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Buyer Beware: AlienCodec


Richard McCarthy
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I filed a complaint with the FBI, thanks for the link Jeff. If anyone else files a complaint (and I suggest you do), there is a section that asks for other victims' contact information. Please add my name and email to this section if you file a complaint:

 

Brendan Seaman, unfor@ucsc.edu

 

I referenced this thread in my complaint, so hopefully they will understand the scope of this whole thing.

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I got too the paypal refund mail:

Dear Lambros Potamianos,

 

After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer Complaint described below.

 

We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.

 

We will make our best effort to recover the funds in question if they become available in the seller's account in the future. Please be assured that we will also take appropriate action against the seller's account, which may include limitation of the seller's account privileges.

 

 

-----------------------------------

Details of Disputed Transaction

-----------------------------------

 

Transaction Date: Nov 7, 2005

Transaction Amount: -$39.95 USD

Your Transaction ID: 024063869V681430A

Seller's Transaction ID: 6B81022034977610P Case Number: PP-120-832-883 Seller's Name: ronnie smith Seller's Email: sabata@aliencodec.com

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Might be a good idea for everyone to file a complaint with the FBI.

 

It would seem pretty obvious that an intentional fraud that was perpetrated across US state and even international borders would be a criminal act. While the amount stolen shoud not matter (theft is theft) the fact is law enforcement will pay more attention when a lot of money or a lot of vicims are imvolved. I would hope the FBI takes your filings seriously. That's what they're there for. And what about InterPol for those of you in their jurisdiction?

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Ron Smith aka Sabata has a lot of customers mad/upset. One of them said $40 or not, he would drive to Texas to clear this up! So even if Ron Smith lies low for a while, there are a lot of people with long memories out there. I'd like to find out what really happened too.

 

I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't realize all the ordering problems, and when I ordered Nov 2004 I did manage to get TM2/PL within a few days. When I ordered the upgrades, I heard nothing. I wrote to sabata@aliencodec.com and asked him if everything was ok; figured maybe he was snowed under with work and needed more time? But he ignored my email, and many others. Meanwhile, you have to log into PayPal and physically [Accept] payments that people send you. So Ron Smith was there and was still physically accepting payments. That scorches the gone-on-holiday/got-sick theory.

 

The good news: PayPal finally shut down Sabata's payment access.

There seem to have been many complaints, so I think it would have

been better if they had done this sooner.

 

But I think this Ron Smith you listed is *not* the AlienCodec one:

> Smith, Ronald

> 3303 Harvey Rd

> Crosby, TX 77532-4862

> (281) 328-7495

 

I found that address too, *BUT* I did a WHOIS search on AlienCodec.com. This *next* one seems to be the *real* Ronnie Smith. Someone else came up with the same address by tracing his IP.

 

Mr Ronnie L Smith (Alien Codec)

3034 Ramsey Loop Road

Crosby Texas USA 77532

Phone: 281-462-8039

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?li=rwp&q=CROSBY,+TX+77532

 

[Edit: Corrected email]

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The weird thing is, Crosby Texas has about a 1500 population, and those two different addresses are less than 2 miles from each other. I looked them up on Google Earth and there are only about 3 houses between them (it looks like an agricultural area). What are the chances of 2 Ronnie Smiths that close in such a small town?

 

Regardless, the phone number from the WHOIS lookup has been disconnected, and nobody answers the phone number from the White Pages, so its impossible to get ahold of him.

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Aliencodec is in the process of change.

( Please return later )

Well, that's the understatment of the century! I would have preferred "I'm really really sorry for all the inconvenience I have caused", but Ronnie hasn't been real big on remorse, let alone replying to email.

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I heard that they are been bought by Gamecreator. Now this is the thing, Ronnie still OWES a lot of his customers product he DID NOT deliver. Is it technically possible (in law) to get the undelivered product from Gamecreator who just acquired them?

 

Probably the best thing would be to put the question to TheGameCreators.com. Last I exchanged email with them, they hadn't heard a peep from Ronnie either. If he's got money troubles he might have resurfaced to try and offload PL/TM to them or others.

 

It would seem unreasonable if TheGameCreators.com or someone else suddenly bought a product of Ronnie (who has disappeared, disconnected phone lines and all) and offered to "sell" it (again) to all those people that were ripped off. Also if Ronnie owes people, then PL/TM are assets, and can be used to repay his debts. Would seem curious if the law let people who owed go underground, and mysteriously reappear for short periods to sell off assets to third-parties while avoiding their creditors.

 

Also lets not forget some people filed complaints with the FBI, so this isn't all over. IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but if TheGameCreators.com are smart, they'll check all this with his lawyers before they consider selling his product.

 

From memory the US has a Better Business Bureau which you can talk to about this sort of thing? Can someone stateside talk to them?

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From memory the US has a Better Business Bureau which you can talk to about this sort of thing? Can someone stateside talk to them?

 

If he's not a Member of BBB, they won't have a current address, or phone number. Thier efforts are only as good as the integrity of the information given to them to work with...and in the end all they could/would do is either negotiate arbitration and or publicly, through thier listings say he has not been a good businessman, or boot him from membership of the BBB. LOL nobody wants the BBB after them...if they want to continue business, however PT Barnum had a saying....

 

 

WDA

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I heard that they are been bought by Gamecreator. Now this is the thing, Ronnie still OWES a lot of his customers product he DID NOT deliver.

NEWSFLASH: I just heard from TheGameCreators.com; They said he is back and we can reach Ronnie at his regular e-mail address. I'll see if he'll reply.

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This is the thing that gets me about this. The product exisits right? Others have claimed to have it so what is the good of cheating people? It's not like we paid for something he needed to make. He made it and all we needed to do is DL it. Pesonally I don't want it and I hope he never is able to make another cent online. I was thinking maybe he needs the purchases to increase his companies value for the buy out but still why cheat people?

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Ronnie ignored my e-mail (well, at least he's consistent ;)), but from the web site seems he finally did get back to TheGameCreators:

 

"All Aliencodec products are now owned by The Game Creators Limited.

We will update this site in January 2006 to restore the AC forums and shopping system."

 

I hope in their hands TM/PL do much better. I hope they do something to clean the mess Ronnie has left in his wake.

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I just emailed GameCreators and told them that I want my product now that they've purchased AlienCodec. I figure that if they are willing to buy out a company that steals money from its customers, they should also be willing to fulfill outstanding orders. I'll post an update when I get a reply.

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Here's the response from TheGameCreators:

 

Hi Brendan,

 

Dispite that is written on the ALienCodec site, the buyout is still not yet complete.

 

We hope to address issues with AlienCodecs past failed dealings, but until everything is signed and sealed, there is little I can do.

 

As soon as it is complete, it will probably be announced on the site, so that would be the time to re-inquire about this issue, and please do.

 

Regards,

Chris Bamber

 

 

The following is a reply to your enquiry:

 

> I purchased PlantLife Creation Modules and TreeMagik G3 from AlienCodec

> last month and never received my order. This happened to dozens of other

> people as well. AlienCodec.com now says that you have purchased their

> company, so I'd now like my order. The way I see it, if you're going to

> buy out a company with such a horrible reputation and an owner that steals

> people's money, you should be more than willing to fulfill orders that the

> previous owner left outstanding. My PayPal transaction IDs for these two

> purchases are xxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxx, and I can forward

> you the confirmation emails as well if neccessary. Please contact me with

> information on how to download my products. Thank you very much.

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Here's the response from TheGameCreators:

... Despite that is written on the AlienCodec site, the buyout is still not yet complete. ... We hope to address issues with AlienCodecs past failed dealings, but until everything is signed and sealed, there is little I can do. ...

So it must be Ronnie that updated the web site? In which case for all we know the buyout might never happen. Recall at once stage TheGameCreators couldn't get him to contact them either... Well if it goes through; nice, there are good moral and legal reasons for TheGamecreators to bring closure to any issue they inherit. But if this buyout never happens, I'd say the best avenue is to see how the FBI complaints progress. Ronnie could end all this by returning the money or settling the oustanding orders. But clearly he's not going to do that. Talk about taking the difficult road...
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  • 3 weeks later...

I had abandoned all hope, but I just received a mail from the Game Creators asking whether I had received a software I had bought. They said that the buying out of Aliencoded is complete and that they understand that some customers in Aliencodecs final days did not have their software sent to them or money refunded via PayPal. I replied that I haven't received anything and I did not get a refund either, so I hope that they will send me my software. Let's hope that everybody will get what we paid for!

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TGC said they'll fulfil the orders of anyone who didn't get a PayPal refund. I've written to TGC asking about upgrading for people who were lucky enough to get the refund, since they only list a full sale price. Great cautionary for using PayPal. Probably best to only use PayPal through a Credit Card company, since that gives you an additional level of protection. I expect Ronnie will continue to lie low. That FBI complaint still stands, and "Ok Guv, you caught me, so if I just give the stuff back we'll call it even" isn't a sufficient defense. ;-)

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