██ SCAM ██ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light ██ SCAM ██

[run4jc]

OK...I gotta come clean...all my lights and parts are from Kmart, and I'm definitely not wearing my underwear

[Dadof6]

So are these all sold out or can I still buy one?

[notsofast]

So are these all sold out or can I still buy one?

That is what I like to see in a situation like this...some positiveness. I always give a person the benefit of the doubt. As I type I am waiting for a PM from MJ to see if he will make me one with a high cri led.

I will continue to support him unless it is disclosed that he had sex with the Taiwanese contractor.

Seriously though this is a sad day on CPF!

[ma_sha1]

So are these all sold out or can I still buy one?

Dad0f6,

They are sold out everywhere, but I can sell you my sample, Pre-Pay for $888, that's a lucky number!
Hurry, the price will go up soon & I can not guarantee future availability, as it's a limited run!

I'll guarantee you Christmas delivery, but I can't promise which christmas
Once you send PP, please do not attempt to contact me, as I am an extremely busy person
.
.

[F250XLT]

So Glenn7 stated at the end of THIS thread that the X6 was indeed a custom light designed by MJ, not a host. For some reason, I feel the need for him (Glenn7) to chime in here. He was VERY involved in that sale thread, much more than MJ himself......I would like for him to verify where he was getting his information from.

[morelightnow]

Over the years, this kind of thing has happened to a number of respected builders.

Ya, history certainly does repeat itself. I don't know his lights very well but I didn't have a very good feeling about the x6 and anything after that.

[Darvis]

So, uh, I've got this bridge for sale in NYC... Great deal, I swear.

Seriously, many thanks to DM51, Greta, and all the folks that nip these kinds of things in the bud!!!

[Colorblinded]

Too much information, we didn't need to hear that, plaese DO NOT post a photo. NOooooooooooooo

Free 8x10 glossy included with all future purchases!

[smokelaw1]

So Glenn7 stated at the end of THIS thread that the X6 was indeed a custom light designed by MJ, not a host. For some reason, I feel the need for him (Glenn7) to chime in here. He was VERY involved in that sale thread, much more than MJ himself......I would like for him to verify where he was getting his information from.

From the sound of that thread, Glenn was just repeating what he was told by Mike. I would have done the same had I been in contact with a member that I trusted like I trusted MJ. I don't think there is anything there, but Glenn can of course speak for himself. I know my dealings with him would not point to the slightlest inkling of impropriety.

[Illum]

. I know my dealings with him would not point to the slightlest inkling of impropriety.

Glenn could have been played, especially if he had good responses from Arc over the years, these sort of things do happen when a distributor of a product caught his supplier red handed in selling the same raw materials to a competitor for less

[Greta]

... I think MJ's dishonesty goes back farther than you might think.

... very insightful...

[choppers]

Man I dont even know what to say. I have the same feelings as everyone who posted in this thread.....angry and pissed...what a joke...Arcs explanation was horrible....I doubt we will hear from him again...

[CrowdGather]

Since I do not want to be the subject of a scandal in the future, I am going to confess right now. I did not discover titanium even though I take credit for it.

[JonN06]

I wonder if he already had 120 of these that he had bought and was waiting to resale. Or, if he was just waiting for someone to buy them and then he was going to buy them and then reship them? Either way it is not very polite. I'm just glad I didn't have the cash to feel sorry for losing on one of his lights in the first place.

[Incidentalist]

What a shame.

I can say that I am glad that the only light of his that I ever purchased was an Extreme III. I am glad that I decided not to jump on the Ti SF-III, VERY glad. I had wondered why it was so expensive, now I know.

[saabluster]

Over the years, this kind of thing has happened to a number of respected builders. I don't know if it's human nature or just the pressure of competition from industrial mass-market forces.

It is too bad.

I do appreciate it when the mods -- or fellow members -- have our six.

Yes this has been seen many times. I think it highlights just how hard it is to keep your head above water trying to make custom lights an income earner. I don't think most people appreciate just how hard it is. I think this lead to some desperation on his part and he went down a path that I'm sure he wasn't entirely happy with as he has clearly made products in the past people were enamored with.

One of the dangers I have always seen here is the presale. It is so dangerous for both parties. As a builder I know that rarely do your best laid plans work out like you think they would. The problem with a presale is that as a builder you are now committed to make the product at a set price and that may mean that with the unforeseen issues you are having to do so at a great loss. That then takes the fun out of building and makes it difficult to fulfill your obligations. If I can't make it with my own money then it's not going to happen. It is just better that way.

Although this all appears to be an epic fail at least it does not seem to have risen to the level that some of the builder failures of the past have been where money was exchanged and no product ever shipped. Silver lining?

[F250XLT]

I doubt we will hear from him again...

We had better hear from him, he has thousands of dollars from CPF'ers awaiting the delivery of their lights.

[brighterisbetter]

...if it weren't for the fact that there are many of you who are involved in other threads and other transactions with Mike, his sorry ass would be permanently banned now. I'll give you all a chance to try to finish up your dealings with him. Good luck with that, btw...

I sure hope it works out for those of you that have prepaid for lights that have yet to ship. Keeping my fingers crossed for you all...

[tino_ale]

So Glenn7 stated at the end of THIS thread that the X6 was indeed a custom light designed by MJ, not a host. For some reason, I feel the need for him (Glenn7) to chime in here. He was VERY involved in that sale thread, much more than MJ himself......I would like for him to verify where he was getting his information from.

In the previous STORY I posted before, he (ARC mania) was under strong suspicion to be behind more than one member name.

Maybe they are two different persons and Glenn7 has been played.
Or, they are the same person and Mike, posting as Glenn7, has been raving about his own offerings.
Heck they could be two separate persons yet be accomplice in this CON or have a common undisclosed agenda.

Everything is possible.

One thing only that I'm sure of : there's dishonesty all over ARC's business.

[dat2zip]

You know this is not what is going on.

More mob mentality if you ask me.

What MJ did was try and offer a light that he had his personal stock of prime LEDs sent to the MFG to have installed in the light and then sell them here on CPF.

Of course MJ pays for shipping from the MFG to him and then he has to charge shipping from his location to the final customer location.

Since MJ dealt with MFG A and possibly someone found the same base light from MFG B which has a lower list price does not make this a scam.

It may not be the best idea to take such a risk to have a stock product modified with your own LED prime stock and take on the double shipment cost. This drives the end cost up as shown here on CPF. There is nothing to compare to regarding this. It is a risk MJ took and offered accordingly here on CPF. It may have not been the best judgment call on his part, but, in no way is this a scam. He is out a lot of money on this investment.

Just because you may have had a less than happy outcome on some other dealings with MJ doesn't imply this thread is a scam, nor, does everyone have all the facts.

I would appreciate this thread closed and the word scam removed as it was a offered gone sour on both sides.

Thanks,

Wayne

[tino_ale]

[...]I banned MJ a few months back and literally got raked across the coals by some of you for what I did... [...]

I wasn't aware he had been banned in the past.
Would it be possible to disclose the reasons why this happened at the time?

This information is probably available somewhere on CPF but I bet 90% of the CPFers that ordered from him after this happened did not know about it.

It raise the question, how can the average CPFer be aware of the members that have had problems with the board before ? Have been suspected of crossing a line ?

Could the forums be equiped with a "reputation" feature ?

[hank]

I've been wondering about this kind of thing since the Solitaire LED dropin days:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...=143887&page=2
where I asked:

"Still puzzling whether the various people selling these all have the same product, as it appears, or if there's any actual difference between them. Maybe everyone contracted for something a little different from the manufacturer, which I am guessing must be China -- or else it's just labels different? Wanta Know ... "

EDIT: Wayne's comment popped in while I was writing the above. What he wrote:

> he had his personal stock of prime LEDs sent to the MFG to have installed in the light and then sell them

is the detail that I'm looking for when this kind of question comes up. We're always going to see stuff that's identical-looking.
We need to trust the seller (or someone who will tear one apart and tell us) to know what's really inside.

Question is always -- for lights, LEDS, chargers, medications, paint, anything! -- is it the same thing relabeled, or really different, if so how?

This is asking a level of disclosure and honesty no seller had reason to attain even a few years ago -- when the info was harder to get.

Now -- well, we need to know what something really is, inside, and who actually makes it -- to avoid the fakes, forgeries, and ripoffs that will be problems for anyone who actually is honestly making something new and special.

[chitoz28]

How bout some beam shots of this bike light?

[F250XLT]

You know this is not what is going on.

More mob mentality if you ask me.

What MJ did was try and offer a light that he had his personal stock of prime LEDs sent to the MFG to have installed in the light and then sell them here on CPF.

Of course MJ pays for shipping from the MFG to him and then he has to charge shipping from his location to the final customer location.

Since MJ dealt with MFG A and possibly someone found the same base light from MFG B which has a lower list price does not make this a scam.

It may not be the best idea to take such a risk to have a stock product modified with your own LED prime stock and take on the double shipment cost. This drives the end cost up as shown here on CPF. There is nothing to compare to regarding this. It is a risk MJ took and offered accordingly here on CPF. It may have not been the best judgment call on his part, but, in no way is this a scam. He is out a lot of money on this investment.

Just because you may have had a less than happy outcome on some other dealings with MJ doesn't imply this thread is a scam, nor, does everyone have all the facts.

I would appreciate this thread closed and the word scam removed as it was a offered gone sour on both sides.

Thanks,

Wayne

Nice try Wayne

[saabluster]

Maybe they are two different persons and Glenn7 has been played.

Likely.

Or, they are the same person and Mike, posting as Glenn7,

I know for a fact Glenn is Glenn and he is an upstanding member of CPF in my eyes.

[tino_ale]

Likely.

I know for a fact Glenn is Glenn and he is an upstanding member of CPF in my eyes.

Just to clarify my point : I don't know Glenn7 and he can totally be a legit and great member. My point is ARC could have been playing around with different names and it's a possibility that should not be overlooked when trying to sort things out. If you know this for a fact, no problem and again I don't know him. I guess I just wanted to say "everything is possible".

[F250XLT]

I sent Glenn7 a PM requesting him to chime in here, not saying he will, but hopefully he will show and explain his relationship.

[donn_]

I sent Glenn7 a PM requesting him to chime in here, not saying he will, but hopefully he will show and explain his relationship.

You seem quite invested in this issue. You've made nearly 10% of the posts to this thread.

[RAGE CAGE]

Dad0f6,

They are sold out everywhere, but I can sell you my sample, Pre-Pay for $888, that's a lucky number!
Hurry, the price will go up soon & I can not guarantee future availability, as it's a limited run!

I'll guarantee you Christmas delivery, but I can't promise which christmas
Once you send PP, please do not attempt to contact me, as I am an extremely busy person
.
.

ma.....I would like to buy your sample, but only if you can perform one of your custom shortening mods on it and if you will take a post dated third party check and wire me back the $1,000.00 that I accidently overpaid you. I expect christmas 2--- delivery!

This in one revolting development.

[F250XLT]

You seem quite invested in this issue. You've made nearly 10% of the posts to this thread.

Interested, not invested.....And yes, I have had a problem with MJ for quite some time now. And I would be lying if I said I was disappointed with how things are turning out for him. Do you have a problem with anything I have said? Have I made any false statements? If you would like to discuss this, we can certainly do that.