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By Nuclearjungle
#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.
By CT1983
#4953909
You’re describing my exact experience with BoK this year attempting to buy a full pack kit through Etsy. I’ve discussed it briefly here on a couple threads, and this is the third or fourth review that tracks identically with mine.

Tons of red flags for me along the way, and he went to exhaustive lengths to hide verifiable tracking info… after he’d peddled me two obviously bogus tracking numbers early on. Our communication was a lot of convoluted misdirection and light on tangible information I could independently validate. He also pulled the cancellation bit to stop me from posting a review on Etsy.

I’m convinced it’s 31 flavors of scam, maybe not for all buyers, but clearly for enough of us.
User avatar
By Nuclearjungle
#4953923
Thanks, I think it's important that info like yours is readily available to people. I never came across any of these stories until after I'd already bought from him, and then mostly in private. Somehow it seems like people have this impression he's some pillar of the community, so I was kind of shocked to have an experience this bad. I've dealt will a lot of sellers who were flakes, but almost never anyone who flat out lied as much as BenofKent, and subsequently tried to cover it up.
User avatar
By obiwanjabroni
#4953924
I'm happy someone is speaking up. I had a similar issue back in 2019 when I was getting into Ghostbuster prop building. Getting tracking confirmation from him was like pulling teeth. At the time I also ordered his pack/trap combo, along with the light mounting brackets. When the pack finally did arrive, it was missing the trap all together along with the brackets. Granted, he did eventually rectify it, but the pack itself took months and months to arrive, along with the similar story you experienced; "my courier", or "DHL is having issues".

Since that time, I've built a number of packs using a variety of parts from other suppliers. I've learned a lot over the past couple of years about the process and shell construction. Compared to a number of fiberglass offerings, I find his shells subpar. They're on the heavier end and relatively fragile. They also have a tendency to bend away from the mobo over time, creating a gap at the top of the pack. I experienced this on a build, as well as a number of others who have used his kits. Granted, this is also apples and oranges. I think BOK fills a fairly open entry level (complete) pack kit gap in the market, that others simply cannot offer. All this being said, I think is logistics and transparency issues are definitely a problem that need to be addressed.
RealGhostbusterJay liked this
User avatar
By Ectojeff88
#4953930
I had read many good reviews and seen videos about experiences with Ben, some long shipping times but nothing like these incidents mentioned above.
I just ordered a pack kit with him last month and now have shipping notice just today with tracking info on my Etsy I will be monitoring closely.
tk1495 liked this
User avatar
By metron2001
#4954097
So along with everything else, at least with recent cases I know there is also Covid and Brexit to consider in terms of shipping delays from England. And Customs is never fun to deal with.

I'm sorry you didn't get your prop replica, but you did get your money back, so that doesn't seem exactly underhanded to me. What would have been bad would have been if you couldn't get your money back at all. It sucks but at least you can shop elsewhere.

Shipping is a complete horror show at the moment, even within a lot of the US.
User avatar
By Nuclearjungle
#4954099
Wrong. This had absolutely zero to do with Covid or Brexit. He was lying the entire time about shipping, and there is currently zero proof that any package existed at all. I've dealt with sellers who were bad with communication, who were bad with shipping, and who had a lot of excuses at every step of the way. It's annoying, but it happens and you have to deal with it sometimes. This isn't that. This is about the fact that Ben has no issue with being extensively dishonest to customers if it serves him. I mean completely lying his butt off for months.

I'm definitely not saying that he WILL do that to every single customer, because that's obviously not true. I'm saying that he has uncommon willingness to lie if it serves him, and everyone should be aware of the possibility.
User avatar
By metron2001
#4954101
Hm. It couldn't possibly have to do with an obviously negative attitude combined with shipping issues on the other end. Benofkent doesn't lie about his packages. He did recently change from a shippers and the old one didn't have live tracking until the package was into the destination country. I also know for sure that he doesn't cancel orders absolutely umprompted so I wonder what you did to get your own package cancelled and refunded and probably called back to him?

I'll say again, if he'd kept your money that would be one thing. This was just a sale that didn't complete.
User avatar
By Nuclearjungle
#4954104
Buddy, it's ridiculous of you to categorically say he doesn't lie about his packages when you weren't involved in this whatsoever. YES, HE DID, and others have said the same thing. I have screen caps of the entire exchange. If you have nothing of any value whatsoever to contribute, how about you move along?
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4954119
metron2001 is working with the details you've provided and either his direct personal experiences with Ben, or the experiences of others that he's spoken too - he is as free to post in this topic as you are. As this isn't your topic, you don't have any right to tell him to "move along".

Issues like these are best brought to a Moderator's attention, rather than dealt with yourself.
User avatar
By RichardLess
#4954124
Wow. Now I’m kinda glad I didn’t buy from this guy. On some Facebook group I belonged to people recommended him left & right. I was going to pull the trigger and buy a pack but COVID hit & I didn’t want to spend the money. So many people recommended him. Now I’m wondering if they were all fake accounts that sent me messages recommending him.
User avatar
By robbritton
#4954127
I bought a number of smaller scale bits for my Spirit pack from BoK, and he was always polite and clear in his communications and the pieces arrived quickly and as described. So I certainly wasn't scammed, for what it's worth.
User avatar
By Nuclearjungle
#4954144
I was still at work and distracted when this guy started posting to misdirect the message of my original post and then point fingers at me; I regret that it was initially upsetting to me, because it's actually some of the most obvious shilling I've ever seen.

After I just posted several paragraphs describing Ben's games avoiding concrete tracking info, offering changing and conflicting information, editing screenshots to eliminate identifying information of any kind, and eventually giving me a number after the fact that DHL confirmed was bogus, this guy appears to ignore all that and misdirect the conversation toward Brexit and Covid related slowdowns.

When I point out that has nothing to do with what I just said, he shifts to categorically stating that Ben NEVER lies about shipping. A real skeptical person might legitimately say, "I'm skeptical of this, as I've dealt with Ben many times in the past, and had no problems", and that would be fine. But this guy authoritatively lays down a rididiculously unsupported blanket statement after multiple people just stated the opposite in this thread.

When THAT doesn't work, he tries to point fingers at me with what would should be zero knowledge of the situation. Nevermind that two separate people just independently mentioned Ben's practice of trying to preemptively silence negative reviews.

So are you really Ben's friend, associate, or Ben himself?
User avatar
By Bootlegger137
#4954148
Admittedly, I’m new here…but I’ve been around life and the internet for a while on various forums (RPF, COW, etc) and got to see Ghostbusters in theatre by myself on opening day.

To add, I don’t have a pack (yet), and am considering BoK, so I take all feedback here (and on Facebook where BoK has numerous groups backing him up) on board in my evaluation.

With that out of the way, my question is this…

Is this a feedback thread for a manufacturer, or just a couple of disgruntled members axe grinding?

I get it, you feel hard done by what happened. But do you really need to KEEP posting about it. You said your piece in the opening post. That’s constructive feedback. Trying to shout down, by repeatedly giving the same information in multiple posts, those who have had positive experiences with someone because you didn’t, we’ll…it comes off as a childish, foot-stomping tantrum.

Maybe the thread should be cleaned up by a Mod/Admin?
User avatar
By RichardLess
#4954155
Nuclearjungle wrote: August 21st, 2021, 10:30 am I was still at work and distracted when this guy started posting to misdirect the message of my original post and then point fingers at me; I regret that it was initially upsetting to me, because it's actually some of the most obvious shilling I've ever seen.

After I just posted several paragraphs describing Ben's games avoiding concrete tracking info, offering changing and conflicting information, editing screenshots to eliminate identifying information of any kind, and eventually giving me a number after the fact that DHL confirmed was bogus, this guy appears to ignore all that and misdirect the conversation toward Brexit and Covid related slowdowns.

When I point out that has nothing to do with what I just said, he shifts to categorically stating that Ben NEVER lies about shipping. A real skeptical person might legitimately say, "I'm skeptical of this, as I've dealt with Ben many times in the past, and had no problems", and that would be fine. But this guy authoritatively lays down a rididiculously unsupported blanket statement after multiple people just stated the opposite in this thread.

When THAT doesn't work, he tries to point fingers at me with what would should be zero knowledge of the situation. Nevermind that two separate people just independently mentioned Ben's practice of trying to preemptively silence negative reviews.

So are you really Ben's friend, associate, or Ben himself?
I think you might be taking this a little too far. There’s nothing in that persons post that suggest he(or she) was trying to “misdirect”. They only tried to give a possible explanation and say “hey. You got your money back. No harm, no foul. Others have been scammed and have had money stolen from them. At the end of the day, you were made whole”. You want horror stories? Read what people who deal with Anovos have gone through.
Then you responded with came off a little aggressive and then the person suggested maybe you should look at your tone as a possible source of the issue. If this person was a shill, I doubt that first post would’ve been what it was. COVID & BREXIT are very real issues and suggesting that may have been the issue isn’t some crazy notion. It may also be true the guy totally lied to you. Infact if your story is to believed, it sounds like 100% he lied to you.

My guess? He was stalling for time. He said he sent it when he really didn’t, based on his reputation I have to think he would’ve sent it eventually, but he still lied none the less. It was probably a way for him to move the onus off him and onto the shipping company. Then he would’ve had more time to fulfill your order on his own time table. But a lie is a lie. And giving fake shipping info is fraud. That’s no small thing.

But accusing someone of being a shill for the guy? Come on. You’re being a little unreasonable. I will say, Ben Of Kent has a majority of very positive consumer experiences. I asked for the best person to contact and nearly every one of the replies was for Ben of Kent. Make of that what you will.
Bootlegger137 liked this
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4954164
I'm locking this topic as it looks like the initial issue has ultimately been resolved, and due to you lashing out and unfairly accusing some of the other contributors, Nuclearjungle.
User avatar
By Nuclearjungle
#4954711
I think this is my last post on GBFans, and I think I'm at peace with that. I tried to purchase a replica sniffer recently so that I could give it to people that wish they could go out as Ghostbusters, but have no gear, and they could still feel included. I had good intentions, but I had no idea I was stumbling into a very toxic aspect of the community. I'm going to post irrefutable proof of that now, and although I expect Kingpin to suppress this and me, I ask for the courtesy of having everything I post examined first, because it speaks for itself. Frankly, the double standard exhibited in the previous BoK thread, compared to the same exact sort of things in the Knowhere thread and a dozen others, is alarming.

Recently, multiple good Samaritans talked to me privately to point out what was really going on. The actual reason people in the previous thread pointed fingers at me is because BoK tried to do damage control by publically telling lies about me in his group, which I will clearly expose here now, while also proving everything I previously stated. These were Ben's words, copied and pasted exactly:
"The second one was a sniffer there was issues getting this through customs and to be honest when it failed the third time and we were asked to appeal this we actually gave up because I realised it was the same customer from two years ago that ordered a ion end cap and damaged it, we had cut it to GB1 something we did for him and he over screwed up damaging it, it was obvious I sent the pic to a few of my prop friends and they agreed but what can you do he was refunded and kept the item and then managed to fix it! So giving him a sniffer that you knew he was going to pull apart and the way he speaks to people it was a red flag so we called that back, this is now sitting in export waiting further instructions

People are patient and watt people understand about shipping and covid it’s not okay to talk to people like that

They were fully refunded. But he did tell me he’s got a week off if work to make sure he investigates it.

I also spoke to DHl and advised them not to talk to him as he could redirect this and they stuck a new tracking label on the items. "
To summarize, he's claiming that I previously broke an item that he sent me, then that he ultimately made sure I would never receive the sniffer I paid for, then that he instructed DHL to refuse to work with me.

1. The Ion Arm
I never brought this up myself as a complaint against Ben, but a couple years ago I ordered an ion arm from him, and I asked if he could add the tapped hole for my screen accurate vintage GB1 Clippard fitting, to which he agreed. Even though this isn't what he said, I actually did make a mistake here by assuming that he knew what the right size hole was, and not explicitly stating that it should be tapped 10-32. He tapped it a larger metric size, and he is aware of all of this. Here are the screenshots:

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You can see that his included metric bolt threaded in perfectly, which he was aware of. The point here is that he is undeniably knowingly lying about this, and contructing an elaborate fabrication in which he claims I damaged the threads from over tightening, and then he got opinions on the matter from various colleagues. He did this in an attempt to justify "calling the sniffer back". This week, I dug Ben's unused ion arm out of my storage and took a picture of the absolutely perfect condition threads:
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There was never any talk whatsoever of me "managing to fix it". It remains exactly as he sent it to me, and I instead used the more accurately proportioned GBFans version on my pack (though with new copper rods to replace the brass).

2. Waiting for the Sniffer

He claims above that I was such a jerk to him while waiting for the sniffer that he decided to "call it back" and ensure I would never receive it. I will now post screenshots of the conversations featuring every single thing I said to him while waiting. Take note that he ignores all requests for tracking numbers, and the only proof he offers is pictures of courier conversations with all identifying information cropped out. Also take note of my words, because he's claiming that made him decide to secretly ensure I would never receive the product I paid for; also, the dates. I am not impatient, and I allowed lots of time between messages. This took place over months.

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keyboard to copy
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As you can see, once I insist on a tracking number and ONLY a tracking number, he has no option left and IMMEDIATELY gives me a refund that I did not ask for. According to his own words at the top of this thread, he has talked to the courier to ensure I will not receive the item, but you can see here that he's telling me the item will likely be destroyed by the courier (a very bizarre lie).
Take note again of everything I said to him, which he's claiming convinced him to initiate this deception. Asking for a tracking number was the ONLY catalyst for our business being prematurely concluded.

3. DHL Tracking

While I suspected he was lying for a while, I said nothing about this until he refunded me, because I was still hoping to receive the item I paid for. When I realized I was strung along for months and would have nothing to show for it, it did make me angry, and I THEN responded angrily to him:

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Take note of the fact that by HIS OWN ADMISSION in his group, he is completely lying here about the fate of the item.

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That last picture sort of feels like Ben trying to justify to himself that lying about this stuff to some people is okay, because there are other times when he has given people things for free. That's not the way it works though.

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Still trying to avoid a tracking number.

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That tracking screen was NOT linked, but a screenshot he sent...again, with no other identifying information.

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In the interest of accuracy, I should say that my words here to him aren't quite correct. It's true that multiple people did reach out to me to address my worries regarding Ben, but they weren't really so much warnings, as I had already purchased from him. It was more of a "we suspect he does questionable/less than honest things with shipping, but you'll probably still be okay in the end" attitude. Immediately after telling him I would post whatever results I find from the tracking, he took steps to silence me. Take note of my words: I did NOT say "Once I prove you're lying", and that is intentional. I said "Whatever result I find", and if I found that the tracking info was legit, I'd have said that. Actually, I probably never would have brought any of this up at all.

I spoke to DHL 3 times. Each time they said they don't know what I'm talking about. According to Ben in his words at the top of the thread, this is because he conspired with the entirety of the DHL company, convincing them to deny knowledge of this package to me, and not work with me whatsoever. I find it hard to believe that even his most diehard followers are accepting that a huge famous company is doing that. Here is DHL telling me that Ben's number doesn't even contain the correct number of digits for DHL:

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This puts me in an even more bizarre position: I'm essentially now defending Ben from himself. His own claims paint him in an even more malicious light than I'm suggesting. I don't think he really secretly made sure I wouldn't receive my item, nor do I think he conspired with DHL and convinced them to lie to me. I think he has trouble managing orders, tries to conceal his difficulty by lying sometimes, and that he had so much difficulty with my order that he never even got around to shipping it over the course of many months.

As I said at the beginning of this, I don't know what kind of weird toxicity I stumbled into here in this community, but it isn't something I need in my life. When a customer claims difficulty with any other seller, it's met with a fairly open mind, and I can point to tons of proof elsewhere on this forum. Yet BoK seems to inspire followers to form lynch mobs when anyone utters a negative word. I can see from private conversations that many people have stories like mine about Ben, but are afraid to share them because they fear the resulting aggravation ruining their lives. Those of you who enable BoK are to blame for that.

That's really all I have to say. I hope some of you start examining things with a more open mind. Albert Einstein famously said, "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth". Please don't think I'm speaking negatively of the entire community, because I've also seen TONS of amazing people here who have inspired me, and it's been my honor to interact with them.
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4954712
Merged with existing topic.

In future, please message a mod about unlocking the topic to add the material, rather than creating a brand-new one.

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