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gemio17

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2003
166
0
NYC
wwjdsong registered today, and his/her only 2 posts are on this thread...

sounds just a little suspicious considering what this thread is about huh?
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
Originally posted by wwjdsong
trying to tarnish Mac Master's business because they are selling at better prices

btw, you must not know very much about apple resellers. no one is allowed to deviate much from the retail prices set by apple for current models. so all legitimate resellers try to increase value by bundling freebies, but you never see the prices being much lower than what's on apple.com online store. legitimate stores don't have to be worrying much about better prices because there are almost none.
 

loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
<<
Yes I am a newbie but so are you loupache and akimbo. Have you lost anything to Mac Master?
>>

wwjdsong or Neil:

I did not lose money to macmastershop.com but I lost a lot of time, emotions, and frustrations.

I told Neil before I placed the order that I was suspecting SCAM but he tried to pull it off anyway. I told him that I would share my experience with others.

Any reasonable person with enough IQ can read from your posts that you are either related to them or got special treatment by them to post here. I suspect the former, however.

You can always accuse others for working with the competition. People can read from the lines to judge who has the credibility.

Well, I do not work for any competition. As a matter of fact, I do not own a Mac (yet). I am a very experienced PC user trying to get a Mac.
 

kcoelho

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
5
0
Too late to complain !!!

Hi folks ,

Unfortunately I have just found this forum posts . But now it´s too late.
Have past 10 days since I wired the money to :

Bank Name: Peoples Bank
733 H Street
Blaine, WA 98230
U.S.A.
ABA Routing #: 125.104.425
Credit Account Name: Dennis Charalambides
Credit Account #: 5081016031
REF : Order Number #507789436

Valor :US$ $1,098.00

Since I wired the money I didn´t receive any e-mail for 7 days.

So today I received a e-mail from Dennis Charalambides :

Kiko:

We were unable to confirm transfer until Tuesday Feb. 24th.
At this point your iBook had been removed from a hold and shipped to another customer.

Unfortunately your item is now out of stock and on backorder. We are expecting a shipment from our supplier in 3 weeks. Your order will be shipped once we receive it and will send you a tracking number via email the moment it ships. We emailed you several times letting you know about the status however they kept on bouncing back. Please confirm that you receive this e-mail.

Thank you.

Dennis Charalambides
President/Owner
Mac Master
e-mail: dennis@macmastershop.com

----------------------------------------------------

That is very odd because my bank just gave me the FED number , the number that confirms that everything went fine with the transfer.

Them I begin searching for this company and find no records and the same hosting that were used from Macwhizshop.com

SO ITS CLEAR TO ME THAT THIS IS ANOTHER FRAUD AND SCAM LIKE THE OTHERS SUPER-DISCOUNTS APPLE PRODUCTS DONE BY THE SAME PERSON !!!

I live in Brazil but I would like to help you guys to find this criminal.

I don´t know much about Canadian or American Laws but I think the first procedures is to disable their website contacting their host company ( and maybe Tucows that register the address ) and close their bank account contacting his bank

That seems to me the right thing to do to quick stop this person.
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
sorry man... :( :mad:

wwjdsong: why don't you order an iBook for this guy, eh? you seemed to have had better luck dealing with this scammer. are you "happy" now that there seems to be a confirmed victim now for macmastershop? can we start accusing this place of being a scam?? :mad:
 

loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
kcoelho:

I feel very sorry for you.

They seem to love international buyers because the one way these buyers can pay is via wire transfer.

Another regular and customary tactic is that when someone makes repeated calls and e-mails, they will pretend that they have contacted you. In my case it was "as in previous e-mails" but I never received any. In this case, it was bounced e-mails.
 

loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
I am not the most experienced in terms of internet server/hosting, etc.

I looked around.

1) It seems that macmastershop.com is associated with IP address 216.251.32.98. However, when I pinged it, it timed out.

2) This particular IP address is hosted by
http://bluegenesis.com/

3) Their manager's e-mail address is manager@bluegenesis.com.

4) Blaine Washington has a nice website from which one can find all kinds of information such as police department, etc. It is http://www.ci.blaine.wa.us/. However, even if it says it is in Blaine Washington, it may or may not be. The address give on their website indicated that is a freight company near the airport of Blaine Washington.

5) A people search on http://people.yahoo.com/ using white pages of Blaine WA did not find Dennis Charalambides.
 

kcoelho

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
5
0
They answer fast now.

Hi Folks ,

I Just received an e-mail from "our friend" Dennis Charalambides right now :

--------------------------------------------------
Kiko,

I have read the post you made on Mac rumors. This is a pretty serious accusation claiming that we have defrauded you. We are not related or associated in any way with the mac wiz company. If we are slow to respond to customers questions or complaints it's because we are busy attending other customers and not because we want to commit fraud.

I have issued a refund as per request. Please note that I will also be taking
full legal action against you for defamation of character.
I have one of the best lawyers in Seattle and trust me you being in Brazil will not stop his firm from suing you.

Dennis Charalambides

--------------------------------------------------

I am a lawyer. So are my Father and my Grandfather.

So I told him that if he give me my money back I can provide him with enough information so we can sue me. No problem..Just want my money back. SIMPLE !!!

If he gives me back my money I will post here my "FORMAL EXCUSES" so everybody can know they are actually a legitimate business. No problem..

But I doubt that... Don´t think the right way to manage a company is treating their angry customers or people complaining about their services.

Something is very wrong....

Kiko
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
Re: They answer fast now.

Originally posted by kcoelho
Hi Folks ,

I Just received an e-mail from "our friend" Dennis Charalambides right now :

--------------------------------------------------
Kiko,

I have read the post you made on Mac rumors. This is a pretty serious accusation claiming that we have defrauded you. We are not related or associated in any way with the mac wiz company. If we are slow to respond to customers questions or complaints it's because we are busy attending other customers and not because we want to commit fraud.

I have issued a refund as per request. Please note that I will also be taking
full legal action against you for defamation of character.
I have one of the best lawyers in Seattle and trust me you being in Brazil will not stop his firm from suing you.

Dennis Charalambides

--------------------------------------------------

I am a lawyer. So are my Father and my Grandfather.

So I told him that if he give me my money back I can provide him with enough information so we can sue me. No problem..Just want my money back. SIMPLE !!!

If he gives me back my money I will post here my "FORMAL EXCUSES" so everybody can know they are actually a legitimate business. No problem..

But I doubt that... Don´t think the right way to manage a company is treating their angry customers or people complaining about their services.

Something is very wrong....

Kiko

well, now we know two things for certain.

1) he does come to MR. (and undoubtedly other mac related forum sites.)

2) he's almost certainly a fraud - what's with the defensive/threatening tone? if you ran a legitimate business, why would you be looking out for rumor sites about your service? good customer service and legitimate business will speak for itself much louder than rumor sites.
 

loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
Kiko:

You might have a chance to get your money back but do not have high expectations. You will have a better chance by telling the facts around your experience in all kinds of Mac forums and websites. You should have some e-mail, wire transfer, and other records. You might also contact your ISP and request some e-mail logs to prove.

Usually they want to smother complaints by trying to "satisfy" someone so they can continue what they have been doing.

Since he offered to refund your money. Ask him to give you a date by which the money will be transferred into your account. If not, contact the Blaine police department (but they may not be in Blaine), contact the website hosting company, the bank you wired money to, and various other authorities.
 

winwintoo

macrumors 6502
Nov 26, 2003
291
0
Remember before Christmas I suggested that we all flood him with orders - I don't know if anyone responded, but soon after that the macwhiz website was taken down.

Maybe it's time to suggest the same for this new place.

m.
 

flowerbug89

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
2
0
California
time to wait

Well, i'm glad I found this forum. i also have had dealings with macmastershop.com
and can only say they suck! i am a college student with a limited amout of money and thought
i could save by ordering from them. i ordered the dual G5 they had advertised for $2699 and paid
with wire transfer since i do not have a credit card. three weeks passed and never received the G5.
my emails were ignored and phone calls never returned. i told my uncle about my experience and he
got his lawyer to try to recover my money. he did a check up on lexis-nexus and told us
mr. caralambides seemed to be somekind of litigation expert and has a long track record of
hauling folks into court. nevertheless, before we could file a claim fedex showed up with my G5.
Of course it was not the model i ordered but the 1.8ghz for $2099.
mr. caralambides said to return it and he would send the right one. since i needed the dual G5
for video production and felt they had sent the wrong one by accident, i foolishly returned it
two weeks ago and am still waiting for them to ship the correct model. being a little nervous
about this whole deal i did some more research online about macmastershop.com and found this forum.
has anyone else had this happen? my uncle's lawyer has sent him an email that if i don't receive it
by next week i will be suing. this was yesterday no response yet. i will post his reply here for
everyone to read.
 

timsq

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2004
143
2
New Orleans
almost victimized...

I have $.02 on http://www.macmastershop.com.
  • same IP as macwhizshop
  • wire transfer or cashiers check? no cart = fraud
  • No answer to phone calls (email reply instantly)
  • not AUTHORIZED by Apple
  • non-existant address
  • site content stolen
  • ridiculous prices (cheaper than used)
I came too close to ignoring the obvious and making a big mistake. The lack of a cart sent me searching. Thanks for the forum where it all came together. Let's nail that guy! It can't be hard to shut his site down. Rrrr...
 

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loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
Great work, timsq.

I just pinged macwhizshop.com and the same IP (216.251.32.98) showed up.

So he just re-registered his domain for the same IP. There is no doubt now that it was the same person who operated macwhizshop.com before and operates macmastershop.com now.
 

timsq

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2004
143
2
New Orleans
fodder

here's the whois:

OrgName: InternetNamesForBusiness.com
OrgID: INFB
Address: 500 East Broward Boulevard
Address: Suite 1700
City: Fort Lauderdale
StateProv: FL
PostalCode: 33394
Country: US

NetRange: 216.251.32.0 - 216.251.47.255
CIDR: 216.251.32.0/20
NetName: MEGA-1
NetHandle: NET-216-251-32-0-1
Parent: NET-216-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.MEGANAMESERVERS.COM
NameServer: NS2.MEGANAMESERVERS.COM
NameServer: NS3.MEGANAMESERVERS.COM
Comment:
RegDate:
Updated: 2001-04-09

TechHandle: ZI51-ARIN
TechName: InternetNamesForBusiness.com
TechPhone: +1-954-463-3080
TechEmail: admin@internetnamesforbusiness.com

OrgTechHandle: ZI51-ARIN
OrgTechName: InternetNamesForBusiness.com
OrgTechPhone: +1-954-463-3080
OrgTechEmail: admin@internetnamesforbusiness.com

seems somebody should get some phone calls and email complaints if you get my drift.
 

The_Dood

macrumors member
Feb 10, 2004
42
0
Japan
Re: Mac Master

Originally posted by wwjdsong
I will post good feedback about your company any where I can. I have also made a post on a large Mac Forum, Macrumours.com, about the prices and the service I experienced.

Just my 2cents - after I read this email from wwjdsong to Neil, I thought what a load of crap!! He said his computer came on a Friday, so we are to assume he wrote this email to Neil after receiving it... but then he says in his letter that he already had made a big post on our forum praising MacMaster and their prices. That was obviously a lie, because he didn't make any posts about that until now. If it's true, where is the post? I didn't see anything from him on the 9+ pages before, but there were just the few from lawmanca. Suspicious? Yeah, I'd think so...
 

ovrdrvn

macrumors member
Dec 10, 2003
34
1
It's all a FRAUD

I haven't been checking in regularly nor posting, but just to reiterate and attempt to save people some time, money and breath....all the aforementioned sites, their "supposed" owners etc. are completely fradulent. Don't attempt to do business, don't expect one penny back if you did wire money and don't waste your time debating people who are posting that they received computers, had "real" discussions with anyone or anything resembling actual business.

Pass the word wherever you can and keep and eye out for anything resembling this scam as it will not be the last.

OH and regarding the libel etc.....complete bull****....in fact I will go on record as willing to take the complete brunt of the claims...come sue me one and all from any of these "supposed" businesses.
 

timsq

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2004
143
2
New Orleans
Oh hell yes!

Rock!
ovrdrvn said:
...completely fradulent. Don't attempt to do business, don't expect one penny back if you did wire money and don't waste your time debating people who are posting that they received computers, had "real" discussions with anyone or anything resembling actual business.

Pass the word wherever you can and keep and eye out for anything resembling this scam as it will not be the last.

OH and regarding the libel etc.....complete bull****....in fact I will go on record as willing to take the complete brunt of the claims...come sue me one and all from any of these "supposed" businesses.
Amen!
 

kcoelho

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
5
0
Together as one !!

Mac Folks ,

Unfortunately a live in Brazil.. But I wonder if there is not any way we can get together to stop this from happening.

Reading this posts I found at least 5 people that were fooled by this person.
That´s people that found this forum. How much was fooled that we haven´t heard so far ??

Can we fight together ?? Talk to an American lawyer and divide together the costs ??? I can´t be the leader of this quest because need it to be an American...

That's not just because we can have our money back...We can prevent this from happening to others...

That´s all ...

Regards ,

Kiko
 

flowerbug89

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
2
0
California
i got my G5 today. after waiting for way too many weeks. i guess my uncle's lawyer sent a very intimidating email because i got it express. it is the correct model this time and is brand new. i can suggest to other buyers that have not received their order to call a lawyer at once. looks like it's the only way to get anywhere with mr. caralambides.
 

adamjay

macrumors 6502a
Feb 3, 2004
646
0
Indianapolis
it really pains me to see honest people ripped off like this... and not to exclude anyone but ESPECIALLY ripping off Brasilians, they are the nicest folk in the world that i have met in all my travels.

if there is anything i can do let me know, contact me via email
adamjay at subterror dot com just put iBook RIPOFF in the subject.

i offer my assistance because i travel often, will be in Winnipeg Canada this weekend, back to Canada in April. Brasilia around July, and i live in the US.
So, if you find that you need any assistance in personally filing something in a certain territory or country that i will be in, let me know. i'd love to prevent this scumbag from scamming anyone else over, and can't just sit aside and not offer help.

and keep us updated as to what happens with your ''refund''
 

_pb_boi

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2004
382
0
MacMaster vs. MacWhiz!

Completely fraudulent.

I can't believe the community here - it's incredible. You guys have it made, with regards to helping each other. It's really impressive.

For what it's worth, even the mail signatures from both MacWhiz and MacMaster are the same, save for the name! In addition, both sites ended correspondance with a "Thank you." IMHO, more circumstancial proof that they're one and the same entity. As if more proof was needed!

I guess I had a lucky escape. Was in correspondance with the guy, planning to buy! Bastard!

peace.
 

timsq

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2004
143
2
New Orleans
Macmaster rrrr...

http://www.macmastershop.com macmastershop mac master shop = fraud ripoff thieves hustle conmen. I can't believe http://www.froogle.com won't limit its searches to legitmate etailers. Here's their reply:

Thanks for taking the time to email us about this.

Google is an unbiased provider of information, not a mediator or editor.
Our search engine provides an easy way to locate whatever you're looking
for online, but we do not endorse or influence the products that you see
displayed in our results, nor do we claim responsibility for a merchant's
practices. Questions or comments about a particular merchant are best
addressed to the webmaster of the particular site.

In response to your email, we will review this merchant's account to check
for incongruities. However, we suggest that you contact the Better
Business Bureau or Consumer Affairs division of the city where the company
is located, as they will be able to investigate your case and act on your
behalf. Such organizations provide a more effective forum for addressing
cases of consumer dissatisfaction.

Mac fraud master dishonest shop macmastershop hurtful and other keywords! Thanks for tolerating my search stomp.
 

loubapache

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2004
51
0
Michigan
AssassinOfGates:

I saw you coughed on TigerDirect. Do you have bad experience?

I was thinking about ordering an IBM Thinkpad from them.

Thanks.
 

kcoelho

macrumors newbie
Feb 27, 2004
5
0
No response so far

Just to update you guys ,

Since past 2 weeks no word from our friend Mr. Dennis Charalambides
Tried to call , e-mail him several times and..... Nothing Happend
Didn´t send my money back or my product.

So be aware :

DON´T BUY ANYTHING FROM MACWHIZSHOP.COM
DON´T BUY ANYTHING FROM MACMASTERSHOP.COM

IT´S A FRAUD SCHEME !!!!

DON´T BELIEVE ANY POSTS HERE SAYING THEY HAVE RECEIVED THE PRODUCT ( EVEN IF IT TAKE A LONG TIME ) .. IS NOT TRUE AND POSTED FROM THE SAME PEOPLE SCAMING WITH MACMASTERSHOP.COM


Thanks again..And please...Spread the word !!!

Kiko
 
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