vintagehondacb.com in glendale BEWARE!

[plyzo]

I purchased a honda cl350 from Jeremy in Glendale over a Craigslist ad. I spoke to him on the phone and checked out pics he sent me. I also checked out his website www.vintagehondacb.com and thought everything checked out fine. He said he needed me to make a deposit quickly to his bank because he had other offers and I said I would put 50% down and then give him 50% when finished. He said he ran a good shop and could do some engine work for me for an additional cost. I was all about it since I am not a mechanic and figured since he was running the shop he would be better at it. He said he could get it done in a couple of weeks. I also asked him about the registration of the bike and he said no worries its registrable and has a bill of sale. 3 weeks go by and never heard from him. I sent a few emails asking about the bike and finally he responded and said he is still working on it that he had issues with ordering parts. 3 weeks go by again no email from him. I send numerous emails again no response. 2 weeks later I send another email. He finally responds with the bike is done and can be shipped. He also stated a total cost including shipping. The bike finally got delivered and the driver was asking for 200.00 for shipping the bike. I end up not paying the driver and told him Jeremy Frombach is handling it. I then get numerous emails about the 200 dollars not being included. I was so over it and wanting to just be done with this guy that I just paid the 200. He never did give me a bill of sale, but said he had a friend who works on registering his bikes that will handle the paper work and get a hold of me. 2 weeks go by nothing. I finally ask for her number and find out that the bike has back fees of 600.00. I then call him and he finally picks up the phone and I tell him the situation and he is shocked by it all as he said he checked the VIN numbers and the bike had no back fees. He then said let me figure out things and give you a call back.

He never phoned me back that day, and actually never responded to any of my calls since that day. He did finally email me back after 2 weeks and said he could eventually pay me. I then responded with "when?". He also mentioned that he wished he would of had the bike cause he could of just swapped the frame out with an extra one he had. He now is avoiding emails, phone calls, everything. I finally called his lady friend and told her the situation. I told her I needed all the paper work for the bike and that I was going to be looking at taking him to small claims court and contacting a lawyer. By this time I pretty started stripped the bike down to the frame cause I figured by the time he pays me back I should be fine. I also sent an email about a week before letting him know that I got it down to the frame and that he could just ship me the frame now and we can be done, again no response. Jeremy finally responds back to my email after I talked to his lady friend with this "oh did you? Yeah man, gladly. I have one here, I'll put it on the next truck out to you,".

So I figure good he is at least happy that I tore it down to the frame and that he won't have to pay 600.00 now. He can just ship me the frame and be done with it. Well I have been waiting 2 weeks now with no response from email or phone. I have sent him numerous emails asking when I should be getting the frame. Nothing back!

At this point I figure my best solution is to contact a lawyer and get this guy for everything. I have tried numerous times to be the good guy and understanding but this is complete bullshit. I can't even understand how someone can run a shop like this or a so called business.

He wrote back to me once about how he can't pay me 600 right now and gave me this excuse:

"You think we actually make money fixing / selling 40 year old motorcycles? I drive a 94 Ford Ranger and myself and not one of my 6 mechanics can afford health insurance. So yes, coughing up $600 after dmv assured me the frame was clear is a difficult cost to absorb when the entire bike with all parts and labor sold for only $2500.

I will stand behind it and I will take care of it, but I simply don't have $600 right now. I don't have it. If you want to go ahead and register it so you can ride it, I would recommend that and I will reimburse you for the dmv fees, but I need time to come up with the funds."


So for all those who are in the LA area beware of VintageHondaCB.com and Jeremy. The guy is a major crook and I have no respect for people that run businesses like that.

 

[plyzo]

Check out this I found.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/motorcycles/jeremy-frombach/jeremy-frombach-vintage-honda-eeb35.htm

http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-report/jeremy-frombach-jeremy-frombach-vintage-honda-cb-have-money-to-give-away-c27539.html



Also he ripped off someone other shops website design.

Here is his website
http://vintagehondacb.com/VintageHondaCB/Welcome.html


Here is another shops site.
http://www.glorymotorworks.com/Glory_Motor_Works/where.html

 

[Tim]

And this is why Craigslist implores everyone to not do business by mail.

At least you got the bike - aside from title, and the extra $200 shipping cost, is it as you expected? Did it run before you took it apart? $2500 is a pretty price to pay for a bike that you took apart - why break it down so quickly?

Sorry you got screwed by this jackass.

 

[plyzo]

I didn't buy the bike for 2500.00. I don't think I ever mentioned the price on the post so not sure how you got that number. Ya I got the bike and rode it around and was fine. I broke it down cause I wanted to convert to a cafe bike that was the whole reason for purchasing it. Planning on doing a full restore of the bike. I am not planning on paying the shipping costs for the frame, it should be him paying that, or him going to court for 600 dollars of back fees. I am sure he is smart enough to the do the math.

Ya I have learned a big lesson from this all.

 

[Big R]

In the third paragraph from the bottom, it states that Jeremy said they don't make money from a bike that sells for $2500. That's where that number came from.

 

[plyzo]

Ya I bought the bike for 1600.00 and he did some work to it. I forgot that I pasted in his exact email.
Guy is a major tool. He finally responded to an email tonight and said this:

"right, take me to court. Good luck with that. Even if you win you won't see money for months if not years. What is wrong with you dude? I'll send you your frame. Cool your fucking jets" - Jeremy



Guys is a complete moron. Keep in mind its been almost 4 months since I originally sent him my deposit. But yet I need to cool my jets.

 

[plyzo]

So I had to move on just start the welding and powdering coating for the frame. I had no choice cause I really need to get this going. I tried calling him numerous times and it only went to voicemail. I finally tried with my friends phone from a different area code and picked right up. I gave him 2 weeks to get me a frame that is registrable with no back fees and he said he had something coming that day and was going to ship it out to me the following week. 2 weeks go by and nothing. No call no email. I called and emailed him and said I had taken the bike to get welded, which was true. He response ASAP telling me not to do that yet cause he has a frame. Told me to tell the welder to stop. hahaha


Since then I haven't heard back but decided to no longer pursue him and just go straight to small claims with this whole mess. I have given up with giving this guy so many chances.

 

[rlkahnman]

I don't want to highjack this thread, sorry. Just want to put the word out that VintageHonda.com is not reputable. I commissioned a bike in Oct 2011 and to this date I'm still seeking a full refund. Jeremy's last email to me, just yesterday, was that he almost had to close the shop last month. I wish it would.

I'm actually suing the shop and he stated the same to me, "good luck trying to get any money". What he doesn't realize is that a judgment will last for 7 years and I can then renew again. These lawsuits do not go away because you can't pay, they stay around forever.

 

[tonuptom]

That sucks man ,but you kinda did elude to it costing you2500$ "600$ is a lot on a bike that sold for2500$!remember? That's where we're getting that # from

 

[plyzo]

Not sure what you are eluding too, your response didnt seem to make any sense.

haha

 

[born2expire]

quit pussy footing around and take a day off and drive TO HIM and get your shit handled, its your fault for trusting some craiglist critter and being gullible as fuck and then to be made about progress over e-mail???

i dont know if you have any "street smarts" but clearly not, the dude is right about court if he doesnt have the money your not going to see that money for a long time.....get a few of your boys and take a drive and handle the shit in person and never pay for something without seeing it in person. it's 2012 for christ sake

 

[plyzo]

Born2Expire - you sound just like him, glad there is people out there that can write about nonsense on here, makes for great humor. If I was close enough to just swing by his so called shop, dont you think I would of done that along time ago? Dont you think I would of just stopped by and checked out the bike? Get a life man and quit writing stupid BS on here on how you would fix things by getting your so called "boys"

 

[born2expire]

hey you're the idiot sending money without a product in hand.....

maybe hes the craigslist african prince everyone has been looking for that's working at that so called shop

 

[plyzo]

Actually its not about getting a product in hand, I actually did get it. The problem is the guy told me it was registered and it wasn't, and has back fees of 600.00. Why am I even trying to justify this guy ripping me off to you.

 

[teazer]

I can tell that you are upset with the seller and annoyed with yourself for getting into the mess, but I'm not following this at all. You paid 1600 for a bike that the seller talks about selling for 2500, and you paid 200 for shipping and have now stripped it down because YOU are making it into a Cafe racer. Did I get that right so far?

What did you buy? And what was the seller supposed to do to it, other than give you a clean title? Did he sell you what you ordered - apart from the back tax issue or are there other issues? To me, the first red flag was a bike shop owner hassling a client to go around ATMs pulling cash out.

The next flag was the story about having a replacement frame with title right there waiting. That smells of B/S because it is so unlikely.

I know you are annoyed but now you need to focus on what you can do and what you plan to do. If you have enough documentation you could file at the Small Claims Court. He may have assets or may not, but you can also report the event to your local police station and see if they think there's a case of fraud that worth pursuing.

It's unlikely that you will recover much of your cash which is a shame, so the next step may be to locate a suitable frame with title and maybe sell that one out of state if that's a legally acceptable option.

Or is 1600+200+600 a reasonable price for what you now have? It sounds a lot to me, but those back taxes bite hard and you are not the first to experience that problem, unfortunately.

 

[plyzo]

Hey Teazer thanks for the response. Basically I bought the bike for 1600.00 and talked to him on the phone and said he had a shop etc. I then looked up his shop on Yelp which had great reviews at the time. I then called him back a few days later and said I would buy and that if he could do some engine work to it. He responded with yes no problem and quoted me 2500.00 out the door. I was fine with that because i don't have the best knowledge when it comes to engine work I felt like it was a good idea to have someone experienced do it. He also said the bike had a clean CA title and is good to go. Great! He was a bit slow at delivering the bike but I finally got the bike delivered by someone else other than him. Bike came fine sounded good and then he said he was going to have someone contact me which is another business that his lady friend works at that can do the DMV process for me. She called me to tell me that she had bad news that the bike had 600 dollars in back fees. I think been going back and forth with the guy trying to get him to either come pick it up or send me a frame. He has been stringing this along for almost 2 months. I finally just got sick of it and started working on removing everything so that if he did have a frame I could easily swap it out. He never came through so then I started just working on making it into a cafe bike. I gave up even contacting this guy anymore cause he is such a flake and a joke. But I do plan on pursuing the small claims court. I don't care if I don't ever get the money but I am sure going to follow up and just take this guy to court and hopefully can help revoke his business license if anything. There has been a ton of other people who have recently been burned by this guy.

I don't plan on ever getting the back fees paid for and know I might of paid a bit too much for this bike, but it is what it is and now just have to move forward and deal with it. What is done is done.

 

[teazer]

Life is a journey and sometimes we get stones in our shoes and wonder WTF we are doing. That passes and we learn along the way.

Sometimes it's good to vent. I recommend going onto the roof of a tall building in a noisy neighborhood and scream at the sky. No one can hear you and you pretty soon get it out of your system. Don't waste too much additional time and effort on getting even. the return on investment is really low and life is too short to let that sort of crap bring you down for long.

 

[plyzo]

Teazer you nailed it on the head man, at this time I am just so done with it all that I just want the bike to be a build of my own and be done with the whole thing. Move on and just ride! Thanks again man for responding, I do appreciate it!

 

[dividedbyzach]

I wish I had found this thread 6 months ago. I'm going through the EXACT same thing with Jeremy and Vintage Honda in Glendale right now. Yelp is full of similar stories. Dude is basically running a ponzi scheme - he takes your deposit to build the last guy's bike and uses frames that have liens, so at the end of months and months of unreturned calls, emails, and texts, he delivers a bike with no bill of sale, no warranty, with tons of $$ owed to get the title.

He will be in jail soon.

 

[teazer]

You could file a claim at your local Small Claims Court and/or report him to BBB, State's attorney, Local police and anyone else that will listen.

It is quite possible that he doesn't mean to rip anyone off, but is under-capitalized and has no business sense, but that doesn't excuse this behavior.