What's up with Soundstage Direct?

Lots of updated info on the Steve Hoffman forums.  Latest rumor/update is that SSD has been sold to the company that owns importcds.com and popmarket.com.  Word is they fulfilled outstanding PopMarket orders after the buyout so hopefully the same will happen with SSD. 

They owe me 4109.00- On April 4- I was upgrading my VPI Prime to a Prime Signature Rosewood. After about 6 weeks after inquiring about it being shipped Seth told me its a production issue with VPI.

I talked with VPI today and they are being bombarded with complaints about SSD. They told me they haven't had any production issues, and they are fully aware of the fraudulent practices recently with SSD.
To make matters even worse for me...in June while waiting for my Prime Signature I decided to upgrade my cart to a Ortofon Cadenza Bronze. They promptly took my payment minus my trade in (Quintet black)
I had my suspicions especially in the last month....but I've dealt with these guys for years. Long story short I filed a fraud complaint with my CC company today.
Seth lied through his teeth multiple times to me, and encouraged me to upgrade my cartridge knowing full well he was never going to deliver anything.
I have a string of texts in the last weeks with more complete lies. After talking with VPI today it became quite clear I had been stiffed.
I'm not suggesting VPI is responsible...but they certainly had a very cozy relationship with Seth. After talking with them today they seemed pretty concerned with their culpability. Not their words....but that's the vibe I got.

I’ve turned my issues over to my cc company.

Sad.

Just wondering...do major equipment companies like VPI have a responsibility to inform if their dealers are going under?

I had 7 LP's thay I was waiting on thay I ordered that never were delivered. I had to call and at least was refunded for 5 of them. I ordered from Amazon and Discogs with no issues. R
Leason learned! So never ordering from them again !!!

I shopped with Soundstage Direct for years, without issue. Then, when I did have a problem with a $50 defective album, I spent months trying to resolve the issue. Emails were prompt, but follow-ups from them were non-existent. A couple of weeks would go by, and I'd have to prod them again. I'll never send them another nickel.Glad it wasn't a $4000 turntable, ouch.