http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ic3.gov

This should be fun...

Sorry i have not replied... I already fill the form IC3.gov

I have spoken today with Hungarian-USA embassy too

When you take someone's money, no shipment is received for months and you never ever answer any of the purchaser's calls or emails that is called stealing. The seller making no effort to remedy this or give any explanation to concerned people in the pinball community only reinforces that the seller is at fault IMHO. I know of one Camadian who went through the exact same deal and eventually received goods after contacting the authorities, several months later.

So, if Mike received payment from these people that receive nothing, it is reasonable to say this is more than international shipping issues, customer service issues or annoying phone call or email issues. This guy will probably only reply to authority. Somebody here needs to contact those powers (alleged victims).

And to those that keep posting testimonials about how Mike took care of them, those comments don't erase such serious allegations.

I read on maaca, that Mike refused to resolve the theft until the buyer contacted the local police where Mike lived, and opened a criminal case. He then e-mailed the case number to Mike. Magically....and promptly his order was resolved.

The guy is a thief, and the pin community should not be supporting his company.

I read on maaca, that Mike refused to resolve the theft until the buyer contacted the local police where Mike lived, and opened a criminal case. He then e-mailed the case number to Mike. Magically....and promptly his order was resolved.

tumblr_m0j1ip38j91r3a3bc.png

I have heard enough and will never do business with this person again until he comes forward and proves his innocence, if in fact he is innocent and it's not looking good.

He says there are two sides to every story, well that's true. I know if I were innocent I would be on here in a heartbeat!!!

I have also sent him an e-mail for you Liti. This is not how true Americans operate!

Perhaps his attorney has advised him to remain silent. It's the only logical reason I can think of for not coming forward and sharing his side of the story.

Yeah, that is what I stated earlier but just hearing the way he has dealt with all these people really sends a red flag up.

These people are stating that he can't even show them proof that he sent the package, that right there really says it all. I have ran an on-line business for over 10 years now, all he would have to do is show the shipping receipt and then they both could go from there.

I dunno, it looks like Mike doesn't care what people think.

I have bought from him in the past, but unless I hear a reasonable explanation of all these accusations, I will buy elsewhere. Don't kid yourself, there's nothing he carries that can't be sourced elsewhere.

It looks he tries to screw over international customers and keep their money if he can get away with it. Doing cross border transactions it's more likely one can get away with it for a while at least. Can't beat the margins on those deals.

I wish it didnt look that way, but it does.

Just got a board from him last week. Fast shipping, well packaged and he refunded part of the shipping from the online quote. Board worked fine. That's all I have on the subject.

I just received a reply to my e-mail from Mike. Here are both below. I removed e-mails addresses for spam purposes:

My e-mail to Mike:

Mike,

I just purchased from you and your service could not have been better. But from reading about the situation on Pinsider about Lugosi Andras, there are some real questions and concerns that should be addressed by you. There are serious allegations against you and this is going to be detrimental to your business. You really should go on there and address them.

I have to be honest, from all the comments left by more than one person, and you not responding to them, it looks bad.

I am sure you could care less about if I ever order from you again, but I won’t until you answer to the allegations against you. And I am sure there are more people that feel the same way.

I posted that your service to me was great. But if you did in fact do what these people say, I want nothing to do with you or your business.

If you are innocent then you should get over on that forum and start damage control! If you are guilty, make it right and give the people their money back!

I can’t and won’t do business with you until you do.

Semper Fi,

Robert

Mike's reply:

Hi Robert,

I honestly do not have time to monitor the forums. We lost thousands of emails from the customer service yahoo account, which we are still having difficulty accessing. The account was hacked by a spambot.

To this date, all orders that were placed through our website with an order # have not been affected, as they all go to the webmail account. We have no pending orders for Andras that were placed through the website.
There were, however, customers that emailed their orders directly to the customer service account when we were having problems with our checkout modules, which unfortunately have been lost. We always require orders to be placed through the website, but this was not possible when we had the problems during checkout. If we can confirm that a payment was received for an order that was emailed directly, we will need to start from scratch to get the missing order(s) processed and shipped.

If you can kindly email Andras and anyone else that claims to have a missing order directly, I can be reached at ----------- and I will address this personally. Please do not post the ---------------------- address publicly for spam purposes.
Alternatively, you can send me the email address(es).

From an order placed through the website on 4/16/11, I did find an email address for Andras -----------------------, which I will use to try and contact him at today. I am not sure if this email address is still good, as it was last used nearly a year ago. No emails were received to the ------------------ account from Andras and it was impossible to locate his email address without the full name on the account, which you provided in the email below.

I appreciate you bringing this matter to my attention and I can assure you that we will get any issue(s) resolved in a timely manner.

Thanks.

Mike

Dear Robert,

All i can tell you THANK YOU! I sent an email to Mike, and now wait reply.

To tell the truth this email is really strange but i hope the best. I wouldnt like to be rude until i dont get any reply...

Thanks for everybody who has written email. I will post in every forum what have happend

No problem Andras! I just hope everything works out!

Good work Robert!

Well played, Robert!

If he got hit with spam he may have pretty tight filters on now. That could be sending international address to the junk folder. I have friends overseas that we have this issue with. We have found it best to communicate through facebook and other sights that do not get blocked.

I am not saying it is a valid excuse, just a possibilty that could be causing problems as well.

Bravo Robert!

This sounds just like the 'case' I helped with for a guy in Holland. However, I did not post anything on MAACA about it, therefore it makes me think EACH one of these problem orders get resolved by opening a criminal case?! While on the phone with him (the miracle time I reached him) I waded through all the chronological order of events. Mike: "We don't have his money." "I can't see any deposit in my bank account." "I'm not going to send a thousand dollars worth of parts to someone who hasn't paid for them." "

Uh, Mike . . . we both have sent you all the bank documents and the international SWIFT account verification that the money was wired to you and is in your account. We have the bank deposit number for the transaction. Just call your bank and give it to them and they will show you where the money is. Ask for and she will tell you that your deposit is there but it has been 'parked' and is on hold because you have something strange going on with your bank account because you________________________. Therefore, since you are being belligerent with me on the phone, I expected your evasive replies and I have already contacted authorities in Brick, New Jersey, and if you say you don't have the money, they are going to come and ask you to verify that. You want the case number?"

Mike: "Well, wait a minute. I'm very busy here! I've got thousands of orders; I don't have time to go over each of them. I am looking through my deposits right now. Oh! What is his name again? Oh! HERE it is!" HE SUDDENLY FINDS THE MONEY!

Mike: "But he is $4.67 short. He miscalculated the fees my bank charges me for processing this wire transfer. I'm not sending this stuff until he pays this fee!" [A person who says he doesn't know where the fella's money is can say in 12 seconds that he KNOWS his bank charged him fees?!!!!] He also said he would not ship the order until he got this little dab of change on a $1,000 order! The customer agreed to drop an item off and take a slight loss.

Robert . . . from one military guy to another . . . Semper Fi!!!! My father was a Marine in WWII (Iwo Jima and Gualdalcanal) and Korea. Two Purple Hearts. Sadly, I was a little more chicken-shit and did my 32 years (retired) in the Army.

Now, about your letter to Mike. I am happy that someone else jumped in here to help these guys and kept me from being The Lone Ranger. Thank you for showing your guts and courage. You know . . . I guess by being a patriot I have to wonder what goes on in the minds of these people in other countries by what is happening to them and what it makes them think of "us". What kind of impression is Mike making? I think it reflects on ALL of us. Some of these folks are in Eastern Europe and it hasn't been very long since they merged into full Western culture (no offense to any of you reading this in Bulgaria, Romania, etc.). I would like to think they are enjoying this new emerging lifestyle and then suddenly, the ole 'Lamp at the Golden Door' is reflecting a picture of rip-offs and let's screw the foreigners . . . they are too far away to do anything to get their money back.

I know . . . I'm long-winded, but trying to put this in a brief summary:

- While your response from Mike was polite and cordial (which surprised me . . . you should see the nasty-grams WE got!), it is still filled with a lot of inexplicable mumbo-jumbo. Just read it again and look at all the so-called problems. A myriad of confusing explanations.

- Notice, he quickly 'found' the email address:

- Notice, these same procedures were done over and over and over with him on the two prior problems I was working on, with no answers, no phone calls, no emails (except rants and accusations of not sending money to him!) not even answering the phone (caller ID maybe?). He won't answer my phone calls any longer.

- Notice, he doesn't have TIME to look at the forums? This is his LIFEBLOOD!!! WTF! A person selling pinball parts has the ideal closed audience group: The FORUMS! If I was selling parts, I would be on here all the time keeping 'in tune' with my target customers!!! HIS ACCOUNTS ARE RIGHT HERE!!! I would be scared shitless if I knew I was being talked about like this with my income source and I would be on here IMMEDIATELY defending myself. It's an excuse for stalling!

OK . . . just random thoughts after my own probing into Mad Amusements . . . not alleging . . . not doing anything accusatory but only rehashing what when my 'mind' started saying to me. Get my drift?

Avoiding taxes on profits - Hoping the customer will just go away and keep the money - Perhaps tax problems because a bank MIGHT say there are strange things going on with his bank account and PERHAPS percentages of his deposits are being seized until certain things are resolved - Problems with the IRS? - 'Confusion' from double bookkeeping entries? - Just not giving a shit about people outside the USA? - Really needing an anger management course?!

I'm done! I hope this is my last post on this subject. Kudos to all you guys who stepped up to the plate and offered to email Mike, boycott, or try to get his attention to these problems. He told me he processes over 5,000 orders per month. Maybe when they get down to 50 he might figure out he needs to read the forums and start CARING!!!

Thanks friends . . . and 'goodnight'.
Mike in Kentucky

Why in the hell would someone operate a BUSINESS with a YAHOO e-mail address?

Seriously!

It looks unprofessional, it has potential to have problems with spam filters forced upon you by yahoo, etc.

He has a domain name for his website, surely his web host includes some e-mail accounts, etc.

I just sit all night front of my computer and waited an reply of Mike. It has not come I hope today...

Could you please Robert writte him that is sent the email and i need immediately reply?

That's it!!!!!!!............................I am done with MAD Amusement! I have heard enough, this guy is a classic POS. Guilty as charged!

Lugosi, I was worried this might happen, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what we are dealing with here. I will keep up on it and write him again.

Anyone who doesn't see this is crazy and should never stand for it!

Lugosi, PM me your e-mail address so I can e-mail it to this guy!

Thank you very much...

My email address is [email protected] (he knows it)
He can reach me anytime +36 20 566 1515

Hey Mike, your dad was what all of us other Marines always looked up, he went through real hell!!! And I always have the greatest respect for the Army, 32 years; wow! Thanks for your service!!!

And thank you for standing up for these guys as well! Your post says it all, no need to try and think it any other way. I will never understand the thought process of these dirt bags! But I just want all the people from all around the world to know that most people in America are good hard working people, not the people that you see on the F-en TV every night! And not like this scum bag!

Will write him now Lugosi!

Semper Fi!

Ok, got it. You might want to delete that post now.

usmcss - thats interesting, i have a mail from a couple months ago (February maybe?) from mike saying that any overseas order over $250 US had to be mailed to him directly and paid via wire, no paypal, as we was getting 'scammed' by overseas buyers.. So what im saying is that if this problem is all down to people emailing orders directly rather than using the website it is a problem of his own making as he told us all to do this, and wasnt just a one-off type thing back in november..

I was going to keep away from thsi thread, as ive always got my goods 'in the end' from mike, but long gaps between emails chasing orders (Like weeks at a time) , having one time to use a paypal chargeback which he did respond to immediately and ship my goods - blaming ill health (I have no idea if true or not, if it was then fair enough), and one or two other problems have made me think twice about buying from him, especially as my orders have all been well in excess of the $250 limit for paypal (Sometimes more like $1000 orders) - all this ive read in this thread just makes my mind up for me, its a shame as he had good stuff at some good prices and i work on a LOT of pins and would spend a LOT of money with him, but its just not worth the grief.

I will say one thing though, in his defence (Sort of!) I have always eventually received what ive paid for and he has in the past helped me get one or two bits that werent on his own stocklist, which was cool of him. But all this recent carry-on kind of kills it for me a bit

I think he should just refuse to ship overseas and be done with it, the US market may be big enough for him without us lot anyway, maybe make life easier for all concerned.

Well done to the US guys for helping us overseas lot out though, Im sure its much appreciated. best of luck.

Si

It's sent Lugosi.

Hey Simon, I wanted to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but after he acknowledged Lugosi and says to me that he is going to contact him, and then doesn't, says it all. He sure contacted me right away! The email address he said he had for Lugosi and the one Lugosi just sent me match. He's playing a run around game.

For everyone else, I know I just got here guys, but I had to get involved.

The spambot getting into Mike's Yahoo mail account alibi sounded very plausable. However afte reading all this it looks like a story that was though out as an only reasonable explanation.

Based on Mike's actions, I don't buy it.

If Terry at PBL had this type of thing happen, or the guys at Bay area, or Ed at Great Plains, etc, etc...There is NO WAY things would get to this point.

I have no doubt the authorities in this case could easily compile evidence to indict. In truth, that will likely never happen but by having this all on record an MO can be shown. This will either prevent future occurences or result in charges pressed going forward.

I commend you guys helping out the alleged victims.

Does Mad Mike suffer from some kind of xenophobia or hate against people that aren't from the US?

Sounds like a case of "Freedom Fries".

Dont count out a indictment. If the feds pick this up they will indeed back track establish a scam/plan to defraud people. They wont stop either. Because it uses the internet and money and wiring of money and international borders. Even if he has taken 5,000 he still faces a minimum of 14 months in a federal prison.

More people need to contact ic3.gov on Mike. They will pick it up for sure. Be aware ic3.gov is the internet crime division of the FBI!

Even people who have gotten product after jumping threw hoops and having to call local police still need to contact ic3.gov. Just because you robbed the bank and put the money back does not mean you never robbed the bank.

Can you give me the information on how to contact these people? How exactly would I go about it as I am not the victim and only know of the victims troubles by reading this forum.

I stopped supporting Mad amusements when I read a thread about a backglass that was damaged and the buyer was treated poorly. Hearing that and how he talks down to his customers is all I needed to hear. He needs to remember that its the customers who pay his bills and that he should at least be polite to them. Way to punch your prize horse in the mouth Mike!

I don't care how many people post up that they had a great experience buying from him. There is more than one person right now that spent over a grand of their hard earned money and this fool is messing them around. No wonder people outside the USA hate US citizens. This guy sure isn't helping as it paints a bad picture about all of us. If you continue to buy from this bonehead you are helping paint that bad picture of the USA and small US businesses and also you are supporting mail fraud.

I do not doubt these international buyers one bit. They have nothing to gain by this and to top it off, there have been lots of cases like this. It seems like every time someones threatens legal intervention that Mike quickly ships the item out and comes up with some lame story.

Sorry Mike but can you prove you were hacked? I find your story is just that, a fictional story that you conveniently crafted to save your hide. There is no way that you shipped an order out 3 months ago for Mr Lugosi and he still hasn't gotten it. All you have to do is show him proof that you shipped it. Not a very hard thing to do and no matter how busy you are, you can and should take 5 minutes of your day to do it.

It's so convenient to steal from the overseas customers because you know they will have the most trouble bringing charges up on your theft. Well Mad Mike, I have a feeling you will be getting pretty mad soon when the FBI comes knocking on your door. You bit the hand that feeds you one too many times. We shall see how long this dudes in business after this. I suggest you fully refund Mr. Lugosi's money now along with everyone else that you scammed. I am sure there is many more that haven't come forward yet, but we will see soon. We do not need anymore excuses just actions from you.

Can someone please send me info on how to contact the proper authorities on this? I would like to help in anyway.

For anyone thinking of doing business with this thief, I hope you think twice about it and remember what they say...If you lie down with dogs you will get fleas.

Dear All, Dear Robert

Exact steps and some commun ication happend!!!!!!!!!

Please just give me 2-3 days and i will writte i hope the happy ending of the story

/ Robert i will writte an email you soon!

Phew! This was like watching an episode of Dragnet!

That is not true. I was in Japan for 3 years and my Dad mailed me a Christmas gift priority mail. It did not get to me for almost a year. I forget exacty how long but it was basically on time for the following Christmas.

Point is that packages do take interesting paths at times. I am not saying that is the case here because it seems to happen a lot from MAD, but overseas packages can have issues. I had other times stuff happened. I was in England and Japan for 12 years so I had all kinds of wierd things happen.

Usmcss and Pintucky are hero's! Effort well done guys to go out of your way to help others is so nice to see. What a fantastic pinball community people like you make this place.

Nice of you to say dangermouse, would love to accept the title hero but could never do that for this and I am sure Pintucky would agree! But again, it was very nice of you to say.

I will not post on this thread again, as I feel there s nothing else I can add. Lugosi I PM'ed you earlier today so check your mail.

Let us all know how everything turns out. I hope this guy becomes a man and faces this situation.

Semper Fi!

Yeah, don't mess with Pintucky!

I used MAD once in august 2011.
i ordered 2 items which didn't ship for a month. After 2 weeks i mailed Mike who replied that he had some problems with paperwork...whatever.
After 1 month i asked him to refund me my paypal payment because i had ordered the part from somewhere else. I got instant reply, shipping confirmation with tracking number and all.
I knew already back then that the guy is full of it.
Anybody in here ever got their mail hacked? i have!
spambots are put in this world to send spam out to recipients on your contact list. anybody here ever got spam mail from Mike? not me. i know for a fact that i am on his mailing list.

Anybody I do business with, small or big need to show both desire and ability to give me the best possible service. MAD fails on both accounts.

It's great that this community finally woke up and helped out a fellow pinhead. good job guys.

...And Liti, it's time for your donation to pinside

It would be great if the US customers would stop buying from Mike at Mad Amusements too. That would be the ultimate support.

<blockquote cite="#218815" No wonder people outside the USA hate US citizens. This guy sure isn't helping as it paints a bad picture about all of us. If you continue to buy from this bonehead you are helping paint that bad picture of the USA and small US businesses and also you are supporting mail fraud.

....Because fraud, underhanded business practices, greed and the like are institutions sovereign only to the US.

Only to US? Please. The situation carries enough weight without exaduration. But yes, mad is a dip shit off my list of sources.

You are a killer 'Crash'!!!
Mike

It would be great if this would happen but I highly doubt it. I posted a link over on rgparchive showing them this thread. They pretty much all ganged up on me saying I have no credibility to post such nonsense and shame on me for posting bad about him when I wasn't the victim. I was also told that I should mind my own business and let mr. Lugosi sort out his own problems as opposed to helping. There was also many of the well expected "I bought from mike and he is great and gave me candy and a key to the universe." I don't know if people are afraid to stand up to this guy or what. I was just trying to keep people from experiencing the same bs that he's pulling with Lugosi.

RGP means nothing to me....the pinside experience can't be beat cause we got the better people

RGP has a ton of good people too. The difference there is there is no moderator or tilt ratings. Also, it is the hangout of the "old guard", many whom will try and not show condemnation for Mike out of fear he has an unobtainium grapple grommet they need for their coveted collections. Plus, on RGP they have some real "gems" who I will refrain from naming.
I read a long time ago that Lyman Sheats quit RGP years ago when the proliferation of internet allowed a far greater percentage of dorks to access newsgroups. it's not like the days when Cameron Silver's presence actually got him invited to apply at WMS (historical tidbit).

any updates yet?

Hello,

I am waiting for shppping documents!!!! I get really many emails and i no time reply them

What is really coolt thing people here in Eastern Europe are enthralled from You! You can be proud of You, you can be proud Your country!

Comming back with more details sooon!

Wha?? Happy ending to this story? No flipping way! After reading through the first 2 pages, I thought NO WAY. Low and behold... Liti may just yet have his due parts!

BRAVO!! Pintuckey and usmcss. Well played, AWESOME to see such good reps from the US!

Semper Fi! Indeed... Unless I'm not allowed to say that, having never served our great country. Arthritis for my entire life kinda rules me outta the service.

-j