Wits End Order Issues / Joey Romero (1 Viewer)

[lazy]

I don't think anyone is saying Joey is a bad guy. I think he fully intended make good on the orders. Based on everything I know right now, Joey doesn't have the money. I believe if he did have the money, he would have already filled them. He's also shutting down and not communicating. He's also stopped posting to social media. I'd love to be wrong but the ship is sinking. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.

 

[Francis K]

I don't think anyone is saying Joey is a bad guy. I think he fully intended make good on the orders. Based on everything I know right now, Joey doesn't have the money. I believe if he did have the money, he would have already filled them. He's also shutting down and not communicating. He's also stopped posting to social media. I'd love to be wrong but the ship is sinking. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.

I am absolutely saying he is a bad guy. Taking money from people without delivering and ignoring them while you're still pushing product absolutely makes you a "bad guy".

The guy who brags about all his orders, many of which he never filled, and no payroll doesn't have the money huh? If the ship is sinking it's because he put a hole in it. Come to reality before you start talking about delusion....

 

[NeverFinis]

I am absolutely saying he is a bad guy. Taking money from people without delivering and ignoring them while you're still pushing product absolutely makes you a "bad guy".

It is also illegal under US Law and his business faces heavy fines by the FTC of up to $50,120 per violation with a 5 year look back. Not many businesses can survive fines like that and this is why the big ones ship within 30 days or they automatically process a refund.

It is only the customer who can authorize delays and demand a refund, not the business.

 

[PDXDave67]

Everyone is talking and everyone has an opinion...
What's the resolution?
He's not talking to anyone and has shut most of us out completely.

Who else is within driving distance of Medford and would be open to staging an "intervention", if for no other reason than to force a conversation...

Just a thought.

 

[OldCarSmell]

Everyone is talking and everyone has an opinion...
What's the resolution?
He's not talking to anyone and has shut most of us out completely.

Who else is within driving distance of Medford and would be open to staging an "intervention", if for no other reason than to force a conversation...

Just a thought.

That’s reckless. Call a lawyer. Even grouping up to work with a lawyer is better than confronting someone face to face who most likely is in a desperate situation.

 

[Francis K]

Everyone is talking and everyone has an opinion...
What's the resolution?
He's not talking to anyone and has shut most of us out completely.

Who else is within driving distance of Medford and would be open to staging an "intervention", if for no other reason than to force a conversation...

Just a thought.

I wouldn't blame someone if they did that but you won't get anywhere. A chargeback on your CC if it's not too late or take it to small claims if it's worth the time, hurry before he scuttles the LLC and opens under a different name. Most of them he'll just get away with it because guys won't bother...

 

[PDXDave67]

Ironic we're having this conversation and Jess posts a big "happy 26th anniversary" post on IG today...

 

[heckler]

It seems hard to organize via Mud, I suggest PMing emails and can do an old fashion email chain.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Has anyone contacted an attorney or law enforcement? Absolutely this is criminal and likely a felony at this point due to the amount of $$ involved.

 

[JoeCova]

Has anyone contacted an attorney or law enforcement? Absolutely this is criminal and likely a felony at this point due to the amount of $$ involved.

LEO can’t do anything and a lawyer would need to determine whether it’s worth their time, in most cases it isn’t as these sort of situations just result in the company filing bankruptcy and then reopening under a new name.

 

[bloc]

LEO can’t do anything and a lawyer would need to determine whether it’s worth their time, in most cases it isn’t as these sort of situations just result in the company filing bankruptcy and then reopening under a new name.

So what’s the process for FTC to actually get involved?

 

[quickdraw]

So what’s the process for FTC to actually get involved?

Apparently, they prioritize base on volume of complaints. I've already filed out mine complaint. If others would do the same I believe that would bump us up the list.

 

[nodor]

Just a reminder that if you ever request a refund from Joey and receive a notice that the order has been refunded, check your accounts to make sure you actually got a refund. He refunds the orders "offline" to trigger a status change in the order without actually refunding you the money. Here is a previous post about my experience from a different thread and what refunding an order "offline" actually means. I suspect he does this hoping people won't actually check their accounts to make sure the money was received. I did end up getting a refund months later but only after calling out his bluff and relentless efforts at communication to get him to send me my money. I've seen multiple posts from others who had the same issue where a refund was supposedly issued but never received and he proceeded to blame it on the customers bank.

Joey responded by blaming it on my bank and sent this screenshot as "proof".

This is what "refunded offline" means taken directly from his ecommerce website: “When can I perform an offline refund? You can perform an offline refund if: You are refunding a customer who paid via an offline payment method (cash, bank deposit, cheque or money order). You actioned the refund directly via the payment gateway/processor, and not through BigCommerce.”

I used none of those methods. I paid with a credit card that was processed through his e-commerce website. Yet for whatever reason he chose to refund the order “offline”.

Basically that screenshot is not proof that anything was ever processed on his end besides triggering a status change and sending an automated email to me suggesting a refund had been issued.

 

[NeverFinis]

Just a reminder that if you ever request a refund from Joey and receive a notice that the order has been refunded, check your accounts to make sure you actually got a refund. He refunds the orders "offline" to trigger a status change in the order without actually refunding you the money. Here is a previous post about my experience from a different thread and what refunding an order "offline" actually means. I suspect he does this hoping people won't actually check their accounts to make sure the money was received. I did end up getting a refund months later but only after calling out his bluff and relentless efforts at communication to get him to send me my money. I've seen multiple posts from others who had the same issue where a refund was supposedly issued but never received and he proceeded to blame it on the customers bank.

He did the same thing with me and it was fake. I eventually disputed the charge with the CC company and got my money back.

 

[MK80]

Add me to the list I guess. I paid for my turbo pre order January 2022.

 

[pahskahl]

Add me to the list as well. I have an outstanding turbo pre-order from October 2021.

I've emailed, called, PM'ed, DM'ed many times for an update, to cancel the preorder, and to transfer 'ownership' of the pre-order to interested parties with zero response.

Here we are trying to help Wits' End out by finding new customers for a $6k product (that I believe is well-designed and would be fantastic for the LX) and we get shunted. That is poor business practice.

I've also previously attempted a dispute and a chargeback with my CC company but apparently too much time has elapsed since the transaction and that approach is no longer an option.

I am a long-standing Wits' End customer, and have spent many thousands on the products he designed and manufactured (and OEM parts) over the past 7 years. Never had an issue, the products were always delivered on-time (even QPMs, fire extinguisher mounts, etc), and Joey was always communicative. The turbo order is the one serious anomaly in my experience.

 

[bajaguy949]

Truly bummed for you guys. What makes it worse is he was soliciting people to give him $6,500 for a deposit for Turbo's still just three months ago but not replying back to past customers?!?!? Through this time he is posting on social and on mud. WTF?!

If I were your in your guys shoes I would really have a hard time controlling myself not showing up to the front of his doorstep at this point.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Unfortunately at this point if you are ‘transferring’ your purchase you are just screwing someone else over. The fact that he won’t even acknowledge any of this is ridiculous.

 

[tseewell]

I ordered the turbo kit + downpipe blanket on 15 October 2020.

 

[lazy]

Unfortunately at this point if you are ‘transferring’ your purchase you are just screwing someone else over. The fact that he won’t even acknowledge any of this is ridiculous.

I disagree.

If anything, these threads have shown many people still support joey and think he is god's gift to landcruisers. Anyone who defends him in these threads, I am more than happy to sell my spot in line to, with a $1000 discount. The LC80 NA facebook group, ditto. Unfortunately, people tend to be more bark than bite.

Normal joe schmo off the street, I wouldn't sell it to them.