My experience was very similar to the previous victims'. I happened upon mr. Yamada yoshimi's web site and contacted him in the hopes of obtaining various new parts and accessories for my U.S. Spec Ford Festiva, a vehicle that was also marketed in Japan but with many more available trim and features options. During the next few weeks, i had the opportunity to e-mail mr. Yamada about 7 times regarding parts that i was interested in and was very impressed (conned) by his helpfullness, prompt replies and the inclusion of parts diagrams to help clarify my order.
I placed an initial order of about 8 parts and was given a total of $968 to be wired to a bank in Kyoto and made payable to a Maseo Kato. I did think that a bit odd but i also knew that a Maseo Kato had a web site selling Japanese car parts and thought that maybe yamada might be a partner of sorts.
Mr. Yamada contacted me to verify that the funds had been recieved and that the order would be shipped promptly. Unfortunately, about half of the order (totaling $436) was on back order for about a month. This seemed plausible given that the vehicle had been out of production for over 10 years and that i could cancel the remainder of the order or wait which i decided to do. I did recieve the partial shipment in good time and condition. I was very satisfied with mr. Yamada's service and continued to request diagrams and availability of other parts. It was my decision to wire an additional amount of $1800 to yamada's (Kato's) account for future purchases in order to expedite shipping and avoid many bank wire fees.
Needless to say, this was the magic number that made yamada a very hard man to get a hold of. He did acknowledge that the bank had received a nice sum of money to that account. I began to try to order some additional parts that we had discussed as being available. When he did answer, it was to say that he had to double check to see if that part (s) were really available, or that the computer at Mazda was unavailable.
I suspected that something was amiss when 3 or 4 e-mails went unanswered by yamada regarding the parts and my money. I finally made a telephone call to him in Japan. He did answer and acknowledged my name but claimed that he could not understand English. But he can read and write it, and apparently understands $2000 pilfered dollars. Ironically, i recieved an e-mail soon after the phone call. He claimed that he had not been recieving my e-mails. I tried to contact him using another e-mail. Still no response.
I have e-mailed his cohort Masea Kato with a polite message of concern about yamada's well-being. Still no response. It has been about a year since i have heard from him and i have never recieved the back order. I will lodge a complaint with an organization in Japan that is the equivalent of the U.S. Better Buisness Bureau but i mostly hope that my time spent composing this anger will convince the reader to run from this con artist.
Mikey
pittsburgh
U.S.A.
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