Complaint Review: Extreme-Hobby - Dave Bergman - John Eline - Melissa Johnson - Warner Robins Georgia

I contacted this company through email after vsiting their site www.extreme-hobby.com. I am from India and was interested in ordering the Tamiya Terra Crusher #43501 for my hobby. This product is not available in India so I decided to order it from abroad.

I came accross this site through search on www.google.com and emailed Dave Bergman at [email protected] who owns this company. I got a reply from this person saying that the above mentioned product was available and in stock and was costing USD389.

Later when I told them I was from India they replied that the courier charge would be USD65 for International Orders so the total would be USD454. Then as I decided to order the radio controlled truck and I emailed him again for details on payment on which I got a reply that they do not accept credit cards for International orders and that the payment should be made by Bank Money Order Or International Demand Draft.

Also I had asked them about the delivery method to which John Eline had replied saying that they have a tie-up with UPS Courier Service for 3 years. And they told me to send the payment through UPS so that when they recieve it they can Ship the Terra Crusher at the same time.

After recieving the Bill Of Sale through email I took out the Internatinal Demand Draft for USD454 through my cousins account which was drawn on JP Morgan Chase Bank New York and couriered the same through UPS on 17th October 2005. They recieved the courier on 20th October 2005 as the UPS tracking system showed. The proof is still on the UPS tracking for this.

On 21st October I got a confirmation from Melissa Johnson saying that the International Demand Draft was recieved by them and the courier was signed by Dave Bergman. She also said that the order will be shipped when the cheque is cleared. It takes 4-5 working days for clearing and then the truck will be sent through UPS. This went on for another whole week and again I got a reply saying that the cheque is not cleared. I dont know why they were calling it a cheque when an International Demand Draft is as good as cash.

Then as another week went by there was no reply from their side. I kept calling there teleplhone number to which some lady told me it was just an answering service and they will pass on my message to Dave Bergman. I also tried Dave's cell but that was always on answering machine.

After 3 weeks I got a mail from John Eline that the shipping addres was incorrect and the order was returned back to them by the shipping company. To which I really got angry and asked them to send my money back. I recieved another email after that saying that please give us the address again and we will ship your order. I did as I was asked to do so but there was no reply from their side.

It's 22nd May 2006 and still there is no reply from them. Its more than 7 and I am helpless. I am a student and I had saved the money for this truck. If you convert the amount to Indian rupees it comes to around 20000 which for us is really a big figure. I am not even earning and all my savings were wasted by this Dave Bergman a FRAUD person.

I really want some help to recover my money. I thought people in USA are loyal and trustworthy but this person has proved me wrong.

I hope I get some help.

Thanking you in advance,

Sarvesh

Mumbai
India