ARK kit: ready for orders ! more pics added

[fxriviere]

at last ! the best Ark replica ever ! accurate in size and parts. to give you an idea of the measurements: cover =about 111 X 72 cm and
box= about 96 X 46,5 X 56 cm
each kit will be made by hand with strong and light resin and fiberglass. you will have to assemble the kit, add the inside wood bottom panel ( instruction with each kit ) and paint the finished ark !

Price including shipping is $990 ( will be ship from France )

because of the low price of the kit, and i dont want to loose more money ( fees ), i prefer a bank account transfer as payment. if you want to pay via Paypal, you will have to pay for all the fees ! ( that mean my paypal fees when i receive the money and the transfer from my paypal account to my bank account ! ).

if you want to be on the waiting list :contact me on my personal email only ! [e-mail]

here is a pic of what will look the kit: sorry for the bad pics

[kclasse]

Im very interested..... Cause im building a littel indy museum in my house..... please maybe you could give me a picture of one of the ark angels up close ?

KCLasse

Denmark

[bruno]

I am sorry to say that sending this seller money is a bad idea. I paid him $1,000 in May for his Ark kit - and still have nothing. He does not answer e-mails from me or the fellow that was helping him sell these.

I run the site throwmetheidol.com - and many of the collectors know me. I will happily provide an update to this situation should Laurent either send me my kit or refund my money immediately.

[bruno]

Well it's been several weeks and .... nothing. No Ark. No responses to past few e-mails sent. I even offered to advance MORE money to help with the shipping costs (which Laurent claims is the delay).

At this point I'd say you pay money to Laurent at your own risk. It's been almost 6 months since I paid him $1,000 in full.

[Ragingblues]

I hope this turns out to be an email issue, as it doesn't sound good at all. Fxrivere, when you come back online and read this... please contact Bruno with an update or something. I'm sure potential interested parties would like the scoop as well.


Ken

[bruno]

I received an e-mail this stating it had shipped approx. 2 weeks ago (last week of December).

Fingers are crossed.

Les

[bruno]

Well - after 7 months I've received a package. I don't say box because it fell to pieces during shipping. I saw the last bits of it when I had to go pick up the pieces from the warehouse. It has been placed in the undeliverable pile. The box he used was a joke - really thin cardboard with not a lot of tape.

Several pieces are crack or broken. They are all VERY rough around the edges and will require extensive work to turn into something presentable.

Order from Laurent at your own risk. Can't say I'm a satisfied customer after 7 horrible months only to receive a shoddy bunch of pieces.

[pitfallharry]

Aww, man.......That REALLY s*cks!

Bruno, you should get a full refund! You shouldn't be stuck with something like that at all........It sounds to me like you flushed $1000 down the drain!

[bruno]

More info - another purchaser and I have been exchanging info - he has come to the conclusion that Laurent simply made casts of his own pieces and never worried about how they would fit together. Even details like the four legs with feet can't hold it up - because they are hollow! One of mine is crushed during shipping.

Long story short- these parts are useless. And yes- I'm out $1,000!

What a waste of time and money. And to think this was to be the centerpiece to the 1,000 sq. foot museum we built last year to house my entire collection.

And I might add that I told all this to Laurent - no surprise... no answer!

Buy at your own risk.

[rjallen70]

Sorry to hear about all this.
More sorry than you know.
I was going to order one as well with my income tax return, but based on this I wont be ordering from him. I had also been eyeing his bust on the evilbay. Passing on that one as well.
Thanks for looking out for your fellow man, and I wish you the best.
Ron

[pitfallharry]

Bruno,

You didn't get what you paid for. You should either get a refund or find a lawyer and sue him. He more or less stole $1000 from you.

[Ragingblues]

I'm also sorry to hear about how this has turned out so far. If you don't receive a replacement kit that isn't broken or your money back in full, I would suggest seeking legal action. Maybe there are people that can afford to lose a grand and not mind. I'm not one of those people.

Without contrary details being introduced here by fxriviere, I believe you deserve a satisfactory replacement or full refund.


Ken

[agent5]

It may be hard to try to sue someone who lives in France. The ONLY way you'd ever get any money back is if you purchased it off of Ebay, paid through Paypal and then filed a claim through Paypal. In this instance I think that Paypal would side with Bruno and ask that Doc either re-ship the necessary parts or refund his money in full since what was received was not what was advertised. If Doc refused then at a certain point Paypal would automatically deduct funds from his account and there would be nothing he could do about it.

[Ragingblues]

Thanks for the clarification Agent5. I was thinking of something along the lines of what you said, and just calling it legal action. I have, thankfully, never had to jump through such hoops. I hope it works out for Bruno, either directly through the vendor or though the PaypPal - Ebay set of hoops.


Ken

[bruno]

Thank you all for your kind words. Paypal won't help because Laurent dragged it on long enough that they won't get involved. So I am seeing if I can press charges for postal fraud. As far as I'm concerned he stole from me.

When I have a moment I'll post pictures of what I received. I was so upset at what arrived that I simply boxed it up and set it in the basement.

I am also going to let me contacts at Lucasfilm know what kind of crap he is selling.

[chewielouie]

Paypal won't get involved because it has dragged too long? What a crock! I haven't taken a look at the Paypal agreement, but you may have a cause of action against Paypal if they don't step in like they are supposed to.

[IndyBlues]

Well, if it helps any, riviere has been here on several occasions, so he probably has read this thread. Hopefully, he will make good on his half of the deal. Nice concept, damn shame about the execution.
'Blues

[IndyNibs]

actually, PayPal can't do anything if Doc does not have any money in his PayPal account- I bought a bullwhip from whipstasmania 6 months ago and never received it and i filed a claim with PayPal and they said due to insufficient funds in whipstasmania's account they couldn't do anything. It really sucks

[belloq]

Ya it's funny how paypal claims they are so safe, yet I could if I wanted, open an account get a few hundred dollars from selling on ebay, never ship the stuff, take the money out of the account and close it, and by the time you get a complaint filed, they literally can't do anything. Thats just sad and wrong. They have your credit card number from when you join, but they claim they can't do anything...

[mobius]

It was early 2007 that I saw that FX Riviere was telling people he was starting a run of a fill size ARK the price was 1000$ including shipping. I decided to hop on the band wagon and order one. I payed with paypal the 1000bucks and the wait started.

He said it would be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. Later it got delayed as he had problem with the fiberglass curing. Then it was the shipping company, than it was the shipping company again because they held the shippment in there warehous. Then he said he was suing the shipping company. I then thought hey maybe this will be at my doorstep soon. But NO than anther chapter begins he claims he shipped the ark that was weeks after I e-mailed him asking about what was going on. I went to every shipping company here in Iceland, The Icelandic Post, DHL USPS and Icecargo. The were no records of a package to my name or address from France. And belive me everything is recorded and should have atleast had a report from the customs asking me to come down with a recipt. Nothing came.

FXRiviere claimed he shipped another one since the last one got lost, but nothing, I went through the usual channels asking around, but nothing.

I sent him an e-mail July and gave him ultimatums, either he would refund me or I would go to the forums and a police charge would be filed where he would be charged with fraud and theft. He said I would get a refund in August. But nothing yet.

I know he made 13 Arks or so he claims it would be nice if those who ordered would chime in. I know of one who did not get an ARK.

I´ve been ordering from all over the world for many years and I also have shipped all over the world and never ever had any problem nothing lost "slight delays" but nothing serious. No one has ever scammed me out of money until now.

And come to think of it I even offered to cover the shipping charges for FX.

THe reason I´ve been holding on to this is that people here have talked about how stand up guy he is. Here is a quote from another thread about him

„I will echo that statement as well on the basis of my contacts with Doc, who by all accounts is a nice guy. I doubt highly he's attempting to take money from people. It is however, very evident from the pics I've seen of his kits that they were done very poorly. I'm hoping that in the end Doc will do the right thing and save his reputation, which is on the line now.“

I wanted to belive that he was no scam but under the circumstace he is a Liar and a thief. Beware he scammed me out of 1000 $.

I´m waiting on a contact info for the police in France. I´m a police officer for 10 years and a member of the IPA (International Police Association) as I´m preparing to file charges but I´m also at that point to let every one know, lick my wounds and head on.

A deal that started great ended in dissaster. I told FX that I would go to the forums and I never had any reply. Now it looks like he vanished.


Regards
Hilmir "mobius" Kolbeins

[Ragingblues]

That really sucks and I wish you the best in recovering your hard earned money!


Ken

[Kaplan]

Well, that's a real shame. I hate hearing stuff like that. If he pops his head up here, I'm sure you can count on us to not forget what he has done to you. Best of luck.

[Damned Dan]

If you ever make a purchase through Paypal I believe they only insure the full amount as long as the seller doesn't have an insurance cap. I've dealt with several disputes through Paypal, but they always sided in my favor. The key is file a dispute and escalate to a claim before the 45 days expire after purchase. After that Paypal will not do a thing. Paypal should also be able to refund your money if the person has a credit card on file that isn't maxed out. For the past two years my girlfriend tried to purchase a 1966 Julie Newmar Catwoman costume only to be lied to by the designers. Both times Paypal sided in her favor and withdrew funds from the sellers' accounts. The most recent seller had insufficient funds, so they charged his credit card. It took about 3-4 days for the money to reach our account. If you are on a friendly basis with the seller, just let them know your are filing a claim as a precaution to insure your purchase. If they are trustworthy, they should understand as you can still resolve the claim without it affecting thier account.

[icefalcon]

my god these stories are epic, i dont even know what to say but that dude needs to be hunted down and whipped in the face. i like how he said he didnt want a paypal transfer he wanted bank to bank, of course he did