I'm reprinting this from FB. Thought all of us should know about him. I'd still like to see a place here for "bad experiences" with vendors. A short story about what happend and more importantly WHO it was. May keep some others from a loss. Also gives a place in the Y-Block community to rebuff claims. Someone may know the person and have a different story. Anyway here is the post from Bill Ancona:
To whom it may concern:
On April 9th at 10:50pm I posted on the internet that I was looking for some parts for 1955 and 1956 Fords. On April 10th at 7:35am central time I received a text from Jeff (Jeffie) Smith of Smith Design in Mansfield OH that he wanted to know what I was looking for. I told Jeff I was looking for a 56 dashboard and a 55 hood. He replied he had both. I asked how much and what condition. I asked for pictures. He replied that he had a nice hood and dash. Said dash was padded and hood was rust free and solid. I asked if he had a not-padded dash. He replied Yes. Jeff said he wanted $450 for the hood and $150 for the non-padded dash, complete. He said everything he sells is nice, no junk. Still no pictures. He asked if I was interested and I replied yes. He asked how I would pick up and said he could ship FedEx Freight. I asked where he was and he replied Ohio. I asked if I could just call him and he gave me his phone number. We spoke and after a few minutes we found ourselves talking about also buying two front fenders for a 56 and the grill surround pieces for a 55 as well as a re-chromed set of inside Tiera pieces for a 56 Crown Victoria. I told him that was too rich for my blood and that I would take only the Hood, dashboard and grill trim for $300. At 10:45am Jeff texted me and offered me a package deal on everything saying he would sell me the dashboard, hood, grill trim, two fenders, and the inside Tiera trim set fully re-chromed and ready to install for $1000 . I agreed and he asked me to send the money via Western Union. I asked if he could just take my credit card number and he replied that he no longer accepted credit cards. I sent the money via Western Union and informed him that I did. When he found out that it would take 3 days for him to get the money he asked me to change the moneygram to money in minutes so he could get the money sooner. I informed him that money in minutes had a $100 fee as opposed to the $10 fee for a moneygram. I told him it was cheaper to do a wire transfer, cancelled the moneygram and did a wire transfer to the bank account he subsequently gave to me. He insisted that I get the wire transfer done immediately because he had taken his “guys” off of everything so that they could crate the order and ship it that day. A bunch of drama ensued due to the fact that he had me put his personal name on the wire transfer but gave be his business bank account number. After much ado I got the wire department to change the beneficiary name on the wire transfer to read “Smith Design”. He was able to verify that the money would be in his bank account on the next business day (Monday). He told me the package would leave Tuesday. He had my FedEx number and he said it was packed and ready to go and that he had scheduled with FedEx. From that day to this all Jeff has done is come up with excuses as to why the package has not been shipped. It is the 22nd of April and still no package. I’m guessing I will never see the parts or the money again. Research that I have done has shown that Jeff has a history of such things and I am not the first to get swindled by him. I wish that I had done the research before I sent him the money. Regretfully I got caught up in the joy that I was getting a “good deal” on some parts that I was looking for. I am sure that is exactly what Jeff sensed as well and he used that to his advantage.
Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.
MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire