The worst deal of all - Tony Martino

poolchady

Zen Custom Cues
Silver Member
Long story short.

I contacted with Tony Martino on March 8th of 2013 for a McDaniel cue.
During the time we had emails back and forward.
On March 19th we ended up cutting a deal for his Tuxedo set (14 cues), a T.Wayne, a Phillippi, and a Manzino. The total amount is $45,000.

I sent the fund on March 20th and he confirmed that he received it.
After that, he claimed that he was sick and needed to stay at the hospital.
He promised he would ask his family to ship the cues and I said I am not in a hurry. I will wait until he gets home.

On April 24th, he emailed me stating that he has to cancel the deal and return the money because a so-called "big time" dealer told him that he could get 12000 to 15000 more if he sent the cues on consigment to that guy.

Here is the thing. He could have cancelled the whole deal before I sent the fund. Or do it a few days after he received the money. He kept me waiting for OVER A MONTH!! This is insane.

During the time Obama depreciated the US dollar and I had a foreign exchange loss of more than $500. Tony Martino refused to cover the loss.
He took my money for 35 days and I ended up with a loss.

I have been dealing with people from Asia, Mid East, Europe, Russia, North America, South America, and Africa for over 15 years and I have never encountered this kind of situation before. Probably I am lucky. Most people are nice and easy to get along with. A few deal went south but they all managed to right the wrong after a few years.

I hate to post a "buyer be aware" thread here but somebody has to know this when you decide to pull the trigger and buy one of his cues. You better do the escrew otherwise this guy might change his mind and stab you in the back.

Btw I keep all the email communication and bank receipts.
 
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Yikes. Thats pretty bad business. Bad enough after you agreed to a deal he backed out, but not covering the currency loss is ever further out of line.

You're a much braver man than I, 45k deal with no escrow. Wowzers!
 
I thought that buying cues from a guy with his name in the blue book and a company worth millions would not need the escrow. I was thinking wrong.
 
Only losing 500 of the 45k. Me personally. Id be shitting clovers just to get the fat stack back. I wouldnt sweat the 500 too much. But its hard not to tho. So all around it does suck. Sorry man!
 
Wow, Chady....sorry to hear that. That's pretty shameless right there to go back on an agreement like that. Sounds like somebody stuck their nose right in the middle of your deal, to boot.
 
I would rather read that you got the entire 45K back, so this really isn't cool.
They should of known what the cues were worth before they agreed to the price.
In that they didn't know what the cues were worth before they committed to the price, they must of been trying
to sell the cues while your funds were dwindling>>:mad:
 
That really sucks Chady. Sorry to see such a nice guy get the short end of the stick. Hopefully every thing works out for you anyway.
 
Well, he's rolling the dice consigning them. Sounds like he got hustled by somebody that knew what his deal with you was. Birds of a feather...
 
Tony Martino

Years back, I wrote a fairly long piece on cue collecting, and nobody *****ed about it longer/louder than Tony Martino (even though the article was flattering to him). Glad to see someone agrees with my opinion of him. GF
 
I am math handicamped, but isn't 45000/500 .0012 (:D:sorry:;))

Chady, you better be glad you got 99% back! 1% loss is about damn good, given that you are not working off a contract or with escrow.
 
Legally he owes you the cue set. If you decide to pursue it legally, you could get an injunction preventing him from selling it until your case came to court years down the road.

Who's the dealer?
 
Years back, I wrote a fairly long piece on cue collecting, and nobody *****ed about it longer/louder than Tony Martino (even though the article was flattering to him). Glad to see someone agrees with my opinion of him. GF

I agree with your opinion too. He actually threatened to sue a cue maker over the term "tuxedo" cue - even though it's been used generically for years.
 
If this was the first time you lost money on a deal then I would say youve been lucky, and mark it up to "Thats the way it goes sometimes" Life is too short to worry about it.... It sucks when it happens, but it isnt worth the stomach acid...


Ive been burned on a few deals in the past, but at least you arent chasing him for 45K... It could have been very ugly
 
What dirty way to handle business. It will be interesting to see who's website the cues begin showing up on. Sound like those two go together like water and vinegar.
 
Chady

Sounds like you showed the man respect by allowing him time for his hospital stay without 45K worth of pressure from you.

Sounds like he showed you complete disrespect in return.

Sorry it happened to you. My take on deals that go like this is you are probably better off not doing business with the guy to begin with and considering the amount of money you had invested, and how sour it could have gone, you got off cheap.

Kevin
 
this time it was a loss . . .

I am math handicamped, but isn't 45000/500 .0012 (:D:sorry:;))

Chady, you better be glad you got 99% back! 1% loss is about damn good, given that you are not working off a contract or with escrow.


This time it was a little loss to have his money tied up for thirty-five days if he would have had it invested as he said. Anyone believe had the exchange went the other way the OP would have said, "Just send me $44,500, I would have lost five hundred had you not been holding my money."

Hu
 
I know who it aint... :D

But I have a good idea who it might be and this would be the second person he threw under the bus in the last few weeks.... becareful pretty soon the bus is going to run you over.... :)

JV

Legally he owes you the cue set. If you decide to pursue it legally, you could get an injunction preventing him from selling it until your case came to court years down the road.

Who's the dealer?
 
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