drewbie Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Holy freakin hell! im sure for the most part everyone knows who Rich "rbtek1" Baldonado is and the reputation he has painting swimbaits. ive been following his work for awhile and always liked what i saw, so i decided that my custom 7 in TT needed a make over. my brother got a bait painted by him last year before he blew up on IG and was still getting his name out. he got a romanmade trick painted in bass and even tho the paint job wasnt his best work (not instagram worthy, splotches, some runny spots) i'll give him a shot. so i emailed rich back in april about doing a custom paint on a triple trout for me. im in the army and was recently issued my multicams at the time so i thought that a bait in multicam would be awesome. i ask him if he could do it, he says yes, i send him a picture of what the multicam pattern looks like and then tells me it'll be 40+shipping. i get back to him a little later about where to send payment, shipping address, and all that with his response of "I can get the bait back to you within 2 weeks of receiving it. You can PayPal me at: rich@illusiveink.com Total $50"..... i dont know about you but 40+a small flat rate shipping box of 5.80 doesnt equal $50, but he he has to drive to the post office so im not gonna complain about $4.20. a week after i ship my TT out he tells me its on the rack sanded and primed. 2 week goes by, i email him for an update, no response. another week, i email, finally responds, tells me its in the next out going batch. so im thinking it i should be getting mail any day now. a week after we last talked he emailed me about who painted my bait before. i didnt know, i bought it off SBNation. waiting waiting email him wait some more. tells me he's having trouble painting the bait cause of the paint the previous painter used. tells me he's got the issue handled, i should get my bait soon. wait wait wait some more... another email saying he's gonna send it out, after 3 MONTHS! wait wait wait.... i get fed up with his sh*t and tell him to give me my money and my bait back. i didnt even care if it was painted or not. so 4 MONTHS later he tells me i'll get my money and bait back. FINALLY......... NOT! i still dont have my money or my bait. this is absolute BS! what pisses me off more is that i see him posting up pictures of baits that he's painted up on IG! and FB posts of him on vacation and all this other bs. he has all the time in the world to paint all the bassbrigade guys' baits but he cant even send a courtesy email to a PAYING customer??? ive even had friends, who are known in the IG world and are friends of mine, talk to him for me hoping i could get a more real response. still no contact. its been so long since he's had my bait and money that ive forgotten about it and people have to remind me if ive gotten my sh*t back. ive waited to put him on blast but screw him. people should know about his shotty customer service. damn it.... now im more pissed about this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWIMBO Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Damn bro I thought I wrote this story because THE SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED TO ME! Thought it was a fluke thing so I never said anything... But I guess not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aesoprocks247 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Glad someone finally spoke up about this. Same expierence, if you're not one of his boys, don't expect to see anything for atleast three or four months. He'll just half ass your stuff to get it out the door after you've complained enough. Straight up scumbag he knows it too, yeah sure I'll take your money no problem. I've been waiting for this to come up for a loong time and finally forgot about it until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbie Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 yea bro, 7 months! i sent my sht out in april. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadinesmom Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 glad you guys posted this because i had about 500 bucks worth of work i wanted to get him to do... reading this is the type of thing that can save those of us who haven't dropped the cash yet. sorry to hear that this isn't a one time thing for him. so i guess we should ask... who do we send to now? brock? Pizz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorCalBass Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 glad you guys posted this because i had about 500 bucks worth of work i wanted to get him to do... reading this is the type of thing that can save those of us who haven't dropped the cash yet. sorry to hear that this isn't a one time thing for him. so i guess we should ask... who do we send to now? brock? Pizz? brocks paint is insane!!! plus hes a straight up guy too. He has replied to me twice on facebook within 30 minutes of my initial message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassindon69 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Brock has been repainting for a while now I don't know pizz but I know Brock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aesoprocks247 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Anyone else will actually want you to be a happy customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elnicko Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Pizz just did a 250 for me. Turned out awesome and Paul was great about getting back to me quickly throughout. Cool guy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbie Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 glad you guys posted this because i had about 500 bucks worth of work i wanted to get him to do... reading this is the type of thing that can save those of us who haven't dropped the cash yet. sorry to hear that this isn't a one time thing for him. so i guess we should ask... who do we send to now? brock? Pizz? save yourself some money and headache and send it to either brock or pizz. never heard a complaint about either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrystowing Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 I love Pizz he does all my stuff plus he makes custom baits as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassindon69 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 I love Pizz he does all my stuff plus he makes custom baits as well. I don't like the tail on the perch I have (gift from friend) It warps out of shape to easy. And it's a sinking floater Just saying... Not a good 1st impression for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingbear8 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 Whoa man how are you going to rip on the briGAYde like that?! They are so cool with their sweet hats and man have you seen all those toad 2 and 3 pound bass they post up?! On a serious note Brock is one of the coolest guys I have talked too. He is a very very good painter and he makes some of the best glide baits out there. He is very humble and a super cool guy to talk to and do business with. He told me that my 8.5 glide would be 6-8 weeks when I first asked him for one. He got it to me in three. I can't say enough good about this guy, I don't really do repaints but if I ever do there is not anyone else I would even consider. Oh and Rich was just on here too so I am sure he has seen this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honestabe101 Posted November 15, 2013 Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 After Pizz painted the knock off Wake Jrs. they sold on Bass Tackle Depot, neither of them are getting any of my money. He does sweet paint jobs, but that was some BS. I've seen too many big chips out of custom repaints(if they are actually fished and don't sit on the shelf)...is that just the nature of the beast? Nothing beats factory original in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbie Posted November 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2013 ish, i hope he sees this. and everyone else! and im not bashing on bass brigade, i like their stuff. i just dont like how rich is puttin in all his effort ( it seems like) to all the "in" guys and F'in off on PAYING customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts