I've kept to my promise and sat back and watched, I gave my opinions and even tried to help by appealing to Steve a couple of ways which as with everyone else was ignored. I wanna call him what he is but as I have no dog in this fight other than having some friends scammed of their money and knives so I can't call him what he is...
I've never seen a group like you guys here with issues with a service provider ever want a scam artist like him still come back. I really believe able if between today and Thursday if he contacted everyone of you and had someone post on this thread for him you'd still give him a chance to make it right. What he did isn't that unheard of even here. What is unusual at least until recently is how faithful and forgiving members can be of someone who so obviously has taken them for a ride. He was that good. The only other debacle circling the commode still is the company with the ! In their name.
I was even hopeful but even I know when the boats got more holes than anyone could plug to keep it afloat and this one's all but sunk. Thing is you need to keep it moving forward, keep sending emails and making calls so you can show you actively continued to get your goods and money back. This could take easily over a year to come to any resolution. Hell odds are even if they caught him there are far more dangerous people deserving of a 280 lb 6'6" cellie named Butt Rheamer than Steve.
Problem with scammin' is the same as it is with counterfeiting, it's easier to do than make an honest living. This is something they learn to be good at and will always go back to. One thing to come from all of this is that he is high visibility now. Every one of you folks are an early warning system now and if he ever tryst this scam again someone will spot him and out him. He'll never pull off a scam at this level again.
The other thing you'll take away from this is a friendship that evolved over the months in this thread. I've made friends here that I've been friends with on and off BF for nearly 20 years now. My Old Man used to tell me all the time, ...there's always something to be learned even from a bad situation or person, usually it's how to recognize either earlier on so you don't get burned by either again. At the very least you learn what it takes to be a real douche and what not to do to become one.
I still hope and wish that you can all be made whole in some manner but the odds are against you gettin' anything short of the satisfaction of outing him for what he is and every time he pops back up you'll be able to show what type of person he really is, regardless of how much he has you convinced of his good faith and credibility. We need a special Scammer banner to put under name of any member or service provider not permanently banned awaiting the opportunity to make things right. Anyone exhibiting scammer like behavior like Steve on a temporary ban till he either makes it right or the mods get tired of his lack of response and boot him off.
People run into hard times, people make bad decisions, sometimes more than once but we all want to give them the benefit of doubt. We all want to see our friends here succeed and buy their goods and services but when someone like Steve comes along and perpetrates such a huge scam it's easy to get hurt and mistrustful. Don't let this experience sour you, just let it make you more vigilant. Remember the old adage, Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Wishin' everyone the best of outcomes on this nightmare of scam.
