H20 Photo Pros, Mike Luzansky out of business

[Drew 0]

I've removed all of his ads in the classifieds. Anyone who bought from him via the classifieds and have not received their goods, please feel free to contact the staff and we will make sure you get a copy of his ad if needed.

I again appeal to all who have been cheated by H2O Photo pros to report them to ICCC so there is a file created on the FBI about him and the company. If you don't make the effort to help protect your fellow members, then all these fraudsters will continue scamming other people.

[TheRealDrew 0]

Seriously, all those aggrieved must make a report to the ICCC for internet fraud.

 

 

Filed. To all considering doing so, it only takes a couple of minutes. They will ask for what "evidence" that is available, so it is a good idea to have dates on emails, phone records, etc. available ahead of time.

[MK2 4]

I've removed all of his ads in the classifieds. Anyone who bought from him via the classifieds and have not received their goods, please feel free to contact the staff and we will make sure you get a copy of his ad if needed.

I again appeal to all who have been cheated by H2O Photo pros to report them to ICCC so there is a file created on the FBI about him and the company. If you don't make the effort to help protect your fellow members, then all these fraudsters will continue scamming other people.

 

 

 

Is Mike back in business??? http://h2ocamerarentals.com/

Edited March 25, 2011 by MK2

[Steve Douglas 16]

Yep, it leads straight back to the H20 site which is down. I would avoid this like the plague.

[secretsea18 0]

Here are the T&C from H2Ocamerarentals.com. Just for posterity, for future use if needed.

 

 

<h1 style="color: orange; position: relative; bottom: 65px; left: 20px;">H2O Camera Rentals' Equipment Rental Agreement</h1> These terms and conditions form the rental contract (the “Rental Contract”) between you (“Lessee”) and H2O Photo Pros (“Lessor”), and apply to all the equipment rented by Lessee.

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

1. “Equipment” means all types of housings or equipment or other supplies rented to Lessee under the rental Contract. Lessee will have an opportunity to test and examine the Equipment to determine that the Equipment is in good working order. Lessee may test the Equipment before leaving the rental facility and any discrepancies reported to the Lessor before the Rental Contract(s) or rental orders are signed.

 

2. Lessee agrees to defend, indemnify and hold lessor free and harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, costs and out of pocket expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of, or in connection with the equipment leased , its use or transportation, or out of operations conducted by Lessee, its agents, sublessees, employees, contractors, representatives, guests, invitees, or customers, including, but not limited to , active and/or passive negligence, save and except claims or litigation arising through the sole negligence or sole willful misconduct of Lessor.

 

3. Lessee is considered to have taken delivery of the equipment is set aside from the time the equipment is set aside from Lessor’s general inventory for Lessee’s use. From the time Lessee takes delivery of the equipment lease, until the equipment is returned to Lessor during normal business hours and Lessor accepts the equipment, Lessee assumes all risks of loss and all risks and losses while on Lessee’s premises.

 

4. Lessee will take all necessary precautions in regard to the use of the equipment leased to protect all persons and property from injury or damage. The equipment leased shall be used only by Lessee’s employees or agents qualified to use such equipment.

 

5. Lessee warrants that it will not sublease any of the equipment leased without the prior written consent of Lessor.

 

6. Lessee acknowledges that the equipment is leased without warranty, or guarantee, except as required by law.

 

7. Lessee shall, at its own expense, maintain at all times during the lease all risk perils insurance covering the equipment leased from for full replacement cost, except vehicles and for loss of use (lease value) of the equipment. Coverage shall begin from the time Lessee or its agents take delivery of the equipment and continue until the time the equipment is returned to and accepted by Lessor. Such insurance shall be on a worldwide basis, name Lessor as the loss payee for loss or damage to the equipment leased and cover all risks of loss of, or damage to the equipment.

 

8. Before obtaining possession of the equipment, Lessee shall provide to Lessor a certificate of insurance and applicable endorsements confirming each of the coverages specified above. All certificates shall be signed by an authorized agent or representative of the insurance carrier.

 

9. Should Lessee fail to procure or pay the cost of maintaining in force the insurance specified herein, or to provide Lessor upon request with satisfactory evidence of the insurance, Lessor may, but shall not be obligated to, procure the insurance and Lessee shall reimburse Lessor on demand for its costs. Lapse or cancellation of the required insurance shall be deemed to be an immediate and automatic default of this agreement.

 

10. Lessee hereby agrees to strictly comply with the laws of the State in which the equipment is transported and/or used as well as all federal and local laws, regulations and ordinances pertaining to the transportation and use of such equipment. Lessee warrants and represents that it is fully aware of any and all dangers and risks, patent as well as latent, involved in the use, transportation and handling of the equipment leased.

 

11. Lessee shall be responsible to Lessor for the full replacement costs, without depreciation, or repair costs of all equipment leased which is lost, stolen, or damaged. In the event the equipment leased is lost or stolen, Lessee shall file a police report. Lessor shall be under no obligation to replace or repair equipment until Lessee has paid for the damaged, lost or stolen equipment. In such event, the rental fees for the subject equipment shall continue to accrue until the Lessee has paid for the lost, damaged or stolen equipment or until repairs are completed. Lessor’s determination whether the damaged equipment shall be replaced or repaired shall be conclusive. Accrued rental charges shall not be applied against the purchase price or cost of repairs of the lost, stolen or damaged equipment.

 

12. Lessee hereby agrees that Lessor shall be subrogated to any recovery rights Lessee may have for damage to the equipment leased in the form of insurance protection for such damage.

 

13. The price of rental of the equipment shall be set forth in the rental order.

 

14. Rental invoices are payable upon receipt of invoice at time of equipment delivery to Lessee, unless a different payment schedule is agreed upon in writing. Payments not paid within agreed terms shall be considered past due and a late charge may be assessed. Lessee agrees to pay attorneys’ fees and collection costs in the event it is deemed necessary by Lessor to pursue collection of past due accounts through a collection agency or by an attorney.

 

15. There may be minimum charges or minimum rental periods. Lessor is entitled to compensation, not to exceed the amount due for the proposed rental period, in the event of cancellation of all or part of an order unless Lessor agrees otherwise.

 

16. Lessee must return the equipment on the date specified in the rental order or be subject to additional charges. A full additional day’s rental will be charged for each day equipment is not returned after the date specified for the return of the equipment.

 

17. This agreement shall remain in effect for the remainder of the calendar year from the date first signed by Lessee.

 

18. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. Lessee agrees to jurisdiction over any dispute in the courts of the State of California and to venue in Orange County, California. Lessee is authorized to enter into this agreement. If for any reason Lessee does not have insurance coverage adequate to cover any damages to the equipment and lost profits to Lessor, Lessee agrees to be liable for such damages.

 

[echeng 0]

Someone wrote to me and suggested that I post links to Mike Luzansky's latest ventures, Hang 11 Productions and Everest Social Media.

 

Hang 11 Productions: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hang-11-Prod...130218057049712

Everest Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/everestsocialmedia and http://everestsocialmedia.com/

Twitter: @EverestSocial

 

Buyer beware!

[Steve Douglas 16]

Well, apparently he is still in NewPort Beach,CA. I do hope that some of the people who got ripped off by Mike L. have filed fraud charges as recommended by Eric. If so, I hope you will post how the issue was or was not ameliorated.

Steve

[Steve Douglas 16]

I have his cell number but not sure whether it is still good or not or whether it should be posted. I will leave that up to you folk. No action on those facebook sites since mid April

Steve

Edited May 29, 2011 by Steve Douglas

[reefseeker 0]

Sounds like a pretty good reason to use your local distributor to me.

 

 

That is funny, he is my local distributor.. well guess was..

always had a feeling this day would come.

[reefseeker 0]

I am in their backyard and it made no difference. I played nice and then after months I got aggressive. it worked but I had a very poor experience. I never did get what i ordered. I ended up with a great product but I think it was just to keep me quiet. After reading these complaints I think I was wrong to stay quiet.

 

 

LOL ... in the same boat.. your not alone...

[reefseeker 0]

I'm another "former" H2Ophotopro customer who got hosed...they sold a Gates housing for me - however, I never got paid! I got tons of excuses during the last month before they well out of business. Bought about $6,000 of stuff from Mike when he first opened in NB. Hoped he was going to make a go of it, however, all we got in the last six months was promises. If he sticks his head up again hope someone will post the info on this forum to insure that "we" can file action against him!

 

Registrant:

Mike Luzansky

14 monarch bay plaza

#361

monarch beach, California 92629

United States

 

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)

Domain Name: HANG11PRODUCTIONS.COM

Created on: 11-Feb-11

Expires on: 11-Feb-12

Last Updated on: 11-Feb-11

 

Administrative Contact:

Luzansky, Mike mike@h2ophotopros.com

14 monarch bay plaza

#361

monarch beach, California 92629

United States

(818) 535-3251

 

Technical Contact:

Luzansky, Mike mike@h2ophotopros.com

14 monarch bay plaza

#361

monarch beach, California 92629

United States

(818) 535-3251

[Greg Mossman 0]

Add one more complaint to the rest, just noticed this thread tonight. No fraud, just incredibly lousy customer service. Delays, ordered wrong parts, finally he just ignored me, didn't respond to e-mails or phone calls trying to follow-up on several promises he made about my $7K purchase so I ended up having to deal with Light & Motion directly and almost got screwed since one accessory that I had supposedly been placed by Mike on a waiting list for, was already out of production and they had no record of me on any wait list (Backscatter ended up saving the day).

 

At first I was dismayed to see his business apparently taking off over the past years, but now I'm elated to find out he's going/gone under. What comes around...

 

(Steve: I sent you an e-mail)

[wwalker 0]

I am wondering about anyone had an issue with H20photo?

I have some equipment issues and need assistance

 

I've had a couple of interactions with Mike from H20photo Pros and he was pretty honest and up front with me about everything. I found him to be a good guy. He is very knowledgeable and has been helpful to me.

[Drew 0]

I've had a couple of interactions with Mike from H20photo Pros and he was pretty honest and up front with me about everything. I found him to be a good guy. He is very knowledgeable and has been helpful to me.

 

Wwalker, when was this? Given how the thread and information about Mike has ripped off so many people (including a personal friend of mine), I'm not sure he's that helpful right now.

[Steve Douglas 16]

Checked into this thread from Costa Rica where Steve Williams and I and the rest of my guests board the Okeanos tomorrow for the Cocos. The more I think of this the greater sadness I feel for those ripped off by Mike who portrayed himself on wetpixel over the last few years as a real professional when I knew that was not the case at all. Just because you open a business doesn't make you a shooting pro or expert. I warned him of this about 3 years ago when I started getting emails from readers complaining about Mike's lack of being true to his word. He ignored me apparently and when Andy Solomon broke ties with H20 as a dealership it came after about 3 months after I told Mike to take me off his site as one of their 'Pros'. It was downhill from there for Mike. I would be surprised if he ever shows his face again at DEMA or any of the dive shows.

Fortunately, his type of scam doesn't occur too frequently and most people on Wetpixel and other dive sites are very honest. I have both bought and sold on Wetpixel without a complaint about or from anyone so congratulations to the 99.9% of the honest divers and shops that come here on a regular basis.

Steve

[MK2 4]

Checked into this thread from Costa Rica where Steve Williams and I and the rest of my guests board the Okeanos tomorrow for the Cocos. The more I think of this the greater sadness I feel for those ripped off by Mike who portrayed himself on wetpixel over the last few years as a real professional when I knew that was not the case at all. Just because you open a business doesn't make you a shooting pro or expert. I warned him of this about 3 years ago when I started getting emails from readers complaining about Mike's lack of being true to his word. He ignored me apparently and when Andy Solomon broke ties with H20 as a dealership it came after about 3 months after I told Mike to take me off his site as one of their 'Pros'. It was downhill from there for Mike. I would be surprised if he ever shows his face again at DEMA or any of the dive shows.

Fortunately, his type of scam doesn't occur too frequently and most people on Wetpixel and other dive sites are very honest. I have both bought and sold on Wetpixel without a complaint about or from anyone so congratulations to the 99.9% of the honest divers and shops that come here on a regular basis.

Steve

 

 

I don't know if this is old or current data about Mike, but is he in business again?

 

http://www.manta.com/c/mtm6zz6/h20-photo-pros

[CamDiver 5]

Wetpixel were cool to take the H2oPhoto Pros ad money though for sure eh? I find the public lynching of a past advertising client on this website by its 'inner circle' to be gross. Show's true character. So what if Mike had some business issues, whose business is it to lynch the guy in public? Let those with the claims against him raise them through the right channels. If they choose not to that's their problem. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves.

 

Kicking people when they're down, shows true character.

[adamhanlon 0]

I assume that this is some kind of a Christmas wind-up.

 

Factually:

 

Wetpixel were not aware of Mike's business practices when he took out advertising with us. He actually owes us still for some of it. When we became became of the situation, his advertising was terminated. If he didn't still owe us for it, we would have refunded his balance!

 

No-one at Wetpixel has presented anything other than the facts. Others may well have added their opinions. The facts are that Mike took a lot of money from a lot of people, including Wetpixel. This will tend to upset those people.

 

We have repeatedly invited him to comment, formally and informally. He has chosen not to do so.

 

In the light of this, it only seems fair to make people aware that he may not be someone with which they may chose to do business.

 

No-one is kicking anybody.

 

Just think that I ought to point out that this thread's last post was in November (prior to yours). I think you may well have re-opened the whole affair...

 

All the best.

 

Adam

[CamDiver 5]

I personally think it would show a lot more leadership and maturity to the forum members as a whole if the administration refrained from taking an active role in the castigation of Mike, irrespective of what he may or may not have done in his business undertakings.

 

Pure and simple.

[adamhanlon 0]

You are entitled to hold and express your opinion of course.

 

However, if you were someone who lost money due to us not having informed people about Mike's business practices, I would expect your opinion would be somewhat different.

 

I don't think any Wetpixel staff are guilty of personal attacks on Mike, only of his business practices.

 

Wetpixel has a role to provide news and information pertinent to forum members and we will continue to attempt to do so.

 

Adam

[focker 15]

I personally think it would show a lot more leadership and maturity to the forum members as a whole if the administration refrained from taking an active role in the castigation of Mike, irrespective of what he may or may not have done in his business undertakings.

 

Pure and simple.

 

I am not sure which way to respond to all of this but I'll let other members pick:

A. Good leadership is stepping up and helping protect members who stand a good chance of getting burned by someone who has track record of burning MANY people.

B. I am person who got burned (but luckily had my credit card company make me whole again) and am glad everyone here including forum Admins are helping to keep this from happening to others.

C. I am wondering if your sudden forum postings regarding this subject would indicate you both had quite a Christmas Eve together.

D. All of the above.

[CamDiver 5]

I am not sure which way to respond to all of this but I'll let other members pick:

A. Good leadership is stepping up and helping protect members who stand a good chance of getting burned by someone who has track record of burning MANY people.

B. I am person who got burned (but luckily had my credit card company make me whole again) and am glad everyone here including forum Admins are helping to keep this from happening to others.

C. I am wondering if your sudden forum postings regarding this subject would indicate you both had quite a Christmas Eve together.

D. All of the above.

 

I see it a different way. The admins and especially the owner of this site have a huge responsibility with regards to maintaining decorum here. Irrespective as to whether they had a personal or business encounter to the detriment of positive with the failed business. Their influence alone is suffice to sway the opinions on a character of many thousands of members here who had no understanding of Mike or his business, therefore turning this into nothing less than a playground kicking.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you were one of the unfortunate ones but you should take that experience up with the relevant authorities instead of bleating about it here in public. God forbid if any one member of this site has any reason to be castigated, if the admins or others find out about any error in business judgement or undertaking relating either directly or indirectly to this site or underwater photography/imaging in general. It seems they're quite happy for the witch hunts to take place publicly within the pages of this service.

 

Your comment regarding Christmas Eve is quite pathetic. I live in Bali and don't check this site often. Am I now to be scorned due to my infrequent visits to a site that I once held in a lot higher regard?

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[TheRealDrew 0]

This may not be the same Mike L that you are friends with, but if it is you can ask him to clarify things an also ask him when I am getting my money back. (EDIT: Dean indicates it may be a different Mike perhaps, so I apologize if it is.)

[DeanB 19]

I didn't know you were Mikes secretary Marky ...

 

I just checked to see if I was still a FB friend of Mikes (as I were back in the old days when he was in favour) and he must have blocked me as the name on Drews link doesn't exist ??? The only other Mike Luzansky I can find has one mutual and that's Jason Heller ... Although I do see him on DVXUSER now and again

 

Dean

[Drew 0]

I see it a different way. The admins and especially the owner of this site have a huge responsibility with regards to maintaining decorum here. Irrespective as to whether they had a personal or business encounter to the detriment of positive with the failed business. Their influence alone is suffice to sway the opinions on a character of many thousands of members here who had no understanding of Mike or his business, therefore turning this into nothing less than a playground kicking.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you were one of the unfortunate ones but you should take that experience up with the relevant authorities instead of bleating about it here in public. God forbid if any one member of this site has any reason to be castigated, if the admins or others find out about any error in business judgement or undertaking relating either directly or indirectly to this site or underwater photography/imaging in general. It seems they're quite happy for the witch hunts to take place publicly within the pages of this service.

 

Mark,

Let me try understand what you are saying. Mike took orders and accepted money for goods he could not/had no intention of supplying. That's internet fraud. I assume you've read the entire thread. I'd like to know where in this thread or any other part of WP do you see where the admin staff was unfair or promoted anything except reporting Luzansky to the authorities if they were affected. The owner of this site posts the activities of Mike in 1 post. I really fail to see how it is a "playground kicking"? Everything has been factual and most people in the thread reported being duped by Luzansky. And there are even posts supporting Mike scattered around. Please explain to me how we've wronged Mr Luzansky or you?

 

You're right in one aspect, in that no one but Luzansky knows how it all happened. Regardless, it does not justify what happened to his customers by his actions, does it? It's laudable that you are trying to defend your "mate's" reputation. However, your actions aren't doing him any favors.

 

Luzansky's name came up as connected to Hollywood Diver's new websites, which were purchased from Mr Luzansky. Even though he remained part of the web team. I was the one who notified Hal of Hollywood Divers by phone, who ostensibly notified Luzansky that his ex exposed him on WP. We then took the posts off because it was detrimental to the board. However, I'd be very happy to replace those posts to remain neutral.