Scammed by Hotshotcomics.com 5 5

[Archaeos]

It’s crazy to think this guy is still in business, I did one order with him and never again, sorry to hear all your troubles I hope everyone gets what they are owed or the money back 

[Steven Ciannavei]

It would be nice if @CGC Comicswould stop grading his books as he is a terrible businessman but the way the world works, if they don’t have a problem with hotshot, then they have no reason to go to bat for anyone on this thread or otherwise that have been burned by this hack of a seller. 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Steven Ciannavei

[revat]

On 8/5/2022 at 3:02 AM, Steven Ciannavei said:

It would be nice if @CGC Comicswould stop grading his books as he is a terrible businessman but the way the world works, if they don’t have a problem with hotshot, then they have no reason to go to bat for anyone on this thread or otherwise that have been burned by this hack of a seller. 

I would think if enough people made complaints about the seller, with full documentation and possibly police reports, that would go a long way towards CGC rethinking their association. 

But they don't sit around looking through these threads for no reason, people have to make their complaints and document and follow up and escalate the issues.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 8/5/2022 at 6:02 AM, Steven Ciannavei said:

It would be nice if @CGC Comicswould stop grading his books as he is a terrible businessman but the way the world works, if they don’t have a problem with hotshot, then they have no reason to go to bat for anyone on this thread or otherwise that have been burned by this hack of a seller. 

Perhaps, but I imagine that there is nothing about their direct dealings that violates any of CGC's terms.

[MetalPSI]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:43 AM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Perhaps, but I imagine that there is nothing about their direct dealings that violates any of CGC's terms.

As long as they pay their bill, it has nothing to do with CGC 

[Chas-71]

Still waiting on 2 books from April of 2021. Sellers like this give the business a bad name and make it more difficult to trust other people selling. 

[Orgasmic]

Wow that's messed up, will definitely stay away

[BRONTE]

Order from March 26th still nothing yet.

 

[B2D327]

There’s a good reason why preorders are restricted on eBay and get taken down if reported

[Rsquad911]

I have also been scammed by Hotshot Comics. I have over $600 in preorders. 2 from March 2022 and 1 from July 2022

Always generic cut and paste responses from the owner (Doug Cegelis Asheville Comics) blaming CGC wait times... I've sent in books to CGC and received them back within 2 months. CCS is a different story (8 months+) hahaha!

These pre-orders were of newly released books CGC graded 9.8 (Star Wars Halcyon #1, Mandalorian #1, Star Wars Visions #1 and Eight Billion Genies #1) in 2 months all these books were in stock and ready to ship at other retailers... while with Hotshot 10 months later "They are still in the CGC pipeline"

After speaking with my credit card company I realize why he puts 16-18 weeks turnaround time... Most credit card companies only give you purchase protection up to 90 days and some top tier cards give you 120 days of protection.... So his times help him to scam and not get charged back. Looking at his website now... the turnaround times on preorders are 40-52 weeks! WHAT A JOKE! Most of those pre-order books are in stock and available everywhere else!

Lucky enough for me I used a top tier credit card and 6-10 months later they reversed the July charge no questions asked and have frozen the funds and launched an investigation for my March purchases. Hopefully they will decide in my favor... They almost always usually do.

In the end this was and still is a huge aggravation. Buying comics should be fun and Hotshot Comics is a cancer that needs to be cut out from the collecting community!

BEWARE OF HOTSHOT COMICS stay away!

 

[andyborehol]

It’s obvious for the detailed accounts in this thread that this specific seller is super-shady, but let me just suggest that you should never pre-order a graded book in a specific grade from anyone. Even if the seller has good intentions, there’s always a risk that CGC will be severely backlogged when they submit their books as well as that the seller won’t get everything back in the grades that they promised in the pre-sale. Maybe I’d feel comfortable preordering if the seller laid out very specific terms about what they’ll do in the event of a CGC delay or if their submissions come back with lower grades and I’ve seen testimonials about how they’ve adhered to those terms, but I’m not aware of any pre-sellers who fit that criteria.

[Timeless icons]

Better Business Bureau perhaps?

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:56 AM, Timeless icons said:

Better Business Bureau perhaps?

I don't think they hold any actual power. I'm pretty sure they're just pre-internet Yelp.

[Artboy99]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:29 AM, andyborehol said:

It’s obvious for the detailed accounts in this thread that this specific seller is super-shady, but let me just suggest that you should never pre-order a graded book in a specific grade from anyone. Even if the seller has good intentions, there’s always a risk that CGC will be severely backlogged when they submit their books as well as that the seller won’t get everything back in the grades that they promised in the pre-sale. Maybe I’d feel comfortable preordering if the seller laid out very specific terms about what they’ll do in the event of a CGC delay or if their submissions come back with lower grades and I’ve seen testimonials about how they’ve adhered to those terms, but I’m not aware of any pre-sellers who fit that criteria.

THIS

The comic seller should only be offering books they have in hand. This pre-order business model is nothing but trouble.

I ordered books from an online seller last year and they took 12 months to arrive, these were raw not CGC graded. The seller made good on my order and it was explained to me that the artist did not send the books. If anything, the experience was a learning one for me and I am done buying pre-order exclusives.

[CGC Mike]

 Important info regarding HotShotComics and his customers books at CGC 

 

[Xhryz]

For any who are interested, this is him, and some books I’ve been waiting on for years are in the sold items/feedback history or real bummer:

https://www.ebay.com/str/collectingeverything

[Sauce Dog]

I also just got scammed by Asheville comics, aka Hotshotcomics

I bought a low grade Adventures Comics #52 directly from their store (though I found it on ebay as well under their other account). It was advertised as 1.0 complete but with a detached cover and centrefold (both defects I was fine with as I wanted to make this my next Conservation project and reattach them).

Got the book in and found that several large panels were cut out of multiple pages....so incomplete. Reached out to them and they basically accused me of lying, saying that they inspect all the pages before hand (the missing parts are so large you would notice if you had your eyes closed and flipped through the book - one of the pages impacted was the very last page, so just opening up the back cover would reveal it). None of this was disclosed in either the original ebay listing (pictures only show the centrefold and front and back covers) nor the discussions I had with the owner when asking about condition.

I showed him a video of me flipping through the book (in order to clearly show it was the same book they sold me thanks to unique markings), but they freaked out because I posted it on my instagram (a temporary story just so they can see it and I would delete it after they confirmed it. It was the only method I had to share a larger video file with them that day) and they then ignored all my messages from that point on (even contact requests through their Asheville website)

I would have been happy to discuss a partial refund to put the value more in line with the actual grade, or return it outright at their expense...but since I'm being ignored now I've no choice but to now go through my bank and dispute the entire charge on my credit card (they sent me an invoice from the store to pay that way at least).

Edited January 12 by Sauce Dog

[Point Five]

On 1/12/2024 at 5:46 PM, Sauce Dog said:

I also just got scammed by Asheville comics, aka Hotshotcomics

I bought a low grade Adventures Comics #52 directly from their store (though I found it on ebay as well under their other account). It was advertised as 1.0 complete but with a detached cover and centrefold (both defects I was fine with as I wanted to make this my next Conservation project and reattach them).

Got the book in and found that several large panels were cut out of multiple pages....so incomplete. Reached out to them and they basically accused me of lying, saying that they inspect all the pages before hand (the missing parts are so large you would notice if you had your eyes closed and flipped through the book - one of the pages impacted was the very last page, so just opening up the back cover would reveal it). None of this was disclosed in either the original ebay listing (pictures only show the centrefold and front and back covers) nor the discussions I had with the owner when asking about condition.

I showed him a video of me flipping through the book (in order to clearly show it was the same book they sold me thanks to unique markings), but they freaked out because I posted it on my instagram (a temporary story just so they can see it and I would delete it after they confirmed it. It was the only method I had to share a larger video file with them that day) and they then ignored all my messages from that point on (even contact requests through their Asheville website)

I would have been happy to discuss a partial refund to put the value more in line with the actual grade, or return it outright at their expense...but since I'm being ignored now I've no choice but to now go through my bank and dispute the entire charge on my credit card (they sent me an invoice from the store to pay that way at least).

Oh geez! That's horrible.