porch where the postie left it for quite a while before he happened to notice it lying there. I've also had packages sent to me that took very strange "flight paths", one being re-directed to Vancouver (which the opposite end of the country) for some unknown reason!

[Too Bo Coo]

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." - intelligence proverb

I guess in the abstract I agree with what you write, and in fact I think I've given plenty of opportunity to have this fixed, and still at the end of the day i pay for a product I expect to get that product and I'm not interested why it happened because I'm still out the money.  And there is an undeniable reality, unless as a consumer i exert my rights and be a 'nice guy' for too long, I lose my right to claim a refund.  I think 6 weeks is plenty long.

[bbtoys333]

I'm sorry you had this kind of trouble but am glad that this time at least Paypal works the way it should.

I experienced almost the exact  same situation last year after a purchase (one of several, previous ones received) from Wargames Foundry eBay store. The long and short of it is that I was told that they sent the parcel but will send another one  after my initial report of non-receipt. Neither of the two "sent parcels" ever arrived - and this has never happened to me before (a purchase from another seller in Nottingham crossed the Atlantic to me 4 days after posting during that same time) and that this should happen twice with the same sender/package of goods strains credulity to say the least.

Sad to say that I was very busy at the time and also trusting so did not initiate a claim with Paypal until the deadline has passed... and so I am out about USD 150. Later on I learned that there was some personnel reshuffling at Foundry at the time and wonder whether I unwittingly got caught up in it. Up to that time I have always had fine service from them. Naturally I have not bought anything directly from them since (which means that they were out several thousand dollars' worth of my business).

[Ninja]

Me too!  I still think it's important to support small business in our hobby, but it's also important to warn each other about bad experiences.

The vendor Stephan just sent me a snarky email telling me that I now have his product and my money...  Absolutely outrageous.

I am sorry to hear of your situation and this may not apply to you but I can say as a small business owner mistakes do happen on both ends. I have had people disputing charges when the tracking info says its been delivered, I have had people move or put the wrong address and accuse me of theft. I had one customer email three times in one Sunday angry that I had not responded to the first one he sent 5 hours ago.

We overall as a gaming community seem all to often to have unfair expectations or a sense of entitlement when dealing with one another. I always caution prudence before you make your affairs public. It is all too easy to post something when we are angry we hardly ever post something when a transaction went well or above and beyond. 

Once again not saying you are in the wrong or that you should not post up a bad experience on this message board. I just think it is a good idea to remind people to talk about the nice things too. As you said we should support our small companies with our hard earned money AND praise.