• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

HERO RESTORATION - BOOKS NOT BEING RETURNED
20 20

Started by Kamenliter,

961 posts in this topic

Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
Posted (edited)

Is there anyone out there with books out to Hero Restoration/Mike DeChellis that have not have their books returned? 

I dropped off nine books with a representative of Hero Restoration at a local NJ con last August and was told the turn around time for a press and clean would be 11 weeks. It is now close to ten months with no books and only excuses. 

Supposedly Mike had a heart attack earlier this year and let go of his entire staff but even weeks after he said I'd have my books back, nada. A week ago he said my books were going out. Nothing. This Wednesday he said he was packing them up and would send me a tracking #. Nothing. When I inquired again today, his response was and I kid you not:

'My girlfriends dog just ate all my baby chickens. I am offline until further notice.'

Sounds like he is certainly not in his right mind. For the record he has my:  Amazing Spider-Man #6, #7, #15, #18, #70, Daredevil #7, FF #16 and #19 and Invincible #1. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 or more worth of books.

I have collectibles insurance and have been in contact with them. But, more than anything I want my books back. Most of them I've had for over forty years, since I'm a kid. This is heartbreaking.

I have one friend, who has his FF #5 out for over a year now with Mike. It was a 5.5 restored book that Mike was going to bring up to an 8.0. My friend paid him $2k for the work, which to date he has not begun and has not returned his comic or his money.

I cannot find anyone else online who has books out with Hero Restoration, which I find perplexing. I would think there would be dozens of folks with comics with him and usually people are fairly vocal about things when personal property worth a lot of money has basically been stolen.

I have tried to keep patient and respectful up until now, but at this point I'm getting pretty infuriated.

If you have books out with HR, please respond here or you can message me directly.

Maybe a class action suit needs to be opened.

 

Edited by Kamenliter
Removing name of third party not directly involved in the withholding of books.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yes, he let his entire staff go and it's just him. He posted a video on his IG around 6-7 weeks ago showing him going through a box and checking off people's names saying books were being returned. I still haven't received my books. He told my friend 'I'm slow, I'm not a thief.' I understand he's had health issues, etc, but if his response above is real, then he has a girlfriend, who you'd think could help him pack up books. I see claim sales on Instagram where people a day later have forty packages boxed and ready to be mailed out. There is no excuse to take ten months to get someones books back for a simple clean and press. (I was also told 2-3 times that my books 'needed extra work' and at one point 'as soon as everyone is back from Spring Break we'll get you taken care of' (except there were typos). Were they employing college kids to work on my books? Makes no sense.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 4:18 PM, MR. Pontoon said:

Yikes. That doesn't sound good.

There was a thread a few months back from someone with a similar problem:

 

 

Thanks for that link. I'd missed that thread. Well, at least he did eventually get his books back. I have small shred of hope I may still get mine back, but the anxiety, not to mention the wasted time dealing with this, is not right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 4:30 PM, wombat said:

Clearly he is flat out lying to you. Which basically makes him a thief at this point. 

That is what I'm thinking. Theft of $10,000 or more in Oregon is considered Theft in the 1st degree, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250K fine. Between just my friends book and mine, I think that easily qualifies. I'd imagine he'd prefer to send people's property back rather than risk jail time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wombat

wombat

Posted
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 4:32 PM, Kamenliter said:

That is what I'm thinking. Theft of $10,000 or more in Oregon is considered Theft in the 1st degree, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250K fine. Between just my friends book and mine, I think that easily qualifies. I'd imagine he'd prefer to send people's property back rather than risk jail time. 

So push it. Tell him that you will in fact be filing charges if you don't get your books back immediately. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
On 6/9/2023 at 4:36 PM, wombat said:

So push it. Tell him that you will in fact be filing charges if you don't get your books back immediately. 

This was his response when I wrote that if I didn't receive a tracking # I would be forced to pursue legal means. Seems he just threatened to hold onto my books even longer should he get a call from a lawyer. My friend with the FF 5 has worked in law enforcement and is prepared to call the local PD.  A class action suit would be best, if we could find more people who have books out with him. I posted in the Facebook CGC group, with 33k members and not one person, aside from someone who has a book out since 2018 (!) that needed extensive restoration (and who didn't even seem fazed by it) responded. 

I hope you don't mind me giving some advice, but don't waste any money on an attorney, they are not worth it. All they want to do is charge you and they're not going to get anything more than you can do yourself which is get your books shipped. I really don't like attorneys;; they speak to you like bullies, and it has the opposite effect on me,. Once I hear from one of them to the back of the bus that client goes. For some reason they think vinegar works better than honey, I guess I just don't understand lawyer speak. Even my own attorneys are that way, I'd rather see money go to my favorite charity and break my back to solve the problem myself. If that makes any sense.

Edited by Kamenliter
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
Black_Adam

Black_Adam

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 1:41 PM, Kamenliter said:

This was his response when I wrote that if I didn't receive a tracking # I would be forced to pursue legal means. Seems he just threatened to hold onto my books even longer should he get a call from a lawyer. My friend with the FF 5 has worked in law enforcement and is prepared to call the local PD.  A class action suit would be best, if we could find more people who have books out with him. I posted in the Facebook CGC group, with 33k members and not one person, aside from someone who has a book out since 2018 (!) that needed extensive restoration (and who didn't even seem fazed by it) responded. 

I hope you don't mind me giving some advice, but don't waste any money on an attorney, they are not worth it. All they want to do is charge you and they're not going to get anything more than you can do yourself which is get your books shipped. I really don't like attorneys;; they speak to you like bullies, and it has the opposite effect on me,. Once I hear from one of them to the back of the bus that client goes. For some reason they think vinegar works better than honey, I guess I just don't understand lawyer speak. Even my own attorneys are that way, I'd rather see money go to my favorite charity and break my back to solve the problem myself. If that makes any sense.

Sounds like he's heard from a lot of attorneys!   :tonofbricks:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Popular Post
Buzzetta

Buzzetta

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 4:41 PM, Kamenliter said:

This was his response when I wrote that if I didn't receive a tracking # I would be forced to pursue legal means. Seems he just threatened to hold onto my books even longer should he get a call from a lawyer. My friend with the FF 5 has worked in law enforcement and is prepared to call the local PD.  A class action suit would be best, if we could find more people who have books out with him. I posted in the Facebook CGC group, with 33k members and not one person, aside from someone who has a book out since 2018 (!) that needed extensive restoration (and who didn't even seem fazed by it) responded. 

I hope you don't mind me giving some advice, but don't waste any money on an attorney, they are not worth it. All they want to do is charge you and they're not going to get anything more than you can do yourself which is get your books shipped. I really don't like attorneys;; they speak to you like bullies, and it has the opposite effect on me,. Once I hear from one of them to the back of the bus that client goes. For some reason they think vinegar works better than honey, I guess I just don't understand lawyer speak. Even my own attorneys are that way, I'd rather see money go to my favorite charity and break my back to solve the problem myself. If that makes any sense.

File the police report at this point. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 5:09 PM, wombat said:

At least you have that in writing from him. I'm guessing that won't help his case. lol

 

Yes, I've got a log of all the emails, receipts, etc. At the least, I'm hoping my insurance will reimburse me for the value cited on the receipt. Of course who knows what some of these books could have graded at (I have a general idea, but you never know some could have gotten higher and the value could be more than cited). ie I have my Invincible 1 valued at $1000..but I believe it would grade at a 9.6 which would bring the value to around $1500..and who knows if it were a 9.8, then you're talking upwards of three grand or more. Sure, it could come back a 9.2 or 9.4 and then you're lower. I just want my actual books, whatever they grade out at as.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flanders82

Flanders82

Posted
Posted (edited)

You won't have to hire an attorney if your insurance company gets involved and pays out a claim. Their attorneys will handle everything. Even if you don't cash the check they may issue you, it'll give the insurer the right to pursue Hero Restoration (and you can use that as leverage to get what you actually want, which is your books back). 

Your insurer should also be able to assist you with carrier discovery, where they can find out who insures Hero Restoration and they can assist you with filing a claim with them as well. 

Edit: Surprisingly, they list their carrier here:

 

hero insurance.JPG

Edited by Flanders82
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 5:22 PM, Flanders82 said:

You won't have to hire an attorney if your insurance company gets involved and pays out a claim. Their attorneys will handle everything. Even if you don't cash the check they may issue you, it'll give the insurer the right to pursue Hero Restoration (and you can use that as leverage to get what you actually want, which is your books back). 

Your insurer should also be able to assist you with carrier discovery, where they can find out who insures Hero Restoration and they can assist you with filing a claim with them as well. 

Edit: Surprisingly, they list their carrier here:

 

hero insurance.JPG

Thanks for that information! I appreciate that. I'll call my insurance company on Monday (they were closed by 3 pm today) and see what they say. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kamenliter

Kamenliter

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/9/2023 at 5:36 PM, Flanders82 said:

You must've checked the wrong business. The website gives an update as recently as 5-17-23

Comic Book Pressing & Restoration Prices - Hero Restoration LLC (herorestorationcomics.com)

Their Yahoo page did actually say ' Permanently Closed' but their IG, FB and website are still active. He's actually started a GoFundMe to seemingly save the business, looking to raise $160,000, but as of the last time I checked it had only raised...$20.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
20 20
Go to topic listing