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Important information from a very well known and highly regarded source has been made public on both FPN and Instagram.
https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/f...omment-4534986
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdtvF1du6_a/
This information corroborates similar information which has previously come from equally reliable sources.
Be aware!!
Please expand on this. Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by 724Seney
Some months ago @whichwatch reported that he had been likewise victimized. He asked that any others who were similarly affected let him know because he was hoping to organize some sort of collective effort to go after the perpetrator.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredRydrPlease expand on this. Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by 724Seney
I do not know what ever became of that....
@whichwatch is an active member here. Perhaps he will see this post and let us know.
Here is the FPG post by @whichwatch I was referring to above:
https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread...hlight=Lambrou
In that FPG post whichwatch had involved his bank in order to get his $1200 deposit refunded. Fingers crossed he got his money back although he hasn't updated his post about this yet.
I don't know who Andy Lambrou is nor whether one of his online accounts has been hacked by a scammer but if this has happened on more than one occasion, to several people, then isn't it time to involve the police fraud department?
Hi Chrissy-Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrissy
I do not know what, if anything, has happened with @whichwatch's situation. He is a "regular" here and I was hoping he might see this thread and update us....if, of course, he is able to do so.
As for this all being the result of an account being hacked, I think not. Both examples have come from highly regarded members, each of whom had personal contact with the perpetrator regarding the pens.
Please excuse me for not having updated this discussion with what I found. I will try to do that now, although in highly summarized fashion. The timeline is important so I will try to refer to time periods as I go.
I had paid a deposit in 2019 for a pen to be made but the pen was never delivered and after many excuses finally in 2021 I was unable to get any further response from Andy. I posted on a couple of pen sites asking if others were having trouble and found quite a few people were in the same boat. All had paid deposits during 2019 until early 2020 but never received pens and in a number of cases after receiving similar excuses from Andy also stopped getting any response.
I tried elevating the issue both with Paypal and with my bank, but both declined to help, citing their policy of "claims having to be filed within xx days and the deadline has passed".
I contacted as many of Andy's Authorized dealers as I could reach in an attempt to get information. All responses I received were that none had heard from Andy at all - not even those who were interested in buying pens from him.
I considered taking legal action. After consulting with a lawyer I came to the conclusion that while I could probably win a judgement, collecting on any such judgement would be a totally different matter.
By very early 2022 I had heard from several people, whose information I considered reliable, about Andy's then current situation. I prefer not to discuss people's personal situations in public, especially when I am not 100% certain they are accurate. But based on their inputs I reached the conclusion that Andy was not available, was not going to be available, was unable to address the messy situations left behind, and was in all likelihood no longer even aware that these problems existed.
Based on my conclusion, at that point I mentally "wrote off" my loss of $1200 and moved on. While nobody likes to lose $1200, I decided that in the overall scheme, there are a lot worse things that can happen in life, and no use spending the rest of my life agonizing over an unfortunate event I could not change. Life goes on, and I moved on.
Within the last month, Shawn Newton posted information that someone had contacted him about a pen that that person had ordered from Lambrou that was supposedly a joint effort of Andy Lambrou and Shawn. Shawn posted that he was not making any such pen, had never agreed to do so, and that if someone was offering such a pen it was a scam. Shawn was acting to clear his name of any wrong doing and I think this was and is entirely proper.
Unfortunately this immediately blew up on social media where quite a few people interpreted Shawn's post to mean it was a current scam and all sorts of opinions were thrown around, some by people knowledgeable or involved in the situation, some not. Some felt Andy was still around and scamming people, some felt that someone else was using Andy's name. Shawn then posted a copy of the buyer's invoice from Lambrou, and the date showed it to be from 2019. My personal interpretation was and is that the contact to Shawn had been made by someone who paid a deposit in the same time period as I and many others had (2019 - early 2020), like everyone else was not receiving response from Andy, and finally recently turned to Shawn trying to get either his pen or his money back.
I want to mention again that Shawn did nothing wrong except tried to clear his name and warn other people of a possible issue. He was and is a good guy in all this.
So the conclusions I reached are that:
1. A number of people paid deposits during 2019 - early 2020 but never received their pens
2. Andy Lambrou is no longer available to respond to this or correct the situation, and is not likely to be. In addition, Paul Rossi, who was involved with the silver work on the pens, has passed away. Shawn Newton was never involved in all this other than a claim made by Andy Lambrou.
3. I personally considered legal action but concluded it was not worthwhile. I mentally "wrote off" my loss and have moved on to continue to enjoy the pen hobby. I never investigated any sort of class action and do not wish to do so. Any other injured party is of course free to do so.
4. Some people feel Andy did this on purpose, others feel it was the result of an unfortunate sequence of events. I have already seen more of both sides of this specific aspect of the discussion (on purpose/unfortunate sequence of events) than I can stomach and do not wish to participate in it any further.
I hope that provides an update of what I found and what I think. I also hope I communicated in such a way that it is clear and understandable. Apologies that I didn't do it sooner.
How can I be sure that these are verified information? Can you give me more details about this case?
word hurdle
Welcome to the forum. Interesting choice for a first thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by haibaar243
I doubt I’m qualified to respond as I’m likely an unknown
There are multiple, long term, highly respected members of this forum who would vouch for the information provided in post #7 by @whichwatch as being accurate & correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by haibaar243
What you choose to do with the information is, obviously, up to you.
First and only post, even a month later now...Quote:
Originally Posted by FarmboyWelcome to the forum. Interesting choice for a first thread....Quote:
Originally Posted by haibaar243
The information provided is helpful. I can stop emailing Andy and close the Chapter on Classic Pens . There were very nice pens.