- Report: #1455967
Complaint Review: Stanley Submarines - Roatan
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Author Confirmed
Why?
Stanley Submarines
Roatan, Honduras
Phone:
tel:011-504-3359-2887
Web:
Stanleysubmarines.com
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Stanley Submarines Karl Stanley Roatan Institute of Deep Sea Exploration, RIDE. Took 10k for a deep water photo shoot, delivered 20 identical photos Roatan
As part of a scavenger hunt benefitting Random Acts, several teams reached out to Karl Stanley about photographing deep-sea wildlife. Each team needed a unique photo of a unique sea creature. Karl messaged each team letting them know that the cost to find unique sealife at 2,000 feet would be $500 per photo. Assuming that this project would take several dives and quite a bit of time, at least 20 teams paid him this fee. We received our photos and submitted them.
Note that collaborating with other teams is expressly against the rules, and Karl knew this. What he didn’t know is that we were permitted to share submissions after the hunt ended. To our horror, the teams discovered that the photos were identical, taken of the exact same coral frond. Timestamps from the photos showed that they had been taken in a span of less than five minutes. Karl gave us these photos *knowing* that we could not compare before submitting and *knowing* that every team risked disqualification for failing to submit a unique image.
He refuses to offer any refunds, claiming that the photos are different due to the placement of post-it notes on a peice of paper in the shot. He has also messaged several of the teams "quoting” hunt officials, promising full points but threatening to dock points if we do not stop seeking refunds. The fact that StanleySubmarines could easily have made ten thousand dollars for a day’s work and chose to rip people off instead points to a much deeper issue (pardon the pun.) I would not want anyone I cared about trusting their lives to this company.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Melissa
Bangor,Maine,
United States
Situation resolved
#2Author of original report
Tue, September 25, 2018
Karl Stanley has made a charity contribution for the full refund amount and I am satisfied with this result.
Melissa
Bangor,Maine,
United States
The lies continue
#3Author of original report
Mon, August 13, 2018
After writing the original report, Karl offered to donate my refund to charity. Apparenly he was bluffing because when I gave him the contact information of a local nonprofit I hold dear, he responded with a barrage of personal insults. He claims that we are not due a refund because we agreed that the price was fair. The scope of work described would, indeed, have been worth $500. But that work was never actually done, and Karl is aware of that. If you pay a fair price for hardwood flooring, you’re due a refund from a contractor that installs linoleum. Secondly, he claims that since the photo was submitted to the judges, we must have approved of it. Once again, he knows that teams are not allowed to communicate or collaborate and we would have had no way of knowing about this scam prior to submission. Had we known that the photo was an exact duplicate of that provided to other teams, we would have not submitted it- and Karl knows this, which is why he lied throughout the duration of the hunt by telling us that the photo was unique. Lastly, Karl argues that since the judges have recognized the issue and failed to penalize the teams involved, we got what we paid for. He rationalizes that if his victims are not additionally punished by a third party, then he himself has done no wrong.
Robert
Irvine,United States
Not a RipOff
#4Consumer Comment
Sat, August 11, 2018
If this is a REWARD card that had an expiration date, if you failed to use the REWARD dollars you lose them.
This is fairly standard among most reward programs that you only have a limited time to use them. They didn't take money from your pocket, you are exactly where you were before they issued the reward dollars. It was your choice to let the card(s) sit until they expired.
The simple way to avoid this issue in the future is that once you get a reward card of any time, use it ASAP so you don't forget about it.
