- August 15th, 2021, 7:29 pm#4953905
I'm amazed that I'm not seeing a feedback thread for BenofKent already, but I have an important warning for people interested in buying from him. I concluded business with him a couple weeks ago, but I was waiting to hear back from DHL to refute or corroborate his claims.
Back in March, I ordered a Bacharach Sniffer replica from him off of Etsy. Noticing that the fittings on his replica are a little off, I asked him if he could simply put a tapped hole where the probe goes so I could add my own air fitting. He agreed, and I waited until May 5th, when he marked it as shipped. This was later than it was supposed to be, but delays are expected with custom made items, so no biggie. It seemed a little strange though that there was no tracking info, and when I asked him how the custom part turned out, he said he shipped it before he could take pictures. A little questionable, but not implausible.
As the months went by, the red flags piled up. I'd ask him for tracking info, and he'd refrain from ever giving me anything specific, just saying "he talked to the courier". I asked him who the courier was, and he said it would ultimately be delivered by FedEx. When I mentioned I have FedEx set up to alert me of incoming packages, he said it wouldn't really be FedEx, but rather Amerex. Every few weeks I would ask for tracking information and updates, and he'd reply with a series of vague, complicated, conflicting excuses. One time he said this was very typical of all shipped Bacharach sniffers, and that he needed to show them pictures of what it was. Other times he said they lost it. Everytime though, he'd ignore the part about a tracking number and show me screenshot snippets of conversation with every single bit of identifying information cropped out, so that it was impossible to verify anything.
Once we got close to the 3 month mark since he supposedly shipped it, I contacted him again telling him that I'd respectfully like a tracking number and ONLY a tracking number; no snippets of conversation with couriers. Backed into a corner, he sent me a refund within about 2 minutes that I did not ask for. I asked him what was going on, and he claimed that after that amount of time, DHL will customarily destroy the package, or possibly send it back to him.
I insisted on getting a tracking number anyhow, because it was highly suspect that I could never obtain one in the months of waiting. He eventually gave me one which doesn't show up in any system. When I told him that I would thoroughly investigate this number, I immediately received an "order cancelled" message from Etsy. I wondered why that was, as I already received a refund. Turns out, it was to prevent me from leaving a review after investigating the number. Then, in what was practically a confession of guilt, I discovered that he also quickly went over to Facebook to block me from his group there. Note that I did NOT try to post there; this was entirely preemptive and hastily done in response to telling him I would investigate the tracking number.
Anyway, predictably, DHL has responded to me by saying this isn't their number, and they have no idea what I'm talking about. I did get a refund, but I want to warn people that I've RARELY had a buying experience in this hobby that was so filled with dishonesty as buying from BenofKent. Only buying from now blacklisted seller Eugenious Props was similar to this, and I eventually did get a product from Eugenious Props to show for the months of being strung along with lies. I'm not actually aware of ANY buyer that's received a sniffer from BenofKent.
I've now turned to ShapeForge Props to save the day with a sniffer replica, and they've been totally legit so far. If you're planning on buying from BenofKent though, be aware of his capacity for dishonesty and buy at your peril.
Back in March, I ordered a Bacharach Sniffer replica from him off of Etsy. Noticing that the fittings on his replica are a little off, I asked him if he could simply put a tapped hole where the probe goes so I could add my own air fitting. He agreed, and I waited until May 5th, when he marked it as shipped. This was later than it was supposed to be, but delays are expected with custom made items, so no biggie. It seemed a little strange though that there was no tracking info, and when I asked him how the custom part turned out, he said he shipped it before he could take pictures. A little questionable, but not implausible.
As the months went by, the red flags piled up. I'd ask him for tracking info, and he'd refrain from ever giving me anything specific, just saying "he talked to the courier". I asked him who the courier was, and he said it would ultimately be delivered by FedEx. When I mentioned I have FedEx set up to alert me of incoming packages, he said it wouldn't really be FedEx, but rather Amerex. Every few weeks I would ask for tracking information and updates, and he'd reply with a series of vague, complicated, conflicting excuses. One time he said this was very typical of all shipped Bacharach sniffers, and that he needed to show them pictures of what it was. Other times he said they lost it. Everytime though, he'd ignore the part about a tracking number and show me screenshot snippets of conversation with every single bit of identifying information cropped out, so that it was impossible to verify anything.
Once we got close to the 3 month mark since he supposedly shipped it, I contacted him again telling him that I'd respectfully like a tracking number and ONLY a tracking number; no snippets of conversation with couriers. Backed into a corner, he sent me a refund within about 2 minutes that I did not ask for. I asked him what was going on, and he claimed that after that amount of time, DHL will customarily destroy the package, or possibly send it back to him.
I insisted on getting a tracking number anyhow, because it was highly suspect that I could never obtain one in the months of waiting. He eventually gave me one which doesn't show up in any system. When I told him that I would thoroughly investigate this number, I immediately received an "order cancelled" message from Etsy. I wondered why that was, as I already received a refund. Turns out, it was to prevent me from leaving a review after investigating the number. Then, in what was practically a confession of guilt, I discovered that he also quickly went over to Facebook to block me from his group there. Note that I did NOT try to post there; this was entirely preemptive and hastily done in response to telling him I would investigate the tracking number.
Anyway, predictably, DHL has responded to me by saying this isn't their number, and they have no idea what I'm talking about. I did get a refund, but I want to warn people that I've RARELY had a buying experience in this hobby that was so filled with dishonesty as buying from BenofKent. Only buying from now blacklisted seller Eugenious Props was similar to this, and I eventually did get a product from Eugenious Props to show for the months of being strung along with lies. I'm not actually aware of ANY buyer that's received a sniffer from BenofKent.
I've now turned to ShapeForge Props to save the day with a sniffer replica, and they've been totally legit so far. If you're planning on buying from BenofKent though, be aware of his capacity for dishonesty and buy at your peril.
Christof, RealGhostbusterJay liked this