Well....for starters, I've found that being strictly neutral is an excellent position for me in this hobby.
That doesn't mean I'm blind. Yes I've read all the horrible stories and I know what's going on.
Fact is that I haven't been in contact with Dave for months.
Another fact is that he has always kept his promises towards me. I sent him my SW cockpit "steps" and he delivered them back as promised. The parts I have from him are a full SW yoke repair kit and 2 sets of SW T-molding (man the value of that 2nd set is sky-rocketing I tell you !!! I'll sell it for 200 bucks
)
I've helped David (on-line) to give him the right dimensions of the cockpit canopy plexi's.
The funny thing is that WAAAAAAAAYYYY back in time, I was one of his critics:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64536.msg750718#msg750718Please read again what I wrote there:
I am always willing to trust someone up-front. I probably need some parts for my SW yoke soon and would like to order in confidence with David, but reading all the messages everywhere, I would only order if he agrees to ship it first, and when it arrives I pay him. David, do you accept this, it could well establish back faith in you and your business.That was 2007 folks.
David came through, sent me parts without me having to pay upfront. I even got stuff for free. I haven't ordered that much from him but he was always OK with me from that point. Maybe he tried to win me over to order more, I don't know.
In my e-mails to David, I suggested (I think the time BEFORE this time that everything went wrong) that he should have stayed of the forums but simply send everyone their stuff OR their money back. He agreed with me, but he repeated the same thing again (just like in 2007).
Anyway, all in all, he had given me enough trust to suggest to friends (CKONG, Luc) to order parts from him. Luc already had a bad experience with him through E-bay and didn't really trust it, but I said it would be OK. And indeed his stuff arrived without problems. However CKONG got only part of his money back from David.
Mostly, I am very sad about the whole situation, mostly for the people who sent money upfront. But also for us, the community, who will be missing the excellent products that Dave _COULD_ have made available.
Another suggestion I told him was letting someone else handle the sales. Another thin he agreed on, but it never worked out.
Now, I have lost all confidence in him, I will not suggest to friends to order from him (although HI took the gamble and got his stuff only about a month ago !!) Too much has happened and only one thing can put things back again: David should pay back everything he owes and/or deliver the goods.
