Sometimes you call a spade a spade

I logged in today to find a PM from one of my good friends on CA who is also effected by this. What this person told me was that hardcz has been banned. I scanned and scanned for any posts or threads related to what may have happened. Now I can suppose, assume or guess but I won't. The team of 11 had their reasons and they may or may not have coincided with what happened.

I have waffled back and forth about posting something here and have talked to a few people. It was being handled behind the scenes, I was a good soldier and stood down. Now it appears as though this is situation will just go away quietly. I am going to do my best to be factual and non judgemental about this situation but I think that the facts bear telling.

Fact - on March 16 I was invited by hardcz via PM to join a GB he was running for some custom sticks (I refrain from saying which ones as it is not relevant to the point and this vendor should not be viewed in the same light).

Fact - on March 31 I confirmed my interest and order level to hardcz as well as Vitola and sent him $652.93 (I can provide the transaction logs to support this) via electronic transaction

Fact - Over the course of the last 4 months I have on 3 occasions been told my order was complete and that it would be mailed expediently. The last of which was an openly posted DC number here THREAD .

Fact - On June 28 I was informed via email from hardcz that not only was I not going to get the volume that I was expecting but that there was also a mix up in the vitola, this results in my getting 40% of something I didn't order. At this point I am looking to recuop anything

Fact - It is July 27 and the DC number has not yet been scanned in at the departure point yet it was generated on July 14. The click and ship label was made for that number but to go where? It was never scanned at the mailing point, hence not recieved.

Fact - I have yet to recieve anything and Dan has failed to respond to my last 2 emails.

Now there are many other things I have heard via third party, and by those directly involved in this same group buy but I have no facts and therefore will not say anything there.

I am not sure to what benefit there is in saying nothing. Having posted here I do not expect any recourse, I do not expect my money back, I do not expect my order to be filled. What I expect is to move on having $652.93 less than I did before all this.

I do not hold any of the team of 11 or CA responsible in anyway. I do not feel it is there responsibility to try to police trading/group buys/sales/purchase in any way. I hold all of them in the utmost respect.

Now over my time on this forum (I combine the CS days as well) I have had a couple of deals gone bad. I am sure many of us who have done any trading has had it happen. The trade wasn't quite even, it took longer than it should have, product was damage or destroyed in transit. These things happen.

I am not talking about that, what I am seeing here at this point is that a person has taken my money for a service they were to render and has yet to render that service nor have they responded to any communication regarding that service so hence my conclusion is that this person has no intention in providing the service for which I paid. So effectively it is as if he reached into my pocket and took from me $652.93.

The reason I post this is that I don't think brushing it under the carpet and letting it quietly go away is right. hardcz has in my opinion based on the facts above done something that should be made public to his group of piers on this board. It should be known that at the time of this post he has failed to live up to an agreement that he made and took money for.

This should not be taken as a precursor to every transaction, I have done deals since and will continue dealing with people, I will be as cautious as I can be and limit my exposure but if something of the same ilk were to happen again, I will state the facts as well.

I have been careful in my wording to insure that I avoid inserting feeling and or insinutation here and I hope that I have not transgressed some unwritten rule of the forum for what I have said.

If you want the facts I will share them, I have nothing to hide.

Draw your own conclusions.