Reecius
08-30-2010, 12:54 PM
My name is Reece Robbins, aka Reecius, and I want to let the community know about a tournament organizer named Gabriel Vega, aka Mondo, who runs the "Conquest" series of tournaments in the Western United States.
Mr. Vega recently ran the LA Conquest Grand Tournament, scheduled to occur on the weekend of June 26-27. He advertised for the event throughout the forums associated with both 40K and Fantasy claiming it was a Golden Ticket event, meaning that GW sanctioned it and would be providing the winners a ticket to the Las Vegas Invitational tournament next year. I am an avid tournament gamer and decided to attend the event.
I paid $60 for the ticket through PayPal a few weeks out and anticipated a fun day of throwing dice with friends.
A few days before the event was meant to occur, Mr. Vega decided to shorten it from the standard 2 day, 5 game format, to a 1 day, 4 game format and to change the venue.
Myself and several other players decided that making the long drive was not worth it for a one day event, especially not for $60. It also meant we might have to alter any lodging plans and reservations we had made since the location and duration of the event had changed. The event was also going to be very small, I believe only 16 people played for 40K and 4 for fantasy. Since the event that we were going to get was not what we had paid for, several of us asked for a refund.
Mr. Vega called me on the phone and assured me I would get my money back as he did several other individuals. He did ask that I allow 6 weeks for the money to come back through PayPal. I said that was reasonable and didn't give it much more thought, expecting Mr. Vega to follow through with what he said he would do.
6 weeks goes by, and I had not received my refund. I gave it another week, and still nothing. I began emailing Mr. Vega through the email address I had been communicating with him through and through forum private messaging services to his account. He did not return any of my emails. I then emailed other people associated with his company including the Conquest general email, and Keisha Patterson, who works with Avalon Games, a company that organizes gaming conventions and works with Mr. Vega. I also called Mr. Vega and left voice messages, and called the number listed for their customer service with PayPal, but still he did not respond to me. The only individual that did respond to me was a former employee (who I shall not name to respect his privacy) who had been Conquest's head judge but quit because he was not being paid by Mr. Vega.
I then called PayPal and told them what had happened. They were kind enough to refund half of my money as a courtesy but they were unable to reach Mr. Vega either. They also told me that 6 weeks is exactly how long you have to file for a dispute on a charge to your account. Mr. Vega had asked me to wait 6 weeks for my refund, meaning that after that period of time, PayPal couldn't reverse the transaction.
I then called Games Workshop. I asked to file a complaint against Mr. Vega and the Conquest series of events. All I had to say was Conquest and the customer service rep, John Hollingsworth (who is an awesome guy, very helpful) stopped me and said, wait, is this about a guy who goes by Mondo?
I just laughed. Games Workshop has apparently had many complaints about Mr. Vega and said they do not work with him and will not work with him again.
Mr. Vega, however, still advertises his events, such as the upcoming Conquest Oregon Insurrection on October 1-3, as a Golden Ticket event when according to Games Workshop, this is untrue.
Mr. Vega has a less than stellar track record as well. He canceled the Los Vegas Conquest at the last minute, leaving many gamers, including Dawson from the Imperial Vox Caster Podcast, left holding the bill of airfare and hotel reservations when the event they planned for was canceled last minute.
Be wary of these events. I do not know why Mr. Vega refuses to refund the money he promised to refund to myself and others who paid to attend his event in good faith. I also do not know why he will not at least communicate with any of us, including PayPal, as to what is going on. His silence and poor track record indicate to me unethical business practice. I am a reasonable person and a simple explanation would have been sufficient for me to wait for my refund, but it appears he is avoiding myself and others with no intention of giving us our money back.
I would give my strongest recommendation against attending any Conquest event, or any event run by Gabriel Vega, aka Mondo.
Mr. Vega recently ran the LA Conquest Grand Tournament, scheduled to occur on the weekend of June 26-27. He advertised for the event throughout the forums associated with both 40K and Fantasy claiming it was a Golden Ticket event, meaning that GW sanctioned it and would be providing the winners a ticket to the Las Vegas Invitational tournament next year. I am an avid tournament gamer and decided to attend the event.
I paid $60 for the ticket through PayPal a few weeks out and anticipated a fun day of throwing dice with friends.
A few days before the event was meant to occur, Mr. Vega decided to shorten it from the standard 2 day, 5 game format, to a 1 day, 4 game format and to change the venue.
Myself and several other players decided that making the long drive was not worth it for a one day event, especially not for $60. It also meant we might have to alter any lodging plans and reservations we had made since the location and duration of the event had changed. The event was also going to be very small, I believe only 16 people played for 40K and 4 for fantasy. Since the event that we were going to get was not what we had paid for, several of us asked for a refund.
Mr. Vega called me on the phone and assured me I would get my money back as he did several other individuals. He did ask that I allow 6 weeks for the money to come back through PayPal. I said that was reasonable and didn't give it much more thought, expecting Mr. Vega to follow through with what he said he would do.
6 weeks goes by, and I had not received my refund. I gave it another week, and still nothing. I began emailing Mr. Vega through the email address I had been communicating with him through and through forum private messaging services to his account. He did not return any of my emails. I then emailed other people associated with his company including the Conquest general email, and Keisha Patterson, who works with Avalon Games, a company that organizes gaming conventions and works with Mr. Vega. I also called Mr. Vega and left voice messages, and called the number listed for their customer service with PayPal, but still he did not respond to me. The only individual that did respond to me was a former employee (who I shall not name to respect his privacy) who had been Conquest's head judge but quit because he was not being paid by Mr. Vega.
I then called PayPal and told them what had happened. They were kind enough to refund half of my money as a courtesy but they were unable to reach Mr. Vega either. They also told me that 6 weeks is exactly how long you have to file for a dispute on a charge to your account. Mr. Vega had asked me to wait 6 weeks for my refund, meaning that after that period of time, PayPal couldn't reverse the transaction.
I then called Games Workshop. I asked to file a complaint against Mr. Vega and the Conquest series of events. All I had to say was Conquest and the customer service rep, John Hollingsworth (who is an awesome guy, very helpful) stopped me and said, wait, is this about a guy who goes by Mondo?
I just laughed. Games Workshop has apparently had many complaints about Mr. Vega and said they do not work with him and will not work with him again.
Mr. Vega, however, still advertises his events, such as the upcoming Conquest Oregon Insurrection on October 1-3, as a Golden Ticket event when according to Games Workshop, this is untrue.
Mr. Vega has a less than stellar track record as well. He canceled the Los Vegas Conquest at the last minute, leaving many gamers, including Dawson from the Imperial Vox Caster Podcast, left holding the bill of airfare and hotel reservations when the event they planned for was canceled last minute.
Be wary of these events. I do not know why Mr. Vega refuses to refund the money he promised to refund to myself and others who paid to attend his event in good faith. I also do not know why he will not at least communicate with any of us, including PayPal, as to what is going on. His silence and poor track record indicate to me unethical business practice. I am a reasonable person and a simple explanation would have been sufficient for me to wait for my refund, but it appears he is avoiding myself and others with no intention of giving us our money back.
I would give my strongest recommendation against attending any Conquest event, or any event run by Gabriel Vega, aka Mondo.