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Bad Michael Sastre, River City Sheaths

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Hmmmm. The adjustment took so long, or longer than expected? I've built hundreds, maybe thousands of sheaths and holsters and various other items using kydex, holstex, and boltaron at this point. I've had the same requests from customers only a few times since I started in 2012. Sheath either too tight, or too loose. I can't ever remember it taking more than 30 minutes or so to make adjustments and get it right. Never had to adjust any of them more than once too.
Not trying to bash the guy but his sheaths don't look like they are anything special that couldn't be done by most competent kydex guys, myself included.

I'm gonna call BS on the adjustment part.
I'll also say I think he doesn't have your knife anymore (he won't be the first one to steal a members knife by selling it when hit with hard times and the need for cash).

Or maybe he has fallen ill and can't respond? Doubtful since it seems he's done this before and this is just more douche bag behavior. I wish you well my friend. I hope he at least gets you your knife back even if he doesn't respond here.
Thank you!

On adjustment for some reason having been an issue recognized by him originally, here's what he said and when:

June 12, 2019:
Mike Sastre said:
Sorry for the delays. Your sheath should be ready to ship by week’s end .. Monday at the latest.

June 27, 2019:
Mike Sastre said:
Sorry for the delay .. adjustment period took a little longer.

A package was shipped to you on 06/27/2019 via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail to the following address:

I would certainly like to think he has not sold it. I am not accusing him of that. That would be very willful and certainly criminal. But on the other hand, why the no shipping, including after being warned he'd be reported for mail fraud if not sent by a given date, then on failing to ship being advised that he had been reported for mail fraud, and then being advised of a fraud claim started with PayPal?? Inexplicable just about to not only not ship but remain silent through all that.

He has cited COPD but that doesn't stop someone from putting a box in their mailbox for pickup, or going to the Post Office. Besides he said on January 9th he was mailing the next day, and the likelihood of falling vastly ill in the next 24 hours is low. He's also definitely still kicking because he signed in to the forum the same morning I started this thread, and did sign in last Friday as well, with the thread well underway and him having been alerted to it.
 
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Thank you!

On adjustment for some reason having been an issue recognized by him originally, here's what he said and when:

June 12, 2019:


June 27, 2019:


I would certainly like to think he has not sold it. I am not accusing him of that. That would be very willful and certainly criminal. But on the other hand, why the no shipping, including after being warned he'd be reported for mail fraud if not sent by a given date, then on failing to ship being advised that he had been reported for mail fraud, and then being advised of a fraud claim started with PayPal?? Inexplicable just about to not only not ship but remain silent through all that.

He has cited COPD but that doesn't stop someone from putting a box in their mailbox for pickup, or going to the Post Office. Besides he said on January 9th he was mailing the next day, and the likelihood of falling vastly ill in the next 24 hours is low. He's also definitely still kicking because he signed in to the forum the same morning I started this thread, and did sign in last Friday as well, with the thread well underway and him having been alerted to it.

It didn't take 15 days to make the adjustment on a kydex knife sheath. It took him 15 days to get to that work. I like his use of the word 'period'. LOL

And I agree on your opinion of the timeline here in January, and the fact that he's been online. If it's me, I'm definitely filing with the Postal Inspection service for fraud. Not all states are the same but you may be able to contact your state attorney general's office and inquire about consumer fraud as well since you have proof you paid for services and he has no proof he delivered back to you.

I can't imagine letting anyone, especially a member HERE, steal my knife and just simply ignore me, and think I will go allow that to stand. I would pursue it to the end on principal alone. YMMV

I don't remember and don't want to reread, but are the mods involved yet?
 
It didn't take 15 days to make the adjustment on a kydex knife sheath. It took him 15 days to get to that work. I like his use of the word 'period'. LOL

And I agree on your opinion of the timeline here in January, and the fact that he's been online. If it's me, I'm definitely filing with the Postal Inspection service for fraud. Not all states are the same but you may be able to contact your state attorney general's office and inquire about consumer fraud as well since you have proof you paid for services and he has no proof he delivered back to you.

I can't imagine letting anyone, especially a member HERE, steal my knife and just simply ignore me, and think I will go allow that to stand. I would pursue it to the end on principal alone. YMMV

I don't remember and don't want to reread, but are the mods involved yet?
Boru13 Boru13 said he’s waiting for a response from Mike before other actions can be taken. I don’t want to believe that the guy who designed the Spyderco g-clip and Cold Steel c-clip is a thief.
 
He has not, by either e-mail or message.

At this point, if he is reading this, Mike, please get the knife and sheath into the mail, Priority Mail as paid for, and send me the tracking number. No point really in writing before that, but that tracking number needs to be sent me absolutely ASAP, meaning should be today. And I need my property back in that plus the Priority Mail delivery time. It absolutely cannot be justified to not do this.

Or, if the suggestion is right that you may not have my knife anymore and therefore can't return it, and since the sheath you say must be custom to the specific knife, then to avoid having defrauded me you need to refund the $132 I paid you for the sheath, refund the money paid for return shipping, and compensate me the current replacement cost of the knife, which I find to be $165.49. Which totals to $307.49. You can use PayPal and we will be 100% good if you do that.

I would also like to add, If in some say you're put off (I have no idea) that I have reported you for mail fraud as well as started the PayPal fraud process and now have issues with me, see above, I am not alone in concluding those became appropriate in this case. I expect that Postal investigations proceed slowly. You may not have heard from them yet. But if the postal inspector has the same conclusion, consider that when something is returned to the owner only after the authorities act, that is not necessarily treated the same as being returned beforehand.

If the act is decided to be illegal by the authorities, e.g. mail fraud in this case, the crime was still committed. Returning the item at that too-late point does not necessarily save one. "Listen Judge, I stole his car, but after the police showed up at my door I gave it back to him, so I'm good." Nope. Doesn't work that way.

If nothing else matters to you, at least consider why would you want to still be possessing my property and still be keeping my money you asked for Priority Mail, without making good, on the postal inspector deciding to get to your case. Not worth it compared to the trouble of just getting to the Post Office.

Nothing else has motivated you, maybe considering that could?

EDIT: Btw, coincidentally I just received this by e-mail:

CISCFCSExternal@uspis.gov said:
Thank you for contacting the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The information you provided has been entered into our national Fraud Complaint System. Your reference number is C#1927172. If we need more information, you will be contacted directly. Please hold on to any original documents related to your complaint.

United States Postal Inspection Service
 
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Ugh...I hate reading this type of situation but this forum is a great place to search for "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"...good luck and please let us all know if there is any movement (positive or negative).
 
Yes, absolutely nothing. No reply to any email, a year lost, no knife, money gone, he is choosing to keep the knife and money and to blow me and apparently also you and any other mods off completely.

I will tomorrow advance the PayPal fraud report if Sastre continues ignoring me today. Unfortunately as the only part of the transaction that was by PayPal was the return shipping, I will recover only $10 which is near nothing compared to total loss, but out of principle it must be done.

The Post Office, as reported above, has their fraud investigation underway. But they probably will not get my property for me. Hopefully they will do to him what he deserves though.
 
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Yes, absolutely nothing. No reply to any email, a year lost, no knife, money gone, he is choosing to keep the knife and money and to blow me and apparently also you and any other mods off completely.

I will tomorrow advance the PayPal fraud report if Sastre continues ignoring me today. Unfortunately as the only part of the transaction that was by PayPal was the return shipping, I will recover only $10 which is near nothing compared to total loss, but out of principle it must be done.

The Post Office, as reported above, has their fraud investigation underway. But they probably will not get my property for me. Hopefully they will do to him what he deserves though.
Sorry to hear this but thanks for the update.

I talked to Spark Spark about this yesterday, we'll see if he's able to get you some kind of resolution.
 
If I'd had known about this, I'd have asked him during SHOT. Sorry you are going through this.
 
Thank you.

PayPal fraud case now escalated due to Sastre continuing to ignore all communication, despite obviously being aware (logging in to the board more than once since this thread started, and being alerted more than once.)

Not that that helps me much, but there has to be some consequence for stealing, and I do call it stealing now, taking a man's knife and money and having him empty handed long past any promised or reasonable time and no reason now to think anything but forever, until and unless he changes things by returning my property or recompenses my losses. And hopefully, if he does not, there will be more consequence than that as well. There should be.
 
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I guess that Civil action is your best bet. Mike has been a forum member since 1999, so it’s not like he’s gonna get booted off for not responding to you. As a long time person in the knife business, he probably feels that he has a superior position, and is above getting involved in your post.
It is unfortunate that he is so out of touch with the concerns of clients such as yourself. I knew many years ago that I would never deal with the guy, based on other complaints that I read about him.
 
Damn,I’m sorry to hear that.its a damn shame it’s so hard to be able to take a man for his word these days..I really hope you can get this sorted out,I could only imagine the nightmare it would be to get anyone to do anything about
 
I guess that Civil action is your best bet. Mike has been a forum member since 1999, so it’s not like he’s gonna get booted off for not responding to you. As a long time person in the knife business, he probably feels that he has a superior position, and is above getting involved in your post.
It is unfortunate that he is so out of touch with the concerns of clients such as yourself. I knew many years ago that I would never deal with the guy, based on other complaints that I read about him.

Seniority, paid membership, vouches or karma will not keep you safe from the sharks for if you go off the deep end into deception and thievery. At best you may get a little bit more benefit of the doubt, yet that only gets you so far. From what others have posted it sounds like this isn't the first time something like this has happened with the person in question.

If I am wrong, which I highly doubt, well then...
 
Mike has been a forum member since 1999, so it’s not like he’s gonna get booted off for not responding to you. As a long time person in the knife business, he probably feels that he has a superior position, and is above getting involved in your post.

I don't know about that.

Seniority, paid membership, vouches or karma will not keep you safe from the sharks for if you go off the deep end into deception and thievery. At best you may get a little bit more benefit of the doubt, yet that only gets you so far.

Agreed.
 
I guess that Civil action is your best bet. Mike has been a forum member since 1999, so it’s not like he’s gonna get booted off for not responding to you. As a long time person in the knife business, he probably feels that he has a superior position, and is above getting involved in your post.
It is unfortunate that he is so out of touch with the concerns of clients such as yourself. I knew many years ago that I would never deal with the guy, based on other complaints that I read about him.
If the postal inspection service finds evidence this guy stole this mans knife using the mail, he won't have to be booted off of BF. He will be in federal prison. One of the most powerful law enforcement officials in the U.S. is a U.S. Postal Inspector. Most people don't know that. I've met a few of those guys years ago and they take their job very seriously.
 
Nobody is suing someone in another state over a few hundred dollars. Anyone who takes your money promising to initiate some kind of legal action over this is actually using that money to purchase crack and smoke it under the bridge with their fellow crack heads. Nobody is going to federal prison over this type of dispute, ever, never ever gonna ever happen. That is a fantasy scenario. Law enforcement is gonna say this is a civil dispute. They will say we don’t get involved in civil disputes. They are gonna say we don’t have jurisdiction. The only solution to this problem is if the guy returns the knife. Whether that happens depends on how much he values his reputation. That’s all there is to this. I really hope you get it back, and thanks for posting this.
 
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Nobody is suing someone in another state over a few hundred dollars. Anyone who takes your money promising to initiate some kind of legal action over this is actually using that money to purchase crack and smoke it under the bridge with their fellow crack heads. Nobody is going to federal prison over this type of dispute, ever, never ever gonna ever happen. That is a fantasy scenario. Law enforcement is gonna say this is a civil dispute. They will say we don’t get involved in civil disputes. They are gonna say we don’t have jurisdiction. The only solution to this problem is if the guy returns the knife. Whether that happens depends on how much he values his reputation. That’s all there is to this. I really hope you get it back, and thanks for posting this.[/QUOTE

Thanks for reassuring the wrongdoer that he has nothing to fear.
 
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