I purchased a copy of Seph Lawless's book "13: An American Horror Story" in 2017, but it never arrived. I've emailed Mr. Lawless many times about the status of the book, and at first he gave some excuses about the printer or that he was away but his team was working on it.
The last reply I received was from a Meredith Goldfarb, who told me that Seph was too busy filming his reality show to deal with a book. I posted about the interaction on my Facebook page, and around the same time I began to recieve Facebook messages from obviously fake accounts with names like "Rod Johnson", and Mckee Chel" accusing me of stalking Mr. Lawless.
I've since googled Seph Lawless and found that his real name is Joseph Melendez. I am not the only person he has done this to, and that he seems to harass anyone who speaks out about him.
I think it is terrible to treat a customer like this when all he is asking for is the product he paid for.
As soon as I searched him, I found many negative reviews about his work, specifically about the books being hastily and poorly made, with up to twenty blank pages and overall low quality work. I did notice someone has purchased his book and posted it on Instagram, so I commented asking if it had blank pages, and if it was as terrible as it had been reviewed (please see attached photos). This is literally all I asked. Shortly after, Melendez "liked" my IG comment, and when I clicked on the photo I noticed I could see his reply, however I was blocked by him. What happened immediately afterwards is why I am here writing this report today. Within ten minutes of getting notified I had him "like" my Instagram comment, I received a message request on my personal Facebook account, that I will also attach to this report. The Facebook account was made that day under the name "William Kubbins" and I was threatened, being told to watch my step, and to be cautious.
At this point, I could assume it was Melendez, so I did a search on him, where I found his real name, plus endless stories and reviews on this man throwing internet tantrums and attempting to bully anyone who left him anything other than positive feedback. I got to respond to him once, before he went off on some erratic tangent speaking in tongues. He then mentioned where I was staying on leave at the time, threatened myself and my family, then claimed he is a "famous celebrity" and told me "half a million followers are watching your every move". From there, I tried replying to inform him that everything he writes me is going to be screen shoted and is going to be posted publicly, but he blocked me before I could respond. I kept my word. I posted the screen shots on Instagram and Facebook, where they were being shared like wildfire. Another reason I am taking the time to share this story is due to all the people who came forward telling me he's done the same thing to them. For the next 72 hours, I had ten message requests all from accounts made that day. He even went as far as uploading fake profile pictures and cover photos, just to harass me on. They all basically said the same thing, that I'm being "watched", I'm a fat white whale, my husband looks like a d****e bag, and whatever other childish attacks he was attempting to make. I stopped reading them after the third one. My favorite is the account he made under Victoria Leigh (first it was Vicki, then I noticed he altered the name). That's the message where he tried to figure out where I worked and said something about bad reviews being left at my job for being a bully (I work for the US Army, but for whatever reason he assumed I worked in a daycare, and even if he had found where I worked there is no place to review it). He went on threatening my job and security, even bashed me for being a Veteran and left some comment under a troll account on Memorial Day saying something along the lines again of me being "watched", and the world would have been lucky had I died in Afghanistan. The messages eventually died down since I wasn't acknowledging them, but he did make a sad attempt to access my account and made several accounts just to send me friend requests on, which all accounts are now gone. Melendez reported my screen shots and exact story that I posted on Facebook, and they were taken down for being "harassing". So, here I am. I know for leaving this report I am going to be accused of being a "stalker" and I'm probably going to also be told I am a "jealous fan drowning in envy", but I'm just a person who asked a question about a review. Because of one comment, this man went to EXTREME lengths to harass and threaten me. I use social media for hobby, so I'm not worried about what this man tries to do to slander me for this review. This fragile lunatic deserves to have people know the truth about him.
I ordered a book, almost $200.00, in May 2016. It's the end of June 2016 and I still have NO book. His "official" website has no phone number to contact, no physical address, only an email that you will (or I had to) have to send over and over again before getting any type of reply. Still have no book after being told it would arrive on or before 26 June 2016. Well, the 26th is over. And No book.
I've emailed his "official" page once again and resend it several more times and might get an updated status about a tracking number that I am still waiting on. Lol Anyway, warning to all......... Don't waste your money as if never receive anything it was WASTED! This is a scam as far as I'm concerned. I looked him up on all social media but he will not allow post or anything on his pages. Shocking. Anyway, be aware. It's a lot of money for nothing.
I ordered a book titled Black Friday, from Seph Lawless. It was a book about abandoned shopping malls which he apparently got arrested numerous times while trying to take photographs.
My book arrived with a nice coffee cup stain on the cover, the images were poor quality and it looked like a fourth grade student had taken the photos. They were just awful. The accompanying text was barely comprehandable as being the English language. I suspect his dog is the proofreader.
I go to ask for a refund and he tells me to eat s**t. That was the official reply.
I google the number and it comes up as an old listing for "M Cleaning Services" in Cleveland which (ta da) Joe Melendez aka Seph Lawless used to operate.
I then get subscribed to dozens of porn mailing lists - and the email address I used to contact him with was used just for the purpose of ordering a book. Nobody else had the address.
His mother must be so embarassed this piece of she raised tuned out to be a harasser and stalker.
Speaking of which his dad is Philip Melendez (Cleveland) and his mother is Lynne Hawarny (Michigan)
Please stop harassing people who had the misfortunate to order your piece of garbage. The ink also runs if you touch the paper with your fingers. Very poor crap.
Turns out after reading some forums many other explorers and photographers hate this guy. Joe Melendez has created numerous harassing webpages on Facebook that attack anyone who speaks out against him. I should know.
Two days after I politely asked for a refund, I get a call at 2 in the morning with some porn music playing.
Seph Lawless Reviews
I purchased a copy of Seph Lawless's book "13: An American Horror Story" in 2017, but it never arrived. I've emailed Mr. Lawless many times about the status of the book, and at first he gave some excuses about the printer or that he was away but his team was working on it.
The last reply I received was from a Meredith Goldfarb, who told me that Seph was too busy filming his reality show to deal with a book. I posted about the interaction on my Facebook page, and around the same time I began to recieve Facebook messages from obviously fake accounts with names like "Rod Johnson", and Mckee Chel" accusing me of stalking Mr. Lawless.
I've since googled Seph Lawless and found that his real name is Joseph Melendez. I am not the only person he has done this to, and that he seems to harass anyone who speaks out about him.
I think it is terrible to treat a customer like this when all he is asking for is the product he paid for.
As soon as I searched him, I found many negative reviews about his work, specifically about the books being hastily and poorly made, with up to twenty blank pages and overall low quality work. I did notice someone has purchased his book and posted it on Instagram, so I commented asking if it had blank pages, and if it was as terrible as it had been reviewed (please see attached photos). This is literally all I asked. Shortly after, Melendez "liked" my IG comment, and when I clicked on the photo I noticed I could see his reply, however I was blocked by him. What happened immediately afterwards is why I am here writing this report today. Within ten minutes of getting notified I had him "like" my Instagram comment, I received a message request on my personal Facebook account, that I will also attach to this report. The Facebook account was made that day under the name "William Kubbins" and I was threatened, being told to watch my step, and to be cautious.
At this point, I could assume it was Melendez, so I did a search on him, where I found his real name, plus endless stories and reviews on this man throwing internet tantrums and attempting to bully anyone who left him anything other than positive feedback. I got to respond to him once, before he went off on some erratic tangent speaking in tongues. He then mentioned where I was staying on leave at the time, threatened myself and my family, then claimed he is a "famous celebrity" and told me "half a million followers are watching your every move". From there, I tried replying to inform him that everything he writes me is going to be screen shoted and is going to be posted publicly, but he blocked me before I could respond. I kept my word. I posted the screen shots on Instagram and Facebook, where they were being shared like wildfire. Another reason I am taking the time to share this story is due to all the people who came forward telling me he's done the same thing to them. For the next 72 hours, I had ten message requests all from accounts made that day. He even went as far as uploading fake profile pictures and cover photos, just to harass me on. They all basically said the same thing, that I'm being "watched", I'm a fat white whale, my husband looks like a d****e bag, and whatever other childish attacks he was attempting to make. I stopped reading them after the third one. My favorite is the account he made under Victoria Leigh (first it was Vicki, then I noticed he altered the name). That's the message where he tried to figure out where I worked and said something about bad reviews being left at my job for being a bully (I work for the US Army, but for whatever reason he assumed I worked in a daycare, and even if he had found where I worked there is no place to review it). He went on threatening my job and security, even bashed me for being a Veteran and left some comment under a troll account on Memorial Day saying something along the lines again of me being "watched", and the world would have been lucky had I died in Afghanistan. The messages eventually died down since I wasn't acknowledging them, but he did make a sad attempt to access my account and made several accounts just to send me friend requests on, which all accounts are now gone. Melendez reported my screen shots and exact story that I posted on Facebook, and they were taken down for being "harassing". So, here I am. I know for leaving this report I am going to be accused of being a "stalker" and I'm probably going to also be told I am a "jealous fan drowning in envy", but I'm just a person who asked a question about a review. Because of one comment, this man went to EXTREME lengths to harass and threaten me. I use social media for hobby, so I'm not worried about what this man tries to do to slander me for this review. This fragile lunatic deserves to have people know the truth about him.
I ordered a book, almost $200.00, in May 2016. It's the end of June 2016 and I still have NO book. His "official" website has no phone number to contact, no physical address, only an email that you will (or I had to) have to send over and over again before getting any type of reply. Still have no book after being told it would arrive on or before 26 June 2016. Well, the 26th is over. And No book.
I've emailed his "official" page once again and resend it several more times and might get an updated status about a tracking number that I am still waiting on. Lol Anyway, warning to all......... Don't waste your money as if never receive anything it was WASTED! This is a scam as far as I'm concerned. I looked him up on all social media but he will not allow post or anything on his pages. Shocking. Anyway, be aware. It's a lot of money for nothing.
I ordered a book titled Black Friday, from Seph Lawless. It was a book about abandoned shopping malls which he apparently got arrested numerous times while trying to take photographs.
My book arrived with a nice coffee cup stain on the cover, the images were poor quality and it looked like a fourth grade student had taken the photos. They were just awful. The accompanying text was barely comprehandable as being the English language. I suspect his dog is the proofreader.
I go to ask for a refund and he tells me to eat s**t. That was the official reply.
I google the number and it comes up as an old listing for "M Cleaning Services" in Cleveland which (ta da) Joe Melendez aka Seph Lawless used to operate.
I then get subscribed to dozens of porn mailing lists - and the email address I used to contact him with was used just for the purpose of ordering a book. Nobody else had the address.
His mother must be so embarassed this piece of she raised tuned out to be a harasser and stalker.
Speaking of which his dad is Philip Melendez (Cleveland) and his mother is Lynne Hawarny (Michigan)
Please stop harassing people who had the misfortunate to order your piece of garbage. The ink also runs if you touch the paper with your fingers. Very poor crap.
Turns out after reading some forums many other explorers and photographers hate this guy. Joe Melendez has created numerous harassing webpages on Facebook that attack anyone who speaks out against him. I should know.
Two days after I politely asked for a refund, I get a call at 2 in the morning with some porn music playing.