I purchased a signed Van Halen guitar off Ebay in 2008 and after paying for the item Ebay alerted me that the item may be fake. I immediately put a stop to the payment and I tracked the company down who provided the Certificate Of Authenticity that came with the guitar. The company was Autographs America that operates out of Ravensdale. Their website is http://www.autographsamerica.com/. I contacted them with regards to the guitar and asked if they could shed light on the authenticity, etc. I emailed back and forth with a person named Brian Burns. Brian insisted that he obtained the autographs in person in 1983 and sent me a scan of a concert ticket stub. I asked him to please get a statutory declaration of his story signed by a public notary and that way if I ever sold the guitar, the person would not have to go through what I went through with regards to authenticity.
I received a promissory note with regards to the guitar and Brian Burns signature was witnessed by a Sky Benson. As far as I was concerned that was good enough and paid for the guitar.
I was surfing the web and came across a website that alerts people of internet scams and to my surprise Autographs America was on the list. The website is located here:
Http://allreaders.net/memorabiliascams/autographsamericacom.html
I contacted the owner of the website and told him my story. He promptly contacted me back and asked me to email a copy of the promissory note so he could also do some investigations of his own. He said he made contact with Sky Benson via email at [email protected] Sky replied by saying that there is no Brian Burns, his real name is Brian Burkel. I contacted Sky Benson myself and asked if he witnessed the document signed by Brian Burns and he replied that he did. He seemed to have changed his story in the email sent to me.
After reading everything that has been put on the all readers site, I am convinced there is no Brian Burns. I contacted Autographs America and asked who is Brian Burns and they said he is the bald guy in the pictures on the website and to not contact them again. Quite honestly I don't believe them. Now I am left with a worthless signed guitar, as the one thing that guarantees its authenticity is infact fake.
I lodged a complaint with the FBI cyber crime unit which I have already done. I also lodged a complaint with Linda Mead who is Manager of the Notary Public Program in Washington State. I also lodged a complaint with the sheriff in King County who said they were unable to assist due to budget constraints.
I have also contacted PSA/DNA for their opinion of the guitar and they have said it is "Likely Not Genuine".
I cant believe no one can do more to get rid of these rip off merchants.
Shane
Queensland
Australia
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