H20 Photo Pros, Mike Luzansky out of business

[BDSC 1]

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.

 

I think Wetpixel was a better place when you didn't check this site often. Any chance you could go back to that?

[CamDiver 5]

Hi all,

If Mike follows my facebook page that doesn't automatically suggest any bond of friendship. I have had dealings with Mike in the past, and positive ones at that, and yes, money was involved. The fact that I based my understanding and acceptance of the guy based on my dealings with him is my right to do so. I tend not to alienate people with whom I have had positive encounters with in the past. With so many people having been wronged by Mike I hope for his sake there's a positive outcome. I only saw to suggest that this is not the place for the admin or the owner of the site to post private information on Mike, i.e all of the WhoIs information. If people want to give that to anyone then give it to the authorities but I'm sure they have access to all of that anyway. I just find it irresponsible and unprofessional for those in positions of influence over so many thousands of members on this site to use that as a means to sway opinion, which has so very clearly happened here.

 

Talk about a feeding frenzy...

[cor 0]

Whois information is the opposite of private information. It is meant to be public information so you can contact the owner of a domain you have issues with. So basically what Eric did was say "if you want to contact Mike, this is his Public information."

 

At no time did any wetpixel staff member give away private information on Mike. If that's the bulk of your complaint about this thread, then that should clear up the air.

 

I also think you are misinterpreting matters a bit. I think the membership at large had already formed their opinion on Mike before any staff member got involved. That tends to happen automatically when they have the type of business dealings that members are reporting.

 

Regards,

 

Cor

 

(ps: never met, dealt with, or even know Mike..I have no personal opinion on the matter).

[Drew 0]

Mark,

It seems your position is untenable. It's very apparent you don't understand WHOIS information is PUBLIC or what protecting the community from fraud is about. That you won't name Eric Cheng, whom you've met before, and refer to him as the "owner" would indicate you have an agenda that has less to do with Luzansky and more about being negative about anything Eric and by extension, the admin staff.

 

The "frenzy" you refer to, is a response to your now frivolous and unfounded opinion regarding the actions of the staff. We originally responded out of respect to all members who question our methodology. However, since your complaints are clearly unfounded, I think it's a time to leave you to your opinion and wish you happy holidays.

[DeanB 19]

I think Wetpixel was a better place when you didn't check this site often. Any chance you could go back to that?

 

Watch out!!! Tough guy on his keyboard alert

 

Dean

[CamDiver 5]

Mark,

It seems your position is untenable. It's very apparent you don't understand WHOIS information is PUBLIC or what protecting the community from fraud is about. That you won't name Eric Cheng, whom you've met before, and refer to him as the "owner" would indicate you have an agenda that has less to do with Luzansky and more about being negative about anything Eric and by extension, the admin staff.

 

The "frenzy" you refer to, is a response to your now frivolous and unfounded opinion regarding the actions of the staff. We originally responded out of respect to all members who question our methodology. However, since your complaints are clearly unfounded, I think it's a time to leave you to your opinion and wish you happy holidays.

 

I'm very much aware that WhoIs info is public and attainable by anyone who knows where to look. Given that so many people DON'T know where to look was my point in case. As always Drew your tone is as belittling as ever, nothing changes eh? I have zero issue with Eric or anything he has built, I applaud him for his tenacity with WetPixel and with his business acumen, that however doesn't mean that I have to hang off his coat tails like the many sheep and fanboys that frequent this site. As I said, and I stand by it, I think his actions in posting that information displayed a severe lack of responsibility given the influence his persona has on the membership of this site, pure and simple.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, this is mine, and in my mind the whole point of a decent forum is for one to be able to freely discuss their point of views without the expectation of retorts such as yours? For you and others to slam me for it is Orwellian.

[DeanB 19]

As always Drew your tone is as belittling as ever

 

Does anyone actually take it seriously ??? I thought he was failing with 'attempted' sarcastic humour

 

You have to actually be above or bigger somebody to belittle them remember

 

Dean

[CamDiver 5]

Does anyone actually take it seriously ??? I thought he was failing with 'attempted' sarcastic humour

 

You have to actually be above or bigger somebody to belittle them remember

 

Dean

Nope, I actually find it all a tad amusing.

 

Cheers Deano, best to the family.

[cor 0]

No one reads a phonebook anymore, but you would hopefully agree the information in the phonebook is public. Whois is the phonebook of the internet. It is not even remotely private, and maintaining it's irresponsible to post that information is just silly. If Mike has an issue with his personal information being available in whois, he should contact his domain hoster. Just like a regular phonebook you can be 'unlisted', in the way that the information can be that of your hoster.

 

Does anyone know if H2O actually filed for bankruptcy? Businesses fail, it's how you handle it that makes or breaks your reputation.

[cor 0]

Camdiver, some people lost thousands of dollars. They may have saved up for that for years. I don't think they find it amusing at all.

[CamDiver 5]

Camdiver, some people lost thousands of dollars. They may have saved up for that for years. I don't think they find it amusing at all.

My comment was not aimed at those who lost money, which I certainly do not find amusing. What I do find amusing is the fact that people responding to my post find it acceptable to use derogatory remarks. I think you and others seem to have got a hold of the wrong end of the stick on this. I'm merely putting out my opinion as a public forum should allow. If that's not the case then hey, no worries but this is certainly a case of all forum members are equal but some are more equal than others!

Edited December 27, 2011 by CamDiver

[DeanB 19]

I was on the cusp of buying a Gates EX1 housing from H20 just after my EX1 purchase and found the above thread pretty useful in regards to not bothering... So it may have saved me a few thousand... So in that respect it was 'maybe' in my favour

 

Dean

[adamhanlon 0]

I would like to draw a line under this if possible.

 

Mark-you are welcome to your opinion, and have expressed it eloquently. I think you are wrong, but that doesn't make my or anyone else's opinion more valid than yours.

 

However, given that you view many of the people on this forum as (in relation to Eric) hanging:

 

off his coat tails like the many sheep and fanboys that frequent this site.

 

I'm pretty sure that your opinion will probably be a minority one, if only because most of the people active on this forum will probably be insulted by that statement. However I emphasize again that no one will stop you expressing it.

 

Returning to the issues you raised about the posting of Mike L's details in the forum, I would suggest that, as you state, this is a public forum and people can post what they want, which may include details of individuals whose businesses are taking money and not providing goods! By definition this must include Wetpixel staff-or else they will be victims of the "one rule for one and another for everyone else" that you seem to feel operates here on Wetpixel.

 

I think this discussion has now run its course. Can we agree to differ and move on to something more interesting please?

 

All the best

 

Adam

[CamDiver 5]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your response.

 

No worries from me on this. I stand by my opinion, and others theirs.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

[Drew 0]

Thank you, Cor, for reminding people there are real consequences to Luzansky's actions.

 

One such victim, a 20 yr old young lady in Mozambique sent her entire savings (and borrowed money) to Luzansky to buy a full rig because she checked him out on WP at a time when there weren't any threads with compiled complaints about him. Over US$7000 sent and she got nothing. Can't afford another housing yet because she was scammed by Luzansky who managed to trick her to wire the money because of "credit card issues." No way of restitution except for Luzansky to cough up the money.

 

After all that, she came back to WP to find this thread so she knew where to report the fraud to the authorities, because the information was available here in one place vs trying to find out all the information herself in an unfamiliar country. That's reason enough.

[BDSC 1]

After all that, she came back to WP to find this thread so she knew where to report the fraud to the authorities, because the information was available here in one place vs trying to find out all the information herself in an unfamiliar country. That's reason enough.

 

It's too bad she didn't find out in time that he was going to scam her but you can only hope a thread like this will keep someone else in the future from being cheated. When I was first getting into doing UW video and was asking questons on here, Luzansky emailed me several times that he would be glad to help me get stuff and give him a call. I guess I could have been scamed like others but someone I know on here warned me about him and said not to trust Mike and I respect his opinion so I never delt with him. Obviously that turned out to be the right decision.

 

One can only hope that in time he can be charged with fraud or whatever and be arrested. He probably needs to spend some jail time with "Bubba".

[geoffreyweglarz 0]

It's too bad she didn't find out in time that he was going to scam her but you can only hope a thread like this will keep someone else in the future from being cheated. When I was first getting into doing UW video and was asking questons on here, Luzansky emailed me several times that he would be glad to help me get stuff and give him a call. I guess I could have been scamed like others but someone I know on here warned me about him and said not to trust Mike and I respect his opinion so I never delt with him. Obviously that turned out to be the right decision.

 

One can only hope that in time he can be charged with fraud or whatever and be arrested. He probably needs to spend some jail time with "Bubba".

 

I just saw Luzansky show up on facebook on someone's wall. I called him a thief and he messaged back that "I clearly don't understand what transpired..." and asked for me to PM him with my number. I gave him three days and as is typical of Luzansky, he never called. I slammed him again on my friend's wall,.I am thinking of putting up a site "MikeLuzanskyIsAThief.org" as a blog site. Thoughts?

 

Geoffrey

[Drew 0]

Geoffrey, I would suggest you push towards getting the authorities to go after him. I doubt he's going to be back in the front line of any business. The internet is very visible and any google search should find this thread.

[Steve Douglas 16]

Stumbled on here again to see if there were any follow ups on the many cases brought up here. I would just say that Camdiver Mark has as much right to express his views as anyone and, as a shooter and editor, he was a real asset to the community here but I totally understand why he stopped coming by. It is our loss. I think it terrible for someone to write that it would be best if he stayed away just because he is of a different opinion with a different perspective.

At the same time, I do not agree with Mark on this. As large a community as Wetpixel is, it is small in the scheme of things and we owe it to each other to share our experiences, both positive and negative, with shops, charters et al. That so many lost so much due to their interactions with H20 is the issue and word needed to be spread to prevent others from getting fleeced. If you recall Mark, when you were thinking of doing a dive t shirt operation several years ago, I told you I would have nothing to do with H20 and warned you as well. This was well before the shop went down and companies stopped their relations with H20. You might have gotten fleeced as well if not warned and what kind of a friend would I have been to you if I kept my thoughts to myself and not warned you?

On another note, Adam and Eric probably work harder than any of us can imagine to keep this very valuable site open to any and all divers and I hang on no one's coat-tails.

At any rate, Mark, I do hope you and your new wife are doing well and that you are doing what you enjoy. In my mind, your experience and knowledge are missed.

Steve

Edited February 20, 2012 by Steve Douglas

[geoffreyweglarz 0]

Still haven't gotten relief.

Edited March 27, 2012 by geoffreyweglarz

[okuma 64]

I found Mike Luzansky working for a dive shop in LA and

 

Would you care to name the store?

[stc151 0]

He's back in business.

 

The store name is "Watermans Depot" and is at link below.

http://thewatermansdepot.com

[awesomeGD 0]

http://sup2love.com https://www.facebook.com/WatermansDepot

• 231 East Dyer Road
• Santa Ana, California 92707
• 1 888-798-9797

[BDSC 1]

I read the interview on Wetpixel with Mike Luzansky. It would be interesting to know if the folks who posted on this thread who were out money and/or products have now been either refunded or received their merchandise.

[bvanant 191]

Which interview? In my case, certainly not for getting the paid for merchandise back.

Bill