Worrying news-alleged serious scam/fraud on 'Voxtalks'

[Voxman]

Voxtalks - a forum that's been going for many, many years, was set up & run by a guy called Nick Thiel, who was a respected expert on Rickenbacker guitars (I believe he was an adviser to Rickenbacker on the 'C' series). Voxtalks had strong leanings to fans of The Beatles, classic Vox valve amps (AC15/30/50's etc) and Rickenbacker guitars, & there was a tremendous amount of knowledge with some quite well none devotees, with still room for talk on the Valvetronix amps.

I'm very sad to say that there appears to be something very seriously amiss at Voxtalks. Nick Thiel is being accused by a whole host of folk of renaguing on deals to supply expensive gear, with some folk losing several thousands of dollars & having to take legal action. There's also worrying posts alleging that he supplied 'fake' Rickenbacker guitars instead of the real thing. Legal action appears to be afoot, Nick Thiel appears to have 'vanished' and I understand that the authorities in both the US & Canada have been called in, with total monies of circa £1m US involved. The whole thing is rather sad & worrying for those who have lost out - and so I suspect that Voxtalks will more than likely close-down in the near future unless a new 'management' takes over.

As a word of friendly advice to all, if anyone is tempted to buy gear from folk on the forums, whilst I'm sure that this will nearly always be above board, please take all necessary sensible precautions when entering into transactions especially with people you don't really know.

The posts can be found here: -

Voxtalks

And a statement from John Hall of Rickenbacker guitars:-

http://www.rickenbacker.com/news_item.a ... ews=recent

A real shame, and a sad day for all music gear forums.

Rich

[aroundtown]

At three and half years later, according to information recently supplied by a reliable source that is being distributed everywhere, Nick Thiel currently has no criminal record or charges filed against him. There also appears to be no evidence of any legal action taken against him with respect to equipment that was said to be allegedly owed. And lastly, no evidence of "fake' Rickenbacker guitars have turned up either as a result of Nick Thiel's alleged involvement.

[Voxman]

(Hmm - very strange to see this 'revived' after 3.5yrs ) The folk at Rickenbacker, & those on Voxtalks etc that lost a lot of money will have a different perspective I'm sure - but thanks for popping in Nick!

[LiverpoolLeesh]

I am owed $6100 by Nick Thiel. Still. 3.5 years later.

I thought he would step up and do the right thing but I guess not.

[Voxman]

I am owed $6100 by Nick Thiel. Still. 3.5 years later.

I thought he would step up and do the right thing but I guess not.

I think you'll have to kiss your money good-bye! But did you go to the police and file charges?

[keenwatcher]

I am owed $6100 by Nick Thiel. Still. 3.5 years later.

I thought he would step up and do the right thing but I guess not.

If it's been that long, you're likely screwed to seek any legal road in court. The limitations act gives you 2 years to sue if he is still in Ontario. Not likely any criminal charges could arise from something like this either, this is civil.

[LiverpoolLeesh]

I won't air Nick's dirty laundry on here. It's pointless. My post was out there to state fact. I paid Nick for a guitar. I never got said guitar. I never got a (repeatedly promised) refund. Why didn't I go after Nick in the criminal/civil courts? Because Nick told me I'd get my money back. Repeatedly. If that makes me naive or a fool, then fine. I had never been cheated out of money before and having met him, I had no reason at all to believe the chain of events that were to come.

If aroundtown, I mean keenwatcher, I mean Nick wants to clear his name, more power to him. But alluding to the fact that nothing ever happened or that Nick did no wrong is a slap in the face and after 3.5 years of being quiet and ignoring the message boards I couldn't stay quiet any longer.

In the end, Nick can do the right thing if he wants to....

[keenwatcher]

I won't air Nick's dirty laundry on here. It's pointless. My post was out there to state fact. I paid Nick for a guitar. I never got said guitar. I never got a (repeatedly promised) refund. Why didn't I go after Nick in the criminal/civil courts? Because Nick told me I'd get my money back. Repeatedly. If that makes me naive or a fool, then fine. I had never been cheated out of money before and having met him, I had no reason at all to believe the chain of events that were to come.

If aroundtown, I mean keenwatcher, I mean Nick wants to clear his name, more power to him. But alluding to the fact that nothing ever happened or that Nick did no wrong is a slap in the face and after 3.5 years of being quiet and ignoring the message boards I couldn't stay quiet any longer.

In the end, Nick can do the right thing if he wants to....

Well I wasn't siding with the guy, I just pointed out that since you've waited over 4 years now, you're out of any legal road to pursue it in court to get your money back. By making your statement back in 2007 everywhere on line, you set the legal time limit in motion yourself. In fact everyone else that posted something similar also did as well. If none of you took legal measures to compensate you for your losses, I don't even know what to say and I won't sit by and be chastised for commenting on it if you're still here years later complaining.

Also, only reason made the comment that this isn't criminal is because according to your own statement back in 2007, both PW and JH seem to have been involved in your capris deal at some level with him. If that is true, in my opinion there isn't any conspiracy here that cops can act on.

[LiverpoolLeesh]

Thanks Nick for your commentary. I haven't revealed any information on any of the transactions on this forum but seeing as how you know exactly the deal, the guitar, the persons involved, and have done your legal homework I can only assume it's you.

To chastise me for not pursuing legal action when you told me repeatedly that you would pay me back is laughable. You played to my emotions insisting that
a) you were in a tight spot and that if I was patient I'd get my money back
b) if I even hinted at legal action that would guarantee me getting none of my money back.

Oh, and because the guitar never existed it is not a civil case, it's wire fraud.

[keenwatcher]

Ummm just google "Nick Thiel Rickenbacker", as I did. Everything came up as there are your postings listed in both the Rick Resource forum and Rick factory forum as well. Not too hard figuring out who you were because you posted as "leesh" in one of those forums. Then google limitations for small claims ontario. No real homework here leesh, it took me less than 5 mins to come to my conclusion after reading all of that. BTW, I'm not Nick, but I would be willing to discuss this off line with you if you like, just pm me here if you like and I can send you my contact info. As far as his alleged criminal intention, if he was in contact with both PW and JH about producing a capri for you, not sure how you can swing that as fraud if there was some prior intent shown to produce the guitar. You're going to have a hard time selling that to the cops in my opinion.