Got scammed recently.

logan_gibson

Well-known member
Dec 20, 2016
258
47
Alabama
***SCAM ALERT***
Hey Guys, I posted this over on the FB group where the person is a member of, wanted to share it over on Dweb incase he comes over to the forums to try this. Long post below, Tl;Dr at the top.
I ran into an issue getting scammed by a guy named James Barton Burgess.
I found out it ran much deeper than just me, and he also managed to mess with an aftermarket LR Company as well.
I do have some phone recordings, where it was legal, to backup what is in the document. Chuck Williamson can vouch, and the businesses effected may speak up too.
Tl;Dr - James Barton Burgess sold me a roof rack, I never received the rack, found out Chuck was sold the same rack. We talked and found out we were told basically the same thing. I kept it going with James(Bart), and just let it roll along. He promised a new rack, then a new rack + a damaged one, and delivered none. Last we spoke he was going to bring me a cashiers check "to be done with this". As of 7/6/21 when I spoke to his wife. she has no contact information for him and wouldn't say where he was. I've now come to find out that this hit more people than I originally knew - from Land Rovers, Local Birmingham Businesses, to Fly Fishing.

Admins, if this breaks any of the rules, apologies as I didn't see where it would.
****
To preface this, the main company involved here had no knowledge of the history of this person or what they were doing and how they used the company name. They have no fault in this, and have been great to work with. The other companies did warn me afterwards of issues that may arise, and I did not share these with the main company in this story. I regret this decision.

On October 14th I was contacted via Facebook messenger by James Barton Burgess. We had previously talked as he was looking for information about some discoveries for sale near me, and he was also looking to buy some parts I had.
On Oct 14th, he messaged me letting me know he had a Baja Low Profile rack for an LR3 he wanted to sell, how that he was working for Voyager Racks (opening Voyager 4x4 in Montana) he couldn’t be sporting a baja rack.
I asked for a price ($275) and if he wanted cash or paypal. He asked for my number, and then gave me a call. We discussed removing the rack which was on his truck at Duffys Garage and payment, he also brought up being an “installer” for Voyager and just drop shipping racks to me(Gadsden Rovers). This seemed a little weird in his description, so I just kinda brushed it to the side and focused on the Baja he was selling me. I sent him the 275 on October 22 at 10:53 AM, it was sent to his wife’s paypal account - Sabrina Burgess.


After this, life got busy for my wife and I (IVF process) and he was dealing with some health issues he said his wife was having and in the hospital for. He said that his rack from Voyager was delayed due to production issues, and that he didn’t want to have the rack off until he got the new one in. We played phone tag back and forth and finally on 12/30 I was working to get the rack from Duffy's Garage where his trucks were sitting.

During this time, he was also messaging someone else, Chuck Williamson, about the rack and trying to sell it to him as well. Chuck paid him and got the same run-around I did. On Jan 20th he called Chuck letting him know that duffys was going to pull the rack that following Monday and he could get the rack. On Feb 24th, Chuck went to Duffys and showed Brad all of the calls/text about the rack, pulled it off the truck and took it home. He contacted me after that and we swapped calls/stories about Burgess and what he was telling each of us. At this time I realized it was basically a big scam, but I kept going along with it to see how far Burgess would get into it or if it was a mis-understanding.
In talking to Chuck, Burgess was giving him the same story at first about how he would deliver the rack to him, then about how his trucks were having warranty work done at Duffys and he was waiting on Brad to pull the rack off there. I then talked to RMR and Brad at Duffys, both of which told me to steer clear of the guy. Brad had two of his trucks, both which he owed money on. RMR split ways with him, due to some issues they could not discuss, but just said “never give him money”
On April 26th I called Burgess back and explained how someone else had gotten the rack. He told me a story that the guy who got the rack (Chuck) was actually supposed to get the voyager rack off his LR4 as Chuck ordered a rack from him but it was taking too long to get delivered. He said he would make it up to me by sending me a brand new Voyager rack. I said that was fine and we would discuss it later. On March 8th, we talked and he confirmed there was a new LR3 rack heading my way, he was going to break it off from the order of 5 racks that Duffys Garage had placed (stating that Brad hasn't paid him for the racks). I gave him my business address with a loading dock and all. On April 12th he called and let me know that all of the racks were going to be dropped off at Duffy’s due to the freight center wanting to charge an additional $125 to pull it off and send it my way (he said he was already losing too much money). I told him to just send them all to Duffys and I would go get it from there. May 25th, Burgess calls to let me know the Gainesville hub where the racks were at got hit by a series of tornadoes during some storms that swept the southeast. He had to go to the location and look at the racks with the shipping company, he was going to pull the least damaged rack and get it to me, along with that he was going to get a D1 rack that was damaged in shipping to someone in Atlanta and give it to me as well. That was the last time I had heard from Burgess.

I gave it some time, kept calling and getting the same voicemail that I would get whenever I would call him before. Kept leaving voicemails, sending text, and facebook messages to him. Until June when his phone was disconnected.
I reached back out on Facebook after his phone would not accept calls, found he had created a new profile and was posting in a Fly Fishing group I was in. I tried to message and add that profile, no luck. I tried to message and add his wife, no luck there either.

So on June 22nd I reached out to Voyager via facebook and instagram, who informed me he was no longer with the company and had not been for a period of time. I spoke to Mark at Voyager over the phone, who knew who I was right away because he had found out what was going on. We talked and cleared up a few things about the timeline and what all Burgess had been doing. Voyager is a great company, I have one of their racks on my D1 currently. I am glad they were able to clear up a few things for me and I hate that They had to deal with such a shady person.
I have some messages back and forth with Burgess and myself that I shared with Voyager.


Hopefully he is out of the rover circle, but keep an eye out and be cautious when dealing with him. This seems to be a recurring thing for him (according to RMR). I just wanted to share the story of everything that went down so hopefully this keeps someone else from getting scammed by him in the future.

Some information has been left out of this, those companies can release it if they would like to, but It's not my information to spread.


Update: 6/21 I found his wife on Facebook and sent her a message asking for a new number for Bart. Her profile was public, so I also tried to add her as a friend since messages not from friends go to another folder.
Update: 6/23 - Obtained a cell phone number for his Wife, Sabrina, which I called and left a voicemail as she didn’t answer. I also saw where her profile was now private, she has been posting since my friend request and message. So I commented on one of her posts which was still public due to one of her friends.
I received a call a few minutes later from Bart, stating he no longer works for Voyager and would be coming down to give me a cashier's check in person. I asked him to just paypal it to me, and he said he would rather just give it to me in person and be done with all of this. He refused to answer anything about the rack that he was supposedly giving me.
Update: 7/6 - Called the cell phone number for his wife, the first call went straight to voicemail (stating she was out on Disability Leave). A few minutes later a second call she picked up. She informed me that she was out of work due to a stroke, and Bart was not there or in Alabama. She said that he did not have a phone number currently and had no way of contacting him. She said she would have him call me back next time she talked to him.
*****
 
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DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
Eh, I feel like a nicely worded letter to her HR department about her using work resources for this would be better
More than likely that would get her fired. I'm not sure he'd care. I think I'd have to show up on his doorstep. Either way, it's a matter of principle. You don't let someone fuck you. Then they'll just do it to the next poor soul and that will be on you.
 
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logan_gibson

Well-known member
Dec 20, 2016
258
47
Alabama
Until you absolutely know his wife is a part of it it's a douche move.
Using her number and paypal, would that constitute it?
Or if she has blocked some of the lawyers contacting her?
I'm not really sure how to confirm she is apart of it, since its hard enough just getting in contact with them.
 

Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,043
856
AZ
The fuckstick has stolen money from you, the woman married to him is acceptable collateral damage at this point.
 

DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
Using her number and paypal, would that constitute it?
Or if she has blocked some of the lawyers contacting her?
I'm not really sure how to confirm she is apart of it, since its hard enough just getting in contact with them.
She may well be complicit and deserved to be fired, but... You also might find yourself named in a lawsuit. And they may argue if not for you she may have worked there for another 20+ years, so it may involve 6/7 digits.

Sue him in small claims court. Find him and beat his ass. Or let it go.
 

AbnMike

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2016
1,218
117
Western Slope, CO
His wife is definitely in on it (I had a different but not dissimilar situation with a wife pulling the same 'I don't know how to contact him' garbage) but contacting HR to complain about using work resources (presumably a computer) is dumb.

I mean scorched earth her but unless someone has never used a work computer to browse the internet or use their phone to make a personal call then the hypocrisy is strong in that move.
 
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