IMSAI II - still viable OR has anyone else lost their deposit?

[Grant Stockly]

I've talked to him several times.  Before the Altair kit and 
after.  Very nice guy.  I don't think he has any bad intentions at 
all.  I will buy one the second they become available.  I have no 
idea what the situation with them is, but I'd have a hard time 
thinking he was trying to defraud people or lie (of course, I have 
all my money).  He has told me of the money, engineering, and time he 
has spent.

Possibly he just isn't a "business" man.  That's not a bad thing at 
all, we all have our strengths!  Engineers aren't good with making 
their own due dates...  ; )  The Kenbak kit was supposed to be done 
by March.  I just shipped the first 8 kits a week ago today.  ; )

When I started selling kits I decided in the beginning not to collect 
money until stuff was ready to ship.  I wasn't worried too much about 
getting lazy, but it made me look forward to shipping and work 
towards that goal.

Grant

At 11:36 AM 10/1/2007, you wrote:
>I had absolutely the same experience. I paid in full for a machine in march
>of 2003. For a year he bs'ed me about how the machine was a few months off.
>Then in june of 2004 I asked for my money back. He then went from telling me
>how honorable a businessman he was, to lying about sending me a refund, to
>no response at all. This man is in my opinion a liar and a fraud if not
>worse. DO NOT SEND HIM MONEY NO MATTER WHAT HE CLAIMS HE CAN DO.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
>On Behalf Of Robert Stek
>Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 12:22 PM
>To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
>Subject: IMSAI II - still viable OR has anyone else lost their deposit?
>
>I was an early fan of the Todd Fischer's IMSAI II project (www.imsai.net)
>and sent off a deposit several years ago.  I even offered to review it in
>Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar Ink (I'm a friend of Steve's and formerly lived in
>Hartford).  I understand the problems of a task like re-inventing the IMSAI
>and think that I have been more than patient.  His website is still active,
>he has a copyright date of 2007 on it, and it appears that you can still
>order not only an IMSAI II but other items as well.
>
>
>
>Unfortunately I have emailed him several times over the past 12-18 months
>and haven't had the courtesy of a response.  I know he's there - he posts in
>comp.os.cpm - but from him to me: nada, zip, zilch, nothing.
>
>
>
>Is there anyone else on the list who was as retrospectively foolish as I as
>to trust him with a deposit?  It doesn't speak much for his ethics if he
>advertises and takes orders for non-existent products (who was that guy and
>his company that advertised in Kilobaud, among others, back in the '70's
>with full page ads for non-existent products?  Remember that?).  And his
>customer service skills are non-existent if he just ignores politely worded
>inqueries re: progress on the product.
>
>
>
>So, am I the only one still waiting for an IMSAI II?
>
>
>
>
>
>Bob Stek
>
>Saver of Lost Sols
>
>