"I was stiffed by a gaming "friend"...." Topic

Two years ago I vouched for a gamer/dealer who has still not paid another gamer I know the money due him.

This happened at Colonial Barracks in 2013. A gaming friend 1 (GF1) sold some merchandise to another gaming friend 2(GF2). GF2 didn't have the funds at the convention so he asked GF1 if he could send him a check when he returned home. GF1 asked me if GF2 was good for the money and I said yes.

Fast forward to this year's Colonial Barracks. Right before the convention, GF1 let me know he had still not received the money and GF2 was not answering any emails. Very long story short, I entered into this email exchange and was able to connect GF1 and GF2. GF2 said "I lost your address" to GF1. GF1 emailed his mailing address and was assured the check was coming. On Dec. 11 when no check had been received, I emailed GF2 and told him to please send the money to GF1. If not, I would pay the money myself and let everyone (TMP, Yahoo Groups) know what had happened.

In the 16 years we have been selling TSATF and attending conventions as vendors, I've only had 4 gamers who have successfully stiffed me. And they were not friends. This has really floored me and made me very angry. Our hobby isn't usually comprised of people like this. It's not the fact that I'm out the money I promised would be paid to a friend, it's the entire principle. So I am going public with the following information:

The gamer/dealer who has not paid his debt of $ 150.00 is Nick Zizo. He purchased rule books from Terry Sofian, author of The Hive and The Queen series after I personally vouched for him. So now I have been stiffed by 5 gamers….

If this is true Nick zizo, pay your dues! Or forever pay cash only, too those who will actually accept it.

What you have described is theft, pure and simple. You would have to think at this point in time, your " friend" had no intention of ever paying for the merchandise. The least he could have done was return what he took from the dealer. The fact that he never paid for, nor returned the merchandise, can only lead to the one conclusion.

I'm sorry you had this experience, but you certainly showed your integrity by making things right with the dealer. I think I can say for the entire Forum that you make the hobby proud. Your Father certainly would be.

Well said, Extrabio1947. Sorry Lori. It really does prove there are d-bags in all walks of life, and Zizo is truly one of em…

Hey Lori, What you did in compensating GF1 for his loss is noble, exemplary, and everything the hobby is about.

Please allow me to send YOU a gift of $20 USD to help make up for this horrible conduct on a part of another gamer. Please though, I lost your address when I was purchasing the Suren figures. Can you send me your postal address at sigurd @eclipse.net? I will send you a check forthwith!

Otto

I feel sorry for GF2, if this is how they treat their friends then must have a very sad and lonely life.

As GF1 I have asked Lori not to send me the check. It is not her fault and I do not expect her to do that. She should not suffer for all the wonderful things she and her family have done for the hobby, and in particular for me.

Since it is a matter of honor to both Lori and myself I feel that the only way to deal with the issue is to dice for it at the next Colonial Barracks.

Terry Sofian

Nick Zizo,
I don't know you personally, but I'd now recognize you anywhere. Social media is a bitch and so are you!

A Pox on His House

The Karmic wheel can be slow, but it grinds very fine.

Not keeping one's word causes one's gonads to shrivel up to the size of raisins. And then one's wife laughs at one.

I hate it when people do that.

Can't wait for his explanation…

According to Zoominfo, he is a board member of hmgs south.

150 bucks sounds like a meager price for a man's honor.

Hang on… Assuming StoneMtnMinis is correct, a board member of HMGS South – not a tiny organization – stiffs a supplier for $150 USD and thinks he can just walk away with no fuss or bother? Methinks HMGS should take some action. Not good to have a petty thief on board.

Pretty damn low, Zizo.

Very bad form. Sort it fool.

HMGS South Board: link

Zoominfo is incorrect. Mr Zizo is not now, nor has he ever been a board member of HMGS-South.

The Nick Zizo that I dealt with a good while ago was in New York.

How many Nick Zizos can there be in this hobby?

Tom

This Nick Zizo is in Florida, though he may have started out in New York years ago.

This is a very sad story, and I wish there was some way to imagine an excusable version of the scenario, but at least for me that is impossible. If you are hit by life-or-death financial calamity, it's on you to explain and apologize, not disappear. And as someone said above… for $150 USD?

Does Zizo have a TMP handle?
Does he attend the HMGS south conventions?

How many Nick Zizos can there be at the con in question and in various blogs. He's on TMP, he should clear his name if he can. I would. Hope this msg stays up this time.

Guys, as bad as this story seems, there are always two sides of a story. Please keep that in mind before casting judgment.

I'm trying to keep that in mind, King. But I have a lot of respect for Lori Brom, I don't think she would have posted without good reason. The longer this goes on without Mr. Zizos clearing things up, the more difficult it is to withhold judgement.

TheKing30 has a point but, despite our disagreement over TS&TF, I have to say that I can see no reason to think that Ms. Brom would lightly go public with this matter unless she felt there was no resolution pending given her efforts to this point.

I hope Nick Zizo comes forward with an explanation and resolves this matter.

It doesn't matter what the reasons are, you just don't screw people out of money like that. It's reprehensible.

It is nice to know I have street cred, I knew the Broms did!

Hmmm, Nick Zizo, dishonest you say? I tried to stay quiet, but I cannot. I've run a lot of games in the past at HMGS-South conventions, and guess who I would never allow to play in one of my games again. You guessed it, Nick Zizo and son's.

Several years ago, I once ran a large 15mm ACW game at an HMGS-South convention. On one side was Mr. Zizo and his son's, experienced wargamers. On the other side were a couple of teens and another player, all in-experienced with the rules. After the younger, in-experienced players dealt a crippling blow to the Zizo's army (A lot of great/really bad dice rolling…causing lots of casualties and following by lots of routing troups to one side.), the game was essentially over. The Zizo's complained heavily because I answered rules questions asked by the teens, but I had no control over the formations that the Zizo's chose [an entire reserve brigade of infantry and artillery, in march column & limbered, on a road, with their flank facing/exposed to a grand battery of artillery up on a hill and infantry in line ready to fire (yes, it was really that bad!)] or the dice rolling. Since half the enemy was routing off the table, we ended the game, and everyone departed the table. I started to put away all of my figures, and just by coincidence the command stands that the Zizo's were using all had disappeared. I'm sure they're sitting at his home, up on a shelf, as a spoil of war. Sore losers to the last. I had to repaint up more command stands to replace the ones stolen.

To the best of my knowledge he's a teacher too, that makes it all that more disturbing.

Very disturbing behavior indeed!

Tip of the iceberg. War Games is a social hobby with a lot of very unsociable people in it.

I find this shocking! I've known Nick and his sons for many years. I've found them to be very honest and honorable and have considered them close friends. Nick has run cons and been a member of many boards. I'm going to give him a call to find out what happened. I know as of late they have been consumed with taking care of his wife due to debilitating injuries from an auto accident. There is no excuse for not paying a debt though…..

JB

So what happened, JB?

Lets all be careful when publishing certain statements.

Even if true publication of negative information could result in negative consequences to the one publishing the information in some states. I suggest that this thread end now for everyone's sake.

I recommend a quick look at this Wikipedia link. link

The sense of vindication would likely not be worth the trouble and cost of defending a claim.

And I believe he last posted on these boards 23rd December.

So let us end this. A check arrived. The story is closed.

A check from Lori or from the errant friend? Enquiring minds want to know… 8)=

From Nick

I wonder if I'll ever get some miniatures in the mail too?

I won't hold my breath.

d glenn you are a liar, I or my sons have never in decades of playing taken anyone else's figures. I have 35,000 of my own figures that I paid for over 37 years and have no need of yours. We are also not bad sports. I don't know what the hell you are talking about and I don't even remember who you are or remember playing in one of your games. You retract that immediately or show the proof. What happened between sofian and I has an explanation, but I will not air it here. I have explained it to friends who have known me for years and they support me and have told me they don't care. Enough is enough. For one misunderstanding my reputation has taken a hit proportionately beyond the deed. People I don't even know are waying in on something they know nothing about. What is interesting is that I owed money to sofian for rule books that never sold, and not to Brom, who started all this. She also has never mentioned that I sold Larry a unit of beautifully painted 54 mm british grenadiers way below my cost because he wanted them and was a lovely man. I also supported 2 of her cons as a vendor at a cost of over $1,000 USD in expenses and made 4 sales, most to a friend. Someone also stole a bag of Old Glory dismounted British Camel Corps from me during the first show. I never complained about these things, especially not publicly, nor do I blame Brom for it. But if we are going to do this then let's do it right. Brom had no right to post it publicly. That is just mean spirited. I also donated money to one of her causes by buying mugs of dice I did
not need. And bought figures she was trying to get rid of that I really didn't need. You all think you know her because you may have known her father, but what she did shows me that sometimes the apple falls far from the tree.

You want to think, think about someone who would try to ruin someone's reputation over one mistake, after that person supported her and respected her father and treated him well.

What really frosts me is when people who have never even met or dealt with Nick pontificate and blabber on and on about his lack of honesty and integrity on these pages. Real character assassins.

I have known Nick for many years and am proud to say that he is my friend. He has never cheated or short-changed anyone I know and I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again.

thanks tumbleweed. to bring events up to date I sent the money I owed and returned the rule books that never sold. so he got his money and his rule books back. The thing is the person I had the deal with never said anything to me in those 2 years. He needed Brom to stick her nose in something that was not her business in the first place. I had a conversation with a friend at a con who told me he had gone through a similar situation. But he didn't have to go through having it placed in a public forum where people who don't know me or the situation can chime in and be cruel. Both of us wondered why the person we owed the money to never said anything to us. And I hope those cruel people someday go through what I went through.