Junie's Creations Is a Scam

[AtariKari]

As this topic has been resurrected, here is my take. I and several others sent Tom Cosby, Jr. payment in May for various products and have received nothing but a few apologetic and evasive emails.

 

Now, again, he is unreachable. My last email to him indicated that I would be posting this to AA if I didn't hear from him, so here it is:

 

Junie's Creations http://juniescreations.netfirms.com/ is a scam. Not only is he not taking any more orders, he has AFAIK never filled one. This is not only a poor way to run a business, it is misleading and potentially harmful situation (and by harmful I mean potentially litigious). If anyone else wants to band together and get this taken care of, I'm on board.

 

Taking on more than you can handle is irresponsible. Not delivering for services paid is illegal. Tom: please post a deadline on this board as to when people should have their orders filled. It is sad to put this on a convivial board like AA, but I see no other effective option.

[smf_4ever]

I do know from personal experiance.. I did receive my order.. it was pretty quick.. and I have had no bad experiances dealing with Tom at all. I do not know what is currently going on.. But I do not think this is a "scam"..

 

Just a kinda counter-point.. I have had no bad dealings with Tom.. this was a few months ago.

[liquid_sky]

he shut down operations a while back and basically said not to send money because the store was closed and he woulndnt have as much free time due to problems and stuff.. did you do just that??

[AtariKari]

I do know from personal experiance.. I did receive my order.. it was pretty quick

 

Thanks for posting this. I ordered within an hour of the announcement on AA, and know of at least one person who pre-ordered. It is even more frustrating, then, to imagine he was filing just some of the orders, but how he decided which ones is beyond me. What did you buy?

 

...store was closed and he woulndnt have as much free time due to problems and stuff.. did you do just that??

 

I don't understand what you are asking.

 

So far there is one person who has had an order filled. Those must be some "problems and stuff". I'm not trying to be overly anal about the whole thing, but jahfish has always been upfront and responsive to my queries about Thrust+, which I also ordered in May, and seeing the other side of the coin is a bit disheartening.

[smf_4ever]

I got one of the Nintendo controllers that were modified to atari...

[AtariKari]

I ordered a 15-pin VCS mod and composite video mod, so it is understandable this would take longer, but five months? A line of honest communication with Tom would put a lot of us at ease, is my point in all of this, and was the last time I started this topic in August.

 

[oesii]

I can understand the frustration of no email communication because of a system outage and all. But maybe someone can talk to Tom and get his phone number to a few customers? I guess he never gave it out?

[StanJr]

I know Tom fairly well, and I know that he is having some hard times right now with MORE than just his business. He did bite off a bit more than he could chew and got overwhelmed rather quickly.

 

I strongly doubt that he is trying to scam anyone, he's just having a hard time filling his orders. I received one of the first NES mod controllers he ever did and he got it out to me very quickly. I know he was having difficulty getting ahold of materials for some of his items.

 

I am not sure how much time he is able to devote to the "business" right now, but I do know that if you sent him money you should get something from him at some point. I too have lost contact with him and am trying to re-establish that connection to find out what is up.

 

In his defense, he did post here when he closed his site, and he did ask that no one else send him orders as he was overwhelmed.

 

Its a shame that he was not able to stay in business, but I do not think he has intended to railroad anybody and I do believe that he has every intention of filling any order that has been placed. At this point, you may simply wish to ask for a refund (assuming you can contact him) if the product is not going to be produced.

 

Tom is a good guy, just in over his head right now. I hope he is able to come through for everyone.

 

 

[liquid_sky]

Quote:

...store was closed and he woulndnt have as much free time due to problems and stuff.. did you do just that??

 

 

I don't understand what you are asking.

 

I was asking if you ordered the item after he closed his site

[+Allan]

Mike isn't the only one who ordered something from Tom Cosby, Jr. and never received the item. I ordered two controllers for $30 from him in May and only recieved a couple of emails saying that he would get them out ASAP. Well I wanted to post here telling everybody about him but I figured I would be a nice guy and keep waiting. I'm done waiting!! When I heard that he was at the CGexpo selling things, that really pissed me off. Instead of taking the time to ship orders (or at least return the money) he was there making more money. As much as you might want to take his side because of him having some tough times and not intentionally ripping people off, I have to say that I think it was pretty lousy of him to be selling stuff to other people while he already had the money from others for the same stuff. If your going to sell something or offer a service, you don't spend the money on yourself and then later hope you have enough money to buy the parts for the thing you are selling. That is not honest. It's also a poor way to run a business no matter how small. You keep the money in a seperate place until you ship the item or come through with the service, then you take the money for yourself. Unfortunately I doubt we will see our money. On a better note I want to thank all you honest people at AtariAge.com. A very nice little community that is never spoiled by an occasional bad apple.

 

Allan

[AtariKari]

@ Allan: thanks for the post. The plot thickens. I didn't know he was selling them at CGE, but it looks like that is where his spare time has been directed. And to think he emailed me to say he was short on supplies.

 

@ Stan: I'm not trying to attack him personally. His tone was convivial in the several emails we exchanged, and I'm sure he pays taxes and votes.

 

Baring a post from Tom, a discussion of his actions, and or lack thereof, and not their causes is the most productive way to make some headway. Several scattered emails are not working, but I'll bet one email from everyone he owes cash/product to would. Anyone else want to post on having given him $?

[Alex]

Just to get the facts straight, I do not believe Tom was at CGE Expo. We were selling some of his products at our booth, but those items were purchased and sent to use quite a bit before the show and we brought them to the show ourselves.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Uh-hm. Maybe someone still remembers this, its less than 30 days old:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13497

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[AtariKari]

@Alex: Noted. This is a great board and I'm not trying to change it. Facts help.

 

So that's it? Three people have posted here (or in http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13105 this thread) that they are in the same boat as I am. If this is only over $100 bucks or so total, screw it, sorry for the topic and I'll resume my solitary campaign.

[+Allan]

Just to get the facts straight, I do not believe Tom was at CGE Expo. We were selling some of his products at our booth, but those items were purchased and sent to use quite a bit before the show and we brought them to the show ourselves.

 

Well, if that's the case than I opologize to Tom. I'm still not happy about the losing $30.

 

Allan

[D.Yancey]

Tom closed his site in September 02. No one could send him money or order over the web since then. I placed my $70+ order for 3 items in June 02. I got an e-mail that said it would be done in 1-6 weeks(it's now been over 3 months). When his site closed I read his letter about money/computer problems. My order is PREPAID!! He must have the money to complete my order unless he squandered it on something for which the funds were NOT intended! That money is not yours until you've delivered the products! And then you only keep a small portion as profit. I know, I've owned a business for many years.

 

Tom, you need to give us a deadline that is reasonable(a couple of weeks maybe) and deliver the products. Otherwise, I would expect/demand a full refund! You could also respond to the e-mails. You can check your e-mail from any computer, even if yours is not currently running. So---chop chop-- pal! What's it gonna be??

[Chuck Gill]

Junies successfully made a run of Combat Rock carts, I bought one from the Goat Store. The quality was very good too.

 

I don't know what has happened with Tom. I do know his intentions were good with the cart and mods business, it started off really well. I can only hope all is well and he makes it right.

 

BTW I'm also still waiting for a Thrust + from May, but I'm not mad at Jahfish, things do happen. After all these are hobbyists working on these projects, real life sometimes intrudes.

 

-Chuck

[Rick Weis]

i sent tom a NES controller and 10$ so he could mod it for the atari. i don't belive tom tried to "scam" anyone! just having some problems right now.. sure it's not good that he some how can't update people that have prepaid for something. as far as i'm concerned i'm in no rush to get my controller back! hope things get better for tom soon!!

 

Take care,

 

Rick

[bcprs1]

I placed an order when Tom first opened the site and I got my controllers within a few weeks. I figure that he must have got overwhelmed. On the other hand, he should not be keeping money if he can not deliver the goods on time. I would be very ticked off at the moment if my controllers were never delivered. Problems or not, people are not going to stand for someone having their $$$.

[Albert]

We are also waiting for Tom to deliver a significant amount of hardware that is owed to us, most of which we were supposed to get for CGE. I think I can safely say that the amount of money tied up in this order is quite a bit larger than anyone else who has paid for and not received orders. I have been extremely patient up to this point, but now I'm really beginning to wonder if I'm going to receive the items I paid for (these items were going to be put in our store). Out of this rather large order, totalling over 100 pieces of hardware, we only received some Atari 2600 NES controllers and a batch of Mr. Roboto carts (which I am not including in the "over 100 pieces"). And unfortunately, I had to stop selling the NES controllers once I realized that the connectors do not fit properly in the 7800 and 2600 Jr.

 

I do not believe that Tom set out to intentionally rip anyone off, I just think he got in over his head and bit off far more than he could chew. I hope that he will make good on his outstanding obligations.

 

..Al

[Paul Slocum]

I had Tom make all the Roboto carts for the Midwest Classic and my dealings with him were great. He was responsive and got everything done on time (it was a tight schedule too). Based on my experience with Tom, I'm really surprised this has happened. I hope everything turns out okay.

 

-Paul

[Atari-Jess]

I was kinda hopin he would do well.....

 

*sigh*

[AtariKari]

Yeah, I've been hoping this would work out for five months now An additional part of my frustration with this whole thing lies in the fact I sent Tom my 2600 as well. Cash is cash, but I had some memories tied to the system.

 

@ Manuel: I remember that thread, but the problems have been ongoing for a very long time, and he is once again unreachable. As for the computer issues: write a form letter on notebook paper and go to Kinkos for 30 min. once a week, just to calm all the people whose orders you have outstanding. I just don't buy his post, esp. since it is now a month old. An update would be nice.

 

@ Albert: That really sucks, but hopefully will keep this topic near the front of this forum until Tom provides some insight, and will lend more weight to the whole discussion if he doesn't.

[cwilkson]

I had Tom make all the Roboto carts for the Midwest Classic and my dealings with him were great.  He was responsive and got everything done on time (it was a tight schedule too).  Based on my experience with Tom, I'm really surprised this has happened.  I hope everything turns out okay.

 

-Paul

 

Yeah, I was part of that SUPPLY CHAIN FROM HELL. I was waiting on parts, and Tom was waiting on me. And Paul and Albert were waiting on him. Tom did a really good job getting those boards done in time for the show.

 

Tom, I hope things work out for you! Best of luck!

 

-Chris

[Paul Slocum]

Ha ha! No no, the first run was even more complicated. You were waiting on parts you had ordered from BGMicro. I was waiting on the boards from you because I was going to install and test the EPROMs which I also bought from BG Micro (but it's down the street from me!) Then I shipped the boards to Tom who was also waiting for the cart cases from the Goat Store. Then when he got all that, he got the labels printed and assembled the carts then shipped them back to the Goat Store. And we did all this in the matter of 2 days. (Okay, not really 2 days)

 

-Paul