Keltoi Missing in Action???

**de Stokesay** · 16th February 16, 02:51 PM

Hi,

I've been lurking on this site for years now and always find it quite informative, but haven't posted until very recently.

I did put this notice up under the Keltoi part of the forum, but thought it needed to be here too so it has a wider viewing as it will affect anyone who intends to purchase (or has recently attempted to purchase) from Keltoi Gaelic Clothing.

I'm getting quite concerned about John Hart of Keltoi Gaelic Clothing, or rather the fact that he seems to have disappeard. I ordered a new kilt from him last July, along with one of his Tams and a new sporran. I was told this would be ready to ship late November or early December, but having bought another kilt from him (which I love) in 2010, and there was about a month's delay over and above the original time estimate, I wasn't surprised to hear he was running a bit behind.

He told me he had the cloth in from Scotland and was working on it on the 9th (IIRC) of December, and he thought it might be ready before Christmas. This is the last I have heard from him.

No kilt, no tam, no sporran, no response to repeated, polite e-mails, no answer when I try phoning the number on his website. I don't know if he's dead, in hospital, has gone bankrupt, or what. Has anyone on this board heard anything about what might be going on here? Have any of you had a similar experience with him?

I tried to start a PayPal dispute last week but they evidently will only do this for 180 days following the payment, and I missed the boat by a couple of weeks as I was trying to give John as much time to respond as I could.

The total bill was $1024.00 Canadian, so it's not inconsequential. I'm getting very frustrated and annoyed and hope John is OK as he was always a pleasure to deal with in the past.

It any of you hear anything about John Hart of Keltoi Gaelic Clothing, or what's become of him, I would dearly like to hear it. I would far rather receive the kilt, sporran, and tam I ordered from him, than get my money back (which seems impossible now anyway), but it doesn't look like I'll be receiving anything.

Also, if any of you hear of Keltoi (or an estate or bankruptcy agent who's dealing with it) having a big sale in the next while, I'd really like to know as I don't know how good his records are/were, and it would be unfair to say the least if stock in his shop that had been paid for and just never got shipped out was to be sold twice.

Thank you in advance for your help,

de Stokesay

**Mike S** · 16th February 16, 03:07 PM

What is with the duplicate thread, when you already have an identical one well underway? Just curious.

**de Stokesay** · 16th February 16, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by Mike S

What is with the duplicate thread, when you already have an identical one well underway? Just curious.

Hi Mike,

I was just wanting to get the word out to as many people as possible so nobody else gets burned. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this on the General Kiltwearers' forum, and that it was an attempt to reach as many people as possible. My thoughts were that not nearly as many people read the Keltoi forum as the main one. I was just trying to help other members (more an announcement than anything else) but if the mods feel this is not appropriate, I'm sure they'll delete the one in the general forum. I hope this makes sense.

Good question by the way Mike.

de Stokesay

**Mike S** · 16th February 16, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by de Stokesay

Hi Mike,

I was just wanting to get the word out to as many people as possible so nobody else gets burned. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this on the General Kiltwearers' forum, and that it was an attempt to reach as many people as possible. My thoughts were that not nearly as many people read the Keltoi forum as the main one. I was just trying to help other members (more an announcement than anything else) but if the mods feel this is not appropriate, I'm sure they'll delete the one in the general forum. I hope this makes sense.

Good question by the way Mike.

de Stokesay

Cheers. I was just wondering.

**Steve Ashton** · 16th February 16, 06:02 PM

I have tried by all the contact information that I have to contact John.

I have called his home number twice and emailed to all the email addresses I have.

John should be getting an email announcement of every post or thread made in his section.

I'm sorry, I don't have any more information than you do other than his PayPal account is still active and still keeping his advertising current.

**de Stokesay** · 16th February 16, 10:43 PM

Thank you for trying Steve. I'm thinking it may be as I feared, and he is either incapacitated or deceased. I hope I'm wrong, but I think it's less and less likely, as this isn't how he usually acts at all. At any rate, I wish him the best.

de Stokesay

**sailortats** · 16th February 16, 04:16 PM

I wonder as Steve is the owner of this site and, I believe, also the one that handles the advertisers, if he might not have a way of seeing what has happened at Keltoi.

**de Stokesay** · 16th February 16, 04:30 PM

That would be great if he could find out Sailortats.

I've pretty much written off both my merchandise and money, and wanted to just put this up in this part of the forum, more as a public service announcement than anything, due to the increased traffic. There's much more discussion over in the Keltoi forum on the duplicate thread.

de Stokesay