RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

I have two friends from Texas, One of them shipped a helicopter and it was very damaged. He had it insured for 1150.00 and Fed ex sent the check to the shipper and not the seller or the buyer and now she will not give the check to either! Fed Ex said they paid off and now its not thier problem! And the other guy shipped a plane through the bus and the plane was lost [from the sound of what he found out stolen] He had to send the 400.00 bucks back to the buyer and is having trouble geting his money back! It just is not worth the trouble to me! I run for a well known shipper and the packages that are marked fragile get no extra care from anyone but me! I see that it gets to its final place and they are treated with kids gloves and always on top and never stacked on! Fragile means something to me but I have seen allot of crap on the way they are handled before they get to me! Shameful...........!

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Man, I have been lucky! I sold a Sprint kit and shipped via Greyhound. It arrived on time and, according to the buyer, was in perfect shape. I recently bought a receiver-ready Baby Boomerang, and it arrived just as advertised, no problems at all. All of the buyers and sellers I've dealt with on RCU, and other forums (except for the scammer I mentioned earlier) have been legit, honest people.

I've had no issues with other purchases on RCU, either. But now I'm wondering if it's just a matter of time before I run into my own 'David Swantz.' A buddy of mine strictly stays with local buyers and sellers, or with someone within a reasonable drive. Perhaps that's the prudent way to go. I do know I'd have missed the Baby Boomer if I'd have done that, though.

Sure hope the OP gets this mess settled to his satisfaction. It's one thing as a seller to get a bogus-looking check with a gross overpayment and wierd instructions on what to do with the 'accidental' excess funds from a buyer - at least I still had my radio - but to make payment honestly and get taken by a scamming seller, that's a trap most anyone could get caught in.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Man I would love to live in Florida, There is always some great planes for sale there, But to far for a guy from Wyoming to pick up! Seems like so many great builders down there, Or is it that they are from all over America and just retired there now? Yes I to worry now that I will meet my first Shirley Swantz, sorry I ment David Swantz I keep using his prison name! But I still feel that 99.9% of these guys are family and would not do such an evil thing! I will keep the planes that I buy to more local and cash in hand when plane is in hauler! Good luck to you as you buy and sell!

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Wow, this is nuts. Hope you get your money back man. I can't imagine losing $500 or even $50, let alone $5000 + $200.

There's no excuse for this kind of behavior. I wonder if the scammer has ever heard of Charlie Wenzel?

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Yes, there are a lot of jets in FL, but I'm waaay up in NW Florida...not many here. I did drive to meet up with Frank Tiano when I bought the SM L-39. Well worth the drive, especially with a 'big' jet. Plus, Atlanta has a pretty big jet group, and that works distance-wise, too.

I agree, I think the vaaaaast majority of sellers and buyers are straight-shooters. I first heard about scamming sellers over on another forum. The scammers copy pics/ads from other places, then clone them as their own on other forums. This would be such an easy trap to fall for. You assume the seller really has/owns the stuff he's selling.

I've bought/sold three airplanes via RCU. Two were actual face-to-face transactions, even though it involved a day's worth of driving to and from to do it. The other was the one involving the Boomer. It was in Chicago, so a face-to-face wasn't gonna happen.

I don't know, but maybe when it comes to high-dollar jets, doing the transaction in-person might be the way to go. Either have a way to take delivery right away if it all looks good, or have the seller already have the packing/shipping setup if you can't take it with you. Then take it yourself to the shipper. That would eliminate who to pay if the jet gets smashed in shipment. You are both the shipper and receiver. Yeah, it might involve time, an airline ticket, a rental car, and hassle factor, but that would just have to be accepted as the cost of peace-of-mind in a long-distance deal.

This plan might also flush out a scammer right away. If they won't meet face-to-face, let you inspect the jet, and be willing to already have the crate/packaging set up (they were going to have to do this anyway to ship it to you, right?) then that would be a big red flag that something ain't right with the deal.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

What address did you send the money to?

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Ok now I get it :D. Looks like Shirley will soon be united with her boyfriend.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Soap-on-a-rope, baby! :):D

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Shirley come here now! And He says please do not call me Shirley the five thousand was just a misunderstanding and the three big guys say what ever you say Shirley what ever you say!



Yes but my carbon footprint caused two huricanes in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic!

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Boyfriends, In prison boyfriend is always plural! Meaning more then one!

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

I live in MN, and have known "Shirley" for about six years. He appears to have a dual personality. Or maybe, he's just a very shrewd con man. He will go out of his way to give some people the shirt off his back and turn right around and screw over others at the first opportunity. This creates confusion, as some have nothing but good to say, and others despise him.

I haven't lost any money to him personally, as I'm local and well-known in the area. Also, I've never done any business with him (luckily), because I was warned by others in time...

I could add a number of personally verified negative stories most of the locals are aware of, but I'll keep this short.

My purpose in posting is to offer my assistance. I know where Dave lives and will be more than willing to organize a blanket party if he doesn't deliver on Wed. as promised. I live in the County where his most recent court case was tried, so I can easily contact his parole officer. It's best I remain anonymous for now, so Shirley won't see it coming. Please contact me at [email protected] for further details.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Flame-out,

I might be barking up the wrong tree but are you sure your not Shirley?

Simon

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Hey guys, escrow services are availiable on RCU. When a person puts an ad on RCU, under payment details they can choose to accept escrow or not and specify who, buyer or seller, will pay the escrow charges. Of course if a scammer is placing the ad they are not going to accept escrow. See this page for details.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/help/rcm.h...temID%3D666212

There is a escrow fee calculator here. https://www.escrow.com/support/calculator.asp

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

See now thats what I am talking about! flameout is part of this big RC family we share! Hey I like to party mind if I come to Shirleys party? Will it be a suit and tye party or can we wear our old clothes? Shirley needs to realize that we are a close family and that we are not going to put up with this kind of nonsense from him or any other that does this to one of us! He has made allot of the folks here on RCU very upset with him and needs his feet held to the fire for what he did here! Nobody deserves being cheated like this, Especialy not one of our RC family! Shirley's name fits because she lacks the stuff that makes a real man! This name shows up at any of the events I go to I will ask for my money back, I would not unpack any of my stuff with a sticky fingered non RC family person there! Shirley I worked hard for what I have! Shirley dont you wish you could say that?

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Good post Flame. If you haven't done so as of yet, you NEED to talk to Bill about your knowledge.

Thanks for stepping in :)

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

This is a good service, but I wish it didn't have to come to this why can't people just be truthful, and not screw each other over, in this hobby?
why can't this just be one big happy family?

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Some rules I have followed since being ripped off a few years ago. I don't buy from people with no feedback. I don't buy from people who have joined RCU in the last couple of months. They have to have been a member for at least several months. If your instructed to pay to a Paypal account with a different name than the seller's that should be a big red flag. I was told to make my check out to a different person than the seller. The guy said it was his girlfriend. I should have canceled the deal right then.

Don't just look to see if they have good feedback. Check the dates the items were sold and when the feedback was posted. The people that ripped me off had a few good feedbacks. After being ripped off I noticed the items in their feedback didn't have time to go through shipping before the feedback was posted. They setup multiple usernames and pretended to sell and buy so they could post good feedback for themselves.

After I threatened to have them arrested they did send me a small 3D plane instead of the .60 size Formula 3D I paid for. The plane had lots of problems, no hardware, no instructions, hinges that were frozen with CA, missing or broken servos, etc. It was just thrown in a box and shipped by mail with no packing at all. I never did find out what manufacturer made the kit.

I talked to the police where they lived about it and they knew them from previous complaints and had already talked to them about selling items they didn't have. The police didn't do anything and when I called the police again I had to leave a message and no one ever returned my call. I got lots of info on them, just couldn't find any law enforcement that would do anything over such a small amount. I emailed every AMA chartered club around where they lived and found out they were riping people off on another forum site too. I was able to cause some trouble for them and I think it cost them more than what they ripped me off for. Still would have liked to have gotten my hands on them.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

:D:D Flame out Humm

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

What is the proper name for this Person?. Is it David Swantz as used in the post header or David Schwantz as mentioned elsewhere in this thread?

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Miss Shirley!

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

i have nothing against this thread, and am glad that it exists to help protect us honest modelers., and glad that it may be resolved.

But why was my buddies thread shut down almost immediately, when it is just like this one http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10...m.htm#10228368 it was shut down by minnflyer

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

He also edited this thread's first post & removed the personal info here.

It's one of the bad things about the internet, once posted you can't totally delete info, although RCU tries to.
You can still find it by Googling, and the personal info still shows up there in the summary.

When you're really good with pc's and web searches, you can even find the info 'cached' in Google searches.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

The personal info of schwantz can/should/must remain in the thread... He has a website of RC services with the same 'personal' info we easily found, is an AMA CD turbine examiner with the same same personal info posted in the AMA site for the purpose of authorizing a turbine waiver.

...Otherwise 'digging up' any personal contact info on let's say you or me, and posting in public here would be questionable.

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

The blanket party sounds cool, but if you want to cause him some expense ( at least the 5K...) and you know where he lives, find out when nobodys home for a few days and go over there and put a goat in his house !!!! Whatever it doesn't eat it will S#@^ on and that house will be demolished inside !!!!!:D That would be good for 20-30 K. easy !!!! It works like a charm !!! Believe me, I know !!!!


Danno[X(]

P.S. This post if for entertainment purposes only !! .)

RE: Does anyone know David swantz
 

Maybe Flameout could post a picture of David since he knows him well?

Are there any pictures of this guy out there?