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Santana Guest
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:58 pm
Kamado Fraud. From 2003 till today! |
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All your coconut extruded charcoals that were bought back in 2003-2004 was illegal one. Never been paid. almost 10,000 boxes never been paid.
he changed suppliers all the time and done this behavior all the time. He makes money by ripping off suppliers.
At first the payments were good, but after 3rd-4th shipment, he acted like there was an urgency that they all need the charcoal.
We trusted him, and shipped 1 container and asked for the payment. He sent us a fake transfer form and asked us to shipped another 3 containers and will be paid all in 2 days. But never been paid.
There is always an excuse. They will pay next week, next month, after this after that. It's been 3 years now.
I have compiled the complaint to BBB San Diego.
I also know that he just made many Indonesian workers work without paid and sell the Kamado cookers to the U.S. So, your cookers which was purchased back in 2002 was also illegal.
RJ must be stopped for good. He is an international criminal.
I will file a complaints to all U.S. embassies and asian countries embassies for what he has done.
Many people here in asia, especially in Phillipines, Indonesia and Thailand don't know how to complaint and how to investigate the particular company. So this forum might be one of those solution for us.
I will send to all my colleagues in Asia about this website and his actions.
I'll forward more information in few days |
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CharlieBrown
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Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 41
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:07 am
Unbelievable! |
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...well... actually QUITE believable...!
This confirms something we've suspected for some time now.
Thank you.
Can't wait to hear more. ![Shocked](images/smiles/icon_eek.gif) |
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curly
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Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 665
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:57 am
Re: Unbelievable! |
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The plot thickens ![Shocked](images/smiles/icon_eek.gif) |
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LeadDog Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:05 am
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I wonder if he could be put in a cell for all of this? |
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curly
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Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 665
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:38 am
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Hey Santana,
There is supposedly a shipment within days or weeks of landing in San Diego (I think in San Diego).
Wonder who they scammed this time. I say 'they' because at this point, who can believe those 2 cute little Kamadettes have retained their naivety? They have to be as much into the scams now as RJ and Debra.
LeadDog wrote: | I wonder if he could be put in a cell for all of this? |
Naaaaa, his kind never do time, they'll keep fleecing people as long as they have a faithful following. |
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The Spanker
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 207
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:13 pm
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Santana,
Thanks for telling your story. It parallels several other tales we've heard.
Sorry for your losses. With RJ as our good will ambassador, no wonder so many folks in your part of the world hate us. I expect Mexico to declare war any day now.
Santana wrote: |
All your coconut extruded charcoals that were bought back in 2003-2004 was illegal one. Never been paid. almost 10,000 boxes never been paid...
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Just curious... how much are you out on 10k boxes? We've had folks allege they've been bilked for 50k and 35k and 10k. Are you out that kinda money?
Santana wrote: |
I have compiled the complaint to BBB San Diego.
....
I will file a complaints to all U.S. embassies and asian countries embassies for what he has done.
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I'm afraid the BBB complaint is toothless. They're a consumer protection group and often ineffectual even in that role.
No idea what effect a complaint to an embassy will achieve... good luck in that.
Santana wrote: |
Many people here in asia, especially in Phillipines, Indonesia and Thailand don't know how to complaint and how to investigate the particular company. So this forum might be one of those solution for us.
I will send to all my colleagues in Asia about this website and his actions.
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I think his only current business in Asia is charcoal. How many manufacturers of coconut extruded lump are there? We've been led to believe that it's a very exclusive product manufactured by Kamado to the most exacting standards. |
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tcoliver
Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:36 pm
I remember |
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I remember those emails they sent RJ as they copied me on them. RJ as they say, had every excuse in the book. I thought he had actually paid them but I guess not. Here are the emails.
Hello Richard.
Kindly respond to your email below.
Thank you
Sandy Tanamas
At 07:32 AM 10/25/04, you wrote:
Dear Sandy,
Here is a quick update.
Unfortunately, I was not able to make my charcoal distributor sale and my commitment for payment with you. As you might know, I have opened a new factory in Ensenada, Mexico (60 miles South of San Diego). It has been a time consuming, expensive nightmare but it is about over. We are producing our first Kamados at this time and will be in full production in a few weeks.
Our plans do include marketing OURSELVES coconut charcoal. We are next to the 8th largest market in the world……..Southern California and we will take advantage of our location, labor costs and proximity to this market in our sales effort. We will not work with or through distributors as planned, but rather utilize our own sales efforts rather than depend upon others. We will begin this charcoal sales effort in the following 2 weeks. At this time I will be able to either make payment or give a firm schedule for payment. I am indeed sorry your invoices have not been paid. However, we do still have the complete inventory of charcoal.
Opening a US wholly owned corporation in Mexico is not simple and is time consuming. This delay has caused us time and money, but is now completed and we are now in a position to market our products. We have secured a Mexican Custom permit to import Coconut Charcoal from Asia directly into Ensenada, Mexico (a small but very efficient modern port). There is weekly service from Singapore and our factory is just 4 miles from the port. The charcoal permit has been difficult to obtain because Mexico produces charcoal and is quite protective of their products. By bringing in charcoal to Ensenada we reduce our port charges, warehousing and duty free entry into the local USA market. We can bring in containers that are much heavier, un-palletized and fill LCL orders. In addition, we can ship to East Coast ports from Ensenada and far less price than trucking. It will make a nice operation.
I hope you are not TOOOOO discouraged. We are on the right tract and please bear with us.
Your friend (I hope) Richard
Dear Richard
It's been 7 months since your last container arrived in the states, and the invoice has not been cleared up. Could you please clear the invoice as soon as possible?
Thank you
Sandy Tanamas, Mr.
At 10:51 AM 8/27/04, Richard Johnson wrote:
Hello Sandy,
I am sorry I have not got back in touch sooner but certain events have kept us up in the air.
I understand that we have invoices past due and I am making arrangements to clear these up as soon as possible. There is no dispute as to the amount due. But I am afraid that it will not be before 30 more days until we can arrange funds.
We appreciate your consideration and I am very sorry for the unanticipated financial problem we are having right now. All charcoal remains in our warehouse for the present time.
Sincerely,
Richard Johnson
Hello Tony
Thank you. We appreciate it.
Richards has replied my mail today and hoping to clear the invoice asap.
Best regards
Sandy Tanamas, Mr.
At 10:52 PM 8/26/04, you wrote:
>I will see what I can do unfortunately I have the same problem when I call.
>The best way to get in touch with them is to keep trying the phone
>number even if you have to hit redial 20 times. Eventually someone
>will answer and I'm sure they will straighten this out. Do not send
>e-mail or leave messages as they usually don't respond to them.
>
>Tony Oliver
>Kamado Atlanta
>(678) 517-3388 (P)
>(770) 979-4938 (F)
>tony@kamado.com
>www.kamado.com
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>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sandy Tanamas -
>Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 7:50 AM
>To: Tony Oliver
>Subject: Greetings
>
>
>Dear Mr. Oliver
>
>We need you help to contact Kamado Corp (Mr. R. Johnson) We are the
>supplier of your extruded charcoal briquettes. We have shipped the last
>3 containers in February and March 2004, and we have not been able to
>keep in touch with Richard Johnson and the rest of the staffs. We have
>been using emails, faxes, phone calls, but no effective reply.
>
>Could you please let Richard knows about it and send my message to him
>to reply my mails regarding the payment.
>
>Thank you.
>Sandy Tanamas, Mr. |
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tcoliver
Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:55 pm
We need the Media |
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We need someone with some media connections. This is probably the only way to get any true attention to his crooked ways and get him shut down so he doesn't scam anyone else. |
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Gerard
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Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 769
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:07 pm
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Wow. Guess Santana's story explains why the Kompany couldn't supply charcoal despite the seemingly big demand.
Like Spanky said, thanks for sharing. |
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Santana Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:38 pm
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curly wrote: | Hey Santana,
There is supposedly a shipment within days or weeks of landing in San Diego (I think in San Diego).
Wonder who they scammed this time. I say 'they' because at this point, who can believe those 2 cute little Kamadettes have retained their naivety? They have to be as much into the scams now as RJ and Debra.
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I think it's from Thailand, since they are using a powder charcoal as a raw material instead of granular one. So, the price is much much cheaper and quality is much much lower.
I saw one of the post that complaints about it. When they open the box, it's all powder and broken briquettes. Richard used to sell 16.5lbs at USD 12.99 and currently he sells at USD 7.99/16.5lbs
I also sent emails to his doughters and wife, but it seems that they are all in the same boat with RJ
I don't know where to get help about this. he owes us +/- USD 19,000 |
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Santana Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:43 pm
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The Spanker wrote: |
Just curious... how much are you out on 10k boxes? We've had folks allege they've been bilked for 50k and 35k and 10k. Are you out that kinda money?
I think his only current business in Asia is charcoal. How many manufacturers of coconut extruded lump are there? We've been led to believe that it's a very exclusive product manufactured by Kamado to the most exacting standards. |
I lost about USD 19,000 for 2 x 20' containers and 1 x 40' containers totalling about 10,000 boxes.
In asia, there are a lot of manufacturers. If you want to know, those logos and picture on the box were made by my staff. He used to have a very poor logo and wanted us to design a new logo for them for free of charge.
I have enough with this guy, it's been too long to be patient. |
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Santana Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:51 pm
Re: We need the Media |
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tcoliver wrote: | We need someone with some media connections. This is probably the only way to get any true attention to his crooked ways and get him shut down so he doesn't scam anyone else. |
Hi Tony. Nice to see you again here. What a small world.
The last email to you, I was keeping it secret and didn't want to make any bad name of someone else. We were keeping our faith that RJ would work with us and we wanted to do business in a nice way. But it's been 3 years and there is no indication that he would pay.
I also remember that you said he was a crook and that email gave me an intention to investigate him deeper.
The thing we should get this time is what shipping line and shipping agency he is using and we can start from there. If anyone knows, please do let me know. |
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Santana Guest
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:08 pm
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The Spanker wrote: |
...With RJ as our good will ambassador, no wonder so many folks in your part of the world hate us. I expect Mexico to declare war any day now.
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Actually, a lot of business persons here in Asia are eager to do business and spread their goods in the U.S. market and RJ took advantage of it.
We are all have positive thinking about the U.S. and trust them and wish to have business together with them. Unfortunately, there are few people who took advantage of this. But that's what we call human beings.
Here is the funny fact:
RJ sent me emails and asked me things about charcoal whenever his customers asked him about it in the forum when he did not have any idea. (I keep watching his forum all the time). He answered all those questions with great wordings, pretending that he is the expert. He is a pure artist. |
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tcoliver
Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 240
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:17 am
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Well I'm truly sorry to hear you have also been taken by RJ, he took me for around $45,000 so I know how you feel, I too didn't want to believe he was such a crook and that I was so stupid to believe him. He played the same game with you as he did with others, dragging you along with lies so that you still had hope that someday you may get paid back. Telling you how hard he is working and making you feel sorry for poor old RJ. He probably threatened to sue you if you said anything in the public, and told you of his buddy who is a lawyer, its all part of his big scam and he has done it so many times that he has gotten to be a pro at it. Everyone has the same story, it is really sad. I try to warn anyone I can about him but it is hard to get the word out and like I noone want's to believe it. I know he also took David and Kim for a lot of time and effort and cash I'm sure although I don't know how much. I will try to help you if I can as I would like to see that piece of shit in jail as much as you (and a lot of other people) would. I tried to sue him but it just takes too much time, effort and money. If you find any other ways to put him out of busines let me know. I will try to dig up any records of who he uses as a shipper. Good luck.
Tony |
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curly
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Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 665
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:02 am
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Santana,
You should create an account on his kamado site on the week-end (because they don't seem to monitor it much then) and post your complaint on the thread where they talk about KEL (or whatever they call it) so all of those people that buy it will know they are buying stolen goods.
It will, of course get deleted, and your account will be closed, but some will see it. Keep doing this with a new account over and over until you get tired of doing it. Many people will not buy it if they know it was stolen.
And also, put as much of your proof (emails, photo copied invoices, whatever) on this site so that it can be found by anyone trying to search for KAMADO.
It seems like his Kamado business is almost non-existent anymore, at least that's the impression I get from his forum. So now he's trying to make a go of it with stolen lump. The man is pathetic, and he seems to have passed the genes onto his daughters, that's even sadder. |
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