56 replies to this topic

[DEVONKNIGHT]

*** BUYER BEWARE! ***

*** Do not purchase any items being sold by a Jim Arnold of Reel Art ***
(He also sells on Ebay under the name Reelart)
5705 West Shore Drive
New Port Richey, Florida
34652

Read the story below for the full details leading to me issuing this warning. I know it is long, but it is well worth your time reading!

The story goes like this. I had seen James Bond replicas made by SD Studios and was interested in the re-breather from Thunderball providing the quality was there and the price was not too steep. He told me that he originally bought all of SD Studios left over stock when he went out of business and that he had a Thunderball breather, but no plaque or Romeo & Julieta cigar tube to go with it and that the quality was excellent.

I asked him if he had any pictures of the Thunderball re-breather he could e-mail to me and how much he was asking for it? I also asked him if it is the one that was manufactured by SD Studios and what its construction consisted of? He told me that it was made out of plated gold metal and the end pieces were resin type material. He said it was a SD Studios model and that they were very rare. He also told me that he was looking around for the plaque and tube and if he found them, they were mine. He also said he had the paper work that came from SD Studios to go with it and was asking $225.00 US for it.

Having said that he had the original paperwork for this item, I asked if he could e-mail a picture of it for me to see. I also asked what condition the breather was in? He responded that, first and most important, that the breather was in mint condition. He also told me again that about 5 years ago he bought all of the left over inventory of SD Studios with the agreement from the owner that he could not sell any more of this or make any more of this stuff without him being involved. He also said the SD Studios items were the only officially licensed replicas of these made and
as for the paperwork, since he made it up, he had many extras.

I was a little confused on this, as he had said that he made up the paperwork for this item and had many extras. I asked him if this was your paperwork or the paperwork from SD Studios on the replica breather? I also asked him if there was more than one variation of the breather that was made by SD Studios and if he could perhaps fax me a copy of the paperwork from SD Studios for the breather?

He replied that there was only one type of Breather made by SD Studios, but did not answer my question regarding whose paperwork it was, so I asked him again if it was his or SD Studios? He finally answered me and said that he took SD Studios and kind of dressed it up a bit to make it look better. He said that the owner of SD Studios, Steve Dymszo, was an engineer not a Graphics Artist and therefore, his stuff was pretty boring.

One last thing I asked him was if he offered any sort of refund if I was not 100% satisfied with the item for whatever reason? I told him the reason I ask is that he said the item was in mint condition, but in the past I have purchased items before that were sold as mint, and yet when I received them, they weren

Attached Files

•  COMPARE.pdf   112.5KB   255 downloads

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Here is a close-up of the breather I received.

Attached Files

•  breather_received_1.JPG   15.57KB   217 downloads

[DEVONKNIGHT]

And here is another close-up.

Attached Files

•  breather_received_2.JPG   15.7KB   180 downloads

[IndyB007]

Yeah.. from that photograph..... those are two completely different replicas there.....

[zencat]

I'm sorry to hear about this, DEVONKNIGHT. I've had nothing but good experiences with Jim myself, so I hope this is just a misunderstanding and the situation gets resolved. Good luck.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Actually zencat, there is more to this story. I have to update this a little as new developments have arisen. I have been in contact with Steve Dymszo and have heard from Jim as well. Lets just say that what I heard from Jim is not in my favor. I am waiting to get permission from Steve to use the e-mail he sent me regarding his verification of the breather I received. When I get it, I will post an update. By the way, there is a website that has a real good close-up od a SD Studios breather if anyone wants to see it and compare it with my close-ups. The differences are much more easily identifiable. This is the website with the SD Studios close-up:

http://home.earthlin...uggle5/id1.html

[IndyB007]

Yeah, keep us informed... and I hope everything goes in your favor...

[DEVONKNIGHT]

I have recently filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Upon receiving word of my complaint, Jim e-mailed me and told me that I could forget the refund, as it is a courtesy that he does it, and I had worn it out! Below is the exact e-mail I received from him:

Dear Brad

Got your complaint with the Better business. Thanks, shows what a nice guy you are. Go ahead & contact mister Dysmo. He will tell you that I had bought about 100 breathers from him & I am a 1st class company & a 1st class person who, contray to your believf have never ripped any one off in my life. I offered to give you your money back minus shipping. I think that is more than fair. You would find it very hard to have any company give you a refund before you send the item back. Go ahead & try Walmart will not & nether will any other respectable company. It is a recipe to never getting the item back. Getting a refund is something that I do as a courtesy, I do not have to do it, but I do because I would hope that someone would do the same for me as I am a collector first. However, I have never treated nor ever would a retailer like you have me. Making false accusations of fraud against them & contacting the Better Business. Especially after I told you that I would give you a refund. Forget the refund now though as stated it is a courtesy & you have worn it out. So please do not send it back as I will no longer except the package & offer a refund. Please do not ever do business with me again and maybe when you make a complaint you should state the facts. The item is a sd studios Breather, I should know better than you as I bought all of their inventory. Ask mister Dysmo if you do not belive me. I said that the paperwork was the original paperwork & enhanced. It was exactly that. Maybe your the fraud & not me? Anyway Solong & I hope that I never hear from you again, but I am sure that I will.

Jim

This came as no surprise to me. I knew he would do this as I had already gotten to know his character quite well. This basically brings this whole saga up to date. I will keep adding to this post as any new developments arise. Should anyone wish to see any or all e-mail correspondence regarding this issue, please let me know and I will forward it all to you.

[IndyB007]

I"m rather curious to know what Steve Dymszo had to say and what Jim had to say about that.... but, it does kind of look like you're not going to get your money back though.....

[DEVONKNIGHT]

I wasn't confident that I would get my money back before I started all this. Like I said, I didn't trust him anymore. Plus the condition of the breather was less than what he said it was. I thought he might say that I was responsible for that and would deduct monies from any refund that he would give me. That's why I wanted the refund first. My back was up against the wall. I can tell you what Steve said, I just wanted to use the exact e-mail he sent me so everyone could see it for themselves, word for word. I asked if I could use him as a contact with the BBB and he said he prefered not to get involved, but I could certainly use the e-mail as evidence. I just want to re-confirm that it is alright for me to use it in this context.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

There are some new developments in this story since I first submitted it. I did contact Steve Dymszo, who owned SD Studios and made this and other James Bond and movie replicas. I forwarded the pictures I took of the breather I received and he wrote me back. Below is the e-mail I received from him:

Got the pics, thanks.

There are a number of pretty-big differences from the SD version that I can spot right away.

It is always difficult to make an "exact" evaluation of anything based on pictures, but looking at these, I can say that this definitely doesn't look like a licensed SD Studios breather. Some things that stand out:

-Shape of the mouthpiece is wrong. It is also painted light gray. We machined ours in a dark gray delrin. We NEVER painted any of them for liability reasons.
-Paintjob on the cylinders is rough. We didn't paint them that way.
-The shape of the cylinder connectors is different from the SDS.
-In a side view, the shape of the center "valve" is wrong.

This doesn't appear to be a SDS breather. Please keep me aprised on what you end up doing. I don't appreciate my work being ripped off either. Sorry to hear that this happened.

I also wrote a respectable prop dealer who is a member of the MPA and who I have dealt with before in London about the situation I was in. He told me he had a friend who was in charge of licensing for EON productions, the company responsible for all James Bond merchandising and that he would look at the pictures to verify the items authenticity. The e-mail he sent me is below:

Hello Brad

the phone call was basically to confirm what Steve has told you I have a friend in charge of licencing for EON production who licenced the SD items he states the breather is a COPY of the SD breather. I can only tell you from personal dealings we have had with Jim Arnold we have never purchased anything from his company and have not heard anything negative they have always paid for items from us in full and without delay, I would suggest that you ask Jim for the full refund including return shipping and tell him the facts I am sure he will do the right thing

best wishes

steve

That

[Qwerty]

I hope this situation finds a solution. Sorry to hear about all of that.

[Brix Bond]

The e-mail this 'Jim' sent you does not reflect the professional qualities that he is supposed to posess.

[doublenoughtspy]

If you look at the rest of his catalog - it's obvious that he is buying props and re-casting them in resin. Batarangs, Predator discs, Robocop grenades, etc. etc. He sells the original for an inflated price and a replica of that for cheaper.

I would assume he is doing the same thing with the rebreather. Re-casting parts, painting them - and passing them off as "original" replicas.

I thank you for bringing this to our attention. I think the fact that it had copied documentation and no packaging should have been your first tip off that this was bogus.

The prop business can be very dicey. For instance - how many "prop" rubber PPKs from License to Kill are floating around? Every couple weeks another is up for auction or sale somewhere.

I stay away from replicas if at all possible. Then again I could have bought a car for what I paid for Rigg's wedding dress from OHMSS.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

You're right! There were some signs that I should have picked up on. I did get some other people's opinions and nothing was coming up negative, so I thought it was safe to do business with him. Lesson learned the hard way! Hopefully this post helps others out there who might be thinking of buying props or replicas.

[007Travis]

I don't know a lot about replicas and things, but I was looking at his website and doesn't it seem like this stuff is extremely expensive? This guy isn't too far from where I live. I'm assuming he has a shop too, I'd be interested in seeing it.
I hope everything works out for you.

Travis

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Some of his stuff is definitely overpriced. Some of the stuff you can get on Ebay for a fraction of the price.

[IndyB007]

Did you tell the guy what Steve Dymszo said about his rip off prop that he sold you before you reported him to the BBB?

[DEVONKNIGHT]

I filed the complaint with the BBB before I heard back from Steve Dymszo. I have told Jim what Steve said about the replica, but Jim is in his own world and still continues to stick with his story. I even told him to look at the pictures as there is a clear difference in the two. He told me that the SD Studios replicas were one of a kind, so both could not be SD Studios breathers.

[Simon]

........... He told me that the SD Studios replicas were one of a kind, so both could not be SD Studios breathers.

......and the bit about his product being painted and the true product being machined out of material of that colour........????

Any reaction to that?

Presumeably Eon would want to have a crack at this guy since they're so tough on pirated this and that. Has this been filed with them?

Cheers.

[DLibrasnow]

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I'll be sure not to buy anything from this rip-off artist.

[IndyB007]

Good point Simon....

You should make this guy really sorry he screwed you over.......

[DLibrasnow]

DEVON...you need to file a complaint with EON Productions and MGM as Simon mentioned. I have no doubt they will take action against this Jim .

Edited by Mister Asterix, 16 August 2004 - 08:03 PM.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

He just ignores me when I ask him to compare the two pictures. Even if you don't know how to recognize a SD Studios breather, anyone can clearly see that the picture he first sent me and the pictures of what I got from him are different.

As for EON productions, as you can see when you read my warning, the prop dealer I do business with did send the pictures to his friend who is in charge of licencing. He said it was a copy of a SD Studios breather. I have no idea if he was going to pursue any sort of action against Jim though.

How would one go about filing a report with EON productions? If anyone knows, please let me know and I will certainly do it.

[DLibrasnow]

I can give you some contact information for people I know at MGM.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Thanks Dlibrasnow. It will save me alot of time in having to find it out myself. My time lately has been eaten up by this whole ordeal. I appreciate it.

[Simon]

Just look up the number for Eon Productions in London and give them a call. (They do answer the phone - I called them recently when the Brosnan story first kicked off and was given an answer)

You'll have to get your facts in order first or just ask for the name of the correct person to write to - they're busy right now fending off calls about who will be the next Bond, you know. And then present everything to them as a dossier, events, dates, numbers, pictures, correspondence. Once done, you then ask what will happen, how long it will take and if you can be kept abrest of the developments.

Good luck.

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Thanks Simon. I believe I found their phone number after a little looking. The only thing is that I live in Canada. That's going to be an expensive phone call for me. I did go into their website, but I can't seem to find any way of contacting them through it. Anyone who can shed some light on this, let me know.

[Simon]

To just get the name of someone should take but a few seconds.

It's all here

[DEVONKNIGHT]

Thanks alot Simon! Perfect! I was only able to find a phone number and address. This will do just nicely.