Advice sought, anyone in contact with REL aka Richard Long

[Commander Max]

Just want to chime in with some good news.

ive recently had contact with Richard via email and he says he will get to the refunds but it will take time. I know many will say they've heard that to a thousand times but at least he's making the effort to communicate.

just my 2 cents.

If you haven't noticed, that's all he does. He will tell you whatever you want to hear. I wouldn't believe the guy for a second.

Do these guys:

http://www.modelermagic.com/?cat=2595

know how much this guy owes people??? Maybe someone should tell them. I am tempted to do it myself but I don't know the whole story, I am not involved, and I don't know his relationship with modelermagic?????

Thoughts???


Tom

I can tell you the guy that runs/owns the site could care less. He gets what he wants, the heck with what Long owes people.
The hobby for him is all about honor, friendship, and global whatever. If you believe that, I have some land In Florida I want to show you.

The Kronos 1 is an old project, Long had a completed K'Tinga ages ago. I was promised one, but that will show up right after I get my 1701-D.
Some(not sure if all) of the brass came from left over parts for the pyramids from Blade Runner.

 

[Tom1971]

That's all disappointing to hear. I was hoping that this was a good site. Personally I would never refer or host someone who pulls his.

Tom

 

[trooper]

That's all disappointing to hear. I was hoping that this was a good site. Personally I would never refer or host someone who pulls his.

Tom

uuuh, pulls his what? I didn't know THAT was a bad thang lol

 

[Tom1971]

uuuh, pulls his what? I didn't know THAT was a bad thang lol

lol

Took me a second.

I obviously meant pulls this.



Tom

 

[tnaig001]

well, let's see i guess. I do hear all of you and what has been said has not been without cause.

I'm always rooting for people so let's see if Richard is able to chip at the huge mountain he created.

I did get my kits back so at least there was some redemption of sorts.

I think for things he actually has to build, it's going to be a problem.

the man created a ginormous problem. i figure i don't need to add to his already epic problems is all.

some encouragement i feel can help, you never know. *peace guys*

 

[tnaig001]

just want to sound out I have just received $100 from Richard as part payment.

its going to take a while but I'm glad he's taking steps to make things better.

best wishes all,
James.

 

[hugescale]

Does anybody know how to contact Richard?
Your help would be appriciated. Many thanks in advance.

Michael

 

[satazius]

If you find him let me know. I think there is a loooong list of people who would like to talk to him.

 

[propcollector]

Do not believe anything Richard long tells you! He will promise you and promise you but never follows through. He has changed his phone number numerous times!

 

[Commander Max]

After 2 years I would figure he is long gone, pardon the pun.
Last thing I heard about him, he got divorced. That's not going to help us get what we are owed.
I figured he is off seeking suckers in some other hobby.
Good luck finding him, but don't hold your breath.

 

[MangyDog]

Im very sad to read all this. I knew him on old scifi-meshes when he was doing his ent D and E builds...

The guy is truly talented and I refuse to believe he started out with the intension to rip people off....

My thoughts are playing devil's advocate, that he just got way over his head with orders, and fell into that trap, easily done. Then lifes troubles got in the way and the money he took for orders got taken up by those troubles. So didn't have any left to fullfil his orders...

It happens in big business too, but you have insurance and assets to cover your arse when it happens... Us small time hobbiests dont have that protection...

Am i defending that hes got you're money that you're likely never going to see anything for? No... He shouldn't have let himself fall into the trap in the first place... He should have managed himself and only taken payments and orders when a slot was available to make it...
Maybe he got greedy and thought the quick immediate windfall was easy and he got cocky thinking he can just do all the orders....
But I dont think he intentionally went out his way to rip people off... Just poor management.

I hope he can sort this mess out... Whether he does is another thing, it's just sad to see...

This is of course assuming it's the same REL i knew... If not.... Sorry

 

[Richard Baker]

A similar problem developed with Scott Alexander over at Atomic City. He did fantastic work and produced some of the best 2001 kits out there, but things got behind. His partner died, he had some medical setbacks and now he has an insurmountable backlog of paid orders which will probably never get shipped. Nothing was intentional but it progressively got worse until there is no apparent solution.

 

[Commander Max]

We want to look for the best in everyone, but we have to face facts that there are people out there who want to take advantage of others.
In REL's case it was early on, if he had any good intentions they were out the window about the time I had my first dealings with him. There was supposed to be some exchanges for one of the first models I did for him. Those never happened, he later sold the patterns and didn't do anything to finalize our deal. He kept asking me for stuff which I did, most of it seemed to disappear. Of course with all good intentions, he made out great on the work I did for him. But I had to hound him for anything, my odds were better at getting an item. If he couldn't sell it.

I only had his word on this stuff, but that's part of the game. He did complain about having to pay others for the work they did for him. Which was a red flag.

I liked Scott, he was a very entertaining guy. He had some great stories. But I would question his intentions, since he did do some things that were quite infuriating to someone he owed something to.

I only know of one guy that got out from under his backlog, that was Steve Nissen. Which means it can be done, I'm sure it's not easy and would take serious discipline. But to keep taking on other projects/orders in hopes of paying off the old backlog. Is nothing but a self delusional ponzie scheme, most of us who have been around a while know how those end.

I learned my lessons, it knocked me out of this game.
Except for some friends I made along the way, and the occasional visits to some of the old haunts.

 

[satazius]

Yes, sadly, at some point REL was intentionally selling the same item multiple times to different people. I'm sure he started with good intentions, but that's where it ended up. Undeniable talent, which is why people (me included) gave him the benefit of the doubt for so long. Very disappointing. I don't think anyone will ever see anything from it.

 

[joberg]

It's just that some people don't know their limits Sometimes, you've to tell yourself that you're just a great artist/model maker...not a business man!
To do business takes other skills, certainly not available to Scott Alexander, nor others mentioned above. Too little too late for the clients and the model maker as well.

 

[Commander Max]

I've been hearing that excuse for years, as if not being a business man is an excuse for bad behavior. There are plenty of guys in this hobby that are not business men nor would ever claim to be. They never cross the line that these guys did, they understood their limitations. Get people what they paid for and move on, but when you keep on putting out offerings and not delivering anything(for years, if ever). One would think people would catch on, but when it comes to something someone wants. "A fool and his money are soon parted."

joberg, it's a good idea not to assume things about people. Scott did have his time in business, he knew what he was doing. Especially when he was selling stuff on e-bay, that people already prepaid for and were still waiting years for.

 

[Jkirkon]

Not being a ‘good business man’ has nothing to do with not providing product that someone has paid for in good faith.

You took the money, you have a responsibility of either providing the product to the customer, or refunding the money to the customer.

It’s pretty simple.

 

[Richard Baker]

I can be pretty flexible when it comes with dealing with garage kit companies/people. I know just about all of them have real jobs and are producing items when they can, they operate with little profit and sometimes have delays due to restocking on materials, life can throw you a curve and instead of pouring resin you are in a hospital waiting room hearing bad news...

As long as lines of communication are open and I am told about changes in what was anticipated I am OK, I can wait a bit. I never order direct if it is something I need in a hurry, I have a pretty big queue lined up so if it was sitting in my hands right now I may not be able to do anything with it for a while anyway.

However, when 'troubles' turn into a chronic list of excuses, when attempts to get an update are ignored, when they are actively selling what I already paid for to others and never shipping my paid for product, then I have a problem.

There is a difference between having reasonable expectations and being played.

I had a situation some years ago when I was in a partnership with someone trying to bootstrap up a kit business. We were trying to raise some funds by purchasing an existing kit pattern and repopping a new batch. We did take some preorders and things were moving along nicely until it was uncovered that the fellow I was with just stole all the money and disappeared. I immediately contacted those involved, arranged to refund out of my own pocket and set up a forum thread where all the information, including the status of every refund was updated. It took a while to refund all the orders but that was my top priority- I learned a lot from that incident and will never repeat those mistakes again...

 

[hugescale]

I am still trying to get in contact with Richard Long. So far: no success.
Everybody who was once in contact with him, was not able to help me or even pass an info to him.
That is kind of strange. I just refuse to believe that he has totally vanished and completely left this hobby.

If somebody who is still in contact with Richard is reading this, please ask him to get back in contact with me.

Many thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[Commander Max]

He did leave quite a trail of destruction behind. If he poked his head up anywhere in the hobby, he would get jumped pretty quick.

Even if you did get into contact with him, I don't think much would come of it. He wasn't known for responding quickly, I would suggest either finding someone else. Or doing what you need yourself. It would take a lot less time.