scott_2k16 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Just found this piece on the internet  http://stevenf.com/posts/steven-gauntley-is-a-criminal  Be wary of Steven Gauntley  2013-08-04  Warning: Do not send this person money.  Last updated: Sep 23, 2013  Steven Gauntley  Steven Charles Gauntley (themachines@live.co.uk) born 1979 of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, operates a Blogspot called "Retro Heart" on which he displays and accepts orders for miniature scale models of retro arcade machine cabinets that he (allegedly) manufactures.  (You can Google the site -- I don't want to provide an additional inbound link to it. Please note that Mr. Gauntley is not involved with the Etsy store also named "Retro Heart".)  It is believed Mr. Gauntley also operated a website called "Chumpatize" which also sold arcade miniatures. (That site is now closed.)  He has also been active on eBay with these items under several accounts, including miniature_arcade.  Previously, he was an organizer and promoter in the UK professional wrestling community, and has a lengthy history of ripping people off, which is widely documented on the internet. More on that below.  Steven Gauntley  I placed a USD $300 (GBP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daaaaaad! Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Could be interesting to see what happens here. People within the wrestling business seem utterly willing just to let people defraud them out of money without doing anything about it, but I'd be willing to think that this won't be as easy to escape from. Â Might explain why Pro Wrestling Republic was cancelled before it even began. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleslie92 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 What an odd website. Seems that Southside promoter Ben Auld also has some questions to answer here, strange that he would get involved in this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted August 27, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted August 27, 2013 He contacted us in the shop (I work for a retro games shop to clarify) ages ago asking us to order some books or something off him. I think they were like History of the NES or something. The two guys running it were interested until I saw the name Steven Gauntley attached to the email and immediately warned them to never do business with him because he's a con artist and generally shit human being. Â Sadly not everyone posts on here and knows about him, and even then some people do and still fall for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Sloan Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 "Mr. Auld responded:Â July 16, 2013: "I'm afraid that Steven [Gauntley] has also ripped me off, Basically he owed my a load of money and used your funds to pay me half of what he owed me. He then failed to pay me the other half and much like yourself he is now not responding to any emails I send him." Â I explained that the money was not his to keep, as I had never received any product. Mr. Auld replied: Â July 16, 2013: "I'm just being honest mate I'm not going to do this as I have done nothing wrong and am not losing out twice to Steven. I have lost a lot of money to him and won't lose any more to him. I have also been ripped of here so am no less harmed than yourself." Â On the contrary, Mr. Auld has done something very wrong. Having admittedly already been scammed by Mr. Gauntley, he knowingly and willfully accepted money from a third-party to settle his debts. Â He made no attempt to warn me of Mr. Gauntley's prior wrongdoing. He could have returned it on the spot, as the note on the transaction clearly explained what it was for. He continues to keep the money. It is unfortunate that Mr. Auld has also been wronged by Mr. Gauntley, but in no way does it entitle him to keep my money unless Mr. Gauntley delivers the items I ordered. Â Unfortunately, Mr. Auld still incorrectly believes he is allowed to keep my money because he got ripped off first: Â August 4, 2013: "actually for all I know you could be scamming , I received the money in good faith so fuck you . I am not guilty in any way. You got ripped off ( so you say ) so did I , you just expect me to cover yours . You have his address so go get the money !"" Â To be honest, While everything else seems to be very acurate, these bits about Ben Auld seem unlike him. He always posts about doing the right thing and being professional so telling somebody to **** off and keeping their money doesn't sound like what you would expect from him.... Â I am sure he would be more than happy to give an innocent person from the US his money back and he knows all too well how bad it feels to have money taken from him in good faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted August 27, 2013 Moderators Share Posted August 27, 2013 Mr Auld? The floor is yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I wonder how capable people are of changing, really. Gauntley just seems like a born liar, fraudster and incompetent div. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanky316 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 He contacted us in the shop (I work for a retro games shop to clarify) ages ago asking us to order some books or something off him. I think they were like History of the NES or something. The two guys running it were interested until I saw the name Steven Gauntley attached to the email and immediately warned them to never do business with him because he's a con artist and generally shit human being. Sadly not everyone posts on here and knows about him, and even then some people do and still fall for it.  Yeah I recognised the Retro Heart screen name and he's posted a few times shilling his mini arcade cabinets in Retro Gamer, he's also linked with a French publishing company who publish these gaming books. Not sure exactly how much he has to do with the day to day business of the publisher but out of curiosity had a look on the RG forums and saw someone who's been chasing up on an order they made through the official website and after a month of trying to contact nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted August 27, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted August 27, 2013 He contacted us in the shop (I work for a retro games shop to clarify) ages ago asking us to order some books or something off him. I think they were like History of the NES or something. The two guys running it were interested until I saw the name Steven Gauntley attached to the email and immediately warned them to never do business with him because he's a con artist and generally shit human being. Sadly not everyone posts on here and knows about him, and even then some people do and still fall for it.  Yeah I recognised the Retro Heart screen name and he's posted a few times shilling his mini arcade cabinets in Retro Gamer, he's also linked with a French publishing company who publish these gaming books. Not sure exactly how much he has to do with the day to day business of the publisher but out of curiosity had a look on the RG forums and saw someone who's been chasing up on an order they made through the official website and after a month of trying to contact nothing.  Yeah he mentioned the publisher, but sadly they could be 100% legit and because he's involved I'd still never want to take a first step. I saw that thread on the Retro Gamer forum too, oddly enough in a thread about Pixel Nation which I contributed a couple of interviews to. The only two forums on the internet I really bother to read and he's on both of them fobbing people off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_dezeeuw06 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 To be honest I don't think Ben Auld is responsible for anything. He hasn't provided goods or services and hasn't failed to honor an agreement, Gauntley owed him money and directed a payment to Ben rather than accept the money himself and pass it on. Obviously this complicates the matter but the premise of the situation is Gauntley did wrong, he should be responsible for paying for it not anyone else. But it is a very complicated situation and Gauntley has put everyone in a very awkward and compromising situation that at the moment he is the only winner and everyone else a victim. Â After losing money myself to 1pw I feel complete sympathy for the person who lost out and I can understand asking Ben Auld for his money back as I would try anything too but I don't think he personally has any responsibility to pay for Gauntleys mess ups either and I wouldn't realistically expect him to refund goods he has not sold its just the way Gauntley paid him some of what's owed which is issue. He got screwed himself so the last thing he will want is to take another hit for him. In all honesty if anyone was in Ben Aulds situation would you pay for Gauntleys mess? Personally I wouldn't. Â Gauntley clearly hasn't changed. I feel sorry for person who lost out and Ben Auld who has been dragged into something that originally had nothing to do with him and wish them both luck in getting everything back from Gauntley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 After losing money myself to 1pw I feel complete sympathy for the person who lost out and I can understand asking Ben Auld for his money back as I would try anything too but I don't think he has any responsibility to pay for Gauntleys mess ups either and I wouldn't realistically expect him to refund goods he has not sold. Taking money for goods he has not sold is fine though? If you're letting Gauntley use your Paypal account to take payments for his latest scams, you're in bed with him and share the burden of the fallout. Â Didn't this southside fella do this with 1PW or Danny Rodd at one point as well, act as their treasurer/Paypal patsy and get his fingers burned when it went tits up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 wish Gauntley would just join Wallace in a jail cell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_dezeeuw06 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 After losing money myself to 1pw I feel complete sympathy for the person who lost out and I can understand asking Ben Auld for his money back as I would try anything too but I don't think he has any responsibility to pay for Gauntleys mess ups either and I wouldn't realistically expect him to refund goods he has not sold. Taking money for goods he has not sold is fine though? If you're letting Gauntley use your Paypal account to take payments for his latest scams, you're in bed with him and share the burden of the fallout. Â Didn't this southside fella do this with 1PW or Danny Rodd at one point as well, act as their treasurer/Paypal patsy and get his fingers burned when it went tits up? Â As far as im aware Ben Auld had nothing to do with any incarnation of 1pw. Â Accepting money for goods you didn't sell obviously isn't standard practice, but how do u know Ben Auld knew the extent of the situation? sometimes my friends need to send me money via pay pal and they tell me money is coming and it arrives as discussed but not always from the persons name. Obviously they have used a friend or family members account and as long as it arrives I don't ever question it. I assume its fine and don't assume someone is messing about and I imagine in this case it isn't a case that Ben Auld was knowingly accepting payments for Gauntley goods in some type of scheme. In hindsight it's obviously been a mistake for all parties it's a mess and Gauntley has fucked everyone. Gauntley has a lot to answer for and hope he is the one who has to pay up rather than anyone else lose out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 As far as im aware Ben Auld had nothing to do with any incarnation of 1pw. Who am I thinking of? Someone on here over the last couple of years was taking money for one of the various supershows/conventions and either had to pay it all back to people when the promoters vanished, or upset people by going "I had nothing to do with it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_dezeeuw06 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 As far as im aware Ben Auld had nothing to do with any incarnation of 1pw. Who am I thinking of? Someone on here over the last couple of years was taking money for one of the various supershows/conventions and either had to pay it all back to people when the promoters vanished, or upset people by going "I had nothing to do with it." Â Not sure, a lot of people got fucked by some form of 1pw Gauntley, Rodd and Brookes have hurt a lot of fans and colleagues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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