Longtime bad actors: Internet Hobbies, LLC and Hobby Models, LLC, owners Dale and Diane Bruner
other business aliases used by the defendants, including: Hobby Wheels, Hobby Rails, Hobby Book Depot, Red Star Hobbies, Military Model Depot, Model Airplane Depot, Model Railroad Depot, Model Ship Depot, Gundam World Online, www.takom-military.com, Model Kit Closeouts, and Model Train Closeouts.
This makes me very happy. [:D] The quote from AG Shapiro is hilarious: “We’re suing Internet Hobbies for making a hobby out of scamming Pennsylvanians."
I’m very new to the hobby and was lured into ordering from both Hobby Models and Internet Hobbies by their Black Friday sale emails.
The Internet Hobbies order was eventually sent, but they removed a few items (paint set and tracks) without telling me before sending.
The Hobby Models order was never sent and I contacted them threatening to cancel. Dale immedietely called me to say the Friulmodel tracks weren’t available and that they’d send the rest of order plus credit me for tracks. Almost two weeks later, neither of those happened so I finally disputed the transaction with my CC company.
I ended up ordering the Friulmodel tracks directly from Hungary and they arrived faster than either Internet Hobbies or Hobby Models, even though they’re in the same state as me.
Spruebrothers, Megahobby, and Hobbylinc have all been great vendors, along with directly from Tamiya and Friulmodel.
Thanks for the heads up Roy. I actually bought something from “Internet Hobbies”, long time ago…
Atta Boy State of PA, Go get 'em!!!
Thanks for posting
I dealt with them a couple years ago as Internet hobbies. I was so excited that they had a few long discontinued items “in stock”. It took a while but I eventually did get my refund. But it looks like justice for others is about to be served.
Commonwealth. [;)] We’re one of four in the US. The others are Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kain-tucky.
I suspect that what happened in this case is that the AG’s office finally received enough complaints to warrant going after IM.
Mopar Madness… then you are one of the very lucky ones that actually got a refund from these crooks. Not everyone got a refund. A buddy iof mine placed an order that was never recieved after waiting 3 weeks. Several complaint emails to Internet Hobbies went unanswered and ignored. Internet Hobbies made sure they kept his $40. ***holes…
I waited 5 months once for an order to arrive and finally filed a complaint with paypal which got the ball rolling and i got an email from a very ticked off owner.
Thanks for posting this. I ran across this while looking through the forums and it sounded familiar. I ordered the new Revell 1/32nd scale P-51D from these folks a couple of years ago and never received it. I eventually received a refund. I thought it was just a case of piss-poor customer service. But now, I realize that these folks are scamsters.
I have traveled through PA a few times traveling up to Philadelphia and to visit Shanksville from Virginia. Occassionally, I would see a delapidated homemade sign that said hobby shop (or something similar), and finally drove up the driveway and found what appeared to be a remote hobby shop with no signage, or signs of life. There was also a house and a barn nearby, but there did not appear to be anyone around the property. As a retired cop, I got this uneasy feeling that something was not right about this situation. I got the weirdest feeling that someone was watching me. Thinking that this was a fluke or the shop owners had an emergeny, I stopped by once again with the same result. Looking at the address from their website and doing a GoogleEarth map search, it appears that I located Internet Hobbies base of operations.
Although it is bad news, please accept my thanks for exposing these frauds and confirming my suspicions.
TAD
IH is/was up above Scranton, about 15 miles or so. It’s off the beaten path, as it were, in that it’s not close to the Turnpike or the interstates. It’s on a small state road. It’s about 79 miles north of us here in the Lehigh Valley. I had an idea to drive up there some Saturday, just to see for myself, but never got around to it.
Thanks Baron! Maybe the shady place I saw would be worth another look now! I appreciate the follow up!