Fraud Alert - Violentblue

[Paul Illick]

It's be careful time. I answered an offer of a "Sharpbuilt" T1 style upright conversion it for a T4 engine from a Steven Cage, aka violentblue@hotmail.com, in this forum. The offer message is still there. I verified via e-mail that it was indeed a Sharpbuilt kit. It didn't have all the pieces that come with those kits when they're ordered directly from Mike Sharp, but it had the essential ones, so I sent off my money. Unfortunately what I received back was junk that I won't be able to sell for $50 at a VW swap meet. A rusty 36hp fan housing, a "generator stand" made of three pieces of welded channel iron, where one piece is jammed down into the T4 breather box, there's an upright, and then the generator 'sits' in a piece of the channel on top. The 'head tins' were super-thin white pvc that had already had the screw holes broken out from a previous botched installation attempt. Junk, every bit of it, the kind of stuff most of us put out to be hauled away when we clean out the garage.

For a while Steven Cage, aka violentblue@hotmail.com, refused to answer e-mail, then finally responded that he didn't know the parts weren't real Sharpbuilt, he didn't have the money for a refund anyway, and suggested that I try to sell them to someone else. I have copies of the e-mails and photos of the parts if anyone is interested in those details. I'm not blowing smoke, so I encourage anyone who's interested to get his side of the story. If you do contact him please do me a favor and ask him why he doesn't simply send me my money back.

I'd be happy to sell these parts for $150, half what I paid for them, but ethics require me to warn that you won't be getting what you pay for. The message here is to be careful in dealing with people that you don't know, but keep this story in mind and be ESPECIALLY careful with this guy. He was active in different forums and newsgroups so I gave him more credibility than he deserved. This guy knew what he was doing, was RECOMMENDING the Sharpbuilt kits to other people! I was stupid, don't you be.

[Patrick]

I just noticed that ViolentBlue is no longer the moderator here - is the new moderator name the same guy?

[H2OSB]

The new moderator is ABSOLUTELY NOT the same guy. The new moderator also happen to have a web site called SuperBeetles Only! His name is James and he's very knowledgable.

johnL.

[1303GTI]

Well thanks John L. I'm the new moderator and have had an internet presence for years with the following sites:
http://www.geocities.com/superman1303 http://www.geocities.com/superbeetlesonly

I go by "Superman" on most other boards, it was taken here. My sites "Super Volkswagens" and "SuperBeetles Only!" (links above) have much VW/Porsche info.