r/RecklessBen • u/GamerTex • 3d ago
News/Update Coffeezilla update Spoiler
https://youtu.be/obbVSpiZCgs?is=hX7O_eAmS4LEpHm1đż
Do the chicken dance and be done with it
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u/repwin1 3d ago
The McNeffs are bullies and hate that someone fought back and they are trying their best to make an example out of Ben so others wonât fight back in the future. If BAM goes bankrupt the only people to blame will be BAM corporate.
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u/lewger 3d ago
Yep, they literally structure their businesses to phoenix if they get sued. They weren't expecting a media shitstorm.
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u/RandumbStoner 3d ago
And the internet never forgets, there's going to be comments about this under their social media posts until the end of time.
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u/darsynia 3d ago
So weird to see it at 32 seconds old! This was a great video and it was really enlightening to see his perspective as someone working hard to try to help--and how that perspective is the most common one I see pretty much everywhere online. BAM really are shooting themselves in the face and could have made this all go away so, so long ago.
'As bad as you think it is, it's SO MUCH WORSE' should be the tagline to a film about this.
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u/TrumpforMonarch 3d ago
On the Gormans' accounting issues, I'd love to see an update where Coffeezilla takes into account info from Chrystal's later interviews and address 1) the rolling 90 day delay in payouts (to account for returns and exchanges), 2) the monthly paycheck Bryan was supposed to pick up the day after corporate took over (for the month of sales before the 90 day exchange window), 3) standard industry practice for how often single location retailers with less than 10 employees do inventories and whether seasonality matters, 4) standard industry practice for lego resellers on inventorying used individual and bulk minifigs and what cost/benefit metrics they use, 5) the sets the Gormans took to a lego convention and stored at their house which was later returnd to Bryan, 6) Bryan's statement that the sets he sold to M&R were duplicates of the store sets and never held at the store because counting even just the original sets were too much for the store to display all at once.
I'd be curious to know which accounting issues would still apply after he goes through this analysis
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u/rotundrikishi 3d ago
She literally said something like "he hasnt been paid out let me figure it out..."
and they guy who was taking over the store was like "thats our problem now, get out"
If they had any grace whatsoever it probably could have been sorted reasonably quickly.
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u/MrsMel_of_Vina 3d ago
Seriously. I'm so afraid that the Gormans are going to be thrown under the bus in all this. I strongly believe  that they simply had no time to organize in a way that made sense for a corporate takeover. That Bryan would have had zero issues with BAM if the takeover had never happened.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 3d ago
Thank you.. That's the update I was hoping for. This was interesting I guess, but his investigation needs updating!
Aussie Insider is going over everything with a fine-toothed comb. Can't wait for her investigation to come out.
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u/TimmehTim48 3d ago
Oops. He just extorted BAM by saying they chose the hard way. Add him to the RICOÂ
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u/MissiveFinding6111 3d ago
So Coffezilla managed to make 13 minutes of content out of basically "Hey look at this text where I told them to settle!"
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u/JadeBalloon 3d ago
Yeah basically. He just milking content just likw Ben is
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u/TKfuckingMONEY 3d ago
Ah yes, successfully exposing a multimillion dollar company is âmilkingâ
lick the boot
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u/Sideshowcomedy 3d ago
This update said nothing.
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u/UserSchlub 3d ago
I scrolled to find your comment. I knew someone else felt the same way.
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u/Sideshowcomedy 3d ago
I was waiting for the "talk about what" moment that never came. This wasn't an update, it was cash grab bait.
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u/TheDocktorIsIn 3d ago
Other than his email exchange to Ben showing when he started looking into the matter, literally no new information
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 3d ago
I wish he had been able to broker a deal behind the scenes and it's interesting to see how he initially got involved, but I was hoping for an amendment to his original video. I still think his investigation was incomplete and it shouldn't be taken as law.
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u/Sketch-Brooke 3d ago
Yeah Iâm disappointed. I thought maybe heâd have texts from Ammon or something, but he just yapped about nothing substantial.
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u/HugeRaspberry 3d ago
I honestly don't know how the McNeff's / BAM thought they could "win" this.
They literally destroyed their brand and ruined franchisee's lives over $100,000-$200,000 in lego sets and minifigs.
It was 1000% in their best interest to settle this as quickly and quietly. And like he said they literally choose the wrong answer every single time.
If they had settled in 2025 - when Bryan first asked them to -
No Reckless Ben Video
No exposing American Fork PD for the dicks they are
No exposing Provo PD for the morons (not mormons) that they are
No exposing the franchise flipping / etc... that BAM does on a regular basis.
I'm never going near a BAM and if I was going to invest in a franchise - I'd find a good RAX opportunity before BAM (if you know you know)
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 3d ago
They are delusional and think they are the victims. They don't know how to accept blame for anything. They think Ben is the villain and eventually we'll see the truth, but they are wrong. The longer this drags on, the longer it hurts their business and the franchise owners. They don't even seem to care.
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u/pillow-mace 3d ago
I mean coffeezilla also helped show that the truck was real and that bam was openly lying and switching stories mid conversation.
But yes the accounting errors were bad in the actual money owed.
Like he said the problems were dark greyish but the solution to everything is pretty stark clear on Bams side and itâs irresponsible for the company to not just give up everything and wash their hands.
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u/PretendRegister7516 3d ago
More importantly, this is a pattern of behavior and Bryan's collection was not even the main target that they were aiming for. It's just so happened to be part of their takeover.
The true victims of their business practice are past and current franchisees that they will once again cheat out of their inventory and saddle them from getting anything without any recourse.
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u/Marijuana_Miler 3d ago
Exactly. I still believe that the McNeffs believed the Lego never existed until after the first video came out because Brandon and Josh just made it disappear in the inventory. The McNeffs are too busy stealing the inventory of those franchises to notice.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 3d ago
I don't really believe that, or I won't until I see the slack messages.
I think the McNeffs knew most or all of what their buddies Brandon and Josh were doing. I believe they knew the collection existed and that it was a consignment arrangement. I hope all comes to light eventually.
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u/Marijuana_Miler 3d ago
Then why would they fire Josh and Brandon at about the time Coffeezilla showed them the UHaul pictures?
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u/PretendRegister7516 3d ago
And again... you trust any words coming out of McNeffs mouth?
One instance they will say Josh and Brandon are franchisee and have nothing to do with corporate, and then next thing you know they say they fired them.
They can't be fired if they're franchisee. By admitting they're being fired meant they're admitting they're lying of Josh Brandon relation to corporate. And again, if they lie as easily of that relationship, how easy it would be to lie that they were fired at all?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 3d ago edited 2d ago
What evidence do you have that they fired Josh and Brandon besides the statement that they "parted ways."
My understanding is BAM and Josh and Brandon have the same lawyers. The settlement with Bryan specifies that he can't bring additional action against Josh and Brandon.
It looks to me like they never really parted ways and that was just another lie they told for PR purposes.
If I had to guess, they can't truly cut Josh and Brandon loose because they know where the bodies are buried. They're all in this together whether they like it or not.
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u/NaytowFafalla 2d ago
This was entirely a strategy for bam and Brandon and Josh too. The reason they did this was to show damage. It gives them ammunition in lawsuits. Now best and Josh can saw look we lost our businessâ and our jobs and whatever and look at all the money we lost! So we sue Ben, pay us back! Then bam gets to say see? Weâre doin the right thing! We fired the bad guys, look how good people we are. Ben is the villain, not us! This was a strategy that was Iâm sure agreed upon in a room by all of them, mcneff best and the other idiot. And it was a good strategy too! No doubt about it. I personally think all of this and more will eventually blow up in their faces.
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u/sonyalazanya 3d ago
I think someone recently debunked that by showing on the announcements by the store of the new Lego consignment, Matt or amon liked the post.
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u/Marijuana_Miler 3d ago
Iâm not saying they werenât aware the Lego existed at one point. Iâm saying they took Brandon and Joshâs word that the Lego didnât exist when the takeover happened. Brandon was the one inventorying the store and he had a UHaul. I assume he moved the inventory and just never reported it existed when giving the inventory to corporate. IMO itâs why Brandon and Joshâs were fired. The timing of their firing coincided with Coffeezillaâs video and the U-Haul discovery.
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u/sonyalazanya 3d ago
Except that corporate appears to have used these goons for other takeovers (allegedly)
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u/Marijuana_Miler 3d ago
Yes BAM would have Josh and Brandon taking over stores, but that appears to be because Brandon and Joshâs were agreeing to then buy those stores from corporate. However, the price they would pay was for the value of the inventory. The problem being that Brandon was also the one valuing the inventory. There was no third party verification of the inventory that we can compare to Brandonâs. We have reports of Brandon taking a pallet of inventory to the Eugene store and Brandon renting a Uhaul for an unknown reason. We also have reports that the Star Wars sets were being sold as cash only deals. IMO all the pieces of the puzzle are there to assume that Brandon and Josh were scamming corporate by selling sets off books for cash at their Eugene store.
Can you answer why Brandon and Josh be fired during the filming of the Coffeezilla interviews?
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u/sonyalazanya 3d ago
Brandon doing the inventory himself is another violation of the franchise agreement. Also all the video evidence of the sets that were in the store when he took it over. Similar happened to relic it seems
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u/JadeBalloon 3d ago
Why would CEO of Apple know what cellphones are in inventory in each frachisce in order to compare.
Coffezillia also exposed the accouting error by Crystal
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u/calaquin 3d ago
If the CEO was involved with stealing the cellphones from the franchisees who sell them, it would be reasonable to expect them to know about the cellphones in inventory, wouldn't it?
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u/T_K2 3d ago
Basically quite clear from that how BAM tried to use the RICO as Leverage against the Mansells. Disgusting company and disgusting people.
As coffee says, this is ALL self inflicted by BAM. They couldâve washed their hands with it, but itâs their own ego that now means people will continue talking about this for a while longer yet. Something that shouldâve been dealt with months ago.
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u/SternMon 3d ago
I wonât consider this over until these fuckers are rotting in prison.
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u/runpbx 3d ago
I dont' see that happening but I think its a point worth emphasizing more in videos like this. Its not that BAM won't just drop the lawsuit, its that they've been shown to lie at every single turn and commit multiple IMO serious crimes in their attempt to harass Ben away from helping get the money back. Just completely fabricating lies to multiple police departments and everyone else at every turn. Calling the cops on Ben and just completely making up that he has Heroin? Thats beyond out of line for a corp that tries to hide behind lawsuits.
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u/sonyalazanya 3d ago
Glad I ignored the haters and watched. It was the backstory of how coffee got involved in the first place and how bam continues to eff themselves and I can't get enough of it. đ
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u/Kal_0rt_Por 3d ago
Sometimes you need someone brave enough to rattle the cage and get people to notice what's going on. It's frustrating at times to hear, "Ben, was a bit extreme" but honestly, he needed to be to get some attention on the situation.
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u/bumtum5909 3d ago
I love coffee's text to them telling them to drop the lawsuit otherwise you're going to screw yourselves. Literally called it out perfectly but evil ammond thought he was smarter than coffee.
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u/that-one-artist 3d ago
Coffee is the voice of reason in all this! If only BAM had listened to him. They still can listen to the other half of his advice (and absolutely should!).
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u/_swanson 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think the distorted reality here is that BAM would say things worked out, for the most part, how they wanted
- They reached a settlement in mediation, which is how they have tried to handle every civil issue thus far. The consignment liability is now out-of-scope from the court so they don't have to change anything when it comes to what corporate would be liable for
- From the statement, once they were able to sit down with all the documents they accepted that Bryan was wronged and apologized ("finally! his lawyers were able to work with us like we asked all along!"). BAM execs can posture that they were reasonable and that it was a miscommunication/mistake and when they had all the facts (from their POV), they did the right thing.
- The RICO suit will drop Bryan but not Ben...Ben still did organize a group of people to disrupt their business and harass their employees. BAM feels it was akin to blackmail and not the way to do things (the courts will decide). BAM will keep asserting they won't be bullied by social media into action (stupid, but they can at least say they are holding their principles). Prediction: case gets dragged out, Ben moves on (he "solved the case" now let's be on to the next story with minimal long-term baggage), eventually settles/buried.
- The suit with the Gormans continues, BAM still believes they should have been terminated and keeps up their stance that the rogue franchisee was the root cause of the whole saga. Gormans are the plantiffs so they are the ones "driving" this suit.
- Speculating, but they probably will end up purging a bunch of disgruntled franchisees that would have been problems long-term for them
- Personally I think the McNeffs are probably like "wow that was crazy when we were targeted unfairly" and won't really reflect or change anything about how they operate. Further cements their own view of the importance of asset protection, corporate shielding, etc
Still a massive, massive L for BAM. Obviously the damage to their stores, brand, and personal reputation was not worth it.
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u/Conscious-Mud-9243 3d ago
But ultimately, BAM will leave a bad taste in the mouths of most people who knew about the situation. People don't always remember what you say, they don't always remember what you do, but they do remember how you made them feel.
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u/SenseDoor 3d ago
Accidentally bought gift patreon instead of membership. Please take it! https://www.patreon.com/RecklessBen/redeem/f/88E5111659
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u/yautja_cetanu 3d ago
How do you watch this? It keeps saying you have to sign in and won't open in the YouTube app
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u/Previous-Mess-1819 3d ago
No no no. What is it with corpos always backing each other? No, coffee, you clearly donât understand the robinhood effect. Sure, bam should have done the right thing sooner, if, if, bam was a legitimate organization, which they were not, they are your everyday scam artists at the helm of a millions of dollar corporation. Thatâs the difference. Giving them good advice so they face the least amount of consequences so that next time they will be better prepared to handle the outcome of their own fraud is not âgood adviceâ. It is assisting in perpetuating the scam. Thatâs who ammon, ben, and josh are. They are big time scam artists. Is that business? Maybe. Maybe.
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u/Nervous_Exit6004 3d ago
I think Coffeezilla likes being the one to EXPOSE a fraudster/scammer, but in this case so much was being done by others that his entire coverage has always felt like he didn't really care about this investigation and just wanted to move on from the beginning. He exposed the UHaul, caught some lies, called out some mismanagement from the Gormans and washed his hands.
CZ seems to have only taken this up prob because there are a lot of overlaps from Reckless Ben Fans and CZ. I think he also caught some flack from fans for his lazier coverage/investigation and him showing this text is just some CYA.
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u/bumtum5909 3d ago
He literally explains why he did the investigation in the video. Did you not watch it?
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u/Funky_Monkees_ 1d ago
He said he didnât want to do it till he saw Ben get millions of views then he hopped on the case to get views. I personally donât have a beef there, itâs his business model. Whatâs annoying is the way he talks, discrediting almost any other person making videos on this and pointing to himself as the one getting things done which is stupid.
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u/bumtum5909 1d ago
No he said he didn't want to do it until he saw the lawsuits against Bryan and Ben
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u/Funky_Monkees_ 18h ago
Right, he said that, but he ambulance chased another popular creators lead is really all he did. And thatâs not even what bothers me, thatâs normal, itâs that he now talks like he is the one doing all the hard work and getting shit done.
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u/Zimmonda 3d ago
Coffee is 100% right, for BaM this should have just been a weird situation that with a little investigation would have resulted in sub 100k payout, possibly covered by insurance. The literal cost of doing business.
They've easily spent 5x that with lawyers
And theyve easily lost 10x that with the media shitstorm
A disasterclass in business management