Eric Barkemeyer upsold me on telescope and accessories - nearly $2000 later I received dumpster ready mount with broken/wrong accessories. Norwood Colorado
I first contacted Eric Barkemeyer through an item posted on eBay; however he convinced me to purchase an even better telescope. One thing led to another and the deal ended up outside of eBay. He got me to agree to purchase a laser site as well as a 2 inch diagonal and eyepiece (instead of 1.25 inch). So I ended up paying more for those items. When I received the box, I noticed that this very large and heavy telescope was packed in a very flimsy box. The first thing I noticed was that one of the forks on the fork mount was completely cracked through...a clean slice all the way through. There's no way of knowing if that was already shipped in that condition, or if it was damaged during shipping. Either way, a properly packed telescope would not have suffered this severe breakage.
Then I noticed that the laser site prism was missing and the laser didn't even turn on. The final thing I noticed was that the proper diagonal and eyepiece were not shipped. So basically I was upsold and received garbage in return. This entire telescope is in dumpster condition. At first the seller was communicating with me. He helped me through the process of getting the information for the USPS insurance claim. But he never shipped out the original finder scope or the 2 inch diagonal and eyepiece he promised to send. Further emails went unanswered and he seems reluctant to do anything to make this deal somewhat tolerable. I gave him one last chance to deliver on his promise to send out the broken/missing items and one week later I have nothing. Had he sent me those items I would've never left a ripoff report...he left me no choice. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS GUY...RUN FAST IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Telescope purchase from Eric Barkemeyer
#3Author of original report
Mon, July 25, 2016
Returning the telescope was not an option the seller was willing to provide. He only asked me to file a claim with the post office; however, the box quality was too thin for such a heavy scope and mount. The post office wouldn't accept a claim. I was willing to let the whole thing go if the seller would only ship me a functional laser sight (like the fork mount, it arrived broken) and ship me the supposed upgrade of 2" diagonal and eyepiece that he upsold me on (I received a 1.25" diagonal and eyepiece). Multiple attempts at receiving these two items I paid for went unanswered after several months; hence, the decision to post a ripoff report. My offer stands, if I receive what I paid for, I will do what I can to remove this report. Something tells me he still won't do the right thing as a Google search of his name produced other buyers with similar circumstances leaving detailed (and similar) threads such as this.
eric barkemeyer
norwood,Colorado,
USA
REbuttal to false claims
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, July 24, 2016
I sold that telescope to this guy. it was damaged in transit. I told him how to file a claim for the damage. he said no. so i told him to send the telescope back and i would give him his money back. He said he wanted me to send him the money back and that he wouldn't return the telescope . I suspect he was trying to get a free telescope by asking me to return the money when he wouldn't the telescope. I don't think there really was any damage to the telescope to begin with. since he never returned the scope.