- January 16th, 2006, 2:23 pm#2673Well, I had dealings with Rhett Martin, aka: HotShotDraw. It wasn't a totally pleasing experience.
Here's the deal: I hired him to build a proton gun and ghost trap. The total was $480. I paid him a $200 downpayment. Too, I ordered the props several months prior to Halloween.
About August, I bought a Hyperdyne light kit for him to install for me. I offered to pay, he rebutted that he could use the experience and wouldn't charge me. Cool.
Late September, I was getting antsy, emailed him, asked when to expect the items, he promised, 2 weeks. I replied that was good as I had parties to go to the 2 weekends before Halloween.
2nd week of Oct. and still no props. He promised they had been sent, but kept "ignoring" my requests for a tracking number. Nothing. Finally, with a week to go, he says he had been waiting for a "green tube" so that I could have an "accurate" prop. Whatever, just send my props, please.
Finally, the Friday before Halloween, after he promised he had sent the items overnite via USPS (for those of you who know, USPS DOESN'T OFFER overnite delivery), I called the local USPS to find the package, luckily, was at their station, set for Sat delivery. I went ahead and picked it up.
Rhett packed the items in a cramped, at best box. And, instead of bubblewrap and/or peanuts, he wadded up newspaper and stuffed them into the box. This may have well been packed in wood blocks. The items, needless to say, were destroyed in transit. Absolutely useless.
SO, I email him. I was pissed, and told him so. He could have cared less. Basically, "I have your money, tough crap." He didn't even insure the items (except for the standard USPS $100 insurance ... which wouldn't even cover the loss of my $165 Hyperdyne light kit!) And, BTW, he mounted that wrong, and with the wrong front light set....
He finally offered to fix them at my expense and on his time schedule. And, he promised that USPS was sending me a check as he had filed the measly $100 claim. The check NEVER arrived. And, he quit returning emails. So, I refused the charges on my credit card. Now, he's claiming not to have the items back, and is appealing the reimbursement. Yet, I can't send them back because he refuses to email me his address. Basically, he is forcing the reversal of the refund and is forcing me to accept the delivery of broken props which he refuses to fix. He could, at least, send a partial refund ... if he were a reputable and trustworthy businessman.
As for the parts, shoddy and poorly crafted at best. Parts of the ghosttrap were incorrectly cut, the wheels didn't roll, the pedal was garbage BEFORE it was broken, the gun body looked too flimsy to even carry (as the only things holding it together were the wires from the hyperdyne kit after it was broken), and the barrel lights were wrong and dim.
At first, before he had my full payment, Rhett was pleasant to deal with. But, when the chips were down, he took my money and stuck me with useless, broken garbage. I wouldn't recommend ANYONE buy from this crook. (BTW, I've had dealings with Jeremy Moore, some good, some bad, but, in the end, he's ALWAYS done the right thing.)
So there.