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Beware Alan Bussie

j-fever

By j-fever,
in Bad Trader Alert

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j-fever

j-fever

Posted
Posted (edited)

I bought a Italeri Jet with an included aftermarket cockpit set from the oldmodelkits.com web page. The kit arrived with no cockpit set and the original ad was quickly taken off his web page.

I emailed him asking about it and after a delay he offered a refund.

When he sent the original kit out it was recklessly put into a "free" USPS box, no padding, nothing. When the kit arrived many of the parts had broken off the trees, rattling around the box, the canopy badly scratched etc. The packaging sure did not reflect the high "shipping and handling" charge that more than covered his shipping costs. Loose parts don't really bother me, tha canopy can be cleaned up, no big deal, I was planning on building the kit anyway. However, I am not sure Mr. Bussie thinks that way.

Considering he sells "collectable" kits there seems to be very little concern that a kit HE HAS SOLD arrives safely, or complete. Yet on his web page he is very specific about the condition of a kit he recieves.

I returned the to kit to him, carefully wrapped, padded and all parts secured, with a tracking number. He later claimed the kit was missing a small part (the kit was 100% complete when sent to him) and since I was very concerned I would never get my money back, I sent him a duplicate part from another kit of mine.

After a long delay he finally sent my refund.

Lesson to learn from this:

DON"T BUY KITS FROM ALAN BUSSIE!

The lesson cost me a bit of postage and a plastic part that I will now have to scratch-build.

Edited by j-fever
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  • 4 months later...
Steve Wiessbach

Steve Wiessbach

Posted
Posted

I have bought from Alan Bussie in the past, and I will continue to buy from him. To date I have bought over a couple dozen kits and have more on order. Everything has gone smooth. A kit was missing a part once, and I returned the kit. He made it right, sent me a refund + shipping both ways. That's his policy. He made it right, what more can you ask for?

Looks like the message poster has a bit of sour grapes. So Alan Bussie messed up his order. The message here is that when the poster returned the kit...the entire kit as he states the other part followed later...he received his refund. And there are parts off the trees? Remember, it's a OLD MODEL KIT. Not Squadron.

I've bought from Alan Bussie for 3 years and have no plans to stop. I have turned my friends on to his site, and their experiences have been as smooth as mine.

Steve

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j-fever

j-fever

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  • Author
Posted
I have bought from Alan Bussie in the past, and I will continue to buy from him. To date I have bought over a couple dozen kits and have more on order. Everything has gone smooth. A kit was missing a part once, and I returned the kit. He made it right, sent me a refund + shipping both ways. That's his policy. He made it right, what more can you ask for?

Looks like the message poster has a bit of sour grapes. So Alan Bussie messed up his order. The message here is that when the poster returned the kit...the entire kit as he states the other part followed later...he received his refund. And there are parts off the trees? Remember, it's a OLD MODEL KIT. Not Squadron.

I've bought from Alan Bussie for 3 years and have no plans to stop. I have turned my friends on to his site, and their experiences have been as smooth as mine.

Steve

Glad to hear that your experience is acceptable to you.

However Alan sells most of the kits at "collectable" prices. If a buyer is going to pay those inflated prices, then the least Alan could do is secure all the parts properly and provide adequate protection in shipping.

A non-sealed kit placed loosely into a "free" USPS container is just not acceptable, especially if the kit is older and has many loose parts. Also the shipping charges where double the actual cost of shipping.

Still a rip-off.

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hmriggs

hmriggs

Posted
Posted

I have been using Alan's service for a couple years now, and I have had no bad experiences. Always prompt, courteous, and helpful.

A single bad experience is not grounds to condemn him. If it were to continue, or others having similar events, then there should be concern.

Alan provides a valuable service to us. I have an order being processed now.

Best,

Michaelo

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Julien (UK)

Julien (UK)

Posted
Posted

Something smells badly here in that 2 people join the site to defend a bad post!

I appriciate the warning as I was looking at this site for a kit. I would hate to think what state a kit would arrive in the UK in if not packaged correctly.

Julien

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JasonW

JasonW

Posted
Posted (edited)

Newbies both staunchly defending a questionable trader called out in TWO different topics? :worship:

Hmmm, somethings rotten in Denmark, BESIDES the cheese....... ;)

Edited by JasonW
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profjake

profjake

Posted
Posted

I have been ordering from Alan Bussie since his website originated. In fact, I was his first customer. I have ordered several thousands of dollars worth of models from Al and I have never had the problems that has been posted here. His models have always arrived packed and in good condition. It should be noted that Al offered the man a refund so Al is a man of his word. What more can anyone ask for? One unhappy customer is bound to happen in any business. You just can't please everybody. I'm sorry that he had a "bad experience", but I can assure the buying model builders that Al's model company is a good place from which to buy hard-to-find and one-of-a-kind models. I am a professor of engineering and am now disabled and can no longer work. Al's site has helped me fill many hours with modeling and given me much satisfaction. I will continue to buy models from him until the day I die.

Prof Jake

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aerofan

aerofan

Posted
Posted
Where is Steve Wiessbach's second post?

edit: n/m. found it:

Oldmodelkits.com, Any good?

;)

I have only dealt with Alan once. I guess I was lucky and didn't have a problem. I also found it strange that Steve Wiessbach replied to the old thread "Oldmodelkits.com, Any good?" a month after the last post before his. I also replied behind his post. After that one dealing, I haven't dealt with Alan again as I find his prices more than a bit too steep.

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hetzer

hetzer

Posted
Posted

Well here's another nubiie to make jokes with, but you are free to hear my experiences anyway... these are an East europeans experiences which means hard experiences. Here wo do not have PayPal, no customer protecting system, banks work eratticly, custom officers are harsh and post office slack - in other words we are predestined to get robbed... And I was, many times... from Asia, from America, from Russia, from brotherly european countries... missing parts, missing decals, missing kits, once even a whole $380 order missing... not to mention missing friend whom I thrusted with the money. I paid for my model collection dearly, I can say that...

But I never experienced nothing but patience and thrustfullness from Mr. & Ms. Bussie. They were always willing to wait, willing to mail an extra explanation, always informing of the arrival of the money and sending of the shipment. Shipments itself were safely packed, filled with antishock foam... In years they proved to be one of my favorite traders... of course, they are not on the cheapest side, but you know that old Jewish saying: "I'm not that wealthy to be buying cheap stuff". They actualy restored my faith in Internet trade.

And OldModelKits web site is something realy special - more of a museum than a marketplace. I thought I knew something of modeling history until I had found it.

You all know what means a bad experience... I certanly simpathise with that... but as you can see there are bad experiences and worst experiences. So let's not condamn a honest trader on account of one missing part.

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hetzer

hetzer

Posted
Posted

Yeah, and the fun goes on...

No Mulder & Scully needed... just some plain reason and some evidences...

As for evidences:

I see a lot of guys insinuating that mr. bussie is making up nubies in his favour. Of course the Net is perfect scene for such an action. But here I am, flesh & blood, and to prove so I am going to do something very webunusual - My home address is >>Nebojsa Savicevic, ul. Mile Dimic 70, 11090 Belgrade, Serbia << So spend a dime and write me an oldfashion letter and I'll surely reply. Pay me a visit and I'll be happy to show you around (modelers of the world are always most welcome in my home), I can even show you some parts of the only F-117 lost in action.

Further on my cell phone no. is 0642201925 when calling from Serbia, when calling from abroad ask your phone company for prefix numbers and omit the first zero (only 642201925). Feel fre to call me any hour, day or night.

As for Internet go to Google Serbia and try to find more about me by my name... I'm sure you'll find a fact or two...

Also try IMDb, I think there is something there, also...

Anything missing...?

Now in Mulder/Scally style lets see for the other party... someone mentioned intrigue and mistery... I'll setle for Shakespeare... A Much Ado Abouth Nothing, to be exact.... so much words and poisonous replies for one lousy part of a lousy Italeri kit... how much worth... say 20-30-40 bucks at most... still don't see anyone complaining on account of a Renwal $1000 kit? Actualy this is the reason for my decision to participate in this forum. I've visited it often for my position demands to be aware of bad traders (see my first reply). And a few days ago guess what - I'm witnessing a whole stream of replies against someone who proved worthy of my thrust...

So, now the plain reason comes in - is one lousy part of an easy-to-find kit (all Italeris are, as far as I know) worth so many bad words? Or is it an orchestrated attack? A personal showdown? Don't get me wrong, but I'm from an ex-comunist country, organized witch hunt was something very usual here (but it wasn't invented here, you all know the history of the Western civilization)... so I'm always touchy about issues that reminds me of this infamous practice.

P.S. As for the linguist expert who established the facts of style similarities, what can I say - Congratulations, wish you were my student.

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Grey Ghost 531

Grey Ghost 531

Posted
Posted

Hetzer, how did you find out Mr. Bussie and his business were held up for criticism on this site? Have you been visiting ARC for a while without posting? Do you realize you're probably hurting Mr. Bussie's reputation here rather than helping it? Since we're throwing around Shakespeare, how about some Hamlet? "The Lady doth protest too much, methinks..."

:D

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