Calendar Gone?

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

Finally, we get an idea of the financial mess that Danny Elloy got himself into. From the Bimmer forum:




That makes it seem pretty obvious that Danny never intended to scam anyone. He got in over his head, really wanted to get the calendars printed and delivered, and even apparently tried to scam Kinko's in the pursuit of that goal.

Mark

If he got money from sponsors (which he did because we can see the companies listed on the calendar picture Danny posted), then why would he need to scam kinkos?

[Mark Booth]

Originally Posted by The Stig

If he got money from sponsors (which he did because we can see the companies listed on the calendar picture Danny posted), then why would he need to scam kinkos?

I have no idea. Perhaps this all cost more than he expected? Perhaps calendars sales were lower than he expected? Perhaps he's just a really bad money manager?

Ya'll can call it a scam all you want but I won't join you in that chorus. The message from the Bimmer forum makes it quite clear that Danny FULLY INTENDED to get these calendars printed and delivered. It's obvious that (for whatever reason) he got in over his head and was apparently desperate to find a way out.

That doesn't mean I'm ignoring his responsibility in all of this. He's the one that screwed up and he has to take responsibility for his actions.

I have requested a refund from both Danny and Walid. If the refund is not forthcoming within 1 business day I will be turning it over to my credit card company and filing a formal complaint with PayPal.

Mark

[kostnkost]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

I have no idea. Perhaps this all cost more than he expected? Perhaps calendars sales were lower than he expected? Perhaps he's just a really bad money manager?

Ya'll can call it a scam all you want but I won't join you in that chorus. The message from the Bimmer forum makes it quite clear that Danny FULLY INTENDED to get these calendars printed and delivered. It's obvious that (for whatever reason) he got in over his head and was apparently desperate to find a way out.

That doesn't mean I'm ignoring his responsibility in all of this. He's the one that screwed up and he has to take responsibility for his actions.

I have requested a refund from both Danny and Walid. If the refund is not forthcoming within 1 business day I will be turning it over to my credit card company and filing a formal complaint with PayPal.

Mark

You can put lipstick on a scam and it's still a scam.

[Rhyder]

I think this was just mismanaged. I feel sorry for the guy a bit. For whatever reason he didn't have the money, I can see having no idea that printing out 25 calendars at Kinkos would cost $500+, based on what Kinkos is demanding. That would be an example of poor pre investigation of costs.

Perhaps the money was given immediately to the charity as soon as he recieved it so he didnt have it to buy the calendars.

I agree, it seems he got way over his head on this through lack of foresight and understanding of costs and then made the bad decision of attempting to con his way into Kinkos because he didn't see another way out.

Who knows what the sponsors gave him, perhaps he offered them for return of services or something so perhaps he had no cash from that side.

I mean, take away the fact of legality, he obviously was attempting to meet the commitments made.


Perhaps Im wrongly giving him the benefit of the doubt but it was $20 dollars, its not like someone said they were going to make a grill and wanted $800 deposit, then never did anything for three years.


I do not think he was trying to scam the members on this board, I think it was an example of mis-mangement, lack of foresight and several poor decisions that led everyone to this point.

Very few people past the age of 10 can say they have never started something that morphed into something bigger than they thought it would, or have made some decisions in the moment that were in hindsight not the best they could of made.

[MBS]

Scam! At least it was only $20 bucks .

[dkp2LT]

If he got over his head he could have stopped the process and worked out some sort of arrangement with those he owed money - I think at that point he could have saved face.

However, if the allegations above are true, he took it to a whole new level by misrepresenting himself for the purpose of stealing products and services - to a felony level more than likely. Lets say he got away with it at Kinko's then we'd really enjoy hanging those calendars made from stolen property...

Edit: Just read on the miata forum that someone just got another refund. That's good news for them.

[Mark Booth]

I received my refund from Walid Hamidy less than an hour after I sent him a Payment Request through PayPal.

Mark

[tjk_art]

I find it hard to believe a guy who can't come on the internet and tell some strangers over a keyboard that he messed up, is capable of lying to multiple peoples face/stealing in front of them.

[fastkevman]

Originally Posted by Rhyder

Perhaps Im wrongly giving him the benefit of the doubt but it was $20 dollars, its not like someone said they were going to make a grill and wanted $800 deposit, then never did anything for three years.

Nice one, I forgot about that piece of crap!

[camaro_RS]

Originally Posted by Rhyder

Perhaps the money was given immediately to the charity as soon as he recieved it so he didnt have it to buy the calendars.

This couldn't be true....at least from how he said it was all going to go down. The forum was going to be able to choose what charity the money went to. The process never got that far.

Just commenting on the above statement....however I agree with most of what you said in the rest of your post. Probably just totally mis-managed.

[H0peful1]

Sounds like a scam...

First, he charmed/manipulated forums into into making exceptions for him irt vendor fees

I'm sorry I ever allowed this guy to advertise his services here without becoming a sponsor first.

link

He used multiple names (Danny, Masoud, etc)/emails/claimed to own forum appropriate vehicles.

Another shady thing is his massive amount of different emails that he uses. As a businessman, a red flag shot up when I saw he posted a "third-party" paypal address for you to send your money to at the start of this thread. When in contact with him, he used one email (smoothlogic) and for every different forum, he used a different email. Now the paypal address different? Shady.

link

He convinced people to use a method on PayPal linked to a different individual (?) using a method (gift) that makes it harder to recoup $.

The idea that he suddenly found himself financially in over his head doesn't ring true IMO given his own posting just a few days ago that appear to indicate the money situation was fine:

Well that's the risk we took. This was supposed to be a fun project and so far it is has been just that. I doubt money will be lost but breaking even is a real possibility.

link

(Interesting that he made this post 12/27, after his FedEx thefts, and on the deadline he'd been given for repayment or police involvement.)

He had both sponsor $ and calendar payments. To the suggestion made that maybe he gave the $ to the charity first, prior to printing, IMO that makes no sense and the charity was to be voted on by forum members; iirc that part hadn't even occurred yet.

He also posted:

***2013 E36 Calendars Ready***

Here they are!! Spoke with the printing company and they are officially ready. The quality is awesome thanks to the hi-res pics we got from everyone. I posted a couple of pics and saved the rest for you guys to discover on your own.

link

Please note pics he posted of supposed finished calendar at link are still the draft/proof versions acc to the graphic artist who was working with him. Why would he have sent these to a printing company prior to finalizing? And why would he have sent some erroneous draft versions to a printing co, then try to defraud/steal goods and services from two different Kinko's? (Wonder which calendar versions ie Camaro, BMW, etc he was attempting to copy at Kinko's?)

Sounds like the Kinko's thefts occurred days prior to 12/28 (date of his last post @ Bimmer), so he knew he didn't have the funds to get the calendars printed, yet continued to accept payment for them.

And he hasn't responded to anyone's pm's apparently. Of course, he may be in jail if the Kinko's events are accurate.

It's good that a couple people have seen refunds. Hopefully everyone that paid for these will quickly hit up Whalid for a refund, and receive them.

Food for thought:

To one person, yes. As a group, no. Think, $20 a pop, 100 Calendars PER FORUM. That's $2,000 x 4 forums, that's $8,000.

link

Seems like he left a lot of people holding the bag. Forums that probably will never see the vendor fees, sponsors whose $ appear to be gone w/o the ads appearing in the missing calendars, the graphic artist who spent his time in exchange for advertising, those who've paid for these calendars, Kinko's, etc.
JMO

[Caspers2SSRS]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

Finally, we get an idea of the financial mess that Danny Elloy got himself into. From the Bimmer forum:




That makes it seem pretty obvious that Danny never intended to scam anyone. He got in over his head, really wanted to get the calendars printed and delivered, and even apparently tried to scam Kinko's in the pursuit of that goal.

Mark

What portion of the Bimmer thread offers any clue that Danny or who ever he really is, intentions were ever on the up and up? His actions and inactions obviously speak for themselves. Fact is, the Bimmer thread adds creedence that his only intentions from the get go were to do what ever it took for him to cash in on the deal/scam. He's clearly a socialpath........

He even had orginally bragged/advertized a bill of goods that he and his roommate were experienced at this.............................designing and producing the calender. Hinting that others who may tried previously and failed did so because it was a difficult process they didn't fully understand and had simply given up on. Assuring supporters they could count on him...........................a modern day confidence man aka pied piper.

The money from "sponsors" was intended to be used to cover printing costs and the money made from selling these calendars was to be sent to a charity of our choice

Then why this.................

All proceeds minus printing/shipping fees will be awarded to charity of unanimous choice. No IFs, ANDS or BUTS. Also, the featured 12 will receive an upgrade to a 'Supporting Member' account as well.

Something on the Bimmer forum sticks in my mind.. On Dec 27, Danny (Valentino Rossi over there), in response to a member's question about getting one of the calendars after the new year, posted this:


Quote:
100 of these were printed. I'd like to think they will still be around then.
Past tense. PRINTED.

In other words, Danny was saying that there should be plenty left for those wanting one even after the initial pre-orders were filled.

If this is a scam, it's an INCREDIBLY elaborate scam. Right down to Danny posting in past tense terms the way someone would post if they really were printing the calendars.

Now that the real graphic designer has kindly stepped forward to clear his good name and offer a glimse of the truth of Danny's ill conceived plans. We also know that DannyZ's roomate and supposed professional graphic artist was either another character made up to substanciate the ploy.........or more likely simply a innocent pawn in his scheme.

I'm still trying to absorb how anyone taken by this duper, knowing what we know now, has any doubts about Danny being a scammer and this whole calender deal being a scam or not. Whether or not refunds are offered..........by definition and actions he's earned the scarlet letter

[tjk_art]

Originally Posted by Caspers2SSRS

pawn in his scheme.

I'm still trying to absorb how anyone taken by this duper, knowing what we know now, has any doubts about Danny being a scammer and this whole calender deal being a scam or not. Whether or not refunds are offered..........by definition and actions he's earned the scarlet letter

I don't know why saying he stole from multiple businesses in front of their face somehow clears his name of "never intending to" steal from people over the internet.

[laditee]

I really dont want to get involved with the mess thats going on with the calendar but out of the blue I just received a email from Danny saying he was out of town for the last week and is due back this evening... he said he wasnt aware of this and his roommate didnt even mention it but he said his roommate said that 2 people requested there money back and he didnt understand y...he said that calendars had to be edit because of the C5 logo and they should be going out next week...now again not sure if its valid but im willing to wait and see if i recieve it