Experience with FSThrottles

Hi there everyone, I come here to write about the experience I had with FSThrottles (not to be confused with FSXThrottle)

I started a order with him some time ago now, in 2018. I had been wanting a throttle from him for years. So after much saving for my younger self I was finally able to buy a throttle through him. I was given a lead time of about 8 weeks when I ordered. I received a few emails from him over the process of him building it. However when the ship date was coming up and then past. All of the phone numbers on his website were disconnected, and the times when he did call me he blocked his caller ID. I heard nothing from him for about 5 weeks until I filed a dispute with PayPal. Then he suddenly emails me back only about two hours saying. 'Please standby. Your throttle is almost done but I am being brutally honest, I had some legal issues that prevented me from attending to our business. We can discuss the finish date over the phone this weekend.'

To his credit he did continue to email me and then showed me some pictures of a throttle, which I later found out was not mine after I got the throttle in the mail. The throttle came in a box with no return address, looking fine aesthetically. But then at closer look, the throttle was really poorly made. The flap lever was tensioned with a wrapped up rubber band, and had no limiter, so I could pull it all the way out of the throttle and break the rubber band. The USB cord going to the throttle could be pulled out exposing all the wires inside of it. Then to really make things worse, it turns out these were made by him taking apart a Logitech joystick. So the sim shows this thing as a joy stick. Since these are supposed to be centered when powered on, you would have to try your best to center all the throttles. Throttle lever 1 and 2 never lined up correctly, and both thrust reverser levers were the same button. Hot glue and tape seemed to be the adhesive of choice.

After discovering all of these frustrating details, I emailed him saying that I wanted to return the throttle for a refund, and then I reopened my PayPal case. I never heard from him again, the case defaulted to me and I got a refund for the cost of the throttle. His website fsthrottles.com went defunct. There appears to have been a person that also encountered a simmlar thing to what I did, trying to contact him about his throttle on the youtube (which is still available https://www.youtube.com/user/FSThrottles). I have seen nothing from him ever since. I just find it really weird because I don't think he was ill intended, just from him being around for a long time. But perhaps he was engaging in a practice with his throttle company that was considered fraud and is suffering/suffered legal ramifications. Maybe someone else on here who has had dealings with him can share their personal experiences with him. It comes to mind every once in a while just because of how badly it could of ended, and just how bizarre his sudden disappearance was.

If anyone would like to ask me specific questions as well about this, I would be glad to answer.