DO NOT BUY anything from AV123

[tesseract]

I just had a post in the new amplifier thread deleted. http://forums.av123.com/showthread.php?t=43570

It stated:

"Kool-aid, kool-aid... tastes great.

Get some kool-aid, can't wait!"

My account is still active.

 

[Chu Gai]

I didn't do much leg work compared to Chu but I searched up and down for those Russian Orphanages last spring. If it wasn't for the smallest doubt that the language barrier caused a misunderstanding, I would stake my right leg on the fact that there were NO Khabarovsk Orphanages that received a dime from him. Simply a fabrication like so many of his other stories that we all just accepted, and some still unfortunately do.

I'll certainly go along with Jed's conclusion. I looked into the whole orpanage thing there in a few different ways. From digging around, I found that there are a few agencies in this country that act as middlemen or brokers to facilitate adoption. There were also some forums and some blogging about people's experiences with respect to adoption. I didn't get much in the way of responses when attempting to make contact with these organizations to try and find out about 'donations'. In a general sense I was told that people mostly bring stuff with them when they go to the various orphanges like clothing, toys and whatever they can stuff into their suitcases. More substantial donations, which I take to mean larger goods or money is generally done through these intermediaries.

Not satisfied, I made some attempts to contact officials in the Khabarovsk government. Unfortunately my Russian is non-existent and their English was only marginally better. I'd hoped to find someone with a good command so I could make contact with some of the baby houses with respect to Shifty's purported generosity. That didn't happen.

However, Shifty most certainly was quite generous with Ms. Khabarovski (aka Elena or Elana) on a number of fronts. One of these days we'll talk about it. She is the redhead that he sometimes 'jokingly' spoke of over there. I don't know if the cuffs and collars matched though.

 

[Chu Gai]

Arthur and Todd - I'm kind of surprised to see you both here but not unpleasantly. Was it you Todd, that was supposed to get spikes from MLS? I've also heard that the finish on your speakers (Ruben, wasn't it?) was top notch as you might see on a custom show car. Did you find it to be that way?

 

[mziegler]

I'm just being bad. I posted the quote from Marx: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." It was removed.

I now posted: "Yes, speaking of history, I wonder if my post was deleted because it quoted Marx

Things are looking particularly Stalinist here, with history disappearing."

Perhaps this will get me banned. I'm trying.

 

[sandbagger]

Art

sorry in one way to hear that, but..... ahhh

I have come close to deleting my own account, heck I wonder what would happen if everyone deleted their account over there, How many suckers would he have left

Well, I just had the first post I've ever had deleted on any forum removed over at that craphole...no worries for me, the place disgusts me and I'll never go there again unless it's to verify a post...it's almost comical how ridiculously transparent it is that the thief is back and posting....bunnyma's post is spot on, if that TADG post was meant to inspire confidence in people, it should scare the hell out of them given the history there...

EDIT: Forgot to mention I've been banned forever as well...

 

[SlushPuppy]

They're on a roll over there now. I made my first post over there today since last August and now it's gone. What's really strange is the posts I made in August were on a thread trying to help a guy pass the run portion of his semi-annual PT. I made two posts giving him running recommendations and they deleted them.

 

[Stereodude]

Darn it... Someone is deleting the tags.

 

[tbag]

Arthur and Todd - I'm kind of surprised to see you both here but not unpleasantly. Was it you Todd, that was supposed to get spikes from MLS? I've also heard that the finish on your speakers (Ruben, wasn't it?) was top notch as you might see on a custom show car. Did you find it to be that way?

Yup I was told I'd get spikes. None yet. As it has been 5 months, I doubt I'll ever see them.
I have been lurking in and following this thread since last summer. I found it to be a good source of info on the goings on that AV123 wouldn't talk about. For a while I wasn't sure if I'd get the speakers I'd paid for, and now I just wonder how much longer the company will last. Did I get screwed? maybe a bit, but nothing as drastic as the RSLII guys. Did I contribute to any raffles? Thankfully not. So I don't hav a huge axe to grind. Now that it seems that MLS was the con-man I thought he might be after a few phone conversations, I really have no reason to keep quiet. (It is amazing how you don't want to rock the boat when the only man who can help you is the same guy you'd like to tear a new one!)
So to sum up my AV123 experience, I got sucked in in 2007 at what had to be the peak of the Kool-aidE hype, but in the end I got most of what I paid for with a two year wait in the middle. Now, though, I'd like to help keep others from getting involved with a company as poorly run as this when there are so many more deserving ID brands out there.

As to Ruben's involvement with my speakers, once he was involved, I no longer feared not getting my product. He emailed me several times to confirm my wishes (such as no grilles, and no grill holes) and even got me some pictures. The finish itself is amazing, it is very hard to photograph, but i have a few shots I can link that start to do it justice.

Christmas light reflections:

Close up:

side view:

No nail pops, no visible ripples, no significant imperfections on those huge side panels. Really very amazing. I'd say sorry to Ruben if I could have known how bad he'd get screwed in all of this. All I can do is point out to others how great his work is, how easy he was to work with, and I will be buying some external crossovers from the skiing ninja in ruben's enclosures.


sorry to drag on.


and on...

and on


later
todd

 

[Stereodude]

Maybe someone can get TRADG from DSMB to start posting over at VA321. TRADG and TADG could do 10 rounds in an ultimate celebrity deathmatch.

 

[mziegler]

Kind of amazing--there is a LS-4 Product Information thread.

I wonder if the raffles will come up:
http://forums.av123.com/showpost.php?p=734363&postcount=18

 

[Chu Gai]

Kind of amazing--there is a LS-4 Product Information thread.

I wonder if the raffles will come up:
http://forums.av123.com/showpost.php?p=734363&postcount=18

Even that late in the game, he hadn't figured out that it didn't matter if he had the pope monitoring things, a for profit business cannot run a raffle. Hell, even Obama during the presidential elections found out you can't run raffles and they had to be restructured as sweepstakes.

 

[Chu Gai]

Not defending or bashing the guy. I don't know the guy personally, nor have I had any interaction with him. I am registered at his forum, but I don't think I have any posts worth mentioning. I don't frequent the place.

My point is... what happened to the money he sent? And also... the guy DID contribute to charities several times, good on him. But what about his statement that it goes direct? Did he get shiftered as well?

If he made payments to Schifter's paypal account, odds are Schifter kept it.

 

[Stereodude]

Let stick to the topic at hand and avoid talking about the former VA321's budget division and it's leader. That's a fruitless waste of time and has the opposite effect we're after.

 

[cschang]

I just read the posts in this thread for the day. Very entertaining...and some good info too!

 

[NicolasKL]

Somebody who has a forum that rhymes with "Freak Twitty" is making threads on it crying about how some of you are big meanies and talking about him.

 

[cschang]

Somebody who has a forum that rhymes with "Freak Twitty" is making threads on it crying about how some of you are big meanies and talking about him.

Hopefully he can shed some light on the identity of the Russian orphanage he sent his money to.

 

[m-fine]

Somebody who has a forum that rhymes with "Freak Twitty" is making threads on it crying about how some of you are big meanies and talking about him.

LOL, well at least he did admit his early statements were less than 100% true. Of course he had no other choice since there was no way he could get away with a claim that the money really did go direct.

FWIW, in my experience, people who are truly generous give anonymously and or quietly. They don't brag about what they gave or make a public show of it. Those who give publicly are generally looking for something in return. For example, MLS used his generosity to win his cult like fans and to suck others into giving. (even his name isn't allowed on this forum - ML) seems to do a similar thing. He keeps telling everyone how much he gave or gives, and people eat it up and say what a great stand up guy he is. Don't drink the koolaide. He may give a lot and it may be mostly for the right reasons, but if he keeps telling you about it some serious warning lights should be flashing. think of a blinking neon sign "MLS MLS MLS MLS".

 

[cschang]

LOL, well at least he did admit his early statements were less than 100% true. Of course he had no other choice since there was no way he could get away with a claim that the money really did go direct.

Yeah...his memory being faulty is what you get when he is in a corner.

 

[tesseract]

I don't care about his public face, I just wanna know if he got shiftered!!

Can he admit it, or did he get his money back?

Edit: Never mind, I visited his forum and seen his reply. He was shiftered.

 

[Jed M]

Another satisfied customer.

Here is a link,
http://forums.av123.com/showthread.php?t=43578
but I am sure this post will be gone soon so I copied it.

Mark always makes it right.