CrowBear Schmitt in France

Steven Finley · Post by **Steven Finley** » 1 May 2015 1:27 pm

For what its worth,crowbear is on acoustic guitar
community,as well as of 2015

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 1 May 2015 1:51 pm

finding this hard to believe. i always liked crowbear!

W. C. Edgar · Post by **W. C. Edgar** » 1 May 2015 1:54 pm

I've known James since I toured Spain for a couple weeks a few years back. He always treated me excellent and I never had any business dealings with him.
I'm not casting any stones here one way or the other.
WC

Al Vesel · Post by **Al Vesel** » 1 May 2015 2:00 pm

Wow !!

This shocks me also. I always, like others, thought he was a straight shooter & although I do not know him personally, we've had quite a few positive email exchanges.

You just never know !!

I feel bad for the ones scammed. It's a lot of money.

I hope justice is done for those wronged and I hope they can recoup their funds.

Al

Andy Eder · Post by **Andy Eder** » 1 May 2015 2:02 pm

I don't know crowbear one way or the other but it is such a drag that anyone would do this to anybody else. I hope you have a speedy and amicable resolution.

Andy Eder

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 1 May 2015 4:49 pm

maybe he just doesn't like the french.

Andy Eder · Post by **Andy Eder** » 1 May 2015 4:51 pm

They'll get him eventually but that's not fast enough.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 1 May 2015 5:58 pm

i think it would be cool if you could click on members names and see any mug shots they've got.

Andy Eder · Post by **Andy Eder** » 1 May 2015 6:05 pm

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 1 May 2015 6:24 pm

chris ivey wrote:i think it would be cool if you could click on members names and see any mug shots they've got.

I'll see if the police will give me a copy.

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 1 May 2015 6:30 pm

I have to ask to be added to the "shocked" club here...in was Skyping with CB on a regular basis...just keeping com line open....Ill continue to watch this thread for any updates.....

Eddie Harper · Post by **Eddie Harper** » 1 May 2015 7:42 pm

About a year ago I was on the French Forum and enjoyed a video of a French Steeler Jean Yves Lozach who had an instructional DVD for his song "Get A Good Grip On The Bar" I inquired with JC about where I could get a copy. He said he had some tab for the song and would gladly Help me with it. Nothing was said beforehand about any money. JC gave me his SKYPE name and we got together for about 20 min. I got some very sketchy tab that Didn't seem to fit for me anyway. Upon Logging off, as a courtesy I asked JC If I owed him anything. He gave me a speech about the hard work it was to tab stuff out and expect to give it to someone for nothing. He said I owed him $35 USD. I figured if I didn't pay him he would drag my name thru the forum so I sent him the money thru Paypal and never had any contact with him since. I didn't want to post about the problem on the forum but maybe should have. Just glad it was only $35USD compared to what some of the steelers are being took for.......Eddie

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 2 May 2015 1:09 am

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 2 May 2015 6:09 am

I will address my comments to Crowbear as I figure you are still reading this: i consider you a friend, and have found you very willing to be helpful in the past. I was surprised and disapponted when I first learned you may have been scamming people by selling instruments you could not or did not deliver. I am disappointed to have it now confirmed here on the forum. It is not too late to settle up in full with these people, and I encourage you to do so and salvage your honor and pride.

Doug

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 2 May 2015 6:11 am

We said Doug....I second the motion....

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 2 May 2015 6:12 am

Sad to hear about this fellows, and sorry for you good men at loss at the moment, I know that is a terrible feeling, it's hurts more than just the money.
It just goes to show that you can spend years building credibility, and then go off the deep end and turn. Crow bear what's going on???

Let's all try to learn something from this internet purchasing, it's been said over and over, use PayPal, if they don't have PayPal that would be red flag, (anybody can set up a paypal, hello this is 2015)...Yes it's a sad story that only happens once in a while, but sometimes it's a lot of money when it does...It will wipe out your name if you do somebody wrong, just come clean Crow, and make this right!

admin · Post by **b0b** » 2 May 2015 7:04 am

I disabled Crowbear's account here in December after he failed to provide adequate explanation for the allegations against him. I've concluded, from evidence I've seen, that the allegations are true.

Joseph Napolitano · Post by **Joseph Napolitano** » 2 May 2015 7:05 am

Over a year ago there was a lot of pedal steel stuff from France for sale on ebay. I bought an instructional dvd. I assumed it was an original. When it came it was a bootlegged copy that didn't work. I eventually filed a complaint with ebay, and paypal reversed the charge. It wasn't a lot of money. When the charges were reversed I got an insulting vulgar email from the seller. Anyone can mess up once or twice, and then make amends. But this appears to be an ingrained pattern of bad actions.

steinar · Post by **steinar** » 2 May 2015 7:46 am

As for using Paypal, Schmitt said that he preferred account to account transfer of funds. Since our mailings were over a weekend and it would take up until Thursday for me to be able to get time off from work to drive to the nearest town with a bank, I PayPaled him 1000 Euros as a sign of good faith, and I marked the payment as money to friends or family so that CrowBear would not be levied any charge.
He then e-mailed me back upon receiving the money, saying that he`d prefer sending the money back and that he wanted account to account. I answered apologizing for having used PayPal for a partial payment and said that I would compensate him for any PayPal charges. He replied, saying it was ok since that hadn`t happened. Then 3 days later, I got to the bank and got the remaining 2715 Euros transferred. His address was a town in southern France by the name of Sentenac Ouest.
I mailed him informing him of the bank transfer, and when he didn`t reply, I again mailed him some days later asking whether he had received the money. He did not reply, and 6. April is the last time I heard from CrowBear in spite of more follow up mails asking how things were progressing with the steel. Several people have expressed good things about CrowBear, and I also had a good impression of him. It was not until the moderator of the French Steel Forum told me about all the allegations against CrowBear, that I understood why he didn`t reply after having received the money. Counting my bought, but undelivered guitar, he has done away with some 16000 Euros, and in addition comes what he owes Paul Franklin and others for bootlegging steel courses. With no disrespect intended for the hard earned money of the other victims, it seems like CrowBear sells his personal integrity and good standing for a small price. Like Larry implies, is it really worth it, James?

Paul Haaker · Post by **Paul Haaker** » 2 May 2015 8:59 am

I'm reposting this in this section as this seems a more appropriate thread.

This is really sad. I bought a D10 zum from him and sent him the money and He did deliver the guitar to me so I can't say that anything was wrong. Later I spoke to Bruce Zumsteg and he said that someone from Hungary wrote him a letter and said that he sent Crowbear money to buy the same guitar and he obviously never delivered it because he had already sent it to me. I feel so lucky that he didn't do that to me. I didn't say anything because I felt it was the guy in Hungary's duty to warn people as I didn't know for sure what had happened. I'm rethinking that now but since other people have experienced the same thing, I feel I can talk about it. Last I heard he was in the Dominican Republic.

I will never buy anything else of value like that without having some type of escrow or Paypal even though they charge you, it's probably worth it. Since then I've heard other rumors about what he's done but obviously I don't know them to be factual. It's sad this kind of thing happens. Sad

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 2 May 2015 10:10 am

damir.....that's funny!

Malcolm McMaster · Post by **Malcolm McMaster** » 2 May 2015 10:13 am

Just wondering if we have any forum members in Dominican Republic who may have come across him, or have heard about him , who might be able to pass details to those affected to pursue their claims.

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 2 May 2015 11:05 am

Steinar, it sounds like you did everything right, you even Used PayPal, and you still got stung, this for sure sounds like a deliberate sting set up especially as he navigated the money back to you knowing that you were protected by PayPal especially when the steel guitar would not show up .. Doing the transaction over the weekend also, that's an old trick from the books of Con men...I got caught myself when somebody wrote me some big cheques on a Friday 5pm, bounced at 9am Monday, by then they were 1000 miles away.

We are Praying for your money return steinar.

With all the time that had been given on these cases, I think it's fair to say that the Honorable cyber name of 'Crowbear' has been demoted to CrowBar!

.

steinar · Post by **steinar** » 2 May 2015 12:06 pm

Larry, - thanks for your comment, but I did mark the Paypal payment as being money for friends/relatives to avoid charges for Schmitt, hence I cannot reclaim the money as part of a transaction. So, he of course kept the PayPal money and just got the rest through an account to account transfer.
Yeah, Crowbar of the Year!

As for the guitar, Paul, same pattern as in your case. This black D10 Zum that I paid for, had been sold to a guy in Italy already in 2006! However, it was still listed on the French Forum, and with CrowBear/Crowbar being involved moderating that Forum, I can see why it`s still there, - even today.

Malcolm, good idea to ask whether someone from the Dominican Republic can shed some light on Schmitt`s whereabouts.

Ruth Iseli-Dahler · Post by **Ruth Iseli-Dahler** » 2 May 2015 3:43 pm

Hi James, I am sure, too, that you read this. Sad threat. I want to add: you were one of my first contacts in this steel world. I asked you endless questions. You answered them all, in mails, on Skype. I think we were good friends. I never paid for your help but once or twice I sent chocolate for your Kids and Swiss sausages for you. You sold my guitar for me and everything went well. Whatever happened in your life that you need to make Money this way - I feel sorry for it. It's a impasse, as you sure realized. Hope you'll find back to the right track. Many here on the Forum liked you and your humor....
As well I feel sorry for you all that lost Money, I hope justice is done!

The Steel Guitar Forum