Stay as far away from the Mud Shack as you can

This is the place to discuss generalized scanner questions and information for San Diego County. Whether it's radios, antennas, or other general scanner related topics, you can talk about it here.
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Mav7200
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:38 am

Stay as far away from the Mud Shack as you can

Post by Mav7200 »

Hey all, this is my first post on these forums, but scanners and radios have been a hobby for many years.

I just want to warn anyone who may be looking for a scanner to stay far far away from Mud Shack on ECB. In December my wife bought me a scanner (BCD 396T) Roger (the owner) told her it may take a while to come in. She went ahead and bought it, total bill was 700 for the scanner and the quarterly re-programming for 18 years or something.

I was stoked to find out that she got that for me! Until I found out that it was going to take until Feb to get it. I went to Fry's and saw three of them sitting on the shelf there. For a hundred bucks less! So I called Roger and told him to cancel the order that I wasn't interested. He told me that he wouldn't do that. I asked him why and he told me that he only gets 10 per month and the order was already placed. I then asked him why my wife needed to give him her SSN and some other personal info. He said it was because he runs a "Secret Service" background check. Now I am not law enforcement but I know BS when I hear it. So I called the local field office of the bleoved secret service and asked them what sort of background checks they run for people. The agent said that the guy was full of sh*t and that they don't do that. He then proceeded to call Roger and let him know that what he was doing could get him in a lot of trouble.

So I went down to the shop and spoke with Roger face to face. He maintained that he would not cancel the sale and that we were stuck. I told him exactly what i thought of his business practices and how he treats his customers.

Fast forward to today. I called over there because today is the day that the receipt says I can go pick up my overpriced, already programmed scanner. Someone named Art who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time answered the phone. I said yeah I want to make sure my scanner is ready before I come and pick it up. He said he didn't know anything about it and that Roger is on his way to Vegas and cannot be reached but that he would be calling. I told him that if he does call tell him I want my scanner. I called back a few hours later and Art said that I would just have to wait and call Roger on Monday. Now I am a fairly patient person but this is total BS. First you make me prepay fully for something, then you don't deliver it when you say you will? And the worst part is that they don't seem to give a sh*t.

So do yourselves a favor and stay as far away from the Mudshack and Roger as possible. At this point I wouldn't piss on that guy if he was on fire.

/rant
hodad200
Posts: 147
Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 11:59 am

Post by hodad200 »

700 FOR A 396? i paid 500. jeez.
Mav7200
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:38 am

Post by Mav7200 »

It was 700 out the door, with tax and their "special covert ultra secret from Washington DC program" on it. Roger is a wack job. Pathological liar comes to mind also.

Update!

So I called the guy minding the shop while roger was gone a few more times to see if I could just go and pick up my scanner. At about 5PM I get a call from Roger and he tells me that he is cancelling my order and will send me a check! He told me that he doesn't want me coming to the shop and that I was yelling at his guy. I never raised my voice and apologized to the guy and said I knew it wasn't his fault. He told me that the scanner orders are 10 days or so late because SDPD put a hold on them! I told him he was full of sh*t and that sending me the check would be fine. I told him I would expect it next week.

So on my way home I went to Ham Radio Outlet and bought one for 519! I am taking it back tomorrow to have Jerry program it for me. I also picked up the upgraded antenna and the latest edition of the Southern California Frequency directory. 617 out the door! So 80 bucks less, with a book and antenna and free programming. Ham Radio outlet is a cool place with cool people, I sat and BS'ed with them for a short time after I bought the scanner.
Last edited by Mav7200 on Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BLS_EMT_192
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:55 pm

Post by BLS_EMT_192 »

Ya sounds like the guy was trying to rip you off that is messed up i paid $500 for mine from HRO and what is up with the guy asking for a SSN
Mav7200
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:38 am

Post by Mav7200 »

I will be filing a complaint with the BB and the credit card company. lol Go tell all your friends about this too. It is BS to have a shop treat people like this. Hopefully my future posts will contribute more to this online community. I figured I would try to keep as many people from making the same mistake as I did.
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mike
Posts: 647
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:34 am

Post by mike »

Sounds like a quack job you do not have to have a background check to buy a scanner.
Mav7200
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:38 am

Post by Mav7200 »

mike wrote:Sounds like a quack job you do not have to have a background check to buy a scanner.
Well, according to Roger you do because he loads it with Homeland Defense tac freqs that not everyone has. I asked him where he gets his info and he said washington from someone in the secret service. There were so many red flags from the beginning but my wife didn't know any better and thought she was doing a cool thing by getting it for me. These look like cool boards, I look forward to getting to know more of you all!
PStuart
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 1:33 am

Post by PStuart »

When I was researching making my scanner purchase, I was told by mudshack that the re-programming needed to be re-done every 6 months due to the frequencies and talkgroup ids constantly changing. Of course its an expensive upgrade to pay for the re-programmings. I'm glad I found these boards and webpages before I shelled out the extra cash for their programming. Glad everything worked out for you
SDnative
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:04 pm

Post by SDnative »

If the frequencies that they are supposedly programming are not in the public domain, then I don't know that I want them in my radios. Besides, they are probably encrypted all or most of the time, and therefore you can't listen to them anyway. That's my 2 cents.

I have found that using the free Uniden computer program is so easy, and everything that I care to listen to is readily available on sites like these, I would not pay someone at a store to do it for me. Besides, doing it yourself help you learn how the radio works, so you can make changes that you desire.

Good Luck!
N6ATF
Posts: 373
Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 1:36 pm

Post by N6ATF »

Billed as "the only CB shop in San Diego county", contributing to CB having a bad name. If he truly was installing a program to hack encrypted federal gov transmissions, then he would be going to federal prison right quick. I wonder how many enforcement actions the FCC has against this place.
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