I did post the contact information, as well as shared his physical address and phone number to NYCbLOOD. I sent a couple of notes to Dominic's account through Youtube, when the fountain project was supposedly "eating away at your time to work on the manifolds". The two notes that I sent to your account were never replied to. I detailed the entire situation in the first note. The second was a cursory follow up.
The information that we currently have is that John Sparks in conjunction with Dominics Metal Magic, whose info I listed, were in agreement on making intake manifolds for our vehicles. In doing so we were to provide a total of 1050$ as well as 50% deposits; and these manifolds would be completed at your shop. He asked that two members provide the full amount to allow him to purchase materials. One being myself. I had no issue in doing so after speaking with Aaron of NWP.
John purported to know Dominic for 10+ years; and stated that it has always been an issue with you and timelines. I extensively had to search to find out who you were due to johns desire to keep the shop secret. Essentially I tracked him down through a variety of methods, you it was through your youtube account.
As it stands funds were taken, and in him taking them he told us in November that you/Metal Magic purchased the materials to make the manifolds. The profit that was taken were to be split 50/50 between you both after the purchase of materials. 6 months later, here we are.
I have a littany of emails and or texts from sparks. As it stands with searching i have come across a number of funds related issues with the gentleman.
1-In purchasing items from Cattman, there was a long standing dispute for some items he had received that was later worked out. But again this issue had to do with Sparks and coming up with funds.

2-He pulled the same mess with a local member, who in turn had to track him down, and was only able to get the equipment **After he wouldnt answer his door multiple times*** by actually catching him at his car and saying hey i want my ****. then driving with him to uninstall the pieces, and install on his car.

3-I wont list the other issue, ill leave that at the discretion of the moderator whether he wants to share.

4-This debaucle.
My beliefIf there are no materials to be had as being purchased by Metal Magic, or as purported to have been purchased by DMM, then i am owed my 150$.

..smh

@Dominic
And nothing against you; but its hard to understand in all of this that its been this kinda bs swirling with someone that everyone had some dealings with for four + years. As for you, im sure more than myself are unsuree on just how to take the timing....hopefully it works out for the best for all involved.

 

The For Sale Thread For The Other Manifold
#BecauseDoucheBag
smh, shut up javon

 

Would recommend that those that sent deposits leave feedback on his ITRADER for the fact that he may be using that as a reference on other sites as well.

 

First I've heard of this.

I think that I understand the Cliffs...

 

I hardly know John, I never saw a penny of the money andI never ordered any material. I am the biggest victum of them all since my business reputation is now screwed. I never received any messages, but since everyone seems to have had my email and phone number, I never received any calls.

I have only known John roughly a few years not 10+ years as he states. He has never had anything to do with my business in the past. He knows nothing about how I conduct business or my timelines. sounds like he is just trying to cover his a$$

Everyone out there needs to learn from this, It doesn't matter if you work with friends, family or strangers, get everything in writing, contracts. Never do anything without writing. I am getting screwed form NYCblood filing complaints against me for something I never did, never ordered material, never obtained money/payments. I never got far enough with John to even get anything in writing. If no one signs a written agreement with me then I don't do the work and they can go somewhere else. These contracts are the best thing to protect both parties.

 

motherfvcker!!! (yeah i never curse on the forum but i'm p1ssed).

PEOPLE...THIS IS THE NUMBER 1 REASON WHY WE DO NOT AUTHORIZE GROUP DEALS FROM NON VENDORS...THIS IS WHY...BECAUSE THEY HAVE A BUTT LOAD OF YOUR MONEY AND YOU SIT THERE AND WAIT WHILE THIS CLOWN PAYS OFF HIS BILLS. EVERYONE COMPLAINS WHEN I MAKE PEOPLE JUMP THROUGH HOOPS AND HURDLES TO GET A GD GOING, DO YOU KNOW WHY I DO THAT NOW???

no one listens...everyone complains so now what? BTW this was not an authorized GD.

- John #1 rule...YOU DO NOT USE SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY TO PAY OFF YOUR PERSONAL DEBT. if you're that broke...SELL YOUR DAMN CAR. people who are broke do not own cars. they take the bus...so start taking the bus and sell your car. i'm sure you'll get at least a grand for it.

- Dominic (btw why is your user name mitch134)...unfortunately you're guilty by association. i know you're in a tough spot...but it seems like you're talking to John. i ask if you can please keep everyone updated if you're talking to him.

 

- forum title updated
- john's user title updated

 

DanNY

What is the proper way to get a group deal going? What are the things that you make people go through?

 

this is not the time or the place to discuss this...esp in this thread.

you want a GD...PM me and we'll talk.

----please keep the thread on topic----

no need to tell members to pay other members a visit. what is he going to do when he shows up? harvest his kidney and sell on the black market to pay debts back?

 

Apparently he moved down here to Florida somewhere.

 

Let NYCBLOOD know the truth:

http://forums.maxima.org/buyer-selle...ed-me-off.html

 

Before I do anything I would like John's response to the business owner, publicly on here. While what he says is very likely the truth I honestly can't believe anyone at this time regarding this matter.

Unfortunately I think getting my money back and knowing the truth are two things which will never happen.

Mitch or whatever his name has my phone number and we will talk...

DanNY why was this allowed to happen on the forums? I assumed he was allowed/had mods blessing to do this as we had multiple moderators posting in these threads. Everyone on these forums knew about these manifolds and that they were going into production. Now the moderators are acting like it's the 1st they heard of this? Maybe it's because I am the one who is ripped off but it pisses me off that AFTER the fact the moderator team is acting all high and mighty and saying that this is our/my own fault. I think there should be some accountability. If he shouldn't have been allowed to do it in the 1st place why didn't anyone stop him? Apparently from can'tgetryte he ripped off a moderator too or something to that extent and it wasn't made public. What is the going on here?

 

This whole thing is a mess and surely sucks but I'm honestly suprised this deal ever left the ground. I was interested, had the money, thought about it, but ultimately it just wasnt worth the risk for me. There were just way too many variables. Even if the guy was a vendor or ran a legit business, that's a lot of dough to front for something completely unproven.

 

Nycblood I am not a forum or computer geek, so help me out here and tell me how to check some message I think you triied to send me. Better yet just send me an email dmmay@triad.rr.com with your phone number and I will be happy to talk with you.

Something I have nothing to do with, is sure eating up my time. Lets just pick up the phone and talk.

 

only on page 5 n this thread is funny lol.... most you NYC bammas know this guy dont yall?

 

damn wat the hell happened to sparks?

 

either banned permanently or readig this still laughin how he made off with ppls money lol.... thought cant get ryte had his address

 

we don't ban scammers...we just brand their user ID so ppl won't do business with them.

think about it...if we ban them then there's ZERO chance of them coming back with a response.

 

- the policy is no unauthorized group deals on the forum. we can't stop people who are doing this on the side. the mods can't read every single post to make sure there's no sales going on. there's a report post button on every post...if you see someone doing unauthorized GDs then click it and report the post/thread. this thread is not even in the FS area of the forum...it's in all motor. where did it state that we (the staff) approved of this sale? i read the entire thread and no where did it say "this is ok to proceed as per maxima.org staff" or something to that effect.

- you read the thread...it said going into production...i wasn't aware that people actually paid money for it. i thought he was going to make them and sell them AFTER they were made.

- the forum is not responsible for ANY sale between two private parties. we can only warn people by updating the user titles and having an iTrader for feedback. you the customer needs to make the decision if you want to give your money to a stranger. we didn't hold a gun to your head to click pay. we ALWAYS tell people to protect themselves by using a secure method of payment. we're not acting all high and mighty...you're an adult...you took a risk and gave money to a stranger in the hopes that he will have a product by X time. things went sour and now you're stuck. i was only made aware of this thread when i was PMed informing me that John has the money and is not responding to any communication. last i heard he was issuing refunds. i just heard yesterday that you were still owed money and it appears that he left town too.

- just for future reference...IF the staff approved of this sale it would be in the GD section. generally I make the threads in the GD section for these one off non vendor sales. should be a red flag that this was not there.

i'm sorry that this happened to you...but in no way shape or form you can blame the forum for this. this was a private transaction between two parties where the management of this forum was NOT involved.

Dan

 

true... make sense

 

sparks03max sparks03max is online now
Last Activity: Today 12:52 PM
Current Activity: Replying to Thread SCAM ALERT: Custom intake manifolds going into production

talk to us....what's going on here John?

 

Maybe you don't remember all those times I repeated to you that Dominic had nothing to do with your money, but as confirmed by him it wasn't a lie. Why would you STILL go after his business? Yes, what I did was wrong but you don't think what you are doing to him is wrong? I'm going to send your money back just like I sent everyone else's money back as soon as I have the money to send. Also just to respond to your accusation that you didn't get refunded because you are a low post count on these forums, just take a look at DrewSER who was also involved.

Made off with people's money? If that was my intention, I wouldn't have refunded the others and wouldn't have come back to the forums again either. The only reason NYCblood hasn't gotten his money back yet is because someone had to come last and I ran out of money and possessions to sell. Again, the first money I get is his (i'll send partial payments to make sure he sees something coming in asap) until he has the full amount.

Nov 23, 2011 Payment From Douglas Sands Completed $727.95 USD
Nov 23, 2011 Payment From Douglas Sands Completed $291.00 USD
Feb 22, 2012 Payment For Douglas Sands Completed $900.00 USD

Nov 21, 2011 Payment From Christopher Wyllie Completed $446.36 USD
Feb 26, 2012 Payment For Christopher Wyllie Completed $446.36 USD

Dec 9, 2011 Payment From Andrew Hawley Completed $485.20 USD
Mar 01, 2012 Payment For Andrew Hawley Completed $485.20 USD

Doug asked for a refund for himself and on behalf of the others around feb 10. I asked for time to get the funds together and sent out everything I could gather as soon as I got it together.




I lied about helping dominic with his project, but I did get communication from him that he was running over and very busy with his fountain project. I don't have any of the texts anymore and we didn't communicate much via email, but I did find one. Obviously we didn't communicate enough, but he did not have an open schedule anytime between the end of November through February when this was supposed to happen. It was originally supposed to be done in December as far as I knew, but got pushed back.

I received this Email on February 13, check the bolded part.

"My latest project that I built for the new Embassy Suites in Fayetteville, NC. This is 2 separate fountains all handmade out of 316 and 316L stainless steel. The exterior Porte Cochere fountain is all has 2 vessels powder coated with a wrinkled copper and the last 8’3” vessel is all swirled finished stainless weighing over 300 pounds. The shorter 2 vessels overflow out of one side into a lighted hole and the large 8 footer overflow on all sides. The 8 foot tank holds over 2000 pounds of water. The Lobby fountain consists of 2 “sail” sculptures all made of stainless and cover in copper which I flame colored and clear coated by myself. There are still a couple pieces of copper in which I have yet to go back and fit on the tallest “sail”. One sail is 10 foot tall with a reservoir mounted in the top with water flowing over all sides. The other “sail” is 15 foot tall with a sheet of acrylic that will have water flowing over it. Everything was engineered and designed by myself, I then learned how to create my own 3D drawings which I had stamped by a licensed NC engineer. Had to deal with different building codes and loading factors for Fayetteville building code. I should be back down there in a week and a half to finish up and will take some video of it running.
This job was a real ***** to do. I handled every aspect and 99% of construction, design and install by myself. I worked in tandem with a water feature company out of Tampa, FL who actually contacted me for this project, A local swimming pool contractor handle most of the plumbing, pumps, UV sanitizer, pools and tile work in the pool.

PS
You should have seen us installing the 15 foot sail, it weighed over 400 pounds, A lot of stainless!!! A lot of Copper!!!
I have logged almost 1000 man hours alone just in the fabrication in 3 months time, not to mention the design work and drawings. Some days I worked 17 hours, but on average 12 hours a day 7 days week. I am wooped!!
Dominic"


I'm sorry about what happened and the lies to this community. This project started with the best of intentions and I screwed it up royally. Regardless of what people think of me, I'm trying to do the right thing and get people their money back at the very least.

Did the bolded not clue you in as to what I was doing?

In any case, I'll reply back here when I've gotten NYCblood refunded.

 

cant read another long post... bro the fact that u acted on those intensions says enough man.....

 

LOL...i posted that BEFORE your reply. who knows...you might've typed something out and decided to close it.

don't give me your attitude. remember...you messed up. you're in the wrong. not us.

 

You lied about more than that. Apparently you didn't buy any materials either so you also owe money to Doug for the money that he spotted you for that lie.

 

I think we should let the people involved in this issue work it out. I know it sucks for the entire community and there is a great disappointment that we won't get any of those sick intake manifolds anytime soon.

Sparks is obviously taking steps to rectify the situation. Overblowing things like these can lead to people not wanting to take risks in the future and therefore enthusiasts not pursuing their passion.

It might be my upbringing, but nasty fights were usually held behind closed doors and not for everybody to see.

On another note to the people involved and Dominic's (mitch's?) comments about written contracts. If you guys were to take sparks to court (small claims probably) any electronic documents such as text messages, emails, private messages, are just as good as any formal written agreement. Actually to enforce contracts below 500 bucks verbal agreements are totally sufficient.

Our legal system wants to protect people from getting screwed, and therefore as long you are legitimately right, you are right in front of a judge too.

 

how would they know sparksmax= john (spark, if that is his name)????

 

well if you sue somebody you subpoena paypal. and they would share his contact information, considering his account has to be linked to a bank account.

 

You needed money, and you had money coming in for the manifold project, and you gave into temptation and used that money for your debts. You were then going to get back on your feet and return the money (because of your guilty conscience) after saying that you ran into production issues, after making the decision of not following through with your manifold project. However, your plan did not work like you thought it would and you ended up getting further in the hole, and people were getting anxious about their manifolds. So, you decided to demod your car and start selling your other possessions in order to pay people back, but it has taken longer than you expected, and you came up with various reasons for the delay in getting people their money back.

This is my theory on what happened. You should at least man up and come clean with the real truth. Everyone you deceived deserves that. Then, and only then, you might be able to salvage what's left of your reputation on here. If you decide not to man up and come clean, then you should go delete your Maxima.org account, and bury your head in the sand in shame.

 

lol i think you damn near hit the nail on the head, seeing as though he is demodding, i wouldnt mind going to NC n trading stock parts for AM parts ... till got headers n cattback???... pm me lol

 

i wouldnt call this a scam id call it more of a F up. in my opinion sparks was just stupid..but he did refunded most of the money..a true scammer wont refund the money lets realize that..of course im not backing him up what he did was wrong but in my eyes him refunding 99% of funds is good on his part..lets just get to that 100%. also people need to be wise about their money, dont cry that you lost money if you dont know what your doing..me personally i wouldnt ever paypal anybody more than 50 bucs on forums unless they were authorized vendor(but thats just me).

hopefully this will all get resolved..its been a interesting read

 

im going to be a **** and say the jokes on all sukaz signing up to pay 'budget boost kit" money on an intake





ok ... that was messed up,,hope all you get this resolved...

 

or a good way to build trust (not that u care to....) ill buy a couple parts for n agreed price u ship 1st n ill send paypal the millisecond i receive such items.. ill make 1000% sure with all my postwhoring skills (n its a lot lol) that ill give danny a honest evaluation, even on this thread n hope ppl give u some trust n this will be a thing of the past lol... watcha say......... Verbal agreement here lol

ppl paypal me way over $50 before.... simple just get as much info... even vendors scam ppl too... n it happens a lil more often than you think

now this^, is F'd up

 

Dec was the end of my final college semester and I actually didn't have any monetary issues at the time thanks to the GI bill. There was no temptation at that point to use the IM money. I originally intended the IM project to be a full time job for several months, considering the huge amount of interest other than just the first few who wanted them. It became apparent pretty quickly that Dominic's fountain job was soaking up his 12 hours a day 7 days a week and wasn't going to be done anytime soon but instead of immediately trying to get another job or try to rush him along by helping out, I waited. This was my biggest mistake other than lying about it afterward, laziness FTL.

By the time I got the email in February that Dominic had finished up the fountains, I had spent a large portion of the money on bills and everybody just wanted refunds. I was worried that even if I did start immediately right then on the IMs, there would not be enough income in the next month to pay bills or survive so I started scrambling to try and find employment, demodding the car and selling other possessions off to get these guys refunded and be done with the whole ordeal. Obviously employment didn't come so easily (fast food says overqualified, nobody else hiring) and it came to the point where I am today.

I admit that it was ****ing dumb on my part and it should have never came this far, but I'm not here to scam anybody. My apologies have already been sent out to the parties involved and most of them came with cash. And I'll guarantee you I paid (and am paying) for all my mistakes pretty severely.

Seriously though, I traded my cattman 3" for a cattman 2.5"+cash, and still have cattman headers (gen3) on my car. If someone in ~central FLA has stock parts to trade and wants some cattman headers or 2.5", I can come to your house and do the swap on the spot and let you send anything up to $420 straight to NYCblood without it touching my hands. I will let the headers go for $450+stock replacement and catback go for $300+stock replacement. Both a little over half of what they originally sold for, should be a fair enough deal.

 

While the $500 portion is correct the contractual (oral/internet communication) agreement would fall under the statute of frauds because the total price $1,000 some odd dollars for the manifolds which would fall under partial performance (offeree consults offeror to agreed upon price, offeror agrees to pay offeree partial, offeree agrees to partial for full performance to receive rest of payment) and although there is consideration for the offeree the contract would be completed in less then a year and breach of contract they would/should have still been in writing to be 100% enforceable.

From I gather so far I wouldn't worry about it going to court if Sparks is indeed passing out refunds in a reasonable manner of time

 

Exactly
$900=/=$1050
I will be reopening my disputes with the NC DOJ and IC3


Thank you for filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

Your complaint has been successfully submitted. Please retain the following information for future contacts with the IC3:
fromno-reply@ic3.gov
tocant.get.ryte@gmail.com

dateTue, Feb 14, 2012 at 10:20 AM
subjectIC3 Complaint: I12021410*&^%$#@#
mailed-byic3.gov

 

And we all APPARENTLY KNOW THAT YOU RECEIVED MONEY FOR A SET OF DRAG SLICKS THAT YOU SOLD TO DARREN SURRATT, SO YOU STILL ARE NOT BEING FORTHCOMING.

You can contact me tonight, as im sure you have the number, and we can discuss a payment plan on the 150$,

 

Yes, i would think that's included in demodding his car and selling parts.


Basically- NYCBLOOD, and Cant_Get_Ryte, are still due money.



Cant_get_ryte was the only one to get a partial refund from what we know.

 

Doug I've been trying to ignore the baiting, smearing and outright lies posted by you because I don't want this to turn into a childish ****-throwing fest. I understand that you're angry and upset at being lied to and fully agree that you should get your last $150 back, but I'd like to ask you to step back and look at how you've handled yourself in the last few pages of this thread.

I mentioned several times that I've been selling off all my possessions, the stuff I sold Darren were the last odds and ends that never sold. You guys were all so curious how I made it to Florida, well there you have it. I sold him my slicks, a set of VQ35 heads, and a VQ35 LIM (my last maxima parts) for $80 dollars to afford gas to take myself and what was left of my possessions to the only place I had to stay that included a roof. Do you think it just went in my pocket as extra change?

I'll worry about paying you back the additional $150 once NYCblood has been taken care of as he didn't even get a partial refund yet. IMO that is the only fair way to do this.

 

You realize that Paypal has fees when you don't send as gifts, right? I posted the exact amounts that came to my account from you which was obviously after the paypal fees were extracted. It doesn't show me any other amount than what I actually received. What purpose would it serve for me to randomly take 3% off each of your transactions?