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On October 25 2011 01:40 DoomsVille wrote:Show nested quote +On October 25 2011 01:26 Calm wrote:
I'm in the U of C club with him. We meet on wednesday. Afaik, he's not scamming. Those people suggesting he's using SCM money to travel to IPL are really out of line... Though I'm sure he'll be refunding people out of pocket if all of this is true.
I think he has a phone number in the signature on his emails, has anyone tried that? If he has to refund money out of pocket, then of course he used the SCM money for his own personal use...
Forgive me for trying to bring some balance to this shit-storm...
+ Show Spoiler +On October 25 2011 01:48 Djzapz wrote:
Just a bit of background to those who may not be aware of the previous history of StarcraftMecca. ***Much of what I'm saying is speculative and based on what kOre has reported*** (TLDR at bottom)
kOre, the owner of that site tried to do something good for the community, while (presumably) making relatively little profit. I don't think he's ever had a very deep bank account given that he's in his 20's and in school, I believe.
1-
The first sale was CJ Entus - he sold various items, including a jacket and some shirts. Unfortunately, the huge boxes were marked as worth $1, which got them held at customs and ultimately forced him to pay additional fees (which perhaps were not calculated into the price he charged his customers). On top of that, one box got opened in transit and some of the merchandise slipped out - we're talking about many jackets which were rather expensive plus shirts. Ultimately, I was lucky and got my jacket (although months late due to MANY various delays) and my shirt which was missing was refunded as store credit - though we had an option to get a direct refund from HIS POCKET.
Costs to him (and his partner who left the project later): Customs + Lost items. He's probably losing money overall.
2-
Later on there was the Hwaseung sale and I ordered stuff again... Customs held the packages again. They held the stuff for a LONG time because kOre was under investigation for fraud because shipping had taken such a long time and many impatient people filed fraud report. Frankly, I can hardly blame them because k0re is insanely hard to get in touch with sometimes and his answers are not always satisfying. In fact, kOre's estimates were consistently too liberal. After months waiting, kOre finally got to meet with a customs agent or whatever the hell those things are called. Turns out, none of the merchandise had the "made in Korea" tag written on it, which is against some BS Canadian regulations. The merchandise, worth thousands of dollars, got shipped back to Korea.
Now, most of the refunds for that merchandise have gone through but the merchandise can't be sold at the same price given that Hwaseung Oz is dead. Plus, shipping to him would cost another few hundreds and importation fees.
Costs to him: Everything. Thousands of dollars here, for sure.
3-
Slayers sale: Many people ordered, Jessica flipped out and the whole thing got stomped. kOre had to refund all the orders.
Costs to him: Whatever fees are involved in the payment/refund process. Probably not that much, but an annoyance for sure.
4-
I don't know much about the GSL shirts sale, I personally wasn't interested, but they were relatively "cheap". There's no way he would recover the losses he incurred in the 3 previous sales. It's not the first time kOre completely cut contacts with his customers for a while (I know he went to Blizzcon). He should come back soon I'd guess.
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StarcraftMecca has had an extremely rough start, which undoubtedly puts an incredible strain on kOre's finances. It's his fault to a certain extent (or completely). Running a business is hard - running a business alone with school+job is really hard. I'm not making an excuse for him, arguably he's screwing up hard, but I strongly believe that he's never had any intentions of scamming people. If you don't have your GSL stuff, it's probably coming slowly. If you don't have your Hwaseung Oz refund, maybe there was a mistake or he just doesn't have the money to refund you or something.
I know that in his positions, many adventurous young folks wanting to become business-people would have to file for bankruptcy here to be able to move on with their life.
That said, I've been in that position twice and I feel your pain. Doing business with StarcraftMecca hasn't been easy and I hope your issues get resolved.
Very well-said.
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On October 25 2011 01:53 Calm wrote:Show nested quote +On October 25 2011 01:40 DoomsVille wrote:On October 25 2011 01:26 Calm wrote:
I'm in the U of C club with him. We meet on wednesday. Afaik, he's not scamming. Those people suggesting he's using SCM money to travel to IPL are really out of line... Though I'm sure he'll be refunding people out of pocket if all of this is true.
I think he has a phone number in the signature on his emails, has anyone tried that? If he has to refund money out of pocket, then of course he used the SCM money for his own personal use... Forgive me for trying to bring some balance to this shit-storm... + Show Spoiler +On October 25 2011 01:48 Djzapz wrote:
Just a bit of background to those who may not be aware of the previous history of StarcraftMecca. ***Much of what I'm saying is speculative and based on what kOre has reported*** (TLDR at bottom)
kOre, the owner of that site tried to do something good for the community, while (presumably) making relatively little profit. I don't think he's ever had a very deep bank account given that he's in his 20's and in school, I believe.
1-
The first sale was CJ Entus - he sold various items, including a jacket and some shirts. Unfortunately, the huge boxes were marked as worth $1, which got them held at customs and ultimately forced him to pay additional fees (which perhaps were not calculated into the price he charged his customers). On top of that, one box got opened in transit and some of the merchandise slipped out - we're talking about many jackets which were rather expensive plus shirts. Ultimately, I was lucky and got my jacket (although months late due to MANY various delays) and my shirt which was missing was refunded as store credit - though we had an option to get a direct refund from HIS POCKET.
Costs to him (and his partner who left the project later): Customs + Lost items. He's probably losing money overall.
2-
Later on there was the Hwaseung sale and I ordered stuff again... Customs held the packages again. They held the stuff for a LONG time because kOre was under investigation for fraud because shipping had taken such a long time and many impatient people filed fraud report. Frankly, I can hardly blame them because k0re is insanely hard to get in touch with sometimes and his answers are not always satisfying. In fact, kOre's estimates were consistently too liberal. After months waiting, kOre finally got to meet with a customs agent or whatever the hell those things are called. Turns out, none of the merchandise had the "made in Korea" tag written on it, which is against some BS Canadian regulations. The merchandise, worth thousands of dollars, got shipped back to Korea.
Now, most of the refunds for that merchandise have gone through but the merchandise can't be sold at the same price given that Hwaseung Oz is dead. Plus, shipping to him would cost another few hundreds and importation fees.
Costs to him: Everything. Thousands of dollars here, for sure.
3-
Slayers sale: Many people ordered, Jessica flipped out and the whole thing got stomped. kOre had to refund all the orders.
Costs to him: Whatever fees are involved in the payment/refund process. Probably not that much, but an annoyance for sure.
4-
I don't know much about the GSL shirts sale, I personally wasn't interested, but they were relatively "cheap". There's no way he would recover the losses he incurred in the 3 previous sales. It's not the first time kOre completely cut contacts with his customers for a while (I know he went to Blizzcon). He should come back soon I'd guess.
______
StarcraftMecca has had an extremely rough start, which undoubtedly puts an incredible strain on kOre's finances. It's his fault to a certain extent (or completely). Running a business is hard - running a business alone with school+job is really hard. I'm not making an excuse for him, arguably he's screwing up hard, but I strongly believe that he's never had any intentions of scamming people. If you don't have your GSL stuff, it's probably coming slowly. If you don't have your Hwaseung Oz refund, maybe there was a mistake or he just doesn't have the money to refund you or something.
I know that in his positions, many adventurous young folks wanting to become business-people would have to file for bankruptcy here to be able to move on with their life.
That said, I've been in that position twice and I feel your pain. Doing business with StarcraftMecca hasn't been easy and I hope your issues get resolved. Very well-said.
these were my thoughts aswell, until i got this reply to just about every email i send him: "You will recieve your refund tommorow ^^".
and now the radio silence for a month with the message "going to IPL wooo" it kinda gives of a massive WTF impression especially when he holds 400 something dollars that is why i am responding in this post alot since it feels like TL is the only thing he checks.
edit: i had ordered CJ stuff before and i never complained cause i always knew wtf was going on with the merc. my CJ shirt is still prob my fav shirt  .
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Usually you max out on five classes but he is taking six so I know that he is no doubt busy. He hasn't been completely keeping up on our weekly meetings so the plan is to deal with most of the club/csl stuff so hopefully he has more time to get this sorted.
I have an opportunity to talk to him on friday and i'll definitely bring it up as my reputation is in the same line as his having the U of C sc2 club associated with starcraftmecca.
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All of you guys saying he's going to Blizzcon/etc with your money, I think that statement is a little too negative. It implies he doesn't have another source of revenue and is going to be broke after his trips. Don't get me wrong, you guys deserve your refunds, but to assume your money has "been spent" and thus cant be returned is poor speculation. Most businesses hold their money in different accounts, the money for his trips was likely from his personal accounts. Yes, he should prioritize his business over pleasure, but I'd think your money is still intact somewhere. He's probably trying to salvage all this mess and figure out a way to ship them once and for all before he gives up and mass refunds.
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On October 25 2011 01:48 Djzapz wrote:
If you don't have your Hwaseung Oz refund, maybe there was a mistake or he just doesn't have the money to refund you or something.
Your post was going well until this. How come he's able to attend events such as IPL & Blizzcon? I would think if he has the money to attend those events, then he'd be able to send out refunds.
Also the people who did get refunds (myself included) seemed to have been the ones who were actively visitng the site and saw that refund form we had to fill out. What about the people who didn't visit the site regularly? He never sent an email out to all customers informing everyone the situation at hand and the process to obtain a refund. So then what did he do with the money that was still sitting around that needed to be refunded? Did he make an effort to reach out to the remaining customers to send them their refund? Judging from these posts, seems like a no.
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On October 25 2011 02:14 Nokarot wrote:
All of you guys saying he's going to Blizzcon/etc with your money, I think that statement is a little too negative. It implies he doesn't have another source of revenue and is going to be broke after his trips. Don't get me wrong, you guys deserve your refunds, but to assume your money has "been spent" and thus cant be returned is poor speculation. Most businesses hold their money in different accounts, the money for his trips was likely from his personal accounts. Yes, he should prioritize his business over pleasure, but I'd think your money is still intact somewhere. He's probably trying to salvage all this mess and figure out a way to ship them once and for all before he gives up and mass refunds.
(for reference i only know he went to IPL not sure about blizzcon but since you mentioned it)
for the OZ orders mass refund is already in process, the entire oz order has been a complete failure thus he announced he would be mass refunding.... this happend about 6 months ago and a blizzcon ticket is super expensive. if it was my i would make sure i had refunded EVERYBODY before even thining about spending 200+ dollars on a blizzcon ticket you serious?
EDIT: oh and BTW i did fill out the refund form straight after it got announced.. however since i didnt pay per credit card ( payed via his poker account cause he didnt have paypal set up yet ) i requested it to be transfered to paypal which he said would be NP however it never actually got transfered.
oh and thanks to the mod for moving this to TL community so it doesnt drop to page 2 within a minute haha.
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On October 25 2011 02:15 Wubbles wrote:Show nested quote +On October 25 2011 01:48 Djzapz wrote:
If you don't have your Hwaseung Oz refund, maybe there was a mistake or he just doesn't have the money to refund you or something. Your post was going well until this. How come he's able to attend events such as IPL & Blizzcon? I would think if he has the money to attend those events, then he'd be able to send out refunds.
My post still goes well tbh. I was clearly not saying he's completely thrown his life in the toilet to give you guys good service, he obviously isn't. Perhaps money isn't a problem and other things are delaying refunds - or maybe this does delay the refunds (seems likely). Either way, it's consistent with what I've been saying.
Also the people who did get refunds (myself included) seemed to have been the ones who were actively visitng the site and saw that refund form we had to fill out. What about the people who didn't visit the site regularly? He never sent an email out to all customers informing everyone the situation at hand and the process to obtain a refund. So then what did he do with the money that was still sitting around that needed to be refunded? Did he make an effort to reach out to the remaining customers to send them their refund? Judging from these posts, seems like a no.
I don't know.
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Calgary25980 Posts
StarcraftMecca is just one guy. I understand that isn't an excuse, but try to understand that you aren't dealing with a company, you're dealing with one guy who is mailing these out of his house.
Thanks
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I kept getting PM's from a customer who said pretty much the same. Hes been waiting for refund for months(?) and no answer on TL, Twitter, Facebook or their e-mail.
Sounds shady, but i don't think it is. As chill said, one guy seems to handle it all. But in the future i'd suggest him at least answer back.
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Calgary25980 Posts
On October 25 2011 02:41 Grettin wrote:
I kept getting PM's from a customer who said pretty much the same. Hes been waiting for refund for months(?) and no answer on TL, Twitter, Facebook or their e-mail.
Sounds shady, but i don't think it is. As chill said, one guy seems to handle it all. But in the future i'd suggest him at least answer back.
I guess it's understandable but not justifiable. Sometimes stuff just snowballs out of control. I'd love him to drop a summary post in this thread just explaining, frankly, where he's at.
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On October 25 2011 02:21 Fadetowhite wrote:Show nested quote +On October 25 2011 02:14 Nokarot wrote:
All of you guys saying he's going to Blizzcon/etc with your money, I think that statement is a little too negative. It implies he doesn't have another source of revenue and is going to be broke after his trips. Don't get me wrong, you guys deserve your refunds, but to assume your money has "been spent" and thus cant be returned is poor speculation. Most businesses hold their money in different accounts, the money for his trips was likely from his personal accounts. Yes, he should prioritize his business over pleasure, but I'd think your money is still intact somewhere. He's probably trying to salvage all this mess and figure out a way to ship them once and for all before he gives up and mass refunds. (for reference i only know he went to IPL not sure about blizzcon but since you mentioned it) for the OZ orders mass refund is already in process, the entire oz order has been a complete failure thus he announced he would be mass refunding.... this happend about 6 months ago and a blizzcon ticket is super expensive. if it was my i would make sure i had refunded EVERYBODY before even thining about spending 200+ dollars on a blizzcon ticket you serious? EDIT: oh and BTW i did fill out the refund form straight after it got announced.. however since i didnt pay per credit card ( payed via his poker account cause he didnt have paypal set up yet ) i requested it to be transfered to paypal which he said would be NP however it never actually got transfered. oh and thanks to the mod for moving this to TL community so it doesnt drop to page 2 within a minute haha.
He had bought blizzcon tickets at least, I don't know if he went or not. He picked up some extra ones and was reserving them to teamliquid forum members for regular price. I know this because I was in line to get one of those extra tickets, but I ended up declining after he offered it to me because I made other plans.
Mind you, all this was months ago (when Blizzcon tickets were on sale) and not being an SCMecca customer, I'm not sure how this falls on the timeline of everything else. However, a trip to Blizzcon is just as expensive, if not less, as a trip to Atlantic City (east coasts' Vegas basically) for IPL3 so really I'm not sure Blizzcon itself matters. Besides, as I said, all SCMecca funds are probably in a different account than his personal vacation funds are. If I'm right, I'm not sure why you guys even care about where he vacations.
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On October 25 2011 03:12 Nokarot wrote:Show nested quote +On October 25 2011 02:21 Fadetowhite wrote:On October 25 2011 02:14 Nokarot wrote:
All of you guys saying he's going to Blizzcon/etc with your money, I think that statement is a little too negative. It implies he doesn't have another source of revenue and is going to be broke after his trips. Don't get me wrong, you guys deserve your refunds, but to assume your money has "been spent" and thus cant be returned is poor speculation. Most businesses hold their money in different accounts, the money for his trips was likely from his personal accounts. Yes, he should prioritize his business over pleasure, but I'd think your money is still intact somewhere. He's probably trying to salvage all this mess and figure out a way to ship them once and for all before he gives up and mass refunds. (for reference i only know he went to IPL not sure about blizzcon but since you mentioned it) for the OZ orders mass refund is already in process, the entire oz order has been a complete failure thus he announced he would be mass refunding.... this happend about 6 months ago and a blizzcon ticket is super expensive. if it was my i would make sure i had refunded EVERYBODY before even thining about spending 200+ dollars on a blizzcon ticket you serious? EDIT: oh and BTW i did fill out the refund form straight after it got announced.. however since i didnt pay per credit card ( payed via his poker account cause he didnt have paypal set up yet ) i requested it to be transfered to paypal which he said would be NP however it never actually got transfered. oh and thanks to the mod for moving this to TL community so it doesnt drop to page 2 within a minute haha. He had bought blizzcon tickets at least, I don't know if he went or not. He picked up some extra ones and was reserving them to teamliquid forum members for regular price. I know this because I was in line to get one of those extra tickets, but I ended up declining after he offered it to me because I made other plans. Mind you, all this was months ago (when Blizzcon tickets were on sale) and not being an SCMecca customer, I'm not sure how this falls on the timeline of everything else. However, a trip to Blizzcon is just as expensive, if not less, as a trip to Atlantic City (east coasts' Vegas basically) so really I'm not sure it weighs in too much.
that seems really weird to me considering 2 blizzcon tickets = the money he owes me thus refunding another costumer to spread some good word about his store. anyway i am just waiting for an answer hoping that the money is still coming back
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I'm in the same boat. Payed about 300 USD for a jacket in December 2010. Filed a refund 3 months ago. k0re has simply stopped communication though I've been trying to contact him through Teamliquid,twitter,facebook,mail,commentsection of SCmecca. I feel scammed and stupid for trusting k0re. It just felt so legit and honest.
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On October 25 2011 03:27 eleganten wrote:
I'm in the same boat. Payed about 300 USD for a jacket in December 2010. Filed a refund 3 months ago. k0re has simply stopped communication though I've been trying to contact him through Teamliquid,twitter,facebook,mail,commentsection of SCmecca. I feel scammed and stupid for trusting k0re. It just felt so legit and honest.
dont worry too much.... i am sure he will respond on this thread soon considering peopel that know him in RL are going to poke him.
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I recognize Djzapz and Wubbles name from the StarcraftMecca website. I think we were in this from the start. As Chill as, Kore is one guy trying to run a fairly time consuming business while in school. I think it was a little much to take on.
I was communicating with Kore on a frequently basis at first but haven't been able to reach him over the last couple months. I was involved in the first CJ order and was one of the unlucky ones who had his stuff fall out of the box and had to get refunded. An effort was to get my money back to me and there was open communication.
Like everyone else involved with the Hwaseung orders there was a problem with the whole order and it needed to be sent back to Korea. I was actively visiting the site and in contact with Kore but never received my refund. The last message I got was him saying there was an issue with his merchant and he needed to process some refunds separately, but it would take a week to show up; that was a month ago. The biggest problem is the lack of communication now. I don’t mind if he says, “I’m broke, and it’s going to take time to pay everyone back.” As long as there is some sort of payment plan where we can see what’s going on.
Also, the reason why we can’t bring this to his site is because it’s just a Wordpress site and every comment needs to be approved by the owner. Of course, nothing has been approved so we weren’t able to communicate with each other. I’m glad this thread got started so I can see it wasn’t just me.
UPDATE!!!!
Just got an email from him saying he will be sending my refund with a screenshot of the transaction tonight. Looks like he's starting to sort this out hopefully.
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Sad that he overestimated his time commitment and now is unable to keep up with all this ><
Looks really bad for him reputation-wise :/
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I don't htink its unreasonable to "sling his name through mud" since the site has had a history of being horrifically overpriced, horrifically bad service, and issues left and right everywhere with the product (they're not even authentic just copies missing key parts due to copyright problems, meaning he's not even properly getting permission to do it).
I don't think that they should be getting support through teamliquid or other means if they can't run a legitimate business instead of treating every aspect of their customer service like shit.
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You guys really need to stop ordering from his site.
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While I agree that he has done a very poor job communicating to his customers through email/giving updates via public medium, I do not think it is an intentional scam. Sending products from Korea to Canada (hell, even from US to Canada) can be quite annoying when you run into problems at the customs. That has to do with inexperience from both kOre and the korean manufacturers.
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You guys really need to stop ordering from his site.
Or kOre should close sc mecca and everyone should just order from primezzang its much much better
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EPT
