Yeah Mapka. I know the feeling. I hope you get the pickups as discussed within the next couple days. Please let us know.

Sometimes guys operate these home brew businesses and get in over their heads. They run out of money. The generate operational ability by taking new orders that they don't have the materials to fill. They try to fill the back orders with the money from the new orders - there is a legal term for this business scam. I am not saying that this is what he is doing. A lot of times guys that get in too deep and try to get out using this method, wind up getting even deeper in and then they aggressively take new orders in an effort to get back out. Because they multiply their number of unsatisfied customers, they get a significant number of complaints.

Because this is interstate commerce and uses the telecommunications system, the internet, phone system, etc., to carry out the scam it entails breaking federal laws. This can result very easily in being prosecuted in federal court and consequently being put in a federal prison to carry out the sentence. The feds don't get into a lot of plea bargaining and sentence reductions and the people wind up doing close to the entire sentence in prison, unlike in the state prisons where they might do way less than half the sentence or even not get sentenced to prison and be allowed to plea bargain to something very minor. People can wind up in federal prison when relatively small amounts of money are involved, but they can wind up doing less, even, than one year in prison plus a lot of probabion and court imposed post release conditions of supervision.

I suppose that these unscrupulous businessmen are aware of the possible consequences of the federal laws pertaining to internet and interstate sales.

If you don't get your stuff shortly, you may want to mention to him the interstate commerce laws and the FCC violations and tell him that if you don't see your stuff asap that you are going to call the FBI regional office. I would think that would spray some starter fluid onto the apparatus.

Good luck and I hope you don't need to get blunt with the guy. A lot of these small time operators are good guys and musicians and do great jobs with whatever they are into. It is always the few that ruin it for the rest of the well meaning guys. This is one reason why I like to buy from well established places, but I know what you mean about trying to buy real nice specialty items from places you can't really check out.