a few months ago, i contacted Ralph Lukas about some Jun cams, springs, and retainers. he had blown his motor in his daily driver when he broke a retainer and dropped a valve; he was looking to get his new setup built ASAP. he was offering to trade the cams, etc. for some things which he needed urgently, so we agreed via email and phone that i'd give him an itr intake manifold and tb + $ for the Jun stuff.

he said he was going to get the new retainer from Jun, and would send me everything at once (i should have known better), but that he'd send me $ as collateral for my stuff, to be refunded with the extra $ when he sent the Jun stuff. cool. he sent the $, i sent the stuff, and we kept in touch over the few weeks Jun was supposed to take to inspect the stuff and return it with the problem parts replaced, we discussed tuning, etc.; he seemed like a cool guy; even invited my girl and i out to visit him and his girl, and go to Englishtown.

during one conversation, Ralph said that he had a problem getting the TB to work, but said it was no big deal (iacv?), and would have his shop fix it for cheap or free. i apologized; i knew of no such problem since i had not used the TB, but he said it was OK. for a while i don't hear from Ralph, when one day he emails me saying he was sick with strep and in the hospital, but that he has the cams and will send them- will even send me his old block if i want to resleeve it- 'thanks! strep/hosptial- ouch, no prob, man; get well soon, and send the stuff when you get a chance this week- the $ is waiting' (and i'm excited).

no word for at least a week. phone disconnected. WTF? then i get an email- 'i'm working mad hrs out of town, and my phone is out, and i sent your Jun stuff last week, but the block was stolen.' -Jun stuff, cool. block, oh well. no word for another week; no stuff either. meanwhile, i notice that Ralph changed his email id; looked familiar, so i searched h-t.

WTF!?- during his last hiatus, he had switched his h-t id and listed the Jun stuff f/s again, saying he wanted to buy a Toda setup. in another current post, he said he was still using the Jun stuff in his new setup. i email him at both email addresses, to find that the first is out; i asked him if he was falling through on our deal, and to please inform me, but from the second addy, i get his reply that the stuff was supposed to go out, but didn't, and that it will be on its way to me soon. OK, until i happen to notice some Jun stuff on ebay exactly as Ralph described his to me. hmm...

i checked his other auctions; same other stuff as listed f/s on h-t. so, i place a late, high bid, and win the auction. Ralph emails me admitting to falling through, and offers me more $ for the stuff i sent him, reminding me that the tb was broken- hmm, a few weeks ago it was no problem, and the cams were sent. now this?! i told him that i did not want more $, nor did i want to ruin his reputation by posting something such as this on h-t, as it would do me no good; i just want to complete our original deal. i offered him more $ to complete the deal, and he accepted but it's been a week since, and no word yet- just something to consider when dealing with him.


[Modified by slofu, 1:43 AM 4/16/2002]

 

im not even gonna try to read that.

Put some paragraphs in there dude. makes it way easier to read.

 

That was little confusing to read. Were you robbed from at any point or did he just bail out of a deal?
Also does he live in Toms River, NJ? Just curious.

 

it does make sense, just hard to read.
Seems like he screw'd u, or was trying to

 

ralph with the silver integra?
i met him when my friend bought his carbon fiber hood off him.

he seemed trustworthy,
he should've just kept the JUN stuff.

 

how much money did he send you?

 

dude,

handle that ******* before he gets away.

 

sounds like you got jerked! Sorry

 

Heh, sounds like your typical import "enthusiast" flake...

 

OK, if any one knows anyway i can contact him directly (phone #), please IM or email me personally. thanks.

 

I bailed out of the deal, but he was compensated (450) plus offered another 150.00. I flaked out and I apologize and I also bailed out of 2 more deals, timing sucks, work is slow Ive been laid off and right now I cant send the cams because they are in my engine. 555R can rep for me, Ive been a customer of his for 2 years and he knows first hand of my troubles. Joe, I gave you 450 plus I offeres another 150, I understand your pissed but before you call me a scam artist listen to reason. Bottom line I flaked, but Ive came through on countless other deals to members of this board, clubsi, purehonda and Ebay. My email is still the same badboyxxx2001@aol.com

 

i was also promised the same cams. we were doing a so called trade. i smelled a rat so luckily i didn't send my end of the deal. otherwise i would have been another victim ralph lukas. beware be very aware of flakers. i got dicked around 3+ months and he flaked on countless amount of deals. i dont know why i almost fell for the last deal. i was holding parts for him for months and months!

 

Ralph, thanks for your reply. i didn't say that you scammed me, nor did i mean to infer it. i sympathize with your predicament, and am wiling to work with you to complete our deal, and put this mess behind us ASAP. if you will take back the $ which you sent me + the $300 agreed upon for the Jun stuff, i will send you a set of stock cams, springs, retainers to use until you get your Toda setup. Please consider. thanks. -joe

 

he bailed on many deals so i dont see why he could come thru this time. he told me he had no money for nothing. so where does he get the toda from? i hope u get your deal completed either way. i just wont trust a kingflaker like ralph lukas though. maybe he will be better to u than he was to me. what he told me was chill out it's only a car. no biggie. he loves wasting my time!