Mike Basso Breaks into the $12 000 ZONE .....

[StopThingsUnlimited]

Yep he has now scored over $12 000 USD from people on the promise of sending parts they have paid for .

Check out www.stopthingsunlimited.info for details if you still think he should be trusted.

[nerf965]

Wow, Thanks for the hard work and info, and trying to make things right. good luck

[StopThingsUnlimited]

Thanks for the feedback, if I can stopped one more person from being burnt then it is worth the time, money and effort.

Since putting the add on ebay I have had 3 people email me saying they were just about to buy stuff of Mike Basso and would not be doing so now, I have had 5 people contact me and tell me how they too had their $$$ stolen by the Things Unlimited band wagon.

If people out there in www land want to help then you can do the following:

- send emails to as many people as possible telling them to check out the site. I will be posting nothing buy fact on there.
- post the info on as many forums as possible so others will read it and not let him get any more money.
- fit one of our free soon to be availible bumper stickers to your 181 when going to shows to ensure even the less www active are aware of the issue.

Cheers,

One pissed of 181 parts chasser.

[nerf965]

let me know when you have bumper stickers made, i was taken by mike once were he double charged my card twice. it was a long painful fight with visa. keep up the great work

[addh79]

O its all paying off. Im the one from Puerto Rico who got ripped off $3970
Im loving all the effort going out. I already got my money back from the insurance but I cant wait till he goes down! I will make it a promise to myself to meet him in person one day! I hearby promise to spit in his face when i see him! I will take pictures and post them. Lets just say Im a Fed. employee!

Mike if you read this! See you soon!!!!!!! Very soon!!! Moron!!!

[middle sister]

I am Michael's sister. I was curious to see what was left of Michael on the internet and came accros this thread.

It sucks that all of you have been burned by Michael. He will likely lose it when/if he reads this, but just so all of you who trusted him know, Michael is going into re-hab any day soon (we are all hoping) for a serious drug problem. Yes he had a divorce, yes he had some medical issue, but the true source of his problems came from a drug addiction. He is presently living w/o electricity, hot H2O, or phone service. His house is about to be foreclosed on, and well you all know what has happened to his business.

Michael was an excellent source of info and parts for you thing-a-lings. He was an excellent businessman. I think I speak for our whole family when I say we are certainly sorry for all that Michael has done to hurt you financially, personally, and for your trust.

One day when he comes out of re-hab and gets back on his feet, I am sure he will be as terribly sorry as we are. He is truly messed up right now.

Here is hoping that one day he will be able to build up his reputation and again be a great source for VW Thing enthusiasts.

Sincerely yours, deb

[Ferretkona]

Hello Deb
Thank you for your input.
I think many people will dispute his status as a "excellent businessman"!
Whether it is drugs, divorce, injury or even a hang nail.
Taking a persons money given in good faith is theft! A felony in many states even if drug addiction is not.

As Mike's conditions are unknown - many of the buyer's conditions are unknown as well. I myself have been in several spots in my life that even $10 made a important decision in my life.

I have had too many drug addicts screw me over that I will never allow them in my life again. Most of them as family and friends.

I wish your brother the best of health. But I will avoid any business he is related to!

[markie61]

Hey, Sis!

I realize how much courage it took you to write this email. Like you, I also have a family member with an addiction problem and (both me and my family) felt a need to apologize/cover for her behavior. It was extremely stressful.

You and your family have absolutely nothing to apologize for concerning Mike's addiction: you didnt cause it, you cant cure it, and you cant control it. Unfortunately, the most important thing you can do to aid in his recovery will cause you a great deal of pain if you have been close to him: detach and let him hit bottom. Hitting bottom varies from person to person and may involve losing everything (sounds like he is there), homelessness, health problems, incarceration, and death. It may feel like you are being cruel by detaching emotionally, but in the end you are doing the only thing you can do. You may not help him get better, but at least you won't help make him worse by enabling his addiction.

The first step into my personal recovery from my family member's addictions was going to an Al-Anon meeting. Al-Anon is a support group for the family and friends of those addicted to alcohol, but many have loved ones who abuse heroin, cut, steal, etc. as well. I encourage you to show up at a meeting because they can help you take the focus off of Mike and put it where it helps the most: on YOU! http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/ Please let yourself off the hook and encourage your parents/siblings to do the same. The only one who can be responsible for Mike is Mike.

Good luck to you and yours,
Mark
_________________
Whut is that-there Thang!?
------------------------------
Chicks dig my Thing - so what if it's little and yellow...!?

[addh79]

Middle Sister,

There are people in the world that die of hunger, people born with incurable diseases, people so unfortunate to just be born but have to stick to being alive. People who don’t choose to be this way yet try to be better.
I’m pretty sure many of the people he has affected have problems of there own and your brothers decision only made more problems on them. All these people did not choose to get ripped of they were just ripped off on your brother’s choice!
Your brother’s drug problem was brought to him by himself and to himself. The same way that he made decisions in life to steal from others he made decision to be a crook he made decisions to take drugs. In my opinion he should not even bother going to rehab because in jail drugs will be hard to get anyways. Thanks for the information on your brother but he gets no sympathy from me. The world is full of choices. He chose the one he is in. If he is without electricity and water that’s his problem he chose to not pay for the service and decided to get high instead. Your brother to me is a burden to the world and all who have contact with him. He at one point in life had a good thing going for him and thought he was on top of the world. Now he is a serious drug user, a crook, a con, a thief, and a @$$#0(e, dumped-divorced, sick, and he stinks because of lack of showers. I have the perfect word for all this he is going through...
"Karma"

It’s a bitch isn’t it!!

[bucko]

All of these quotes from our Thing family makes me wonder what the world is coming too. For the record, I am in complete support of our fellow Thing owners who have been burned, and burned bad by Mike. However, it took extreme courage from his sister to come forth and explain the reasons why this happened. No excuse for sure, but it does explain his complete about face. Drugs suck. I have an 18 year old that I have been concerned since he was about 12 years old. Our constant talks with him have kept him away from drugs and this type of life. I now know why the double Credit Card charges have taken place, and the ignored calls; it has been the drugs.

You don't need or have to show any compassion to Mike, he has dug his grave, and it will be his choice now as to if he jumps in or not. But try to be a little compassionate to his sister and family. They have been hit as hard as those of you that had money stolen from them.

The few responses I've read on this thread made me think we are sinking to Mike's level of life. His sister took great courage to come forth and post Mike's situation. Most will never forgive him, and rightly so, but we should try to hold back our cussing and other accusations towards her reply here. It was not their fault, but they suffer too.

I know this will not get the hard earned money back to those that lost it, and perhaps venting over Mike provides some relief; just try to point the blame away from the family. They are victims too, and no doubt finacially.

[Video Bob]

Deb, thanks for your post. Our losses have only been money. Yours is truly devistating to you and your family. I'm sorry for your pain. Just remember, "This to will pass."
_________________
Ya can't have too many Vdubs!
1956 Oval
1966 Beetle
1974 Thing
1974 Super Beetle
1976 Westy P22

[Towel Rail]

[bmwloco]

Basso's sister's post explains a lot.

Drug addiction flat stinks. A few Thing owners got burned, but when you stack it against the pain, suffering and destruction that visited Basso life, it pales by comparison.

It's sad that some people did get burned, but much as been done to warn folks away. We've done what we can do here.

Here's to hoping Basso recovers and gets on with his life - clean.

[germansupplyscott]

[bciesq]

I'm so sorry to hear about Mike's descent into addiction.

To his sister, thanks for having the courage to post an explanation.

I hope he can turn his life around.

Best of luck.
_________________
'73 Thing -- making 45 mph exciting again.

[gfw1985]

Life is a bitch, you have to live with your decisions. I am sorry, but I think this thread and all related should be put to rest. I feel for the family members, but this is not the place.

[addh79]

[addh79]

[ztnoo]

Huummmm.....
Why would anyone automatically assume this is in fact MB's sister posting this information?
It may well be the gospel truth, but to postulate the poster's undocumented claim is false rationale.
Undoubtedly, this is very interesting information, and it would certainly offer a plausible explanation about Basso's behavior, but I don't just automatically buy into the possibility that this is factual ....Basso's sister posting this info.
I believe more proof needs too be offered before we submit to the mantra this person is who she says she is.
There was a lot of heat and exposure generated last week on Basso....and maybe he got flushed out into open county to some extent.
But, let me pose this possibility: Could this be a ruse, a ploy, or a way of feigning attention away from last week's crook/credit card scammer discourse?
I think it is feasible.

Let me present a fictitious but also plausible scenario, as an example:
Let's say I assumed a Samba identity ....let's say I chose "Trumpwagon", and I am really Donald Trump....and I had decided to I was going to utilize some of the profits generated by my real estate ventures and gambling casinos to diversify my holdings by buying an auto manufacturer. I had looked around and seriously considered pursuing Ford because of its primary importance of being the first auto maker to supply the American masses with affordable and dependable motorized transportation. But I eventually concluded given the financial state of the business, drained by competition with more innovative and aggressive competitors, dependence on truck sales, years of burdensome union shop rules, and finally, the crushing long term health care and insurance costs contractually agreed to during lucrative times, I came to realize there was absolutely no way to resurrect and restructure this dinosaur for the future.....meaning making money, which is what The Donald is all about.

So, I looked around for another auto maker with a similar pedigree. I found only one. Volkswagen. Why? Because it came to mean to the world, what Ford had been to the US marketplace.....the first auto maker to supply the public with affordable and dependable motorized transportation on a global scale. It was reasonably profitable, had contemporary German engineering standards, an excellent and skilled workforce, was a major player in Europe, and still held its own internationally. I liked what I saw as a reasonable, fair challenge competing against the Japanese. I made an offer to buy VW, and the board accepted my proposal.

Next I decided how I would announce this news to the world. I had met EverettB once and he totally engaged me in his passion for Volkswagens, and frankly, that meeting was the genesis my decision about this new step in my business career. I called and told him I wished to make my announcement to the world via the Samba web site because of the love and passion he and his readers had for the marque. I felt it was a perfect match.....and Everett didn't think the exposure his web site would receive would be a bad idea either.

We toyed with the idea of posting the news release in "Rants & Raves", but given all the lions and bears roaming the street there, we finally decided I should post in a new thread in "General/Chat".
I'll be doing that tomorrow tonight at 7:00 P.M. EST. I plan to invite the media, but will not reveal what the news conference is about. They will enter my office suite, I will announce to them I'm opening my Foxfire web browser and will be posting a momentous thread to the most appropriate place on the net I can think of to release this information. The media will not allowed to ask me any questions and will await as I post my bombshell. After finishing my post, each media representative will be handed a one page release containing the web link General/Chat in which will be revealed the prepared text of my announcement.
We expect days of media attention and commentary from this event.

Now..... if you believe I'm "Trumpwagon"...aka The Donald,....could I interest you in some breathtaking, lakeside, mountain resort development property in southeastern Kandahar, Afghanistan?
We can discuss it over dinner and drinks...

See the irony?
Where's the proof "Trumpwagon" is Donald Trump?
Where's the proof "middle sister" is deb, Basso's sister???
We don't even know if he has a sister, number one, and if he does, secondly, what her name is.

The rush to judgment about this poster's real identity, pushes "The Gullibility Scale" of readers to new levels.
Since tomorrow is Election Day, you decide if it's up..........or down.
The Donald already knows the poll results.....


A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
- Demosthenes

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.
- Samuel Johnson

[Captain Spalding]

ztnoo, while I agree with your premise - that the possibility exists that the Middle Sister post might not be authentic - I have to take issue with your reasoning. In your Trumpwagon scenario, Trump's motive is clear. Not so with the Middle Sister post, which asks nothing of the reader. Certainly the tale told doesn't invite the reader to continue to do business with MB/TU, nor does it convey any other expectation. It is simply expository in nature, offering an explanation to many of us who feel confused and betrayed. So if Middle Sister is fictitious, and her post a ruse, what is the motive?