Beware of TankratsAFVdepot.com

I've bought some stuff from him in the past at swap meets in San Antonio and never had any problems.  He wasn't there this February, and I haven't seen any ads for them lately, so I have been wondering myself. 

He came across as maybe a bit gruff, but had a good selection at fair prices.  I always try to give these small businesses the benefit of the doubt for a while, as any major life events can impact a one man operation, but from hearing these stories I'm glad I didn't buy anything from them online.  Hopefully he can make things right with the customers that have outstanding orders if he is indeed getting out of the business.  Those kinds of burnt bridges can never be rebuilt. 

Jeff

It it means anything, I haven't seen Tankrat at any of the local swap meets in the Phoenix area for a while now. 

When I first met him, all sorts of alarms went off in the back of my head, but since I don't model armor there was no reason to consider doing business with him anyway.  I hope you guys get a satisfactory resolution.

Bruce

Good luck. I've heard he is exiting the industry...but how fast and when is anybody's guess. I hope he is. He's burned a lot of bridges within the industry as well as his customer base. Unfortunately people are still ordering from him before getting the facts.

Well.......the plot thickens. 
I may have been screwed as well!!!  I found tankratsafvdepot through E-bay where he has 100% positive feedback from over 1900 transactions. I failed to do any further research and I thought his on-line shop would be OK.  I made an order last week for over $130.  I triead to access his website this morning and got an error message that the website declined to allow me access.  I sent an e-mail for help from him.  No response YET!  While trying to get on to his site I googled his website name tankratsafvdepot and stumbled upon this thread and others.  If I wasn't worried then, I am now.  I thank God that I paid with Pay-Pal and not a credit card.  Who knowa what damage he could do then.  Hopefully if I don't hear from him soon Pay-Pal will get my money back to me.

When I try to access his website I get the message: "The website declined to show this webpage"
Upon further research Internet Explorer connected to the site but has declined me access.  I'm not a computer guru, but is it possible for tankratafzdepot to block my access to his website?  Does anyone know if the site is still up?

Has anyone else had problems with this guy since the previous posts?

I would like to know if anyone has had thier problems resolved or not.

I've seen several posts that praise this guy as the second coming messiah and then others that say they got stuck  by his pitch fork and the two horns in his forehead!
I really hope this guy gets my order to me.  He has yet to see the wrath that I will bring down upon him if he does not.

I've been out of pocket the last ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan so I haven't been able to keep up with any news in the modeling world.  Therefore, I have just joined this website and this is my first post.  What a bummer I have to make this the subject of my first posting.  This will not be my last.

If tankratsafvdepot comes through I will post here to let everyone know about it.
If he does not.........well, as I stated.......the plot thickens

Cheers to all

I too had bad dealings with him. It took several months to resolve the issue. I got very angry and mounted a mini campaign to have his banner removed from armorama.com, this site and others who carried it. It took assistance from the head man over at armorama to intervene and provide me with a phone number, the one that is the airlines now. Several months later I finally received the goods I ordered for no cost, and an apology. But they not exactly correct, I opted not to pursue exchange. Not long after that ,I noticed all his banners had been removed from all the sites carrying it.. This all took about eight months. Caveat Emptor.

The FBI.

Just so you guys know

The phone number under contacts is registered to a private airline and is no longer working for J.michie

So this guy is completly crooked,is there an internet version of the better business bureau?

Ya this guy is a tool. He rolled in here one day talking big wanting to buy this and that. Luck was with me because I asked for $$$ up front and he turned around and left with a empty u-haul.

Thad

stikpusher

good thing it wans't a snake

Had it been the Rat wouldn't be troubling people. LOL

Thanks for the advice guys,I already did dispute it.

Cool site Hawkeye,its on my faves now ;)

good thing it wans't a snake

There is a link in my post.

This is the page Hawkeye refers to above.

http://www.greenwichgateway.com/hornetandwolf/info/info_warning.htm

I suggest that you do file a complaint with PayPal and those others who paid with CC do so with their CC company. Apparently only they will be the ones to stop his practices of stiffing customers.

Not only has he done this to customers but also to his suppliers as well. Some have turned him over to collection agencies.

There is a mfr in the UK who has a page dedicated to The Rat as he as stiffed him for a tidy sum of money for stock he never paid for or returned.

Just about every scale modeling forum in the world has a thread about The Rat. TankRat is a one man  company based in Arizona owned by Jon Michie.

He wanted to do business with me, I listened to my fellow mfrs and vendors then quickly came to the conclusion...NO WAY IN H____  would I enter any business arrangements with him.

He has become synonymously know in conversations within the industry as just what this thread conveys. All I can offer is a warning...BEWARE!

At a local show he explained to me his prices were so high on RoG kits because they went out of business! Really? Like I wouldn't check. And in case you are wondering they didn't. In fact, a rep from RoG responded not only are they NOT closing but they are expanding their operations. Left a real bad taste in my mouth after that.

But, to be fair. I did place an order for his track blackening solution. It works as advertised and arrived well packed and quickly. My only gripe was he advertised free shipping but tagged on a $3 handling charge.

There have been numerous threads of a similar nature about that particular site over time here. Unfortunately this guy still appears to be in business taking people's money and not delivering the goods.