Having an issue with Ralph Mathes AKA 'Palladium' / Aquilla Refining

[Binshou]

I commissioned Ralph to refine some silver material (about 74ozt) last year into silver crystal, after being referred to him by Kevin AKA Sreetips.

Ralph confirmed receipt 5/5/22 and it seems as though he encountered issue after issue. He would ask me to check back in a few weeks, which I would do only to be given the same lack of progress update. Ralph did send me two pictures, but I'm not sure he realized they were dated long before our agreement was made. The last communication I received from Ralph was an email on 1/5/23 asking me to bare with him a little longer. Now more than six months down the line, I've heard nothing and get no response via any means of contact.

I understand that I'm some small fish nobody to y'all, but I'm genuinely out of options and so I reach out to y'all as a last ditch effort to salvage something.

Can anyone help me?

 

[lazersteve]

If Kevin referred you to Ralph that seems like the logical place to start.

I personally haven't communicated with Ralph in several years (nearly 10). In the past I've only dealt with him on the open forum or forum PMs.

Hopefully Kevin can help since he referred you?!

Keep us posted on what happens please.
Steve

 

[Binshou]

If Kevin referred you to Ralph that seems like the logical place to start.

I personally haven't communicated with Ralph in several years (nearly 10). In the past I've only dealt with him on the open forum or forum PMs.

Hopefully Kevin can help since he referred you?!

Keep us posted on what happens please.
Steve

Thanks for the response.

I mentioned my struggles in his YouTube comments, but he doesn't seem to be able to assist in any way. Plus, I don't want to be a pest.

I will keep y'all posted. It doesn't seem like Ralph has been active in here for almost 6mo as well. Hopefully all is well.

 

[Martijn]

Sreetips AKA @Kadriver here on the GRF. Kevin, can you help him out?

 

[Yggdrasil]

I hope he is ok, we have missed him.

 

[Binshou]

Thanks for your help, gents.

 

[Binshou]

Still no word, and no response via any means of contact.

I'm almost out of options boys, the next step is an ugly one and I'm sincerely hoping to avoid it.

 

[kurtak]

Still no word, and no response via any means of contact.

I'm almost out of options boys, the next step is an ugly one and I'm sincerely hoping to avoid it.

I am so sorry to hear this

Kurt

 

[Yggdrasil]

Are there anyone in here with his phone number or other ways of contacting him?
It is disturbing that he has been completely absent for so long.
Maybe he has just quit, or his health has gotten weak.
Anyway it would be nice to have this resolved and confirmation of this well being.

 

[Lou]

He was last seen here February 1 on any of his IPs associated with any of his accounts I know about.

It's possible he ran into a health issue or something. For all we know, he's passed away.

 

[glorycloud]

I have found in life that there are usually two sides to every story.
Ralph has always been fair with me when refining for me. Let's see
how this ultimately plays out before casting dispersions, shall we?

 

[Binshou]

He was last seen here February 1 on any of his IPs associated with any of his accounts I know about.

It's possible he ran into a health issue or something. For all we know, he's passed away.

I had the same thought and actually checked obituary records. Nothing.

 

[Binshou]

I have found in life that there are usually two sides to every story.
Ralph has always been fair with me when refining for me. Let's see
how this ultimately plays out before casting dispersions, shall we?

Agreed. He doesn’t seem like the type to do bad business from what I gathered. This appears out of character indeed.

 

[snoman701]

Still no word, and no response via any means of contact.

I'm almost out of options boys, the next step is an ugly one and I'm sincerely hoping to avoid it.

Have you sent him a letter with signature required delivery notification? Better than jumping to the ugly step. For all we know he could have been institutionalized.

 

[Binshou]

Have you sent him a letter with signature required delivery notification? Better than jumping to the ugly step. For all we know he could have been institutionalized.

I have not, but that's a fantastic idea.

I hope not, he seemed pretty sound last we spoke. That would be a surprise. I hope he's in the best of health.

 

[macfixer01]

Have you tried calling him also or only emailing, texting, and messaging? Those are all pretty easy to ignore. Or maybe call the local police department and ask them to do a “welfare check” and let you know if your “friend” is ok? Looks like you’re only one state away from him though? Personally after 13 months I’d be showing up on that f***ers doorstep, unexpected! There is an address and phone number on the BBB website, in case that’s any different than what you already have? BBB is a joke though, looks he has an A+ rating with one positive review over 16 years. I don’t see any complaints there so you could be the first? Of course I don’t see any other glowing recommendations there either though.

 

[snoman701]

I've conversed with Ralph enough times that I have no expectations you got ripped off. Possible, yes, likely no. Guys that are as sharing as he has been of their techniques don't rip you off over 74 oz of silver. They overcommit themselves, don't charge enough and keep their head down and work, up until the point something breaks.

He had a pretty consistent online presence under multiple usernames until recently. Something happened and I just hope he's ok.

 

[dialortz]

wishing everyone well.
hoping for an answer soon.

 

[markscomp]

Have you sent him a letter with signature required delivery notification? Better than jumping to the ugly step. For all we know he could have been institutionalized.

This sounds like the same issue i have with Eric Tackett ..... aka etack aka dayton recycling . Please beware. I have never sent him a signature required notification letter. I do wonder if he has been institutionalized as well. He hasn't answered or responded to text or emails in two years now. He has fallen off the face of the earth; (he could be ralph for all i know) - i have never met Ralph, although Ralph does have a distinct dialect.

Erics's email address should have been enough of send off warning form me Eric Tackett <[email protected]> I would highly recommend not doing business with him. I do have his address and should i be in dayton area i may pay a visit as Macfixer01 suggests. I allowed him to stay at my home also. He picked up a van load of tantalum and gold bearing material. I still have the pics and I can share all the emails he sent to me with all of you if you are interested. At first the emails did not make sense.

However, he brought me .08 lb of AU after his first visit or little over 1.1 t/oz. He said, the rest was still being processed from first materials he took.

Then he picked up more material --- i let the material travel with him because he gave to me a token of his work. What a scam artist. I have given him at least 32 degrees of chances. Any of you that are "traveling men" understand what I am saying.. Lots of chances to contact me - never on a public forum however - where he has tried to conduct business before with some of you. So please heed my warning.


I have texted ralph. No response from him to me either. I told him I was here to help. I sincerely meant the text i sent to him. But alas,... he has not gotten back to me either. I have never wanted to take the ugly steps.

 

[macfixer01]

This sounds like the same issue i have with Eric Tackett ..... aka etack aka dayton recycling . Please beware. I have never sent him a signature required notification letter. I do wonder if he has been institutionalized as well. He hasn't answered or responded to text or emails in two years now. He has fallen off the face of the earth; (he could be ralph for all i know) - i have never met Ralph, although Ralph does have a distinct dialect.

Erics's email address should have been enough of send off warning form me Eric Tackett <[email protected]> I would highly recommend not doing business with him. I do have his address and should i be in dayton area i may pay a visit as Macfixer01 suggests. I allowed him to stay at my home also. He picked up a van load of tantalum and gold bearing material. I still have the pics and I can share all the emails he sent to me with all of you if you are interested. At first the emails did not make sense.

However, he brought me .08 lb of AU after his first visit or little over 1.1 t/oz. He said, the rest was still being processed from first materials he took.

Then he picked up more material --- i let the material travel with him because he gave to me a token of his work. What a scam artist. I have given him at least 32 degrees of chances. Any of you that are "traveling men" understand what I am saying.. Lots of chances to contact me - never on a public forum however - where he has tried to conduct business before with some of you. So please heed my warning.


I have texted ralph. No response from him to me either. I told him I was here to help. I sincerely meant the text i sent to him. But alas,... he has not gotten back to me either. I have never wanted to take the ugly steps.

Interesting, well I’m glad I never did any business with Eric. He contacted me on Facebook Messenger back in January 2021 and we texted a few times. He seemed really flaky. He claimed to be looking for a higher amperage power supply for his silver processing cell. But after I presented several options to him, there was always some reason it wouldn’t work for him, or just didn’t reply. I wondered what his malfunction was, and remember looking at his Facebook profile. I realized I didn’t like his politics much, maybe he did the same?

Anyway I just looked and I still have him in my list of contacts in Messenger. His status there says that he’s active right now? I’m tempted to ask him about this, but it’s really none of my business I guess. I was going to suggest mentioning this issue on Jeff Massey‘s Facebook group since I thought Eric was still a member there, and that’s how he got ahold of me. It doesn’t look like he’s a member there anymore now though, he doesn’t turn up in the group search anyway. He still shows up in Facebook’s General search though.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009229563163