Update: (May 18, 2005) I’ve received an email from someone identifying themselves as John Godel. He states that he was having ‘a big family problem at the time’ that he defaulted on so many Amazon orders. I have no reason to believe this is not true. It is unfortunate that he wasn’t prompt in returning refunds and/or explaining the problems. I consider this case closed.
2nd Update: John has sent me the books I was owed via Barnes and Noble.
3rd Update: This post is quickly becoming a sounding board for family squabbles (not my family). I am closing comments and archiving the ones that were here.
November 20th, 2004 at 3:00 am e
unfortunately i did order from this person. I waited over a month never, receiving my product or a response to my e-mails. finally filed a claim with amazon after 34 days from payment and still no delivery. do not use this seller.
microkk Says:
November 20th, 2004 at 2:01 pm e
I too have ordered from this seller and the same result… My order was on Oct 15th and it is now Nov 20th and I have not received my book or a response to the email that I sent asking what's going on. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SELLER!
November 21st, 2004 at 8:45 pm e
I also made this mistake, got my money back from Amazon but still fustrating. I'll double check the ratings from now on.
November 22nd, 2004 at 8:09 am e
I'm another sucker. I so don't trust him that I've already filed my claim with Amazon. They say I'll be reimbursed in 1-2 weeks. Good riddance, John Godel!!!
November 22nd, 2004 at 8:50 am e
I have also had problems with this guy. Never received my book and he never responded to my emails. Will go back to Amazon.
November 22nd, 2004 at 11:22 am e
I'm another victim. It's 20 Nov. and I ordered Oct. 10. I have filed with Amazon and THEY haven't acknowledged yet!
November 22nd, 2004 at 1:33 pm e
Gee, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who was duped by this clown. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you all are. I ordered my book towards mid-October, and it's now November 22, 2004. Still no book! I've sent several emails to this jerkoff, but only received one response that wasn't automated. Finally, I filed a claim with amazon.com in an attempt to get my money back, and have also filed a dispute with my credit card company on the charge he applied. I work for an attorney's office and am half tempted to see if there's anything that can be done about this jackass. This is the first bad experience I've had with any seller on amazon.com. Will definitely be paying more attention to the seller rating from now on.
November 22nd, 2004 at 8:38 pm e
I am so impressed by the power of blogging! It amazes and thrills me to know that people can ‘gather” around a subject so quickly. The benefits to protect and forewarn are brilliant. I ordered three books on amazon today and you can better bet that I checked the supplier before purchasing. Thanks for the heads up Andy and all.
November 22nd, 2004 at 10:30 pm e
This guy is a shithead. Won't contact me and didn't send my book. Don't feed into his scam, please.
November 23rd, 2004 at 2:41 pm e
I too did not recieve my book from this seller. I am not as upset over losing $11.00 as I am that Amazon does nothing to shut this seller down. These negative reviews have been going on for months! Unbelievable! If any of us did this we would be hauled off to jail for fraud. If it is this easy to scam people I think I will quit my job and sell air guitars on the internet.
November 27th, 2004 at 4:38 pm e
Ditto here. Ordered in early October, no book, no responses to emails. Just filed for a refund.
Why hasn't Amazon shut this guy down yet?
December 10th, 2004 at 3:24 pm e
Oh, my gosh. Now I find out about Godel. Why didn't I look sooner? But Godel is only 50% of the problem. I wrote him a check for $16 for a book, but he also charged Amazon, which charged me $16 for the same book. I cannot get a response from Amazon, and I cannot get a response from Godel, of course. Now what do I do?
Carol
December 15th, 2004 at 5:31 am e
Same story here!!!
Ordered and paid 10-19-04, item not received as of today, 12-15-04.
I filed with Amazon and will order elsewhere next time. It looks like he may be shut down now but how did Amazon let it get this bad???
February 4th, 2005 at 9:16 am e
please dont be upset with him i worked for him for three weeks he is honest man to my knowledge there were no more orders to be taken during this time period to my understanding he had a family emergency he is not from the USA so please be patient with him
John Says:
February 25th, 2005 at 10:14 pm e
Godel is a criminal. Why does Amazon do business with such a guy if people claim files with Amazon all the time? Amazon, wake up!
March 3rd, 2005 at 2:49 pm e
FYI to all those that have been duped by John Godel. It appears that he has left the country and is now living in Germany.
Name: John Godel ( johngodel )
Member since: 16 Oct 2001
Email: jh@hotmail.com
This member has submitted 4 articles, 0 other resources and posted 0 messages
John GODEL has an experience more than 18 years in the area of software development. He is a software engineer and architect. His interests include object-oriented and distributed computing with C/C++, C#. Also he has several years of experience with COM, DCOM, COM+ and CORBA, software reuse, and object-oriented frameworks.
He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematical engineering and a master’s degree in computer and software engineering. He currently works for EPOTH Ltd. Florida, USA as a consultant. He has designed and developed applications, solutions for Cisco, State Street Bank, Echomail and TJX in Massachusetts and Tumbleweed in CA. Living in Germany-Europe since 2005 Jan.
Location Europe
Occupation Software Engineer/Architect
Birthday 12 January (currently aged 38 )
ICQ#
Messenger ID
Yahoo ID
AIM ID
Web site http://www.softwarehouse.com
May 1st, 2005 at 10:19 am e
John Godel is a honest man. May be because of some emergency or situation, he may not be able to contact you guys.
May 15th, 2005 at 10:02 pm e
I know John Godel. He is my brother-in-law. I haven't seen of him much, but the few impressions I could gather is that he is a child. With a 7-year old's notions on money. He had always worked for a salary, and even within such well-defined limits, he has managed to sink his (and his household's) credit history to the bottom. He can't open an account in most US banks. It is a very very bad point for Amazon to allow someone with no commercial experience to act as intermediary for them. My brother-in-law actually thinks that taking money and dissappearing afterwards is a commercial activity. He came to Turkey in December with pockets full money (your money:) (he is Turkish, so am I, by the way) (so, he had no commercial experience, bad credit history, and he endeavoured under these conditions to operate a commercial activity in a foreign country, for him, the US in this case), anyway, here in Turkey, he has spent generously, rented a house, went back to the US, didn't pay the rent in Istanbul, didn't pay for the furniture. My mother and his sister had to cover for it. Now, he is jobless in California, the contract he was expecting didn't materialize. For anyone seeking his trace, here is his address and number.
(removed address)
May 20th, 2005 at 9:57 pm e
I know him too. He is an honest man. On the other hand, If this guy (Ali) is his brother in law god bless us somebody like him. He is worst than an enemy. Shame on you man!
May 21st, 2005 at 8:30 pm e
1 out of 5: ‘NO BOOK– NO RESONSE TO EMAILS-NEED REFUND”
Date: 1/16/2005 Rated by Buyer: my66chevy
3 out of 5: ‘Book never arrived. Refund made promptly.”
Date: 1/15/2005 Rated by Buyer: weezie1323
1 out of 5: ‘Never received book and bad communication.”
Date: 1/14/2005 Rated by Buyer: dd7944
1 out of 5: ‘SENT NOTHING SINCE OCTOBER, ITS JAN, BAD SELLER, NO RESPONSE FROM COUNTLESS EMAILS”
Date: 1/14/2005 Rated by Buyer: mselou
1 out of 5: ‘Didn't receive my item, failed to contact seller”
Date: 1/14/2005 Rated by Buyer: Andrew K.
2 out of 5: ‘as of 1/13/05 have not recieved the book OR ANY replies to my e-mails”
Date: 1/14/2005 Rated by Buyer: Fred H.
1 out of 5: ‘didnt deliver book.didn't answer email.Amazon got me refund”
Date: 1/13/2005 Rated by Buyer: trixiepp
5 out of 5: ‘Excellent product and delivery. Thanks. A+++++++”
Date: 1/13/2005 Rated by Buyer: stevenagrant
4 out of 5: ‘great book, took a VERY long time to receive,”
Date: 1/13/2005 Rated by Buyer: rcdoss01
1 out of 5: ‘Seller claimed book had been shipped, but was insured. I asked for reshipment. Nothing. I asked for refund. No response. Asked for refnd again. No response. Seller has my money. I have only anger.”
Date: 1/12/2005 Rated by Buyer: Karen D.
1 out of 5: ‘book never arrived”
Date: 1/12/2005 Rated by Buyer: stevenca1
1 out of 5: ‘Never received book. Thankful for A-Z guarantee.”
Date: 1/12/2005 Rated by Buyer: pbianchi502
1 out of 5: ‘i never got the books or a refund… he is awful DO NOT TRUST HIM”
Date: 1/11/2005 Rated by Buyer: hieng
1 out of 5: ‘don't buy from them, never got the book unanswered email”
Date: 1/11/2005 Rated by Buyer: janeeyrich
1 out of 5: ‘Never received my book. Notified seller, they finally informed that the book was sent to wrong address and hence it was returned. I still have not received a refund. Posted a claim to Amazon.”
Date: 1/11/2005 Rated by Buyer: frugalbookworm
1 out of 5: ‘I never received my book, or any response to emails.”
Date: 1/11/2005 Rated by Buyer: Scott M.
1 out of 5: ‘onlinebook2004 never delivered my book or contacted me to let me know. Don't buy from them.”
Date: 1/10/2005 Rated by Buyer: solderman
4 out of 5: ‘Seller issued refund when book was not available”
Date: 1/9/2005 Rated by Buyer: brynmaybooks
1 out of 5: ‘never received book”
Date: 1/9/2005 Rated by Buyer: michael k.
1 out of 5: ‘NEVER RECEIVE MY BOOK,NO ANSWER,FILE CLAIM ALREADY!AWFUL EXPERIENCE!NEVER BUY FROM THIS SELLER!!!”
Date: 1/8/2005 Rated by Buyer: sleepingapplieee
1 out of 5: ‘I never received my book. I emailed the sellar to no avail!!”
Date: 1/8/2005 Rated by Buyer: dfiler8
1 out of 5: ‘never received the book”
Date: 1/8/2005 Rated by Buyer: tzvee
1 out of 5: ‘This guy ripped me off. Go to http://www.fraud.org/welcome.htm and file a complaint against this person. It will be forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agency.”
Date: 1/8/2005 Rated by Buyer: Rosalee K.
1 out of 5: ‘I never received my order from these people.”
Date: 1/7/2005 Rated by Buyer: msmith928
1 out of 5: ‘Never received book and seller never responded to my inquiries.”
Date: 1/7/2005 Rated by Buyer: kkelly23
Next Page
May 22nd, 2005 at 5:57 pm e
Where do I come in? It was totally coincidental to start with, and I do believe that even those Bay Area people
who only share a neighborhood relation with Mr. Godel (I will stick to the 3rd person) would consider what happened here as a liability for their relationship (mainly through indirect channels of course). And in my case, he is right inside the family. Because this is no longer just puerile or mismanaged or irresponsible, THIS IS ILLEGAL BROTHER! I would be unable to define the exact terms under which it is, and still less qualified to do so where the US jurisdiction is concerned, but a quick glimpse suggests me that there would be several. This is also ugly. People counted on those books for reasons which were important to them (work, study, areas of interest, gifts, special occasions, leisure, or simply the money paid) , people were left under the impression that, short of their order, they were going to get a refund (software engineering?), one customer arrived to the conclusion that the positive ratings were fabricated (creative rating?). Since www.johngodel.com was no longer in the US between the ‘Lufthansa' flight to Frankfurt on the 23rd of November till the 23rd of January, as of end-November, the infrastructure to handle the orders were simply not present anymore. Therefore, I promptly urge my brother-in-law to sketch up a ‘return to normal' plan immediately. Since this is the forum where this ‘…' has been uncovered, I think it would be a good idea to draw up of a letter of apology to the attention of the 12 complainants here and strive for their customer's satisfaction either in the form of the books ordered or a refund where they didn't get any of these. And then he could work up for the remaining thousands who could have contributed a dime to his estate as a talented software engineer (to get the closest idea, see Richard Pryor in Superman III:). I strongly recommend that he gets in touch with Amazon. Faced with such problems, companies are generally more inclined towards concluding agreements than entering into legal procedures. On the condition that the agreement is respected of course…My brother-in-law is a very fleshy person and there is a touch of humor involved when an Amazon pursuit of him is put in figurative terms. But I am almost sure that a consensus can be reached to the best satisfaction of the wronged customers. Through very superficial research, I also learned that the a special branch within the FBI had been established to deal with this kind of issues. DO IT BROTHER! I prefer to avoid adjectives (many customers used them), and I am not using the T-word to describe anyone, but in a very general sense, but, ‘A theft is a theft is a theft' (10, 20, 30 $, whatever) and sometimes ‘the luckiest thief is the one who is caught the first time'. I will avoid being drawn into a discussion here, but I keep an eye and I would do the necessary. In any case, I don't think readers should worry anymore, my brother-in-law is into vacuum cleaners now.