therooster

+1. What he did for forum members was outstanding. I just can't see how anyone could find a bad side to it... And the idea that there might be a conflict of interest is just ludicrous. These accusations puzzle me. But more importantly, what do they have to do with the raffle issue, which is the topic of this thread???? Seems some people are just out to stir [censored] up.

Ok, I'm confused... You either know nothing, or you have some convincing evidence that something went wrong. Which one is it? First, that's actually not true and I don't need to point you towards those posts. Second, have you also noticed how no one from RWI has come here to complain the the forum was hijacked by one-eyed midgets? Now, does that mean that no one has the balls to talk about the midgets, or does it suggest that perhaps there were no midgets to start with?

Peep, I agree. But I'm sick of rumours and censorship. I'd rather see people discuss things in the open and voice their concerns. That's why I appreciate the OP's intentions, and I respect this forum for letting this run. And it's great when the people involved come in and address these concerns, as LoS did. I share your concern about the casual reader who may misread things, but I think overall the benefits of grabbing these rumous by the horns outweigh the potential downsides. That goes without saying. And yes, there is no reason to connect the raffles, LOS's departure, and RWI's downtime. These are all unrelated things.

RWG, you just won my complete and utter respect for letting this thread run. The fact that sensitive questions such as these are allowed to be asked and debated in a mature way speaks volumes for the quality of this forum and its members. And that is regardless of the answers to the questions or whether or not you agree with the OP. Bravo! On a different note, RWI members should see these events as an opportunity for renewal and change. When the forum is back online, I know everyone on the team will work as hard as they can to make it even a better place than before. Let's look forward not backward.

Don't let him get away with it guys. He should return everything, no matter in what condition. Soon it'll be a year since this nightmare began... Good luck!

Great to hear you got your stuff back, guys!! Oh, so now it's 5k, uh? Last time I talked to him it was a different amount. What a croc

specialvat: keep us posted please. We are all hoping for the best for you. AMK000: it was a pleasure, mate. So glad I could be helpful.

can't believe this is still going on. Any news?

just got two tickets... one to go!! Who's going to be lucky last?

still any outstanding issues?

No. Rocketeer did but he was sheit. Better send your stuff over to Vac in the US.

of course it goes without saying. thanks for the reminder though. everything will be kept to PMs.

I forgot to mention that if he doesn't comply I will be more than happy to share all of his details with anyone who still has issues with him. I have working private email addresses, mobile phone number, usernames on watch and car enthusiasts forums on which he's regularly active and respected, messenger user details, etc...

He's been given an ultimatum and I know he read my two messages. The first he read at around 7 pm tonight, and the second just after 11 pm. If he doesn't do as requested, he's been told what happens next.

Anyone with remaining issues with rocketeer, please PM me. And yes, I have lots of contact details for him, pictures of him, etc. which I have kept private till now. But enough's enough.

There are still so many unresolved issues... I can't believe this. I think this guy is begging for trouble.

HM Revenue & Customs is the IRS of the UK. They'd be interested in the revenue and tax issues arising from his "legit" business, Tuff Time. I doubt RRWP is a legal entity. But anyway, that's just hypothetical and to make the point that if someone didn't care anymore about getting their watches back, there are many options to get back at the guy, some of which are obviously extreme. I am not suggesting that they should be pursued. Just making it clear that it's as much in Rocketeer's interest as in ours to resolve the issue amicably. And "threats" (in the loose sense of the word) are perfectly fine as long as they don't cross the line, don't become abusive, and remain ethical. Telling the other party what you plan to do when things don't go as expected is part of standard commercial practice. It is perfectly ok for a disgruntled customer to tell an opportunistic service provider that he intends to do something about an unsutisfactory situation. If options weren't available to us we'd be taken advantage of even more often. But I stress that these actions should stay within reason and not resort to fear and intimidation as they never really bear any fruit IMO.

...and besides... all that is needed is an anonymous tip. Or a little call to HM Revenue & Customs... I'd like to see how much of his income from watch repairs, AR, etc he declares and pays income tax on. I don't think he would roll out the red carpet for the tax auditors when they knock on his door. And as some of us know and have already discussed, there are many many options that we can rely on, which ultimately may not lead to our property being returned, but would probably ruin the guy and his business. But look, I'm sure all of this stuff won't be necessary and I keep urging people to stay cool. Scaring the guy and bullying him won't make things any easier. I know some guys here disagree with me, but I don't think he's a reckless idiot or a scammer. He's just someone who made a series of mistakes and bad choices, which have snowballed, and hasn't been able to deal with them properly and quickly enough... And things have just been getting worse and worse. I'm sure it's as much in his interest as it is in ours to bring this nasty story to a close and move on.

Hey there, so sorry to hear that. Not a good start. But look at it this way: surely it can't get any worse than this! I am sure you'll get your stuff back from R. It's just a question of time...

The funny thing is that it won't help. I have been talking to him on his home, work and mobile numbers since January. It hasn't helped. Look, the idea of a trip to get our stuff and money back is sounding better and better every day. Pix, guru, myself, and perhaps others are starting to think seriously about it. This isn't Poland and we're not dealing with Jakub. I'm currently 40 miles from Rocketeer. If anyone is interested, feel free to PM me availability so we can all get together and pay him a friendly visit. Then we hit a pub.

Well, the UPO crystal was sent unmounted and unprepped by myself. I assumed that R would do the prepping and send it off to Chief. I have no idea what was done to the crystal that I received. All I know is that it's green/yellowish and certainly nowhere near the Chief quality we are used to. Interestingly, the other Omega crystal that I sent came back fine, with what looks like a proper Chief double AR. Whether the UPO crystal was done somewhere else or it wasn't prepped properly, I don't know. I got my money back, but that doesn't pay for all the hassle and wated time. I guess an easy way to work out what happened behind the scenes would be to start a separate thread in all the forums where members list the number of crystals sent to R. Then we do the sums and compare them to the total of crystals received by Chief. If the numbers don't add up, we can draw our own conclusions.

Ok, I finally managed to have a word with Rocketeer (it helps that I did all my research before... I had a few numbers that I had forgotten about). We have agreed on a way forward with regard to my watches and the AR crystal. Mind you, we had similar discussions before, but this time I hope he means business. I will keep you all posted about it. As we suspected, he's snowed under. He sounded like he was swimming in crystals and trying to get a lot of things done at the same time. His wife is giving him a hand too. I would expect that those with healthy crystals should get their stuff back at some stage soon. As for anyone with problem crystals, I don't know. Part of my agreement with him includes a refund for the screwed up AR job. Let's see if he keeps his word. He had a lot of explanations and views on the issue, but I don't think it's my business to share them here. If he wants to come out and explain he knows that we all would like to hear things directly from him. Anyway, the good news is that he's not running. He's in his lab trying to deal with the situation.

Interesting... Why didn'I get an email? I guess it would have sounded more like: "Hi Rooster I

Well, my situation with him is as follows: I sent him 3 reps in Jan (BCE, Rolex and Chopard) after carefully researching him, talking to him, seeing his work, etc. All the signs were excellent. Upon reading a thread in which I complained about the lume job on a PAM111h, he also asked me to send him that one too, which he offered to relume for free while he was working on the others. Here's the outcome: 1. BCE sent for relume, date wheel testing & swapping, and full service: Returned after a few months and many many calls and emails, with bad lume job, blobs of lume on dial and hands, scratched dial, misaligned DW, non-functioning chrono, over-oiled and poorly serviced. Had to spend another small fortune just to fix the problems he created. 2. GMT IIc sent for fixing of skipping hour hand and reluming: Returned upon ultimatum given a few months later, with no work done on hour hand, lume partly done, watch in pieces, hour hand in need of replating and reluming. 3. Chopard GMT sent in January for relume: still MIA, and have heard all sorts of stories about the reasons for the 5 months delay. The last one involved an alien abduction. Actually, I made that up. But it might as well have. 4. PAM111, sent in January for relume: still MIA. First he told me had finished it in February, but then it wasn't finished in March, then he told me again that it was done and ready to go in April, but then it still wasn't finished in May. It's June now and I still don't know what the heck he's doing with it. 5. Two crystals for AR: both returned last week. One ok. The other one a complete failure (see pictures of UPO on page 1).

No issues with Chief at all. And my issues with R are actually only partly due to the AR run. But I think the general consensus is that Chief has nothing to do with it.