Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook
Posted by KaySquirrel on July 22nd, 2008
Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook - Never received the cookbook I pre-ordered!
I used to be a fan of Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking (http://bernhards.at), a website where Vienna chef Bernhard Baumgartner offered free Austrian cooking recipes.
When I saw a note on his website at http://cookbook.bernhards.at saying that he was creating a cookbook, I jumped at the chance to own a copy. I had tried a few of Bernhard’s recipes with great success, and wanted to learn more about traditional Austrian food. I used PayPal to pre-order my copy of Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking: The Traditional Austrian Cuisine.
And that was the last I saw of my money.
Not only have I yet to receive the cookbook, but he’s taken down his website, as well. I’m glad I coped all his recipes to my PC when I had the chance!! 
I’ve tried several times to contact Bernhard, but haven’t received any response as of yet.
Since apparently over 200 people all over the world have pre-ordered Bernhard’s cookbook, I thought I’d make a quick post about it here on the off chance that there are other people scouring Google for answers on a weekly basis, too.
I tried asking PayPal to look into things for me, but unfortunately they won’t investigate claims made more than 45 days after the purchase date, EVEN for preorders.
They did mention that they reserve the right to reopen claims within 180 days if they receive “multiple complaints about a seller”, so I filed a complaint, and would strongly encourage anyone else who lost their preorder money to do the same. Maybe with enough complaints PayPal will decide to do something about this situation.
I was able to claw back my £21.88 with the help of my bank. Most credit card companies offer some kind of protection, as well. Contact your bank or credit card company (depending on how you funded your PayPal payment), and see if they can help you get your money back, too!
———-
December 18 2007: I pre-ordered Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook and paid via PayPal. The cookbook was going to be released February 15 2008 and would be shipped at the end of February.
March 9 2008: Got an email from Bernhard explaining that the book would be delayed:
Bernhard Baumgartner
bb@bernhards.at
Date: Sun, Mar 9, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Post delay Bernhards cookbookHello [KaySquirrel]
Today I must inform you that the book you ordered will not be posted before the end of April this year. I hope you can wait this compareably short period of time. Let me explain the delay:
I am in the middle of negotiations with a financial sponsor for my book and hopefully the web project as a whole. If these negotiations come out well for me, I will be able to make a huge step forward towards my being self-employed by financing a cooking-studio here in Vienna where I intend to hold cooking classes and to shoot videos and pictures for future web projects.
Second is that I did not think about the legal issues when offering products, like my book, on a website. I have to be very careful now to be sure that every step I take is on the legal side of our laws here in Austria.
Please, you showed your support for my project before, when you pre-ordered my book, I ask you for even a little more support by being patient and forgive the delay.
The new date for the books to be posted via mail is: April 30th 2008. You can rely on that, the pre-ordered books will be sent out at this date, either with or without my sponsors page in it.
I hope you can live with this news, if not, you can always get a full refund. So far more than 200 people from all over the world have pre-ordered more than 250 books.
This amount of trust blows me off my feet and I hope that you keep trusting me.
Thank you so much for your support and have a nice day.
Fair enough, I thought. While disappointed, I did appreciate being updated on the status of my pre-order. I emailed Bernhard back right away to let him know that I was alright with a bit of a delay getting the book, because I was sure it’d be worth it in the end!
The end of April came and went, and I hadn’t received my cookbook. The website still said that the release date was April 15 2008..
By mid-May, I figured there was more than just slow mail service to blame for me not having received my cookbook.
May 19 2008: Bernhard’s cooking website had been down for the past few days, so I sent him an email mentioning this, and inquired about the status of my pre-order.
May 26 2008: The email I sent bounced back, saying that his bb@bernhards.at email address wasn’t valid. Not good!
I did some googling, and found Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking School website (http://www.austriancookingschool.com), with a different contact email address.
Hmm, his letter said that the cookbook release was delayed because he was in talks trying to get funding for a cooking studio, where he could give cooking lessons. Isn’t that just what I’d stumbled onto?
May 27 2008: Sent Bernhard an email to both his email addresses bb@bernhards.at and bernhard@austriancookingschool.com (In case the first one started working again), requesting an update on the situation.
The bb@bernhards.at email address bounced back to me again, but the bernhard@austriancookingschool.com one didn’t, so I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be too long before I received a response.
June 3 2008: Still no response to my email. Starting to get a little annoyed now.
Sent the following letter to Bernhard via snail mail, as his postal address was included in the PayPal confirmation of my pre-order. The same postal address is listed in the WHOIS information for his austriancookingschool.com website. There is a different address listed for him if you do a WHOIS lookup here on his bernhards.at website.
Hello Bernhard,
I’m writing to you as I have unfortunately been unable to reach you online. Your bernhards.at website has been down for over 2 weeks now, and your bb@bernhards.at email address is no longer working.
I also emailed your bernhard@austriancookingschool.com address a week ago, but have not yet received a response.
I pre-ordered your cookbook in December 2007, and the last update I heard on it was that the shipping date was postponed until April 30, 2008. It’s over a month later now, and I’ve still not received the book.
I understand that you were having issues with copyright and sponsorship, but I am concerned and a little disappointed at the lack of an update on the situation, and the disappearance of your web presence. Websites and email addresses don’t (or, shouldn’t) disappear all of a sudden, so it is my sincere hope that nothing horrible has happened to you or your website!
Please, when you have a chance, I would appreciate it if you could let me know what is actually happening with the book, or if the project has been canceled or moved to another website or something.
Thank you very much,
[KaySquirrel]
June 16 2008: Still no reponse to either my email or snail mail queries.
While writing this post, I notice that Bernhard’s Cooking School website is now down, too. I only checked it just last week, so it must have been taken down within the last few days!
I was looking forward to receiving the cookbook, but the lack of updates started to worry me. Now that both websites have been taken down, and my snail mail query has so far had no response.. I’m starting to feel more than a little jerked around here.
The only next step I can take is to contact PayPal to lodge a complaint and request that they refund my order. I’m reluctant to do that because I would still like to wait a little bit longer to see if maybe answers will be forthcoming.
By the beginning of next month, though, it will be over 6 months since I placed the pre-order, and a month since I sent the letter via snail mail.. I think that if by that time I’ve not heard back, I’ll have to see if I can claim my money back via PayPal.
June 24 2008:I’ve opened a claim with PayPal, but it seems their automated claim processing system closed it right away — most likely because it has been longer than 45 days since the purchase.
However, as my purchase was a PRE-order made on December 18 2006, and the original release date of the cookbook was only going to be February 15 2008, it seems the deadline to make an Item Not Received claim with PayPal expired even before I was ever supposed to received the cookbook to begin with?!
I’ve escalated my Item Not Received claim to PayPal’s customer service department, explaining the situation.
I’ve also managed to track down yet another altnernate email address for Bernhard, from the WHOIS information on this page. The @gmx.net address is one provided by an ISP, so I’ve sent yet another email there, requesting an update on the status of my preorder.
June 25 2008: The email I sent to Bernhard’s @gmx.net ISP email address did NOT bounce back, but I have not received any response to it as of yet.
I did, however, get an email back from PayPal customer service:
Our policy is to investigate a claim if it has been filed within 45 calendar days of the initial transaction. Unfortunately, we received your claim on 24/06/2008 which is after the 45 day deadline and, therefore, we cannot look into this claim. If it is still within 60 calendar days of the initial transaction date and the item was purchased on eBay, please contact eBay for further information as you may be able to file a claim with eBay directly.
We do reserve the right to reopen any claim for investigation within 180 calendar days if we receive multiple complaints about a particular seller. We will contact you by email if this is the case.
I recommend to stay in contact with the seller in order to find a resolution that you are both happy with.
So, as I had feared, there is no exception to there 45 day rule, even for preordered items that are only scheduled to be released outside of that ‘45 days after purchase’ window anyway.
I did notice that they said they reserve the right to reopen any claim for investigation within 180 calendar days if they receive multiple complaints about a particular seller. I’ve updated the other person I know of who’s also trying to track Bernhard down, with this latest developement. Perhaps if they file a claim with PayPal that will be enough for PayPal to reopen the case, but at this point I don’t hold out much hope of seeing my money again.
“I recommend to stay in contact with the seller in order to find a resolution that you are both happy with.” — Yeah, that’s cute. Since emails and snail mail letter don’t seem to work, I’ll just hop on over to Austria, shall I?
June 26 2008: I found an Austrian Cooking Group on Yahoo where someone else was trying to get in contact with Bernhard to find out what had happened to his website. I made a post there, asking the group if anyone else has had the same awful experience with preordering his cookbook:
What happened to the £21.88 I paid to preorder Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook?
It’s been almost 6 months now since I paid £21.88 via PayPal to preorder Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook, and to date I have not received a book, OR a refund of my £21.88!
On December 18 2007 I preordered Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook, and was told that the release date would be February 15 2008.On March 9 2008 I received an email from Bernhard saying that cookbook release would be delayed until April 30 2008.
By May 19 2008 I still had not received the cookbook, so I emailed Bernhard to inquire about the status of my preorder. The email bounced back, saying his email address was invalid, and I noticed that his website at bernhards.at was no longer working anymore, either.
On May 26 2008 I found another website belonging to Bernhard (austriancookingschool.com), so I sent an email to the contact email address listed there to inquire about the status of my preorder. The email did NOT bounce back, but I have still not received a response.
On June 3 2008 I noticed that Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking School website had been taken down and was no longer accessible.
I sent a letter via postal mail to Bernhard’s contact address inquiring about the status of my preorder and explaining that I had not been been able to contact him online. I have still not received a response to that inquiry, either.
On June 24 2008 I was found by someone else who is still missing the money they paid to preorder the cookbook, too! They’d left a message on my website where I’ve written about this whole awful experience (link available upon request).
I’ve also asked PayPal if they can look into things for me, but unfortunately they won’t investigate claims made more than 45 days after the purchase date, EVEN for preorders.
They did mention that they reserve the right to reopen claims within 180 days if they receive “multiple complaints about a seller”, so if the other person missing their money makes a claim as well, hopefully that will be enough for PayPal to investigate this further.
I had been a fan of Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking website for the past couple of years now, and I never would have imagined that this would happen. I trusted that when I paid my money, Bernhard would send me a copy of his cookbook.
All of my efforts to contact Bernhard both online and by snail mail have so far gone unanswered. I’m left feeling completely ripped off, and stupid for sending him my money in the first place..
Does anyone have any additional information as to what might have happened with all those preorders, or have I been scammed out of my £21.88 here?
~ Kay
Maybe someone in the group will have some answers.. I’ve also sent messages to Bernhard via both his Yahoo Groups profiles here and at http://profiles.yahoo.com/bernti1971, asking for an update on the status of my preorder, or a refund of my £21.88 if the book project has been cancelled.
I also stumbled across this page which reads:
http://www.austriancookingschool.com - Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking School - Austrian chef Bernhard Baumgartner is teaching traditional Austrian cuisine at Vienna nightschool VHS-Hietzing. Learn to cook Schnitzel, Strudel, dumplings, Goulash or whatever you want to learn. Choose cakes and desserts only for your class. The class includes shopping trip to open-air market Vienna Naschmarkt, for the trip back to school choose between Taxi or public transport. 4-course Lunch and drinks included.
I wonder if this information is still current, and whether perhaps Bernhard can be contacted via the school? Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, certainly enough to ask what has happened to my money..
This page lists telephone contact info for both the Volkshochschule Hietzing and Bernhard’s Austrian Cooking School.
June 26 2008: Since the money for the PayPal payment to Bernhard came out of my Current Account (similar to the Chequing Account I had back home in Canada), I contacted my bank to explain the whole situation, and to see if they could help me reclaim the funds.
June 27 2008: Received a message back from my bank indicating that they had made a claim on the transaction for £21.88 and that I would be seeing the money back in my Current Account within a few days. I love my bank!
June 29 2008: Received a comment on my old Blogger site (which has since been deleted as I moved everything to Wordpress!) from someone else trying to find out what happened to Bernhard’s cookery website.
June 30 2008: I’ve just checked my Current Account balance — my £21.88 is back in there! 
I also made sure to check my PayPal account to make sure the balance there hadn’t been debited, and it hadn’t. I assume the money has been removed from Bernhard’s seller account — as it should be, because he is not entitled to that money since he failed to provide the cookbook I pre-ordered.
I am DISGUSTED that I had to make a claim on that transaction to get my money back. I have never in my life had to dispute a transaction on ANY of the bank accounts or credit cards that I have ever had. While I’m obviously glad to have my cash back, I am stunned that it had to come to this.
They say a dissatisfied customer will tell twice as many people about their experience than a satified one.
That was before the internet.
Even if PayPal doesn’t care about fraud 45 days after the purchase date, we might get them to investigate this issue by making sure they have the “multiple” complaints they need.
July 18 2008: I received the following message from PayPal today:
PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with a secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Why is my account access limited?
Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):
18 Jul. 2008: We recently received a report of unauthorised credit card use associated with this account. As a precaution, we have limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against future unauthorised transactions.
Please contact PayPal Customer Service if any of the following applies:
1.You filed a chargeback because you never received an item from a seller.
2.You filed a chargeback because the item you received was significantly not as described.
3.You filed a chargeback because you thought the transaction was unauthorised but now you recognize it.If none of the above applies and this chargeback is unauthorised, please verify your identity and that you own the credit card in question.
(Your case ID for this reason is [my case ID #].)
Just because PayPal says that fraud isn’t really fraud anymore after 45 days doesn’t make it true. Luckily for me my bank agreed, and filed that chargeback for me.
I sent the following back to PayPal:
Hello,
I received a notice today telling my that my PayPal account has been limited. Case ID [my case ID #]
It also said to contact PayPal Customer Service if I had filed a chargeback because I never received an item from a seller.
This is indeed the case. On June 25 2008 I attempted to file a Buyer Complaint with PayPal because I had never received an item from a seller. That case ID was [different case id #]
Having received no assistance from PayPal in this matter, I contacted my bank and explained to them that I had never received an item I paid for via PayPal. They initiated that chargeback.
I have been in contact with 15 other people who have also been ripped off by the same seller: Bernhard Baumgartner, email address bb@bernhards.at
I hope that they have also all filed complaints about him, and that 16 complaints are enough for you to reopen our claims for investigation within 180 calendar days, like you said you reserve the right to do.
Thank you,
[KaySquirrel]
July 20 2008: Received an email back from PayPal today:
Dear [KaySquirrel],
Thank you for contacting PayPal in relation to a dispute you filed.
[KaySquirrel], if in case we will reopen a dispute and turn into a claim due to many claims filed against the seller, we will be sending you emails about it.
This will be our priority because we will begin on taking the money back from the seller’s account.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
[PayPal representative]
Ohh, now that it’s their money they want to get back, it’s a priority — even though it’s been over 45 days since the date of purchase. 
Nice. When it was my money that was missing, PayPal didn’t care one bit.
While an email to let me know that my claim has been reopened would be nice in terms of satisfying my curiousity, I don’t think it would accomplish much. I mean, it has been over 45 days since the purchase, and PayPal’s own rules imply that theft is no longer theft after those 45 days, so.. I guess they’re on their own at getting their money back, hm? I wish them every success.
July 22 2008: I got another email from PayPal today:
As part of PayPal’s commitment to excellence, I want to make sure I met your needs in my response. Would you please take a minute to answer a few questions to let me know how I did?
Ooh, would I EVER! Archived here, for my own amusement:
How likely are you to recommend PayPal to a friend or acquaintance as a way to send or receive payments?
0 - Not at all likely
Please tell us why you feel that way about your likelihood to recommend PayPal.
I recently had an Item Not Received claim refused by PayPal, even though it was a pre-order for a cookbook only due to be released over 45 days after the date of purchase. Luckily, my bank thinks that theft is still theft after 45 days, and helped me get my money back.
I then got an email from PayPal about “unauthorized card use” on my account, so I emailed you to confirm that it was indeed a chargeback I’d filed for the item not received, and that there were 15 other people who had been ripped off by the same seller: Bernhard Baumgartner bb@bernhards.at
PayPal emailed me back saying that you would email me again if you decided to reopen a dispute and file a claim against the seller because of multiple complaints about him, and that this would be your priority because you will be trying to get your money back from the seller’s account.
When it was MY money that Bernhard had taken, there was nothing PayPal would do about it.
Now that it’s YOUR money that he’s run off with, it’s a priority of yours to get it back, even though it’s been over 45 days since the date of purchase?
Given the complete lack of assistance provided by PayPal in this case, not only would I never recommend to anyone that they use PayPal’s services, but I am actively and enthusiastically discouraging people from using PayPal.
There are enough scammers and con-artists out there who steal from people well enough on their own without PayPal being a willing accomplice to fraud.
While I look forward to the email from PayPal informing me that the seller is being investigated, I sincerely hope that more information will not be requested from me about the issue. If PayPal can make up rules pretending that fraud is no longer fraud after 45 days, I should be allowed to adhere to the same.
I recommend that PayPal stay in contact with the seller in order to find a resolution that you are both happy with.
Well, they asked!
If 200 people pre-ordered Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook, that’s a total of £4376 taken from people who sent Bernhard their money in good faith and never got their cookbooks. Shameful!
I would urge everyone who might still be missing their pre-order money to contact their bank or credit card company, depending on how the PayPal payment was funded. You might be able to reclaim your money that way, just like I did.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Bernhards Cookery
I too have been searching in vain for this scoundrel. Methinks he has done a runner and the money with it. Like you I have tried numerous ways of getting in touch and all with out repsonse and to no avail. If you know anymore let me know [email address saved and removed]
Does anyone know if its possible to get recompense from Paypal?
Tony
June 30th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I also pre ordered the book and realized the site was down. I will complain to Paypal also in the hopes that more of us who pre ordered it will do the same.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:58 am
I am also a member of the bend over and get shafted by Bernhard club. However I have home ground advantage as my mother and her partner live just outside of Vienna, perhaps together we can locate him and then try to recover our money? Paypal… good luck!
I live in Australia so knocking on his door to give him a knuckle sandwich is at present not an option.
C.C
July 4th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Like all the above posts I too have be shafted by Bernhard. The process described above fits mine exactly right down to emailing the cooking school. I too am from Australia and would like to get hold of him and do more than give him a knuckle sandwich, after I am finished with him he would talk with a very squeeky voice. Its not the money I mind about so much, but like others I was truly looking forward to my book, as the recipes on his website were great! It just goes to prove, it doesnt have to be the “Nigerian Bank Account” scam to reel you in.
Ruth
July 9th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I too am from Australia and was looking forward to my cookbook. My husband’s family is from Austria and they are seeing if they can put in a complaint to the Austrian fraud squad about this man but I doubt that will return my money. Hopefully though, he will get what’s coming to him.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
In the same boat. Reading the threads above, I am thinking that he must have timed the new phony publish date of April 30th with the 45 day pay-pal policy.
What a joke. And we’re at the butt of it.
July 12th, 2008 at 1:04 am
We also preordered, my father is a native Austrian and we were thrilled to find the cookbook being developed. What do we do? Can we do a class action suit with Paypal? This guy absconded with our money and took advantage of an 80 year old man.
Penny
July 12th, 2008 at 2:27 am
I too got taken by Bernhard. I am saddened both by the loss of my prepayment, but also by the loss of his website. He had excellent recipes and instructions. I made many of his recipes with great success.
I would like to have my cookbook and also would love for him to restore his website.
I get to Vienna every several years and will try to track him down next time I am there.
Dannie
July 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I too pre ordered Bernhard’s cook book and have not received it or any replies to emails. I am also outside of the 45 day rule. Thank you, in reading your diary of events I will now contact my bank to see if anything can be done. Happy to support in any way I can. willing to camp on his doorstep if necessary.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I also ordered a cook book and didn’t get any book or any reply to my emails I cant help feeling cheated but the guy sounded so genuine that I wonder if he hasn’t had an accident or something or got hit by a car and just died… or is in a coma at some hospital… so when he wakes up I hope he doesn’t have amnesia and sends me my book!
July 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I too am in Australia and am very disappointed in the non supply of the cook book. I have relatives in Salzburg and Vienna and they have tried to contact Bernhard in Vienna and in his home town. unfortunately he can’t be found. He did have a great web site with excellent recipes. I offered in an email to assist in printing the book if he had financial problems but have no received an answer as well. I feel sorry for Bernhard since he will have a had time in Austria in finding work as a schister.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I ordered 2 cookbooks so am doubly out of pocket. I am presently on vacation but as soon as I return home I will contact Paypal to make a complaint. I have also lodged a complaint with an Austrian consumer complaint department but as yet have had no reply. I will write again if I have any more news.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:02 am
I also ordered the Austrian cookbook, last December, and paid via credit card. We have tried to contact Bernhard and had no response from him. Our experiences have been very similar to those reported by others on this website.
Judith Williamson
July 17th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I too have prepaid for the Austrian Cookbook and have been taken for a fool. I received all the emails regarding the delay of the cookbook etc. I have tried to open a dispute through PayPal, to no avail. I have emailed Bernhard at every other email posted on his cooking websites, etc. and no response either. The websites are no longer accessible. I too will now contact my bank to see if there is any recourse and use this site to prove the fraudulent activity.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I also ordered the cookbook and was sad to never get it. Even sadder that the site is gone, since the recipes there were quite decent.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:09 am
I also ordered Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook back in December paying by credit card. My dead wife was Austrian and cooked many of the items in his book, and my daughter in law was interested in having the receipts. I was saddened to think that he would do this intentionally since I considered his web site to be well planned and straight forward. I may be making a trip to Vienna in the near future and if I do I intend to pay a visit to Herr Bernhard.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:44 am
I ordered a book as well. He said that he was planning a tour of the US to promote the book. I charged it by credit card and will contact it to get my money back. Hopefully! I would love to know if anyone ever hear from him again. I am guessing not, but would be interested if they did.
Take care all, Kate.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I live in Canada and also pre-ordered Bernhard’s Austrian Cookbook because I loved his website. I, too, have tried to contact him to see what happened but to no avail. For me, it’s not so much about losing the money as losing all those great authentic recipes and stories from his website. In retrospect I wish I’d printed out a lot more of those recipes, but of course I didn’t think I needed to because the cookbook was on its way. I still have trouble thinking of Bernhard as a scammer. I think perhaps he just didn’t follow procedures and got in trouble with Austrian bureaucracy. Please let me know if anyone is able to contact him or find out what happened.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I made an online order through Paypal, using Visa. When I didn’t get my goods, Visa refunded my money. Phone your credit card company and tell them what happened.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:44 am
I also preordered cookbook back in December of 2007 and never received it. Wrote to Bernhard and also phoned him on his cell phone in Austria, left message to return my emails and update me on when to expect the book.
No response!
Filed complaint with Paypal, no results.
I do speak German and will ask my relatives in Austria for assistance in finding this scoundrel.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Same story here with the cookbook. I opened a complaint with Paypal within the 45 days and they decided in my favour. Couldn’t recover any funds from Paypal. Next time I’ll use a credit card instead of an eCheck.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
I am from New Jersey buy used to live in Austria. I absolutely loved Bernhard’s site and relied on it for many recipes. I prepaid for a book and I am absolutely livid that the site is down and there’s no way to contact him. He has to be a pretty hardworking, sincere person to have put so much time and passion into that site. I was sort of surprised that he expected to sell the recipes he was posting for free. I hope his site will be up again with some explanation.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I didn’t buy the book but am very disappointed that the site is down. Did anyone save any of the recipes, and if you did would you be willing to mail them to me?
Thanks
August 12th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Wow, I could have been one of the victims of Chef Bernard. I wanted one of the cookbooks so badly, but couldn’t pay right at that time. When I went back to make the purchase, zap the site was gone. I could cry. I could have at least copied the recipes from the site. The sounded just like the recipes my aunt used to make me when I was very young. If the cookbook if ever released, I still want one. I do hope this gets resolved. It would be a shame that such a famous chef resorts to taking money without intent of making good.
Wonder why Chef Bernhard didn’t just offer a digital ebook. I would have bought it. There seems like it would have had no legalities that way. I will keep in touch with this website in hopes that someone connects with him and finds out the situation. Perhaps gets a book or just re-establish the original website.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Well, well… I also preordered Chef Bernhard´s cookbook. I had tried some of the recipes in his now-not-available web page with great success. Given his generosity to share his recipes, when I saw the add about the book, the same as all 200 subscribers paid in advance for a copy by Paypal. From the comments above, I want to believe we shall have the book someday, because for what reason would such a successful and worldwide-known Chef plan to cheat his followers for this little money? Wishful thinking?
August 17th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I, too, almost ordered one of Bernhard’s cookbooks, and I really enjoyed the recipes on his now-defunct site. If he’s defrauding folks through his cookbook offer it really seems an odd and inefficient way to do so. I’m hoping the situation is one of those unfortunate ones where someone with good intentions was affected by something out of his control and as a result dropped the ball somewhere along the line.
In an ideal world all who pre-ordered his book would get their books or their money back, and Bernhard’s website would reappear, too. I really wish I’d printed some of his recipes…
August 18th, 2008 at 5:36 am
I also bought the book. Very disappointing.
Question.. did he really exist? Has anyone in Austria ever heard of him other than on the internet?
August 28th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Hi Kay,
I found your page because of the Bernhard Baumgartner fiasco. I am very sorry to hear about your troubles with not receiving the book. I had really enjoyed some of his home-style recipes also, and I seriously considered pre-ordering the book, but I decided to wait until the book was actually published and available. Based on what you have written, the book offer was apparently false.
Reggie
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I too pre ordered the book and I have never been scammed before when ordering thru Paypal. (Because it was thru Paypal I preordered)
..and Bernhard.. If you’re reading this…beware the streetcar!
September 6th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
You are very brave KaySquirrel,
My congratulations on your perseverance and success, but I’m sorry to hear at what cost and anguish.
Don’t Chefs have to get certification and maintain it???? Like doctors, lawyers, teachers etc….. ????? More so in Europe, I believe they are part of professional guilds. Perhaps he should be reported thus.
Did anyone copy down his recipes? It would be nice to make our own public website with all his recipes… I would visit often. I didn’t copy any with faith it would always be online.
All the best to everyone and hoping you all find resolution as KaySquirrel did.
Sincerely,
Anna
September 27th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I was so close to pre-ordering the cookbook. I hesitated because it was after the release date and wondered if the pre-release price was still valid. I sent an email and never received a reply. Glad I didn’t follow through!
October 14th, 2008 at 3:31 am
I am THRILLED to discover more people out there who feel the same way I do! Over the past year I have repeatedly tried to find Bernhard and recover my $ from Paypal - both to no avail.
Not much consolation but I do feel better having read through this blog and discovered all of you. First time I’ve been able to laugh about this.
Thanks KaySquirrel!
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Interesting to come across your site. Looks like we all had exactly the same experience.
I never contacted Paypal over this as I assumed I had no redress (and from the posts here I was right). However, I think I may contact the bank and see if they can do something.
It’s a shame because the site seemed genuine (and very useful) and the guy helpful and friendly.
Anyone know of any other good sites devoted to Austrian food? Or better still, a good Austrian cookbook?
November 18th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Hi,
I hesitated on ordering the cookbook… Thank God!!
But I am dismayed the site is gone…why? Well I am a cook and have worked with Austrians and had a great collection of the recipes we used, which I lost in a house fire. I was happy to see Bernhard’s site as the recipes were legit and accurate.
So this past week I have been trying to acces the site to check on some recipes and voila… I find all of you… so sad.
Sad because I didn’t save any of the recipes thinking I could always check the site.
Sad because so many of you have been ripped off by an indiscriminate Arshguier! (spelling! but you get the point!)
Sad because most people I met in Austria are not like this and it represents their county poorly.
December 4th, 2008 at 2:58 am
I’m very sorry to hear of the trouble you all have had. I did not order the book however likely would have as I also felt he was quite genuine. As his site was up for several years before the ‘cookbook thing’ I tend to thinking something has happened rather than this being a purposeful rip-off. It would be nice to know though.
As many of you, although I did print ones as I used them, as I expected they would be on the site I saved few if any. I will take a look. Should I find any, I will post here which ones I’ve found and we can go from there.
Best of luck to those who have not yet recovered their money.