Tony J Maninha from bestkites.com is a thief!

Over 5 weeks ago I paid him 862.00 for a kite buggy. At first I got a bunch of excuses, then no contact. I have filled a complaint with paypal and he has not responded to them either.

Tony if your out there please just give me my money back!
It's thieves like you that take so much of the fun and community out this great sport that we love.

I wish I had checked him out before I sent off the money. From just a brief search I found plenty of people he has screwed.

Please, if there is anyone out there that knows him or can help me in anyway I would be so greatful!

That sucks !
You will see he has had a few folks on here chasing him as well.
We started up a good seller thread on here to help folks out.
You should be able to pick up almost any brand through one or the other. The nice thing about this list is you know these folks will charge a straight up price. If they are dealers they won't gouge you and if they are indivduals you will get a good deal. No one on the list will screw you over.

this guy again, eh?

sorry ya got scammed.

I've got some good stuff off the net, forums are a good place to check folks out....

Not again!:flaming: scudley ,I don't want to hear it .The "punkboy" is a menace to kiting. What is this the, third or fourth time in as many months ,he's ripping off somebody? We need to get aggressive with puttin the word out on this "Douche bag" !Bet he wouldn't last two days in Newport"BAD" news,VA. Cause we be representin' the 757 wit a .357! Represent beeotch!!!:flaming: sorry I hate turds like him,I wish someone would drop the rock he lives under on his sorry azzz!tony your a punk azzz beeotch! Why don't you go get a job you turd.

do a wiki search on bestkites.com

sounds like you got the"boners for beginners" for $862. ouch!

The strange thing is that his website looks really professional. I can see why people are getting duped.

Paypal should get your money back eventually though.

check his aboutus wiki page

what is a wiki search?

I'm on wikipedia and can find nothing about him?

not this guy again ... I guess you can afford a nice website when you take people's money and don't give them their product

I see he still has ozone on his site .. it was my understanding from ozone he is no longer a dealer for them.
There again I guess you can list every brand out there when you have no intentions on delivering the product.

I don't really like to talk bad about people, but this guy is getting out of control. There is just too many bad experiences.

yeah, actually gotta call you on that one, or ask for more clarification...

tried on wiki.com and wikia.com, got lots of hits, but not a single negative result.

also had a look at the about us page on his site, not a single mention of wiki...

scary, man.... These resources make him look good to a newbie, but there are plenty of red flags on his about us page to make slightly more knowledgable guys look twice -- however it takes digging into forums to find the real skinny on this scammer.

did I get you right, weldngod? were you suggesting that those searches would turn up something bad? Or were you just saying that he looks good on a quick look?

I do wonder how a newbie would find out how many folks this fella has screwed....:ticking:

http://www.aboutus.org/BestKites.com

OMG.

I had no idea.

I feel way better now.

my apologies, weldngod.

thanks, BB

Is there anything we can do as a kite community to get this guy to stop selling kites and have his web page taken off the internet.

Susan (npw goddess)

Hmm...yep. I ordered $70 worth of stuff through him. I waited a week and sent him an e-mail. He said he would "figure it out" and "expedite the shipping". His "shop" is less than 1.5 hours from my house. After 4 days of no stuff, I called Wells Fargo to get my money back. They called him and he said he sent it to me 3 weeks ago. Wells saw through it, they stopped payment and I got my money back.

What an ass.

he's a turd, we need to flush! It smells like a tony manihaha. aka punktheifbeeotch!your on the short list to bankruptcy little boy!

This helps, for starters. It never ceases to amaze me how many google results I get sourced from PKF. Just keep posting threads like bestkites is nothing but a rip off, don't trust him with your money!...and so on.

If you've been screwed by this jerk, a couple ideas:

Contact whoever he uses for payment processing and file a complaint.
Contact the California Better Business Bureau and file a complaint.
Contact the California Attorney General's office and file a complaint.
If any part of your transaction with him was done by US Mail (mailed him a check for example), file a complaint with the US Postal Serivice, Inspections department.
If you paid by credit card, contact them to file a charge back.

Believe me, if enough victims contact the above list with valid complaints, and with specific information, this guy won't last much longer. The only reason he continues to exist is because people usually don't bother taking the time to file complaints with the proper authorities.

anyone can start an online kite business ... domain name / monthly hosting / e-commerce program ... and it will look professional. its that simple.

when we first heard about his business practice, we as a distributor cut him off.
we as a community cant shut his site down, but you can let the word be known about that company. double standard there too, even negative feedback is still good advertising too. SAD.

some people had good deals and some bad deals. from talking with him, this is a side business for him. must companies usually reply to emails / call backs with 48hrs. sometimes all i customer wants to hear is a voice or a reply "dont have instock, we be getting it in X weeks/day and keep you informed". simple.

as suppliers the easiest way would be to STOP supplying his company. cant sell what you dont have access to. than we could all say its false advertising. make sense?

we can all write to Verify, if its listed on his website
paypal could cut his account as well

my wooden nickel thought

call the KTAI also. whn I worked for Premier he was a customer of mine. No big probles ever. But he was buying kites from me, not the other way.

Quote:

Originally posted by WELDNGOD Not again!:flaming: scudley ,I don't want to hear it .

A note sent to bestkites.com
"Tony,
six months ago you were called a thief on power kite forum. I defended you, saying sometimes personal difficulties become business difficulties, and we should exercise patience and see if you work out the problem. Six months later, more reports of you scamming people. I have only one thing say: Looks like I was wrong - go #@%$#! yourself.
Sean"
My apologies to all, when you give some people the benefit of the doubt you are wrong.
S

And lets not forget Mr. Tan !

Avoid yangportal

yeah ,now that guy is a crook fo sho! Only his bootleg kites are sold on his site,all other kites ,the site redirects you to action-pact kites.(sneaky-sneaky)

Quote:

Originally posted by kitemaker4 Is there anything we can do as a kite community to get this guy to stop selling kites and have his web page taken off the internet. Susan (npw goddess)

Yes...but my methods would be considered illegal!

THey would only be considered illegal, if we get caught!! lol

lol, this guy just doesn't get it. Sent this e-mail (edited of course for younger eyes). Keep in mind I only e-mailed, never ordered anything.

"Do you have the new HQ Neo and if so what are you charging to NOT receive
the kite. You are garbage dude.

Hope you end up in a cell sucking on a big fat ****.

Be a man and ship what people have bought."

The amazing thing is his reply
"Re: prices on HQ Neo‏
From: Tony Maninha (tony@bestkites.com)
Sent: Sun 7/27/08 2:36 PM
Reply-to: tony@bestkites.com
To: (**@hotmail.com)

Hello,I am putting all the orders up to date. I was away for 3 weeks.I will send you an UPS tracking number.Tony"

Now I ask you. Why would I need a UPS tracking number? I never ordered anything.

He just needs to go away.

I am with susan. This needs to end. Sorry you got burnt. I cant even imagine how I would feel if I got took for 862.00!!! Being a newib To the sport. That is sad. I really hope you get your money back bro. Dont give up on the sport. As we all know KARMA will roll around and you will get yours and he Will get his!! I like DAKITEZ idea awhile back. Lets go to his shop and kick his ass. I cant get into details but the shop may be gone soon! Hope your reading this punk!

I have been told there is no shop.
I had kinda felt sorry for the guy when people started to post up they got their problems resolved and something about Tony had personal problems. i thought maybe he was going through a rough time and was getting back on track. Now this doesn't seem to be the case as he just keeps screwing people ... or if he is still having problems he needs to shut down his website till he gets his problems resolved.

Just curious ... azkitemare if you are selling Libre buggies why would you buy a buggy from Tony ?

Aww man, You had to go and be sensiable didnt ya? I kinda like the kick ass part.:smilegrin excuse language please.) Your back home today? Didnt stay for sun? Screwey will be happy he missed ya.