Fhawk618 fails to deliver!

Status
Not open for further replies.

scott1019

Super Member
I sent AK member Fhawk618 my Sony STR-GX90ES receiver in the winter of 2013, shortly after realizing that something was wrong with it.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=503509

This member and I discussed in AK Chat the issues that the receiver was having etc. and he was gracious enough to take a look at it for me and said he'd only charge me for the parts it needed and the shipping back to me. I was, of course, very delighted to take him up on this opportunity and very appreciative of his offer. However, since then its been a nightmare to try and get in touch with him for updates on the progress. He would go missing for weeks and sometimes months at a time. Whenever I was able to contact him, he'd just say how busy he was and that he didn't have a chance to look at it, was ordering parts... etc.

About 6 months ago, he came into AK chat, an area I frequent during the day, said he ordered the parts finally and will be able to get it fixed very shortly. At that point I was "content" and just patiently waiting for him to fix it and send it back to me. Around 3 months ago he claimed all the repairs were done and that he'd send it out soon. Since then its more of the disappearing act, and many of the same excuses.

Many promises were made to me on AK chat, and excuse after excuse was given as to why he could not send. I considered this member a "friend" and admittedly I let this go on way too long, and gave him the benefit of the doubt since he just appeared to be really busy. The bottom line is that after over a year of waiting, I have yet to get my receiver back.

I have all the PM correspondence sent out to him since 8/2013. All of which were sent with read receipts. He has been on AK during this time and knows that the PMs were sent and I never received a reply to ANY of them! Last week he happened to come into AK chat at the same time I was in there and promised he'd send the receiver out "today", as in on 4/10. As of 4/18, no reply, no tracking, and obviously no receiver. Enough is enough, I cannot wait any longer.

I'd like to add that many warning PMs were sent before posting this feedback and warnings were also given to this member by an AK moderator with whom he has dealt with before. So its not coming from out of nowhere. I have exhausted every effort possible to try and reach him!

He told a moderator on chat that the receiver was sent last week as well. Should this moderator wish to chime in, I am sure he will corroborate.

I have screen captures of the promises made in chat and have saved the PMs sent to him as well.
 
Hmmmm.... this worries me, he has my Carver C1 preamp and I expected it to be on the way back to me. His last message was that it was done and he was testing it prior to shipping it back to me. He's had the preamp for about a month now and was supposed to do a full recap AND BillD mod and said he "can do these in his sleep" in exchange for a package of records for his music collection

I am not doing well financially at all as many know, I can't afford to replace this preamp and right now, my amps are sitting idle with nothing to drive them

When he bought records from me, I sent them promptly and included bonus items. I felt I could trust him and hope that trust is not misplaced
 
Last edited:
UPDATE 4/24, Frank contacted me in chat today and made another promise to send the receiver out to me "Tonight, or Tomorrow at the latest" We will see.
 
I too had an issue with a purchase from Frank. I bought a bunch of NOS cassettes.

Same story as others. Numerous contacts via PM, no reply to PMs while continuing to post on threads (can't be THAT busy if you're posting messages).

I had written off the $40 since I had payed with PayPal gift (something I will NEVER do again!) :no:

Long story short, one day the tapes arrived at my door. I think I was about a month from when I paid for them.

No message in PM or anything, it was shipped a couple of days after the last PM I sent.

Hopefully Frank will follow through on your equipment. In the end he did right by me. I will also add that my case was during February when there was major snowfall and lots of people couldn't get out of the house.

If Frank is reading this... PLEASE do better at communication!! Ignoring PMs isn't the way to go.
 
I too have issue with Fhawk618

I bought 2 Infinity polydomes in Feb of this year. I sent the 200.00 on the 6th.
I have been very patient and listened to the reasons he has not been able to ship the speakers. He stated he shipped them once, and they were returned because he transposed two numbers on the zip code. He says he is busy and "life has gotten in the way". Well, I feel your obligations and promises to others is part of life that he seems to ignore.
Many promises to ship them and still no midranges. I paid with Paypal gift also, and I will never do that again. I will pay the fees from now on.
At first I thought it was something I had done to piss him off, I started asking after waiting two weeks for a tracking # and he got very defensive, but it seems I am not the only one that has been treated unfair and taken advantage of.
Like others he has been reluctant to answer PMs even though I see him posting after I PMed him. PMs are hard to miss if you log on to AK as we all know.
I told him several times that, at the advise of a moderator, I was going to have to give negative feedback. I did not want to do this, and I told him this many times. I gave him many weeks to ship them before I decided to write this.
I would NEVER treat anyone especially a fellow AKer this way. I have bought many things from BT and never had anyone treat me so bad in a transaction on BT.
I guess if he does not make good on his promises, I will take it as a 200.00 lesson learned.
J.T.
 
I bought 2 Infinity polydomes in Feb of this year. I sent the 200.00 on the 6th.
I have been very patient and listened to the reasons he has not been able to ship the speakers. He stated he shipped them once, and they were returned because he transposed two numbers on the zip code. He says he is busy and "life has gotten in the way". Well, I feel your obligations and promises to others is part of life that he seems to ignore.
Many promises to ship them and still no midranges. I paid with Paypal gift also, and I will never do that again. I will pay the fees from now on.
At first I thought it was something I had done to piss him off, I started asking after waiting two weeks for a tracking # and he got very defensive, but it seems I am not the only one that has been treated unfair and taken advantage of.
Like others he has been reluctant to answer PMs even though I see him posting after I PMed him. PMs are hard to miss if you log on to AK as we all know.
I told him several times that, at the advise of a moderator, I was going to have to give negative feedback. I did not want to do this, and I told him this many times. I gave him many weeks to ship them before I decided to write this.
I would NEVER treat anyone especially a fellow AKer this way. I have bought many things from BT and never had anyone treat me so bad in a transaction on BT.
I guess if he does not make good on his promises, I will take it as a 200.00 lesson learned.
J.T.

It seems more people dealing with Frank are coming forward. I know 2 others in chat have had issues, me included. I wont go into it because it was resolved. I know we all have 'life' that gets in the way of certain things. It's just funny how Frank has time to buy $24k amps, more Kappa9 and all these other high ticket items he brags about but not time to swing into a Post Office or FedEx, which he has an account with, to drop off a box for shipment.

Maybe just a little less time in chat could resolve all his shipping obligations? JMO!
 
Update 4/28, still no tracking info. Sad to see a repeating pattern emerging. :(. It was only because I was sympathetic with his circumstances that I did not post this sooner and tried every avenue to get my receiver back. The false promises and lies to moderators is where I drew the line and decided to post the feedback. I hope some good can come out of this in the end!
 
The song remains the same...

... He stated he shipped them once, and they were returned because he transposed two numbers on the zip code. He says he is busy and "life has gotten in the way". ...
J.T.


This is a cut & paste from one of the two replies I got to my PMs

"They were returned to me undeliverable, my mistake... I transposed two different zip codes on two items I shipped... they are on their way again... with your real address on them... they will be arriving USPS media mail in an lp carrier box.

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Frank "

I guess if the excuse worked once might as well continue to use it over n over. :thumbsdn:
 
One rule in the feedback thread that I do know is that you are ONLY to reply if (and only if) YOU have had direct buying/selling experience with the person the feedback in this thread is pertaining to.

I'm sure the mods will speak up and hopefully correct me if I am wrong.

Along those lines I have a question for the mods regarding this thread.

In one of my PM replies from Frank he sent me his address and phone number. What are the rules regarding passing along this information via PM to another AK member who is trying to resolve an issue with Frank?

I had been reluctant to provide this and would NEVER provide it in the open forum for obvious reasons.
 
Ok, I texted his friend Steve who owns/works at Vintage HiFi. He said Frank told him my preamp needed two transistors replaced still (this is almost 2 weeks after he said it was done and he was "testing" it prior to shipping it out. That was the whole text... no timeline, no reason why Frank can't be contacted

I was assured though that Frank is NOT affiliated and is not an employee of Vintage HiFi but uses their shop/equipment to do his side repairs???

I would like my preamp back Frank, fixed or not. Others have said they will do it and have it done in less then a week with no excuses
 
Last edited:
There were warnings from other members shortly after I sent out my receiver from krisjay and Edriz both on the feedback forum and chat. You can search for "fhawk618" and see the feedback posted by krisjay. Being a regular of chat I have learned quite a bit more about Frank and his dealings and as another member described, he claims to have amps worth more that some folks' cars.

Unfortunately for me I didn't read the feedback until after I sent out my receiver. I wish I had brought this to AK's attention much, much sooner, but it has been brought up to several moderators in chat and I was reluctant to post negative feedback about a member as its taken VERY seriously.. and could have negative connotations towards their credibility and ability to make transactions on this site. Being a recent "victim" of this accusatory feedback I can attest to how much it can ruin one's reputation. I did NOT take to posting this feedback lightly and was sure I came prepared to defend myself with solid backing.

I have no doubt that Frank was a great asset to this community and has done many folks "right" over the years and he seems to be quite knowledgeable, esp. with Carver gear. In regards to the complaints here, I can only empathize with what all of you have had to go through. Lying is not cool, esp. to moderators... and it seems a repeating pattern has been emerging. It might be the typical case where you get away with it once, you think you can continue to do so if left unchecked. Perhaps some good can come out of this, if not anything to warn others about dealings with Frank in the future.
 
...I am ANGRY, I feel this site is letting me and other members down by allowing another member to shaft people for so friggin' long and yet can brag about his equipment purchases and spend time in chat like nothing is wrong. How about the poor guy sitting here without his preamp?? How about Scott waiting a year or more for his receiver. Mods, are you seeing a problem here yet? How many more people have to be screwed over before something is done. I totally understand that this site is not responsible for "deals" done but I feel this site does have a responsibility to protect members from being ripped off by another member with a long track record of bad dealings...

(My emphasis.)

The section of your post that I highlighted has two contradictory, conflicting statements. Yes, you totally understand that this site is not responsible for deals.

Let me remind you, and everyone reading this, AudioKarma LLC has no responsibility for transactions between members. We cannot, and will not, get involved. Transactions between members are, from AK's legal perspective, an "arms-length" transaction.

Read the posts in the Feedback Forum, and do your homework. This is why it's important that everyone leave feedback, so that other members can see who is trustworthy and who is not.

Northwinds, do not bring up this topic in this thread.
 
Frank has no affiliation with Vintage Hifi of Pittsburgh.

Just going by what he said...

"My offer was for trade... no cash involved other than shipping to get it to me... I already have the parts, and that is all PS and small signal electrolytics... all Nichicons. I am affiliated with Vintage HiFi of Pittsburgh, and we are the east coast service center blessed by the man himself... Bob Carver. I just received a pair of prototype monobloc amps from him that I am testing/tinkering with... 1200 w tube monoblocs using 20 KT150 output tubes per monobloc... scary stuff...

Offer is open, let me know, I can do these in my sleep...

Frank"

My apologies fisherdude, I can edit that part of my comment but you already quoted it. Feel free to clean up my post. I'm just frustrated and hopefully you can understand that
 
I'm sorry to hear this, but he was alive and well last week. And last I knew he had a "life partner" and certainly not a wife. Where is this thread if you don't mind me asking.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom