posted on April 21, 2001 02:12:47 AM
I recently sent £400 via MoneyGram after seeing a Compaq laptop advertised on QXL.
After regular emails with the seller, all contact has mysteriously stopped after he has received the money and it's now 14 days later.
I'm resigned to the fact that I've been conned and was stupid enough to trust this guy, without asking questions about serial numbers or demanding COD etc.
I do have an address in Romania for this person, who can communicate in poor English. I posted a letter threatening to involve the Romania police, Foreign Embassy and InterPol on the grounds that he has broken the INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS ACT 1983 to which Romania is a member state. I'm hoping this scares him into submission.
* Is there anything else I can do from the UK side of things to get my money back?
Cheers
Andy
PS The auction was cancelled before I made a bid, and we arranged the deal through the QXL messaging service. They are now refusing to give me his actual email address or help out because of the Data Protection Act.
posted on June 10, 2001 10:20:18 AM
why is the auction cancelled on QXL?
ebay sometimes will cancel auction and send a message to the bidder stating that complete the transaction at your own risk.
usually the seller is a crook or been reported as a crook seller
posted on June 13, 2001 08:00:46 PM
Why would anyone buy a laptop from Romania?
I don't understand how people can be so trusting.
With all the discount stores, websites and US auctions you would think you could get the item just as cheap.
BTW where are these people in Singapore, Romania, and Bangledesh getting dozens of laptops. Those are 3 countries I've seen fraudulent auctions come from.
posted on August 4, 2001 04:32:40 PM
Hey man!!! i feel sad too. I got fraud too.
What do you do when you got fraud?
I the person fraud me at www.dellauction.com
Damn Romanian!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can i get my money back??? Which goverment agencies do i go to??
posted on August 5, 2001 04:02:04 PM
trafficking back and forth among national borders,china,russia and other ussr republics,eastern european bloc,throw in turkey ,where do all these laptops come from?
chinese army sometimes hijacked shiploads of elctronic goods when ships come sailing too close to chinese coastline,years ago i heard russian navy has to escort russian commerical ships when sailing along north china sea,same goes for other nations like singapore etc.
luxury cars are stolen from hong kong and transported to china by powerful speedboats which are ready to use their propellers to cut customs boat in two !!
i bet some of these sellers dont have the laptops,they may have one or two and they are already sold,they are now selling THIN AIR brand laptop made by pilot blue beard
posted on August 9, 2001 01:39:18 PM
What is worst yet, the honest Romanian dealers, are having a tough time selling due to the bad rap from the dishonest pigs.
posted on August 9, 2001 04:05:29 PMWhat is worst yet, the honest Romanian dealers, are having a tough time selling due to the bad rap from the dishonest pigs.
One seriously doubts that there are any legitimate Romanian electronics sellers.
Where would they get the merchandise?
How could it possibly be cost effective to import things to Romania, and then export them to the US?
Romania (among others) has a serious problem that they must address before they can do internet business at all. We can't solve that problem for them. The problem is that the governments of such countries do not protect the anti-fraud interests of world wide commerce. "Romania" is a bad brand.
posted on August 10, 2001 08:37:17 AM
there is a compaq website for refurbished compaq computers,they have an auction on the same site and there are other brands as well.
no need to shop in romania!!!!
how much can you save buying from overseas dealers,send money,wait,pay extra shipping,if it does not work,do you return to romania??
why cant people buy made in usa in USA??
US GOODS such as laptops are more expensive in europe,how can they sell for 400 uk pounds??
posted on September 15, 2001 06:43:48 PM
Actually, there is a way to find cheaper laptops in Romania. The laptops are made in other countries than US, and the custom taxes in Romania are way lower than US.
On the other hand many companies are building laptops in Romania due to the cheaper workmanship. And not only in Romania, in Europe generally speaking.
if you don't belive please turn your laptops upside down and read aloud the label. Most often you will find a silver label writting that the laptop was "Made in Thailand" (or Singapore, or Malaysia, or Spain, etc).
Actually the only component in my computer made in US is the network adapter (an 3Com). The others are made in Thailand, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and more).
The fraud wasn't invented in Romania, and please understand that i will NOT defend the thiefs. I hate them as much as you people do. But i was frauded until now by two people over the Internet. One was american (living happy in LA righ now) and the other is a UK citizen. I have no way to get my money back, because the whole transaction was due over the Internet and here the law doesn't consider electronic evidences yet.
There are several honest sellers here, but the most of them prefer not to sell their goods on-line, due to the lack of legislation.
It seems that the actual government will make the required laws by the end of this year and Romania will get legit after all.
posted on September 15, 2001 08:07:09 PMMost often you will find a silver label writting that the laptop was "Made in Thailand" (or Singapore, or Malaysia, or Spain, etc).
I've never seen a laptop made in Romania.
The situation remains very clear: never send money or merchandise to Romania under any circumstances.
posted on September 16, 2001 09:07:30 AM
ihave never seen a pc made in romania,neither have i heard any major pc maker saying they have manufacturing or assembly line in romania,i know dell has factories in ireland but not in romania?
components and parts come from all over ,so a pc could be parts and components from china,hong kong,singapore,taiwan.but what you see when you turn over the pc is where it is finally assembled.
bootlegging is common in commie countries,could be counterfeits too.
400 pounds come to 640 dollars,with shipping say 50-100?,still cheaper than buying it here,but what about warranty??
you can get a laptop now for around 1000,of course there is sales tax/shipping fee.
posted on September 21, 2001 04:32:39 PM
I had a simular problem, but this time they used a fake US Address for the auction. It was also found on Yahoo Auctions not on E-bay. If you have any information contact me about ghis situation. We can trade names, and try and put a stop to this.
-Stocky
[ edited by RunStocky on Sep 21, 2001 04:33 PM ]
posted on October 5, 2001 07:39:51 AM
I too have been done. My story is under the tread "Western Union Service, easiest for ROMANIA Fraud".
I believe to protect the innocent Western Union, MoneyGram etc should not allow private transactions to individual in these known countries.
There is a bigger issue here with regard to terrorism and Attack on USA. It seems like it is very easy to ship money round using this method. Also it is open for money laundering gained from drug trafficing.
