Hey Guys,
I pretty much just lurk here, while the majority of my posts are on another forum. That being said, I thought this was important information to share with as many collectors as possible.
I've been meaning to post this for sometime now.
Back in January, I used part of my Christmas bonus to fund my first purchase of unlicensed statues. The statues were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which are known as Veritas, which I assume is the name of the sculptor.
These kits were/are offered by a guy named Ramsey J. Martinez AKA RJ, who has a website known as Devils Own Resin:
Devils Own Resin - Home
Outside of the turtles, he is currently soliciting new projects.
I bought all four turtles via paypal in one immediate payment and instructed them to be shipped to a painter. I was told that one of the four turtles was printed stateside and the other three in France. I was told that the painter should have them within six weeks. This all transpired January 3rd.
As of January 3rd, I've probably emailed this RJ character about a dozen times. He responded once in May saying he was very sorry and to give him one more week. Since that time, I emailed him a few times but haven't heard anything. The painter was nice enough to call me on the phone to let me know that he doesn't know what RJ's problem is but would be seeing him at NYCC and would ask him about it . . . I still haven't heard anything.
I even recruited the help of a forum member who has dealt with RJ in the past. I was told by the forum member that RJ had excuses of a recent move and a baby, which I don't think I'm off base in saying who f%&*ing cares? I have a baby, recently moved to a disaster of a fixer upper home and run my own business. You know what I never do? Take my clients money and run and then tell them I have a baby and moved.
I don't think this guy intended to steal from me from the start. Other people got what they paid for. I think that the guy fell on hard times, used the money I sent him to pay cover other commitments, and then didn't have the money to pay the printer to print and ship the kits. In the end though, it's still unforgivable and stealing.
The reason I took so long to let y'all know, is I wanted to try to find this guy and get as much info as I could. I only figured his name out because of the paypal receipt and then had to search forum upon forum to find some guy mentioning DevilsOwnResin. A post on statue forum revealed that this guy lives in NYC. After more digging, I think I found the guys address and phone number:
Ramsey J. Martinez
266 Nagle Ave. Apt 3B
New York, NY 10034-3548
Phone: (212) 942-7053
In short, this is simply a public service announcement to those of you who may want to deal with this guy. DON'T DO IT. As for me, I've thought about calling the police, which I still may do, but how likely is NYCPD going to help me get my money back?
I know I won't get anything from paypal, but I'm going to let them know anyway. I'm also going to contact Eastman & Laird and give them this guys info if they want to pursue him for unlicensed sales. Some of you may think that's not a very nice thing to do, but so is stealing.
Outside of that, I won't do much else, I've already wasted a lot of money and time on this loser.
To keep this thread alive for future victims, anyone else have issues with this guy?