Ok, i really hate to post this and im going to be as resonable as possible about it, but its been almost 7 months since I placed my order with steve, and i was understanding at the begging and still will be if there is a reasoning for it. I just havent heard from him or been giving an update on anything so im just a little bit concerned about my order. Does anyone have any information that i maybe passed up? I hope that didt come off as being rude im just pretty confused i guess.

Greetings.

I have not heard anything from him recently. I do know that his website is working, though, so he must have renewed or found another ISP.

Well, maybe - as I have also discovered - he started out enthusiastic, and then got pissed of/buried. Surprised?

he started out enthusiastic, and then got pissed of/buried. Surprised?

Not really but the fact is a lot of us paid for products we have never gotten.

Paid and got nothing? That's fraud. If you paid with plastic then you should be able to invoke the purchase protection plan that most VISA/MC cards use. Ring your card provider and explain the situation.

But then again, why pay up front for something without seeing the goods?

He should really not have taken payment before the goods were ready to ship - that is not on.

"why pay up front for something without seeing the goods?"

Well, because its Steve, and the quality and reputation of the work and service was unquestioned at that time.

Even if he DOES start up again, I think too many people have lost confidence in him and he will get no more orders. It doesn't take much to post an update on here - ill or not.

Greetings.

I just emailed Steve a link to this thread. Hopefully he will reply in person. I have not heard from him since his last posting, so I do not know if he is even online anymore.

How dare you people.... you make me sick.

Again, as I have found - it does. Sometimes it is just *not possible* to post, even if it is "easy". There are days where I can't even face getting up, let alone try and make an apologetic post to people who have been waiting many weeks for something I have promised. How do you apologise in public for not being able to fulfil a promise without it hurting somewhat?

Add to the fact that his product is *unique* and something that everyone wants - that just makes it 10x worse.

In reply to:

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How dare you people.... you make me sick.

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Did you miss the smiley off the end of that post?

Well just to reply since it is the first time I've had a night off in a while.
I've been cut back in my hours at work and had to get a second job to make ends meet. Which it still doesn't and that has been taking up all my free time.

And it doesn't help with the fact that I'm still having pain in my ribs so I finally went to the clinic and after numerous different appointments all over the city, not that it's anyones damn business, have found out that I have cancer. Which I should have expected since I've been smoking since I was 14 up to 3 packs a day.
I just hope they have caught it in time. They think they have but we'll see.

And as far a fraud, that is BS. Because I fully intend on filling every order that I have gotten.
In order for fraud to be commited you have to intentionally bilk people out of their money. That is not my intent.
I am a man of my word and no ones order that has been placed will go unfilled. Everyone will get their order.

And the reason for the system I use for ordering is because it saves me already non existent extra time of mot having to go to the bank or getting charged extra fees. So it was the most feasable at the time.

I was very enthusiastic at in the beginning but with all that is going on in real life and the few that berrate me either online or through email it's tough to not fall into depression.

Those of you that think that you have waited too long let me know and I will try to include something extra for your patience.

Those that slam, slander or all out attack me will still have their orders filled but will also be banned from ever ordering from me again.

Anyone that wants to reply to me do so through email since I am going to be spending the free time tonight to try and get some orders filled. And if I get any (emails) I will try to get back to them tonight, if not soon.

I am truly sorry for the delays to all of you but life can apparently deal you numerous blows. I never knew it could deal a bunch at once until this year.

And to those of you that still support me. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You guys are the reason I am still doing it and haven't shut it down yet.

And one more thing, Thank you Paul for letting me know about this thread. You have been my best friend online. At least there are a few that know I am a man of my word and trust me.

Steve, so sorry to hear about the cancer. One of my co-workers found that hers had resurfaced. It's a hard thing, and you have my best wishes to beat it.

Steve, our thoughts are with you.

I'm sure that most of the people who said bad things to you or about you did so only because they didn't know why there was a long delay in the orders.

Steve;

Even if you've smoked as much as you say you have you can never be prepared for news like this. My Girlfriend was diagnosed with Cancer 3 years ago. Since then she has gone throug a rigorous chemotherapy regiment and had the malignant organ removed.

The bottom line is that she beat it! Go after it agressively and above all else STAY POSITIVE!!! Sometimes that can be the hardest part but it really does make a difference.

Man, this year has really sucked for you

I trust that the good folk in white coats have strongly suggested that you quit smoking. I quit 6 weeks ago (cold turkey), and it's still tough some days. I'm fortunate enough to not share your particular motivation though (as far as I know), and hope that I never do. I've discovered that MinuteMaid frozen ices are a great surrogate - they give me something to do that involves both my mouth and a hand, and they take about the same time to eat as a smoke could take. The only problem now is that I'm wondering whether they are themselves addictive.

Good luck with the treatment, and I hope that life starts dealing you some good cards.

Thank you for responding Steve, i didt want this this to start allagations or what not, I just have seen you post anything since the begging of may and Just curious. I certaly had to doubt that my order would be filled but needed to know the status of it, please keep us updated if you have time Thank You.

I am also sorry to hear about your cancer one of my really good friends just got her's removed, but she had to deal with that for almost 3 years.

Steve,

For what it is worh, please accept my support and best wishes.

I have so little time to post that I try to do so whenever I can and only in what I consider most important/useful threads. Still, I like this community so much that I regret not being able to say all that I would like to say, and participate as much as I would, whether it is a thread on Matrix or on Randomness or on your beautiful lenses.

I ordered probably five or six lenses from you, and I don't remember commenting on what a good service and great products you offer to this community. So I am going to do now.
Your lenses are excellent; I always received them in time, in spite of some int'l shipping problems that you managed to solve, and I am still using them after one year.
I understand who is complaining for not getting theirs, but, for my part, I can reassure them that they are just being hit by the very unfortunate events, and I, as well as many others, can guarantee that you are a man of your word.

Again, best wishes for everything, Steve!

Words are never enough, I lost my mother, aunt & uncle to the big C, all within 18 months - by which experience, I can only say that I'll be praying for you.

Thoughts are with you hope it all comes good and thanks for all the effort and think the few lenses i ordered are great

Well I for one am not going to buy this load of crap like the rest all I've heard so far is excuses for this that & the other and threats of violence with Barettas. Six months is way beyond the realm of expected delay. The thing to do would be notify a buyer that the fulfillement isn't possible and refund the money until such time it could be fulfilled. Yes I know this will put me on the shitlist here on the BBS but the rest of the readers here for the most part don't have orders with the guy. I really don't care anymore what happens with this I've already wrote this off. Since the cutoff date for PayPal orders is 30 days which at least PayPal realizes that 30 days is plenty of time to ship a product or send a refund. I may not have had any friends here and even more enemies after this post but enough is enough. I as well as every other person in the world have problems, but we don't shirk the responsibilities we owe. For christs sake deal with the problems & get on with it.

Have you emailed him asking for a refund?

Yes he did. And I offered to pay him back which is against my policy on refunds but in light of the long delay decided to let that go in this case.
I offered to do it in a way that would not impact me too badly and he'd still get his monet but apparaently that wasn't good enough for him and instead of telling me so the SOB sicced Paypal on me.
So in order to placate him I'll have to transfer it from my checking back into Paypal which also means I won't be able to pay my phone/DSL bill this month. But I doubt that will even be good enough for him because a transfer from checking to Paypal takes up to 3 working days which means he'll have his money by the end of next week. But I'm sure that's too long for him.

He told me he sold his Empeg as well. Why the hell would he do that? In my opinion he doesn't belong on the noard anymore since he obviously isn't an enthusiast.

And in response to his comment on my Baretta. Learn to read you ass. There was never any threat of violence to anyone here only to myself because all this is getting to hard to cope with. Which is why they put me meds for that which only adds to my tirednes. Like I'm not weak enough already.

So if I paypal an order for a lens, is it too late for you not need to transfer money from checking?

If you want go straight ahead.
But there is no need for it right now since my best customer and friend on the net Saint Grzelak (pgrzelak) helped me out so I can refund it now instead of later.
But I want him to agree first that he posts afterwards that he got it and retracts his statements about me being a scam artist or a fraud.

I think it would be a good idea to deal with this issue privately now. Nobody is going to get banned from the BBS for speaking their mind, however reasonable or unreasonable their point of view.

I do, however, think the "Lenses" link above should be temporarily removed until Steve has been able to catch up with the backlog, or replaces the following paragraph with some more accurate text:

"Since this is only a hobby business please allow up to 10 days for your order to ship. Most ship in under 1 week though. If you are ordering Gel Filters or Gel Lenses as well, count on it adding another 3 days to your order to shipping time since all Gels are hand cut as they are ordered."

This is just a suggestion, I don't run this place.

Rob

PS Boy am I glad we (empeg) didn't take any money before shipping - I suspect it could have got messy!

PPS My neon Darkstorm Lens got a lot of good comments at the meet. I think it's a fantastic product, and I'm extremely sorry that Steve's run of terrible luck has caused him some ill will.

I'm not doubting your intentions, but 6 months ain't reasonable. Not being able to pay your bills isn't an excuse to keep people's money. Other people have bills, too. I had thought about ordering one of your lenses in the past but there are just too many complaints. I'm not trying to attack you personally. I'm just pointing out that you are not doing good business. You do however have a monopoly on a good product that is reasonably priced, so the potential is there. Did you ever watch Seinfeld? No offense, but you're like the Lens Nazi. "No lens for you! Next!"

It wasn't an implication to ban him from the board but good suggestion on changing the statement on my site.

Agreed. Bloody nice lense, in fact.

I've been waiting a few months for a lens and an aluminium fascia. At about the same time my empeg started playing up and I'm waiting patiently for the tech. support resolution. And my amp keeps powering down (either thermal cut-out or dodgy sled?)

Is someone trying to tell me something?

How weird would it be if all 4 things were resolved/delivered on the same day?

Dude, don't worry about shipping mine for as long as you need. I can completely understand how life can get sometimes. Especially when it's being threatened by illness. I'm happy enough just to know that things haven't been forgotten. If you don't mind my asking, where/what kind of cancer is it? Believe me, some are much better to have than others. Regardless, you're now in my prayers.