Spearotiki Problems

[Woody]

Its with remorse that I write this post. I know it will start a fuss however, I feel I must write this so that no one else has to go through what I have been going through since October of last year.

Last year after correspondence with Ted at Spearotiki I ordered and payed for an expensive openwater gun the first week in October 2007. Almost $1800 for what was suppose to be a "masterpiece." After 2 months and further correspondence I decided to order another gun a euro style for reef fishing here in Okinawa, Japan. Another $1200 sent via PayPal and I'm stoked having what I thought would be 2 outstanding guns coming my way in a few months. He now has $3000 of mine.

Here it is almost 10 months later and no guns and no contact from Ted since May.

I went to my credit union yesterday to file a "Non Receipt of Merchandise" claim for the charges to my credit cards.

Ted originally told me it would take 10-12 weeks to make the guns.

I had contact with Ted in Mar asking if the guns would be ready for a special trip I had the first week in May. He said he didnt see any problem with that.

Contacted him 1 May and said his supplier of reels had a reel backordered for my gun. When I told him he said the guns would be ready all I got was excuses of him being busy work other guns etc and that other manufactures took months to make guns.

Later in the month he wrote me and told me he bumped me to the top of his list and gave me some bogus status reports of my guns. Basically sounding like they should be ready in just a couple weeks. Where are they?

2 things happened during this transaction that raised goosebumps on my neck:

1. When I was contemplating the second gun he told me to hurry up and send him the money so he could get them in his next batch to be made.

2. During correspondence he sent me a pic of what he said was my gun during the lamination process. Come to find out later it was a pic he had posted on an earlier website he had of his "lamination process."

During this whole ordeal he kept referring to having 11 guns needing to be made. I write this wondering if this is true and if those people are having the same problems I had.

Come to find out later he supposedly has moved to Colorado. Guess the $3000 I paid to him helped him make that move. Not to mention the time to move and no work on my or any of the other 9 guns.

Sure hope my credit union does the right thing and reimburses me for these 2 fraudulent transactions.

Ted used PayPal for his transactions. PayPal has a 45 day limit for files claims/disputes against sellers. How can a person who orders a custom made product that takes months be long be protected by PayPal protection??? Answer they can't. After converstation with a claims supervisor at PayPal, they informed me he was probably breaking the PayPal agreement and would be looked into.

Lastly after the visit to the credit union yesterday and writing him another email telling him I was canx the order and that I filed the claims disputes www.spearotiki.com is down. Coincidence???????? Dont know what to say except that I have been visiting his website for several years now and it has NEVER been down. And the day after this all this takes place its down. Hmmm

Bottom line if you are contemplating a transaction with "Ted" Theodore Coughlin of Spearotiki BEWARE! You've been warned!

[jimdoe2you]

I don't know what is going on with him so I won't pass judgement, however I will state this is not the first time I have heard something like this happening.

Consumer wait for spearfishing products ordered - Spearboard Spearfishing Community

I personally have heard from those who were very happy with his service and those who were very unhappy with his service.

I wish you the best of luck.

[strangelove]

For US companies you can also file a complain with US National BBB.org: Home but I think spearotiki is from panana.
I've order my teak-sea the same way with pay-pal, but had no problems, thanks for sharing this, I would contact hannapa and hawaii skin diver since they have adds for his guns.

[sciencemike]

I have a Spearotiki blue water gun and its absolutely amazing piece of work. Although dealing with him has not been the best experience, not horrible like yours.. but definitely not one to be praised. As well as my experience when i posted my gun porn on spearboard, i received numerous PM's about his bad business reputation but praise for his guns.

I sure hope you get it worked out. I think you can find more of him in some religious avenues, where i think he hunts with bow and arrows. Google him.

[Woody]

Day after I got ahold of Pay Pal, credit uniion and filing credit card claim Spearotiki responds to the first of the 3 latest emails.

(I sent 3 emails within a week.) First one asks about the progress of the guns, second I tell him I am unhappy with everything taking so long when he originally tells me the guns take 10-12 weeks to make, and last of 3 I tell him I want the order canx and I have filed credit card claims.

He responds to the 1st email where I wrote checking on the progress of guns. He did not respond to the email where I told him I wanted the order canx and had reported the problems to my credit union.

In this first email in more than 2 months he says my guns "should be completed within two weeks." He makes NO mention of me wanting to canx the order or for that matter anything about the $3000 I paid for the guns. He makes NO mention of being sorry for taking so long. Just excuses for what has been going on in his life.

When I originally ordered the euro gun I ordered a spearotiki custom reel. Come to find out he doesnt have them something about his manufacture going bust. Anyways finally settled on a RA composite many months ago.

In May when I wrote him expecting the guns to be complete, he tells me his supplier in Fla of the RA reels has them backordered. Of course I was pissed because he was suppose to be telling me then guns were finished and here he tells me a reel is backordered and doesnt even address the issue of the guns are suppose to be complete.

Latest email has him asking me if I want a reel and if so which one I want. He tells me his same supplier can get it for him (I wont name his supplier and its the same one where in May he tells me he has it backordered)

I only mention the reel as reference information being that Spearotiki can't remember what his customers have ordered or for that matter what he says from one email to another.

I really hope my credit union will reimburse me for these charges. I dont think spearotiki is going to man up and ask if I want a refund for my canx order. For that matter he hasnt even responded to my canx notice yet. Its suppose to take 3 weeks for the credit card claim to be fully resolved.


Couple questions:

Am I wrong in expecting my guns to be complete by now?

Am I wrong in expecting Spearotiki to refund me my money for this transaction gone wrong?

Am I wrong in expecting Spearotiki to respond to an email where I tell him I have canx the order and "you have responsibilities to your customers and you are not fulfilling them."

Do other custom makers take 10 months to make guns? Mind you these arent really custom guns? One is a straight up stock gun he normally makes and the other euro just has an extended butt. So nothing really special where a guy has to design a new gun.

As you can see this transaction is just bad. In responding please dont bash Spearotiki just for the sake of bashing a guy. Please tell me if I am off base with my questions. I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has had or is having the same problems with Spearotiki. Seems the consensus is his guns are great looking but doing business with him is "not so good"

[ihab]

This is obviously bad business…ironically, I had just posted a few days back…asking people on DeeperBlue if they had any idea how to contact Ted since all my emails to him went dead.
I was about to place an order with him (glad I did’nt) and went with Sea Sniper instead…..Chris at Sea Sniper was very professional.

BUT, currently I’ve placed an order for …….s …I will not mention it since the company will be recognized immediately…and the order did not come through yet and it’s very late…customer service is nonexistent and the guy keeps making excuses…very similar to spearotiki.

In a weeks time, if my order does not come through I will post all details right here…..which brings up the subject…HOW ABOUT if we have a special section on DeeperBlue for legitimate complaints from on line purchases.

Feel bad for you Woody…..search this forum, I tried contacting Ted before and someone had posted contact details of another guy who knew him well….If I find it I will pm to you.

Cheers,
Ihab