Thread: buyer beware. iida tool declares bankruptcy. No tool. No refund.

Hi,
As woodworkers we should know as they crawl out of the wood work.
Regards

Thanks for sharing.
Interestingly if you go to his website he makes no mention of this and seems like 'business as usual'. Months ago he emailed me asking if I wanted to place any orders so I had a suspicion things weren't going too well.

Hope you find some sort of resolution for this.

try calling your bank/credit card company and request a chargeback. These days I dont even bother with paypal I just go straight to CC dispute

Originally Posted by qwertyu

try calling your bank/credit card company and request a chargeback. These days I dont even bother with paypal I just go straight to CC dispute

Thanks for your suggestion.
Yes I tried. My bank credit card responded that they can only look into the dispute within 120 days, even shorter timeframe than Paypal.

Originally Posted by hurcorh

Thanks for sharing.
Interestingly if you go to his website he makes no mention of this and seems like 'business as usual'. Months ago he emailed me asking if I wanted to place any orders so I had a suspicion things weren't going too well.

Hope you find some sort of resolution for this.

Yes I suspect that he continues to fish for customers. He may not even actually declare bankruptcy. Perhaps the only truth he told me is his Paypal account id when I made a payment.

Before the target date when he’s supposed to send me tool, he also sends me several email asking if I’d like to place an order for some tool by offering discount. Luckily I did not.

One thing for sure he has a serious ethical problem in running the business. I ask my Japanese friend to contact him at the phone number stated in his website and in his email signature. Nobody picks up the phone, but he can still respond to the email. He refuse to talk over the phone, even in Japanese. It’s a hit and run behavior.

That’s why I decided to share all these with the woodworking community. I want my loss be the last. It’s worthwhile if my loss can save other people from falling in the same trap.

Same thing happened to me. Took my money over a year ago, then when I asked for a refund 7mths ago because the blacksmith passed away, just delays, excuses, etc. I don't believe he ever even placed an order for the item I requested.

Originally Posted by AR&MJ

... No refund. He said he goes bankrupt and his lawyer will send me letter. ... .

If he really has gone bankrupt then there is not a lot you can do. I, too, would love a set of Tasia chisels, and feel your pain.

On the other hand, it might all be a ruse. He thinks that you are powerless at a distance of 5,000 kms, cannot speak his language and are not familiar with the Japanese legal system.

You might like to wait a week to see if the promised lawyer contacts you, then:

1. See if his website is still operating, and
2. See if his website will still accept an order (stop before adding CC details).

This will establish that he is still soliciting business.

Then make a formal complaint in writing to the Japanese Embassy in Singapore, ask them to specifically confirm that Mr Iita has sort bankruptcy protection, whether you are a victim of corporate fraud and how you should best proceed.

He was selling tools on ebay in the USA some time back under a different name. After awhile there were many many complaints about failures to deliver purchased items...

Has anyone received an email from the lawyer? Tomohito stopped replying to my emails and never once said he was going bankrupt.

As this outfit appears to be a middleman at best, has anyone attempted to contact the makers to see if it is or was actually a legitimate business. I strongly suspect not.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

As this outfit appears to be a middleman at best, has anyone attempted to contact the makers to see if it is or was actually a legitimate business. I strongly suspect not.

Fine, I am sure that you are correct. But why bother?

Properly documented complaints to Japanese embassies and to Japanese police are more likely to make Mr Tomohito's life uncomfortable for a short time. But you cannot give evidence in Court at a distance of 5,000 kms so he probably won't even get a slap on the wrists.

Realistically, all we can do is to warn other potential victims of Mr Tomohito. But then, he will may just phoenix under another name.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

As this outfit appears to be a middleman at best, has anyone attempted to contact the makers to see if it is or was actually a legitimate business. I strongly suspect not.

he is legit but there are very mixed opinions out there of him. I've had custom ordered Konobu paring chisels ordered throuh him, they took a while but I got them and they were excellent. I've purchased some of his ebay stuff years ago no issues but then I know he has stuffed over a lot of people inside and outside of japan so I never recommended anyone else to him.

If the business is legit, the point I'm making is that his suppliers probably have been stung as well. If so, there is no chance of an amicable outcome.

If its a scam, which it appears to be, then yes I agree it will probably reappear under a new guise. High value tools on order is a neat scam to exploit, plenty of excuses & not much chance of being caught, I guess.

Maybe this means nothing, but his "shop" is just his house in a residential area. No showroom or shopfront of any sort. In my area, fairly common for bottom areas of houses to be converted to shop front/workshop, but its a fairly industrial area, with a lot of small fabrication going on, right next to large factories. Bit unusual for where he is though.