13 replies to this topic

[ManRT]

Hello, my hobby mates.

May 2019: I paid around 140€ for a Fiat Croma to " [email protected] ", the PayPal account of https://www.vartmodel.com/
After more than a year they start saying that someone took their money and they are cancelling the project and refunding us. No car, no refund, january 2021. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram accounts have disappeared.

I didn't feel very comfortable with the web and the reservation system, but I bought the model because it was the last car my grandfather drove.
Is someone on this board affected by this too?

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[Craig]

Moved here as this is not Hobby Talk.


I have to be honest, there's no way I would have left it so long to find out. PayPal give 180 days now to raise a dispute and get your money back. After that you won't be able to claim via them.

Sadly, I think it's safe to say that the seller has cut and run.

[ManRT]

Thanks for moving the topic to the correct place, sorry for my mistake!
I waited all this time because they posted various pictures of the process, prototypes, different color choices, etc. It was a preorder with -I don't exactly remember- a 6 / 10 month delivery time , they were creating the models as other manufacturers do (OTTO, Laudo...). Then COVID came and it felt normal to expect some delays, they were telling us that, that production were slower than expected and blah blah blah...

[ManRT]

...am I the only one?

[jazzy426]

very sorry to hear your misfortunate mate. Can't really offer much other than my sympathy. EUR140 is still a fairly significant amount of money. Sounds like the seller has done a runner. I wonder if others received their respective refund as well or it was all just lip service and the fund is long gone. Not sure if it helps at all if you try to get in touch with Paypal and see if there are options they can offer, and if the pre order payment was funded via credit card through Paypal I wonder if they could help you in any way. Their Paypal handler also does not look very professional seeing that they were using free yahoo email instead of their own proper web domain.

[ManRT]

Talking directly with the person managing the Yahoo account I received this:

Cancel the post, I've got a very big cause going on and I'm putting in all those people who speak badly. VArtModel has closed, and it's serious. By February, you have your refund.

He saw this post, so I just want you to know about it. If I receive the money everybody will know it too!

[cwbs]

I heard of them a while ago here on DX, I was very interested on the Tipo and the Tempra, as I drove the 1:1 a few times back in the early 90's.

Anyway, their shop seems to be fully operational as of this moment. I can still add items to the basket, obviously I didn't go as far as ordering or paying for anything, but for a business that is claiming to have gone under, they're still pretty much active apparently.

ManRT, on 25 January 2021 - 11:27 AM, said:

Cancel the post, I've got a very big cause going on and I'm putting in all those people who speak badly. VArtModel has closed, and it's serious. By February, you have your refund.

So basically they are threatening legal action agaisnt anyone who's putting on the pressure for refunds?

I hope you really get your refund in February as they promised, but don't count on that, I'd say.

Edited by cwbs, 25 January 2021 - 12:32 PM.

[Guiddy]

Keep the post up, it's the first action you have received, and if you get your money back then all we know they can trust this company if they reappear again.

[Craig]

If he refunds you, cool. Let us know and we can draw a line under it.  
If he doesn't we know they're not to be trusted.

The thread stays anyway and if the person who owes the money sees this and doesn't like it. Here's a thought.. pay the man what you owe him.

[Guiddy]

Craig, on 25 January 2021 - 03:11 PM, said:

Here's a thought.. pay the man what you owe him.

Hear hear!

[Craig]

ManRT,

It's February now.. did you get your money back ?

(I think i know the answer)  I wish we had a whistling emoji on here!

[ManRT]

...you are not going to believe it, but YES, I do have my money!
Well, it looks like they had real problems, it's a pity because their list was very very interesting for italian and spanish people...

[Craig]

That is fantastic news!!

I will leave the thread open till more reply. But I will lock it soon after (and amend the title to say that it has concluded)

[ManRT]

Craig, on 26 February 2021 - 06:29 AM, said:

That is fantastic news!!

I will leave the thread open till more reply. But I will lock it soon after (and amend the title to say that it has concluded)

Thank you, we got to tell the good things about people too!