Just to 'close the loop', and give the devil his due:
After ANOTHER set of infuriating emails in which:
1) Dave Corbin told me he had "refunded" my payment,
2) AND that he NOW was telling me that he had no order for dies in his system,
I:
1) checked my credit card records and PROVED that he had NOT refunded my payment, (The "refund" he referred to was a PREVIOUS order that he had ALSO told me was "ready to ship" and then told me "somebody else got it before you"), AND
2) told him that he had had my money for two years, AND
3) I resurrected ALL the correspondence from day one on the matter,
He:
1) Grudgingly owned up to the FACTS that he had screwed up, AND
2) moved me to "the front of the line" without telling me I had to pay twice the price.
I got the dies.
There was no apology. There was no acknowledgement of error except to tell his subordinates to makes the dies, and a package in the mail.
This is the whole story. Anyone interested in seeing the this second set of email exchanges, PM me.
Friends of Dave Corbin can "spin" the fact that I ultimately got my dies any why they want. The TRUTH is that I got the dies ONLY after I WAS FORCED to PROVE that he had taken my money and kept if for two years AND THEN DENIED THAT THERE WAS AN ORDER. The facts speak for themselves. Dave Corbin and his friends will be pleased to know that there are NO circumstances - "in stock and ready to ship" included - that could possibly cause me to do business with him ever again. I'd do without bullet swaging equipment before I'd do business with Dave Corbin again.
In EBay parlance, this post is the "negative feedback" for this business transaction.
Talk is cheap. Reality is: "You will know them by their fruit."
Paul