Larry DID use it on the white iPhone and clearly there was an issue since the image was changed on the website.

The threat was bad. Telling YouTubers to pull stuff was bad too. Refusing to sell cases to Larry was also bad. And if that wasn’t enough- telling a customer to shut up is inexcusable.

I am still amazed that there is no human being associated with this company. EVERYTHING is signed “Rebel Scholar”. Heck, even the heads of Amazon, Apple and Microsoft use their names when corresponding. But here… no human being.

Ultimately, when I put it together is see a shady company that hides behind their logo, pulls stuff no other company tries to pull and more. I would never choose to do business with a company like this no matter how good the product.

You are absolutely right that everyone has less than desirable experiences with companies, but usually there is some kind of give and take with a reached resolution.

But not with RS. As a result of writing about his experience, Larry has since been threatened with legal action, blacklisted by RS, and bad-mouthed on Twitter and the RS blog by representatives of this company.

If I hadn’t been following the saga, I wouldn’t have believed it. Sorry, but RS is simply not a company that I will ever give a dime to based on their actions.

If you want to read more about it, you can start here:

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-0470943104143904%3Aw6ir42-leh9&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=rebel+scholar&sa=Search

This however goes way beyond a “less than desirable experience.”

From threatening to sue me over my review, to telling customers to “shut up” when they mention something negative about them, to asking YouTube reviewers to pull reviews that might have bad things to say about their cases.

All the personal stuff aside (them blacklisting me from purchasing cases from them, refunding my money when I tried to purchase cases that they were donating the proceeds from to charity etc.) the way they treat customers is simply unacceptable.

We’ve all been doing this a very long time and honestly have never seen a company act the way this one does.

It’s funny too because many of the things I’ve complained about they actually ended up changing.

1. They changed the image on their web site of the Door Gods Case.
2. They changed their return policy regarding charging customers to reship exchanges.
3. They made the 9/11 case launch for charity at my suggestion.

But all the while they act like little children when I made the comments.

Being realistic, I think everyone can tell of a less than desirable experience with even the most highly respected of businesses. I used to fight all the time with UPS, Time Warner, Neiman Marcus, etc. But, you get over it.

It’s great that you’ve had good experiences with RS; you’re fortunate.

I think somehow the communication wires got crossed on your “Door Gods” purchase, and bad feelings got way out of control. One thing I noticed; however, is that it states right on the website that Door Gods is “transparent and looks best on a WHITE phone.” It only stands to reason that if you put this case on a BLACK phone it’s going to give less than desirable results. It also states on their site under FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that you will receive a partial refund on returns. Granted, I don’t know how much that might be, but if you’ve shopped on the Net as much as I have, you will find that most vendors DO NOT refund ANY shipping costs on returned merchandise. (Example: bought coat from vendor; paid $4 shipping and handling; item was too small; got refund of purchase price and sales taxes, BUT not $4 S/H fees.)

I can really understand the feelings on both sides — disappointment from the customer, and really sensitive feelings from the vendor (artistic temperment is something else! I am surrounded by them!) But I still
encourage everyone to give Rebel Scholar a try. If you want a truly unique, quality, classy iPhone case, Rebel Scholar is your company.

This is not a case I would ever buy or a company I personally would do business with.

The silver bezel on the bottom of my iphone is now scuffed. I’ve had this iphone since sept of 2008, and have only had 1 other drop, that was from the Carbon Fiber SGP case. The SGP offers ZERO drop protection.

I will not use this case again. It looks great, but is FAR too slick. I’m currently using a switcheasy white rebel serpent case. It offers total complete drop protection, also the snake like surface on the switcheasy rebel serpent offers great grip. I have peace of mind that my phone is totally covered.

Finally: The Rebel Scholar is a beautiful case, a work of art. I would buy another if the material was different. Also the bottom piece needs to have a rubber guard rail to keep it from slipping off/detaching from the case so easily.

Sorry for turning this into a mini review, but people need to know what they are getting themselves into when they make a $35.00 purchase.

I think you are correct truthiness- from my read of the review, as well as other comments I have seen on Twitter, this review was based on looking for the case to be similar to what was actually pictured on the site. I don’t expect frozen dinners to look like their gorgeous picture on the box but I do expect that with something like a case.

The face that it seems the company changed the image on the site after the review went up only confirms what the review said.

That noted, I did find it interesting that Larry liked the other case and said so, yet the company threatened him after he stated his disappointment AND backed it up in pictures.

You are totally right that “You cant please everybody and different strokes for different folks.”…
For me, since there are tons of other companies making superb cases, my “stroke” is to deal with them and not this company. But that’s just me.

That was not what I received.

I would have been okay with the case when I received it if it the picture they used actually resembled the case I received.

Not the case.

If you’re happy with the look of the design I’m sure you’ll enjoy the case. The case as a whole, minus the design, seems decent enough.

I got my Door God case in the mail yesterday and have it on my phone now. I like it, its almost a 3D look on the back. Its matted and sleek looking. The part I like, is how you have to hold the phone in different angles to see all the designs an details. Hopefully the phone doesn’t get scratch/scuff marks on the back.

You cant please everybody and different strokes for different folks.

Geez…

Larry has so many photos to back up his article that he probably didn’t even need to write anything.

Larry could have just as easily kept his mouth shut and never put the info out there (and saved himself a bunch of hassle), but that wouldn’t have helped someone else who might be considering a purchase from Rebel Scholar.

Lost in this is that he did order a second case – a white one – which he was happy with. But it is this black case – that was deceptively photographed on the Rebel Scholar website to better highlight the product’s detail – that he has an issue with. Larry is doing a service by letting other potential customers (who do their research first) know.

Second, the legal threat is really asinine. I was about to order one, but I won’t support a company that tries gap the free press. I hope they go out of business.