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Field of Dreams in Las Vegas sold me a Babe Ruth Forgery.

I bought a Babe Ruth piece from Field Of Dreams at the Rio Casino a few years back and I have battling with them to refund my money without any success. Instead they tried to over me a replacement for even more money. JSA confirmed that this autographed piece was not authentic even though it came with a Christopher Morales COA. This has been an on going battle with them for years that has gone from the store to the parent company that sells their Franchise Licenses. All I can say is Buyer Beware!

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 2, 2012 at 2:59pm

Michael H. The key word is "knowingly". Williams claims that they know they are selling forgeries. Again, define Know and what proof is there that would stand up in a court of law -vs- the court of public opinion. Therein, lies the problem.

and as many know when you start down that trail a "refund" based on guaranteed authentic comes out of nowhere and the issue disappears.

that's why I'm surprised about this Babe Ruth still being hungup

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 2, 2012 at 2:49pm

Bill, can you please post a photo of the COA from Chris Morales.

Also, which Field Of Dreams store did you purchase it from? What is the street address?

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 2:54pm

It was from Dan at The Rio All Suites Casino, Michael Novelli is the owner, my fear is that several other pieces that I purchased were Fakes as well, Signed Rat Pack Pieces, A Wizard of Oz piece signed by the whole cast as well! Yes I thought I posted the Morales COA before? If not I can repost it.

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 2, 2012 at 3:09pm

here they are - the Field of Dreams COA, The Morales Authentication Letter and the Spence JSA Rejection

the colors are light so click to see an upImage then change the magnification to 150 and you can read them alittle clearer.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 3:11pm

DB, That is correct Knowingly is certainly subjective and when they can produce a Christopher Morales Certificate a Self Called Forensic expert they refuse to refund your money so that is why it's still hung up. The e-mails from Corporate say that they will replace it with another for an additional Fee, by the way it's Thousands!!

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 2, 2012 at 3:13pm

William, I was curious if you ever emailed Chris Morales?

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 2, 2012 at 3:22pm

Bill - yup the world of "opinions" and when push comes to shove in a court of law it gets real interesting. I fear you could be right about the other items. You might just want to post them as well.

Perhaps you should remind them that 1. Morales has made the EBAY banned list which is an indictment of authentication failures and as a result no COA from Morales can be listed or sold on EBAY. and 2. Point them to this discussion. Perhaps that will break the logjam.

as far as Williams suggestion to send Morales and Email - I doubt he would retract his opinion even with a copy of the Spence rejection letter but it might be worth a shot... as an email is not that expensive. (note: just saw the added comments... why am i not surprised!)

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 3:17pm

Christopher, It's funny you should ask and I did. He answered me and asked me to e-mail him a copy of the Certificate. I did and I never heard back from him after several more atempts to reach him.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 2, 2012 at 3:21pm

At least you got a reply, but unfortunately, no follow-up from Morales.

I have deep, deep disdain for Morales.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 3:25pm

I don't know him but if you or anyone else on here want a copy of one of my e-mails to Jorge at FOD just let me know. I can e-mail it to you. I'm sure that you will find them very interesting, there are many!!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 3:33pm

I just posted one of the E-mails and there are many that follow this one!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Dorazio on October 2, 2012 at 3:32pm

Dear Bill:

I have reviewed all the information that has been provided to me by yourself and the Field of Dreams store at the Rio. As I mentioned, I would like to assist you in finding an amicable solution to this matter; however, I cannot force the acceptance of my recommendation on either party. Here are some thoughts:

We have a very strict guideline in selling vintage autographed memorabilia. For the product to be able to be sold in our stores it must be authenticated by 1 of 3 approved authenticators that a store may use:
1. PSA/DNA
2. JSA
3. Christopher Morales
In this respect, Mr. Novelli followed our guidelines; which by the way, were set forth as a result of Operation Bullpen and in coordination with the FBI. As I mentioned to you earlier, authenticity is no laughing matter to us – we take it extremely seriously.
You mentioned in one of your previous emails that one the websites that you’re getting your information from “autogrpahalerts.com” (I really have no idea who they are). When I look at the website I see that the majority of the authenticators they are trashing are JSA and PSA/DNA. Despite that, you’re comfortable with JSA’s opinion on the ball.
The bottom line is that there’s really only one person that can verify the authenticity of the ball, and he’s dead. Anyone else can give their best opinion, and as you can see by their inability to authenticate the items, most 3^rd party authenticators do not in fact say that the item is not legitimate, but rather that they cannot authenticate it due to whatever reason. There’s a reason that they say that, and it’s the reason why we have sometimes used a forensic examiner - they have the ability to testify in court as the authenticity of a product, whereas the principals of JSA and PSA/DNA cannot.

The reason that I want you to understand all this information is because we stand behind our procedures in authenticating vintage memorabilia and vigorously defend claims against us, because, as you might appreciate, if we can’t be trusted to sell authentic memorabilia, then what benefit do we truly offer? As I mentioned, our systems and procedures were developed by Mr. Tim Fitzsimons of the FBI (the leader of “Operation Bullpen”).

All that being said, I think above everything else, I will always try to do anything we can to make our customers as happy. With that in mind, I would offer you the opportunity to give us back the piece and in turn I would offer you a store credit for the entire purchase amount. Please understand that in doing so, we do NOT accept your opinion that the item is not authentic; however, as a result of your experience, I will destroy the piece and not resell it. The reality is that from a branding standpoint, we only sell vintage memorabilia that either has JSA or PSA/DNA authentication at our stores; for no other reason that our customers seem to prefer it.

I truly hope that this offer is acceptable to you, as I would really like to put this unfortunate incident behind us.