Looking for an opinion ...

[johnnyapollo]

The thing that gets me here, is that he gave you that crock of bull about the underbidder offering him more money, then he relists the rims. Have you filed a complaint with PayPal yet... sounds like he hasn't refunded you your $$.

-- John

[Leah]

What is the current status of this problem with ebay? If this complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction - and therefore the satisfaction of all your friends here - they will hear from me and I'm sure from everyone else on this board. Someone can post a link to ebay's email and we can all send them our thoughts. I'll bet it will be the first time they are ever bombarded on behalf of one person. But truely, what happens to one happens to any and all users of ebay. Still, I haven't given up my faith in ebay yet. Let us know what's going on. We're here to support you.

Leah

[dyanni]

ALL YOU'Z

I REALLY appreciate the feedback and support on this. Its come both in-forum and personal email. I know I am doing the right thing - following all their rules. They said - that doesn't always mean you win. One of my favorite quotes " A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches , and loving favour rather than silver and gold " has always steered my life - and directed how I interact with others. I guess that's why I stay broke - but have found such great friends

The Ebay "SafeHarbor" folks requested the specific email where the seller refused to refund/ship - with the full Internet headers. I sent that - along with most of the content of our exchanges. It has been a few days now - no word yet.

In the sellers response to the negative feedback I posted - he says he refunded my money!

Complaint : "He" is reselling Rims HE sold me but NEVER shipped. Refuses to refund $1.5K BAD
Response by "seller" - I Sent it back and he was trying to get the payment twice loser big time!!!!!!!

So I called PayPal and they confirmed there has been no transfer or pending transfer of money from his account to mine. They walked me through their website to get to the complaint page - and now - they too are contacting the seller to find out what the problem is. Their probe could take 30 days ...

So now SquareTrade, Ebay, and PayPal are sending him email requesting feedback on my complaint.

Since I posted negative feedback several days ago - bidders must have actually read it - because there have been no new bids on the rims since.

This was his promised retaliation

"Seller" Complaint: NO REPLY 3 Days not one messege I had to relist it BAD EBAYER, Dead Beat ebayer-

Response by dyanni@alltel.net - Won Oct 22nd, Contacted 24th, PAID 25th. Dont TRUST - He refuses to refund $$

I hate they give you such a small letter count for feedback - so that's the best I could do.

I will keep this forum updated - but for now it seems to be the waiting game.

[dyanni]

Heard today from SquarTrade. They are the organization that tries to negotiate disputes between online parties. After 14 days of no response, they give you the option of having any negative feedback left by the m.i.a. seller removed from Ebay. Marc responded on day 14 saying he "paid the money back a long time ago" Which is still untrue. They took his word for it and closed that case.

Ebay wrote today to tell me that they are still investigating - but directed me to the news that the seller is no longer a registered member of the site - Rim auction and all - gone ( all but the negative feedback for me ) They did not say if they removed him, or if he chose to do it himself. They suggested I call my bank to investigate charge-back options immediately - and said I should consider filing for charges of mail fraud against the seller.

The last group investigating indicates he has not yet responded to them, but now I see - odds are he will within the deadline they set. At least THEY are asking for proof of refund or shipment.

More to come I am sure....

[Leah]

You poor thing! What an absolute nightmare. I guess SquareTrader isn't so square after all. Maybe their name is really Square Traitor and they just didn't know how to spell it. They didn't even ask for proof of refund? What a sad state of affairs. Please let me know if I can help in any way; a petition, email, hand written letter, or anything else you can think of. Do all you can to get your money back and stop this less-than-a-man from doing the same thing to someone else.

Jumpin' Jack Flash! This is why I'm an alien.;pg;

[Dallas4u]

Dyanni, how is the progress going on your situation?

[dyanni]

All is not well in LaLa land.

So Far - I have filed claims through SquarTrade, Ebay, and Paypal.

SquareTrade contacted the seller. He told them he already paid me back. They dropped the case.

Ebay contacted me asking for email evidence of the claim - which I provided. Seller re-listed tires on Ebay. Ebay contacted the seller asking for proof of refund. Seller did not respond. Ebay dropped seller. Oddly, in early/mid November - the seller initiated a partial refund to my account through paypal - then cancelled it a few minutes later. Even though I did not catch that opportunity for closure - it does show that he knows he did not pay me back yet.

PayPal contacted seller asking for proof of 1) Shipment 2) past refund 3) Proof of new refund. Seller responded he already paid, offered no proof. PayPal froze his account and attempted to collect my money from his paypal account. He had already emptied it. PayPal dropped the case. If he ever put money back in paypal - it is supposedly going to be routed to my account.


Ebay sent me an Email reccommending that I file a case with the Internet Fraud Center and law enforcement. They consider this mail fraud. So do I.

After the last of them closed the case - I got emails indicating they found the seller at fault, but could do no more than they had. I wrote the selelr again, letting him know I would continue to pursue this unless he provided a full refund by Dec 1 2002. That deadline came and went without a response.

I have considered several options.

Forgiving the debt. I thought long and hard about this one. He is a young guy - with a kid on the way - obviously has problems in his life - wouldn't want to cause his new family any more grief than they already have . . . . But then - I re-read his caustic emails and realize he has not done one redeeming thing in this whole exchange. I was contacted by another guy on Ebay who said he sold the seller a mountain bike ( the one you saw on top of the VX he had for sale ) for 800.00 but never got paid. After he went though the whole Ebay investigation process - he is still out his money. He said it's difficult to motivate the guy in IA when he is in NJ - but he asked me for his phone number so he can pick up again. He is looking for payback. Which leads me to my second option. Which I wont explore here. It does involve me meeting up with the biker dude and going to meet the seller in lovely downtown Ceder Rapids. That has been a popular suggestion by those of you who have emailed me privately - some I met in person My final option is the course I plan to follow. I have to be in Texas again next week, Austin this round - which leaves precious little time before Christmas to make any addt'l travel plans - So I may end up doing this just after the new year. But - I will visit the appropriate law enforcement agency in his home town and seek to file charges. At this point, if I end up paying even more in the process - I am still looking to do the right thing. Maybe if the seller learns a lesson from this, he won't pass the bad behaviour along to Seller jr.


Thanks for the interest - and support.

[SGT.BATGUANO]

Do you have to file charges in HIS town? Why not file in your area and make him come out your way? If he failed to show, I would think you'd win the judgement by default.

- or -

Have you consulted with an attorney?

[Tone]

Surely there are some VXers in this scum’s town who could help you out? Could you post his address?

Let me know when you’ll be in Austin so we can meet up.

[Dallas4u]

PLEASE make him pay for it one way or another!!!! Please please PLEASE!!!

The whole argument of him being young and having a kid on the way is either just a cop out or a plain lie. And I agree after going back and reading everything he had said to you, and the way has has been avoiding every option you and all of the different companies and agnecies involved have been offering to close the case, he needs to be taught a serious lesson this time... I say this time because there is no doubt in my mind that this is the first (or second as you have found out) time he has done this.

I really can't wait to hear what will happen next!!

By the way, I have an all positive rating on Ebay, and I have never had any problems. I say to watch yourself, and never order anything from anyone who has a negative rating. There can be exeptions, like if they have over 1000 feedback and a couple negatives. Some people just will never be happy about how long things take to ship or the fact that it doesn't look exactly like it did in the picture... expect it! But, usually (and I say that carefully), if you watch yourself and aren't too trusting, you can have a good time with Ebay. I know Dyanni was totally shafted, so I really want something done about this nut-sack.

[AlaskaVX]

First of all I believe that you will get your money back.

I think that you should list his eBay registered name here so that everyone can leave negative feedback about his foul language and foul sales. I don't mind getting negative feedback I just got an account to buy my Ironman, and to let you know that deal went well. (just one small dent he didn't mension.)

[johnnyapollo]

The guy has already been kicked off of eBay. You could persue PayPal for the funds and claim "foul"... just because they say they've done everything, doesn't mean that they aren't culpable. In my opinion, PayPal did not respond quick enough in this case.

I've said this in another thread, but I'll reiterate. You should always use a credit card to pay for merchandise. Credit cards will allow you to charge back up to 60 days after the transaction. The cc company would have charged back PayPal.. making them go after this scumbag instead of you.

I don't understand PayPal's unwillingness to go after this guy. He had to register a bank account for the funds transfer... PayPal can go to his bank, while you can't. I think you need to beat down PayPal's doors and threaten them with a lawsuit. If nothing else, I know people you can contact to get your case a lot of media attention. That will def get PayPal moving to resolve the problem.

-- John

[dyanni]

John - I HAVE beaten myself up about not using a CC! I added one to PayPal - but just had it as a backup to checking. I liked knowing I was only spending what I had on hand. I got his email last night from a different ebay member ( someone I didn't know ) who offered this advice ...

Hi,

I noticed your post about your unforunate experience on eBay. I have a Merchant Account, I proccess Credit Card orders, and know that your Best recourse is thru Your credit card company. I Sure hope you used a credit card when paying via PayPal??? Any way, if you did, contact your credit card company and file a Dispute. Tell them that you were billed for products/services you never received. They will ask you for proof and information regarding this transaction and I'm sure you will get your money from them. In turn they will go back to PayPal for their money....PayPal is just a Large Merchant Account like me and every other company that proccesses credit cards. Then PayPal will have to chase this guy.

I am President of a Online Marketing company and 99% of all our receipts are from Credit Cards. We, from time to time, have people trying to dispute their charges even after they receive the goods. There is Always someone trying to get Something for Nothing!!

Always pay with a Credit Card online, don't get fooled when using PayPal and send an eCheck or let them debit your account, you Always have recourse with you Credit Card company. Run it thru your credit card company...I think they All offer online fraud protection and on top of that, you have been defrauded, you never received your goods!!

And if by chance you did use PayPal's option of eCheck or Debit I think you still have cause with your Bank. It has been my experience, that a person like this does not have the ability to repay so "Putting him Up Against the Wall" will not put cash in your pocket!! (I have been there...Done that!!)

Good Luck and Best regards,
Woofer Smith

Nice Guy - to take the time out to send that to someone he doesn't know.

Despite the length of this thread - it only happened Oct 25th ( payment date ) So I will see what Bank of America can do for me today.

[Leah]

Hi,

I'm so sorry that this is problem is continuing. You are within your rights, morally and ethically, to pursue in this matter. Just imagine if the first guy who got ripped off by this seller had followed through, you wouldn't be undergoing this tribulation. By your actions, you could prevent this seller from treating anyone else like this. It's sad, really, because he has a pattern of such illegal activities and it sounds like he lacks a conscience. Even the Bible mentions people who cannot rest unless they cause misery for others. Some people are just bad, through and through. He may not be, but only time will tell. In the meantime, don't feel bad about pursuing justice. You have behaved in a mature and reasonable manner and are doing the right thing by exposing and 'convicting' a criminal.

In case you haven't already found it, I did some research and found this. I hope it proves useful:

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors.../JunkEmail.htm

[dyanni]

Yesterday I contacted a local lawyer. After listening to my story - she suggested I file a complaint with the Internet Fraud Center - afterwhich I should contact both the district attorneys office where the seller lives - and - contact a lawyer in Ceder Rapids. One for Criminal action and the other for Civil representation for the cash. Today I failed a dispute with my bank ( was still within the 60 days allowed ) BOA indicated they would have a "resolution" ( on way or another ) by Dec 18. Tomorrow I contact the DA and sellers-area-attorney. In Austin next week - don't know what kind of internet access will be waiting for me - but anything changes significantly - I'll let you know.