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Gridiron Authentics, Post your take on them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380488670562?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&...

Paid for the PSA quick peek and it came back "Likely not authentic" but they don't say why they think that.

http://www.psacard.com/quickopinion/viewopinion.aspx?id=lgoiZ5Xa%2bWoA

Also looking at

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380489739268?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380488671667?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_...

and another seller that I noticed does events in my local area (including a huge one next month)

http://www.sureshotpromotions.com/memorabilia.aspx?&a=Rob%20Gro...

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Karamouzis on December 3, 2012 at 9:33pm

Normally, I get all of my autographs in person or from dealers I know well. But I just bought a Dr.J signed basketball on Ebay for $105 from Gridiron as a Christmas present for a friend. I was about to pay and started looking at all their other listings. The big names and low prices all seemed to good to be true, which got me to wondering which I probably should have done before bidding. Then I did some quick research and came across this thread. I am seriously considering withdrawing my purchase and contacting EBay after reading all the comments posted here. Has anyone ever spoken directly with anyone at this company? Are they affiliated with Hardwood Authentics? I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments anyone may have.

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Permalink Reply by Bama 1 on December 13, 2012 at 4:33pm

B Martin- You hit it right on the head!

I had the post with the Namath mini I purchased from them that was found not authentic by JSA.

I have other Namath / Bama items and the Namath mini was a gift I purchased for someone. As soon as I saw it we knew it was shady and since JSA was doing a show nearby I got it checked.

The problem I think is that the majority of people on Ebay just don't care if its legit or not as long as they get them for a low price and tell people look I have so and so's autograph.

Also when I spoke with Gridiron he offered me a discout on some NBA signings he was doing, so I would suspect Hardwood and all the others on their website as well.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 20, 2012 at 6:59pm

I can't imagine one portion of their business is legitimate and the other isn't. I would have to say they are all worthless.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 13, 2012 at 7:09pm

I took all my items from Gridiron to the JSA and everything came back as fake. If you recall, I contacted Gridiron and they offered me a full refund. They said to send everything back and they agreed on the prices I had paid. They received my items back on 11/20 and sent an e-mail saying the refund was being processed. I didn't receive anything from them. I contacted them again and got excuses. I called and was told that Joe Lamothe (the owner) would call me back, of course he didn't. E-mailed again and was told he would get right back to me, he didn't. I have every e-mail from them, three of which say that they are taking care of the refund. Now, here we are, more than three weeks after they received the items and promised the refund, and I have received nothing, plus they have the items. I filed a chargeback with the credit card company, but that only covers half the amount since the other half was purchased earlier in the year and they are out of the protection time from the credit card company. I filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office in Pennsylvania. I also contacted the newspapers in their area. Every day that goes by, I am contacting 10 different buyers from their items sold page on Ebay and alerting them that their items are most likely fake and to have them verified. if enough people send items back and complain, hopefully, someone will do something. I am also having my attorney get involved if this is not resolved in the next couple of weeks.

We all had questions regarding Gridiron's legitimacy. Well, I think we have an answer, they are CROOKS! Peter, I think we can work together to put some pressure on them. Anyone with Gridiron items needs to take them out and verify their signatures. It is time to take apart this scam machine called Gridiron Authentics!

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Permalink Reply by Bama 1 on December 14, 2012 at 1:29pm

Wow Steve what a change of heart.

Just a couple of months ago on my posting about my experience with Gridiron you were singing their praises. "Gridiron is legit" were your words.

I guess you found out the truth the hard way.

In my case Joe gave me a full refund for the purchase price, return shipping, JSA fee, plus my shipping to and from JSA so I guess I got lucky.

Best of luck with everything!

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Permalink Reply by B Martin on December 19, 2012 at 10:24am

Sadly, they have ripped people off to the tune of probably at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. These people should be in prison.

Sadly, when I first started researching them and I would visit some message boards there would be mostly people who swore up and down they were legit and occasionally I would find one person who spoke against them. The people that spoke against them were usually bashed and called fools.

I felt bad for the people that had spent money on these fakes as I knew they were fakes. I guess sometimes people just refuse to believe something they bought is fake because they want to believe it is real.

Steve, have you thought about contacting ebay about this? If you had multiple items come back as bad, maybe they will do something. I kind of doubt it though as they make tons of money from these thieves.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the amount of money these people have stolen is STAGGERING! I will celebrate the day they get busted and go to prison.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 19, 2012 at 3:11pm

I'm working on it. My next step is to have the newspapers in their area write a little story. My sister in-law has her own law firm in L.A. I will see her next week and ask her to get involved. I will not let this rest. IMF they were so confident that their items are good as they suggest, then they should have no problem at all taking back a few items and re-selling them. The fact that they have kept my items and not issued a refund should be a huge red flag as to their honesty.

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Permalink Reply by Bama 1 on December 19, 2012 at 4:43pm

I contact everyone that buys a Namath Alabama mini from them on Ebay and tell them my experience.

I ask them to get back to me with the COA decal number on their helmet to see if it is the one I returned that I know is fake. Not ONE person replied back.

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Permalink Reply by B Martin on December 20, 2012 at 4:27am

Steve,

Please do all buyers of their junk a favor and not let this go even if they give you your refund. Let me know if I can help any anyway. I have been hoping these thieves get busted for a long time now and I am glad to see some momentum building up over the last year as to just how criminal their activity is.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on December 20, 2012 at 7:01pm

Thanks, I will let you know if I need anything. The problem is that there are people who will make a comment, complain to us here, but they aren't willing to follow through. It's going to take more than a few people to do the same damage to Gridiron as they have been doing to us.

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Permalink Reply by B Martin on December 21, 2012 at 5:25am

Thankfully I never bought from them. I stumbled on them as I wanted to start collecting some signed mini helmets. I started noticing all the players I wanted to add, they were selling. Seemed fishy to me so I started digging. The more I dug the more I knew they were crooks.

This was probably about three years ago and at the time there were very very few people who questioned the authenticity of their items. In fact, most people thought they were the absolute best around and you couldn't change those people's minds. I am glad to see there is some momentum building over the last year. More and more bad things being posted on the internet about them and hopefully more and more people filing complaints with the Attorney General.

It makes me sick to think of the amount of money they have ripped people off for and sadly there is lots of their bogus stuff that gets sold on the secondary market by people who think they are real.