Beware of a buyer called Bernie James

[Steve Ignorant]

Look guys there will be horror stories for sure... that is just that ... human nature- ffs if i told you of all the horror stories at Chilli Vinyl you will be amazed and horrified - but i am not about to name and shame them- some very affluent people stealing records from the shop - why - because they could - because i did not have the stones to confront people in my shop in front of others customers

Pull the tampons out ladies and get your **** back if you feel so abused... there is alot of it out there

But lest we forget - everyone thought Charles Whitaker's son was a pratt and prankster - great job everyone

[Robert_E]

FFS - how can you name and shame this bloke

Easy - If you can't afford it DON'T BUY IT! And scamming people out of stuff they paid for is criminal theft.

[Robert_E]

Also what's with all the swearing Wobblez?

[Steve Ignorant]

latent anger i guess...

I do apologise...

[Shonver]

But lest we forget - everyone thought Charles Whitaker's son was a pratt and prankster - great job everyone

He hasn't quite been cleared of suspicious antics, even though his old man's kit turned out to be real.

[...]

So guys, will everyone just be happy with there losses and carry on? Why not go take your goods back?

I get so annoyed when people make patronizing comments like this, we are all adults here and we don't need another adult telling us how to behave.
Taking your goods back is also not that clear cut.
@Wobblez
Secondhand records are by far not a fair comparison, audio equipment is expensive, and the rule in life is that if you want something then make damn sure you are going to pay for it or else just leave it be.
I am sure the Porsche dealer won't appreciate me test driving a 911 and then keep it without paying (another unfair comparison)
Hats off to the OP for starting this thread, we need more of this.
As for buying equipment from Bernie, well I would never, after hearing about his chain smoking habit, that stuff kills equipment.

We need more threads like this and yes we can "move on" once all the habitual scammers have been done away with.

[Viagara]

We need more threads like this and yes we can "move on" once all the habitual scammers have been done away with.

I totally agree with what Analogos have said. If someone is scamming people, they need to be identified.

[Family_Dog]

My feelings exactly.


-F_D

[leonpjhb]

Thank you very much for this thread and this valuable information.

As someone who uses the classifieds section regularly it is essential to have info like this.

[JacoP]

I agree; we must know who the chancers are and rid them of their ways and from the forum.

[Shonver]

We need more threads like this and yes we can "move on" once all the habitual scammers have been done away with.

I agree; we must know who the chancers are and rid them of their ways and from the forum.

My Casual Day sticker has a small auxillary sticker alongside it that reads:

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go. Concidence?

[LAV]

I have seen some unfair "naming and shaming" on forums over the years, but when a large number of fellow audio enthusiasts all warn  against the same person, then of course a concerted smear campaign is highly unlikely.  IMHO unfair naming and shaming would be something based on a single occurrence and where the other party has not been given a fair chance to state his side of the story.

[Shonver]

My feeling is that after we have all vented this thread should be quarantined. After all, the threat is all but redundant.

[Byrd]

Wobblez - I remember sometime back when you were assisting one of your old friends. Out of that incidence I am sure that you realise that getting your stuff back is not as simple as it may sound and it does tick me off when somebody can be so short sited as to make a statement like that.

Good on AE for posting this warning, I have seen a number of BJ posts around and thought they were strange. It is good to have confirmation of a general pattern of operation. It doesn't sound like AE had a simple short term payment problem with the man. Why he paid some and not others? Interesting study that would be I think.

Oh and he is on the forum - so he is welcome to respond ...

[AudioEngineer]

Thank you everyone for your comments. Based on what has been reported in this topic it seems that Bernie James not only has dubious buying habits, but that you should be careful of what you buy from him too. Here's my summary of my experience:

• He bought several items from me. These included a Meridian 500 Transport, Meridian 563 DAC, a Squeezebox and a wi-fi router. Total amount > R10K.
• He made an initial down payment with promises that he'll pay the rest after receiving an end of year bonus. This is now almost two years later and also many promises later.
• I was kind enough to spend a lot of time helping him set up the system so that it will work on his computer via wi-fi to his squeezebox.
• During this period he tried to sell me some of his stuff, and quite aggressively I might mention. The reason given was that he has to downscale because he's moving to a smaller apartment. Till this day he still lives at his original address.
• During this time he kept buying equipment as is evidenced on this forum, so the lack of cash for paying me back was an outright lie.
• I refuse to take stuff back that has been used for a while, especially given the fact that they might be cigarette smoke damaged.
• The last time I phoned him he just put the phone down on me after we started talking. All this is making me very annoyed.

As Byrd has mentioned, he is on this forum and he is welcome to respond, but I do feel other forum members need to be aware of this man's buying ands selling behaviours.