He did seem to be having a lovely time on that holiday that Raindog paid for.

He posted when he came back and tried to rehabilitate himself by describing some random act of kindness (Kitten in a tree or something) and was reamed royally by his creditors to the point he vanished again.

Maybe he’s probably lurking and having a read to see if the heat has died down yet.

Guess not.

but with no concrete evidence and worst of all, no indication of exactly who it was from

You seem to be acting from a position of believing that he is somehow misunderstood. Why is that?

Crazy-legs.. that’s a bit scary. Two ways to look at it depending on who you believe. Either he’s scamming people, or he’s being done over again by the people who did him over last time.

molgrips – that’s what worries me.
Several things:
– the email was sent openly to a lot of people – media, team managers, British Cycling. None of them BCC’d which is what you’d expect in a mass email.
– the email was unsigned. Doesn’t explain who the “we” is in “we are sending this email…”
– the address: dsmithflow@[web-based email provider dot com]. Not what you’d expect if it was Dave’s legitimate email that had been hacked, more a case of someone setting up an email specifically to discredit him?

That’s why I didn’t repeat any of the allegations contained within it (I just deleted it)

Edit for ScottChegg’s post ^^

You seem to be acting from a position of believing that he is somehow misunderstood. Why is that?

My one involvement with Dave was about 15 years ago when I phoned him to ask for advice on an injury (his number was in the back of a MTB magazine). That is the extent of my dealings with him. Not sure I’ve ever met the guy, I’ve certainly never given him any money. I therefore have no position to adopt on whether he has or hasn’t ripped anyone off other than reading what people have posted on here.

I’m certainly not in the habit of posting email allegations from anonymous individuals on public forums. That’s the kind of thing that could get me and ST in serious trouble. I’m contributing to this debate to highlight that this email is doing the rounds and making no comment whatsoever on whether I think we should
a) get the pitchforks or
b) argue that it’s all been a misunderstanding

You seem to be acting from a position of believing that he is somehow misunderstood. Why is that?

Agree. Hes at HTN? I could pop up there and ask him for your money Raindog.

You seem to be acting from a position of believing that he is somehow misunderstood.

I think he’s mis-understood. Because I’ve spoken to him more than just on here, and more than just asking for training plans.

I did pay for and receive training information on three occasions. Therefore I conclude that his actions are consistent with someone having a breakdown on some level or other.

I’m certainly not in the habit of posting email allegations from anonymous individuals

Fair play to you; I wasn’t suggesting you should.

The OP seems to have a legitimate beef with the geezer; as do others. I can’t see a reason Raindog would be fibbing so you giving him the benefit of the doubt to such an extent seems overly generous.

I wondered if there was some backstory that I wasn’t aware of that would justify iDave’s actions and responses.

If hes now up and working again molgrips why can’t he either give the person(s) their plans or money back?

You are defending someone. Now – someone sells me something, I receive it but subsequently takes money off others and doesn’t. Would I defend him? No, unless I was related to the seller. I don’t understand why you are standing as a beacon of light for that person. Could you declare you’re interest or just say it once then shut up? (in a nice way).

why can’t he either give the person(s) their plans or money back?

I dunno.

You are defending someone.

Well, be careful here. I’m not defending what he did, I’m just saying I don’t think he’s a scammer. He might be of course, I’m just giving my opinion of the man based on my dealings with him. I can’t excuse what he did, but I can possibly give some reasons why which would alter the severity of his actions.

Sticking your head in the sand and trying to ignore the bad stuff you’ve done is bad, but not as bad as deliberately trying to con people.

No, unless I was related to the seller.

Blimey.. I wouldn’t defend the bad actions of anyone in my family or outside of it.

Could you declare you’re interest

My interest is in truth and honesty.

Could you declare you’re interest

I’m interest

So molgrips how do you propose the OP gets his money back? Accept its gone as the person who has the money ‘isn’t a bad egg as he delivered something to you as promised’? Thats how fraud sometimes starts, with good intentions then things go squiffy and people are left owed.

I did pay for and receive training information on three occasions

Get a good rep before the big sting, eh?

*Devil’s Advocate mode*

So molgrips how do you propose the OP gets his money back?

I don’t bloody know, it’s none of my business.

I didn’t say he wasn’t a bad egg, I said that I do not believe he is a scammer.

That’s all.

Well he turned into one. So you can’t keep defending him on such subjects when someone says ‘wheres my money’.

His diet was off a company called RT Sport I think, they had no knowledge of him (well somthing called the idave diet) when I spoke with one of their guys on Twitter about it.

Not casting dispersion but he may not be all he said he was!

He’s still selling fitness programmes (Flow Functional fitness), doing talks for Vekta Velosport and I recently saw him on Sky calling a Kettle black. More on the Net… .

.

Honestly, I don’t mind politely embarrasing the fella if you tell how much it is, your name etc and I can get his entry plate number. I won’t make a scene to *distress/upset the organisers but I will make it uncomfortable.

*No physical threats or shouting. That won’t be needed.

His diet was off a company called RT Sport I think

It was RST sport, and I used to email him at an address there. It’s unlikely they’d have called him iDave…

hora, my neighbour owes me £2.50 will you come and ’embarrass’ him too?

If he has the time to post that much shite on Twitter then he has time to sort through refunds, looks like a con artist who’s washed his hands of things now he’s taken people’s money rather than a legitimate coach who had an IT nightmare like he was claiming.

they had no knowledge of him (well somthing called the idave diet)

The iDave Diet wasn’t called the iDave diet outside of STW, that’s just the nickname it picked up on here. The actual title was something altogether more florid.

If you have a problem…
If no-one else can help…
And if you can find him…
Maybe you can hire…
The Hora.

I think he’s mis-understood

He’s misunderstood all right, misunderstood that if you take someone’s money for goods or services, you either need to supply them or refund in good time.

“Oi iDave, where’s me training plan!”

😆

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZRe1kPWZw[/video]

That was it RST Sport. When I spoke with them they were very unsure of who was handing around the diet!!

Only my very brief experence with any of it…

Honestly, I don’t mind politely embarrasing the fella if you tell how much it is, your name etc and I can get his entry plate number. I won’t make a scene to *distress/upset the organisers but I will make it uncomfortable.

*No physical threats or shouting. That won’t be needed.

Bear in mind that this is Hora – he who was still defending Lance more or less up to the point of his TV confession.

😉

Can’t make any comment about recent events, but as background, Dave Smith has been an estabished coach for many years. He used to have a regular column in Cycling Weekly, and I think he worked with some fairly high profile athletes. A friend of mine used him, probably about 15 years ago, and seemed to be pleased with the coaching advice he got.

Lance more or less up to the point of his TV confession.

Lance is a transvestite??

The whole iDave thing leaves me confused. It’s a bit Jekyl and Hyde and I can’t decide if I’m dealing with one person or two, one who has a convincing sports coaching CV and the other who posted on here as IDave who prefered to attack the poster rather than provide reasoned argument when challenged.

Jekyl is the British national coach from the Boardman era who was on TV recently.

Hyde is the STW character that insulted my intelligence and ripped people off.

I’m still not sure they are one and the same person.

The email that crazy-legs received sounds like it might have been from the stalker.

As for depending on hora to do anything for you…he’ll text you that morning to say something’s come up and go and do something else. He’s about as dependable as iDave has been at getting people refunds (allegedly).

I have no useful contribution to make?

Oooh tasty, I’m always after new recipes for bacon butties

Hyde is the STW character that insulted my intelligence and ripped people off.

I can’t defend ripping people off. But I can only agree with his insulting of your intelligence 🙂

i am inclined to agree with molgrips that he did not deliberatedly set out to scam people

However I am certain in my opinion that once this did happen he did not do all within his power to remedy this situation despite saying he would sort it.
I can accept he had no money but the plans surely only took some time to do and he did not and has still not done this

Whether it was his aim to scam I am not sure however the result was some folk were scammed and he has not sorted it out and looks most unlikely to do so.

Unless Hora pricks his conscience *

*Not literally with his beautiful weapon obviously

after the LA disappointment I can’t see Hora trusting anyone again.

A lot of fraudsters don’t actually start out thinking: “I’m going to defraud a load of people.”

Many of them just have grandiose plans which they are unable to follow through on, and things spiral out of control.

In my experience of covering a few similar court cases, it’s not uncommon for the defrauded parties to be fobbed off with increasingly unlikely excuses about family illness, computer and phone problems, even mysterious stalkers.

Just saying.

A lot of fraudsters don’t actually start out thinking: “I’m going to defraud a load of people.”

I don’t consider it fraud unless you set out to defraud in the first place. At the point where you realise you can fob people off, thne it becomes fraud.

However, speaking as someone who has problems sorting his own shit out, I can relate to iDave. Not sure I’d have left it this late though tbh, when individuals are involved. It’s usually banks or HMRC that are asking me for money.

Seems pretty inadmissible to me – he has money, people do not have services paid for = Scam. No grey areas for me. The fact he’s delivered in the past means nothing.

If you buy 10 cars, then steal one, you’re still a car thief. Just sayin…

This has been going on for months.
Someone MTFU and sort out some legal proceedings.

i once cooked him a roast dinner and he ate the potatos. i can vouch that he’s poor, he turned up on a bike with no suspension.

irish accent though so most likely a scammer, its the only sure way to tell.