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WARNING!!! James and Joseph Spearfishing Shop Solana Beach are SCAMMERS!

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Fabalicious

New Member
Aug 27, 2021
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DAMIEN IS A SCAMMER AND EVEN FAKED HIS OWN DEATH TO GET OUT OF A PETTY REFUND!!!

The hard facts clean and simple:
- I ordered 1600USD worth of Riffe spearfishing gear
- Damien got the order out super quick, Well done!
- The gear arrived:
- Wetsuit didn’t fit
- Gloves didn’t fit
- Wrong float line was sent
- The gun was the wrong length (my mistake)
- I waited months for a return label that never arrived even after many reminders were made directly with Damien, he always said he was on it but never was.
- I decided to ship the items myself to speed up the exchange.
- Damien gave me the old address in San Diego so it all came back to me with an extra 70CHF (about 70USD) return shipping tax
- I got the correct address from Damien and spent again 100CHF to have it shipped the second time and YAY it arrived.
- I spent about 9 months fighting with Damien for the exchange items and partial refund and nothing. I sent dozens of emails and called many times too but as no one answers the phone with their name there you never know when you have Damien on the phone, and the person always says he's not here.
- I complained to Riffe directly as it was a bad look for their brand at which point Damien refused to send me replacements and refunded me 300USD from what would be then a total of 1070USD to be refunded. Oh and he wrote on the partial refund invoice that there was a 10% restocking fee! wtf?
- I pursued him for the rest of the refund over and over for more than a year and still nothing. I spoke to his team members and they were literally zero help to the situation, telling me to call when he’s there but he was just never there… ever!!!
- When I did reach him, was just A LOT of empty promises from Damien like 'please send me your updated credit card details' and after another dozen emails and calls still nothing!
- On my more recent calls I was informed by the ‘no name’ person who answers the phone that Damien had PASSED AWAY from Covid19!!! and I needed to contact the new manager.
- After emailing the new ‘manager’ still nothing! So I called again and found out that Damien is still very much ALIVE and managing the place!!! WOW this dude faked his own death to get out of a petty refund!!! WOW!!!
- STILL NO REFUND TO THIS DAY TWO YEARS LATER!!!

DON’T LET DAMIEN TRICK YOU LIKE HE DID ME. HE IS A SCAMMER AND A POOR EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING… FAKING HIS OWN DEATH FOR GETTING OUT OF A PETTY REFUND!!! COME ON!!! Hahahaha sounds so unrealistic but im sorry and sad to say this is the truth!
 
If what you say is true, that's really unfortunate. But J&J and Damien have a good reputation in Southern California, and my transactions have always been handled satisfactorily.
 
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If what you say is true, that's really unfortunate. But J&J and Damien have a good reputation in Southern California, and my transactions have always been handled satisfactorily.
yeah its a real shame to be honest. i read good things about them before i ordered. I'm happy to say that since yesterday evening i received the funds in my account after informing Damien four days ago that i would drop bad reviews daily (nothing but the truth of course) until the money came into my account. He refunded me the missing 770USD without me having to pay the restocking or PayPal fees which is what i asked for, considering the wrong delivery address that put me out of pocket more than necessary. I don't like writing bad reviews but after more than two years of dicking me around he left me no choice. Now the payment was made so we've come to a ceasefire! lol
 
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I had it shipped to Switzerland ;)
..so why you choose to order from a shop in california on the other side of the world , instead of choosing a riffe dealer in europe ?
wouldnt that be the more logical and cheaper option ?
riffe have dealers in france , denmark, uk and germany.
 
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..so why you choose to order from a shop in california on the other side of the world , instead of choosing a riffe dealer in europe ?
wouldnt that be the more logical and cheaper option ?
riffe have dealers in france , denmark, uk and germany.
the gear bag i wanted was only available from them at the time ;)
 
Glad to hear there is a happy ending :)

FYI While living in the US, I found most companies wanted to provide excellent service. However, occasionally, some needed encouragement and writing to the local Better Business Bureau - or just threatening to do so - usually worked wonders.

In the UK, Trading Standards is the closest thing that I am aware of but they are more of a law enforcer.
 
I talked to Julie Riffe. James and Joseph is in fact closed.
 
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