posted on April 3, 2001 08:09:36 PM
What are my chouices...if any!
I paid $185 to some guy for a bunch of videotapes a few weeks ago---and I paid using a money order. Now, I keep getting told about one delay after another.
Last week he said the tapes were sent that day (Tuesday) and I should get them by Saturday. Since I paid $10 for shipping---which would have been easily enough for priority mail, I figured Saturday at the outside.
Saturday comes, no tapes. I e-mail him and get a response 2 days later stating (again) "sorry for the delay, you should have them by Thursday."
I can't get him on the phone and my last request for an explaination went unanswered.
What would you do??
**Can I ultimately file fraud charges against him--or file a criminal complaint in his home county??
posted on April 3, 2001 08:22:48 PM
Unless the "laws" have changed, you can possibly vent some frustration by filing with the Postmaster General, the Fraud Organization, as well as the law enforcements in your state as well as the Sellers state.... but...
I've been down this road before. I was taken for a $350 money order. I did get a copy of the cancelled money order from my bank, at my request, that had the Seller's endorsement on the back, but that's all I have. That and alot of phone charges from all my calls from FL to CA.
I was basically told by FL that it was CA's jurisdiction and CA said it was FL's jurisdiction. The Postmaster General's office said they'd keep my complaint "on file."
Sorry I don't have better news... maybe others out there have more successful means. It DID curb my purchasing though.
posted on April 3, 2001 08:40:45 PM
Most of the time mail gets to anywhere in the USA in 3 to 4 days, but I've seen first class AND priority mail take 2 or 3 weeks, and if these where mailed "Media Rate" 2 weeks would be normal. For ANY class of mail other than express, the post office will NOT consider a peice of mail "lost" until 30 days. This may not be the sellers fault. (Then again, it might be, but getting your shorts bunched up after only a week is non productive. Fraud charges can not be filed before 30 days.)
First of all, it's been over 2 weeks and this guy keeps leading me on.
Obviously, if he says he put it in the mail TODAY (last Tuesday) and says it should be there by Saturday, then he is assuming it'll take 4 days. By that same token, when he said just yesterday that "it'll be there by Thursday" it's pretty clear that he didn't put it in the mail when he said he did.
My experience?
WHen they statrt playing the "delay" game, there's a big problem.
True of buyers and sellers alike.
Also, the contact info is inaccurate. Bad phone# and the name on the account is different than the one I am dealing with. Of course I only discovered that AFTER I had to request contact info.
>First of all, it's been over 2 weeks and this guy keeps leading me on.
over 2 weeks from when you sent the payment, or 2 weeks from when he got it? If it's 2 weeks from when you sent the payment, and mail was slow one direction or the other....
>it's pretty clear that he didn't put it in the mail when he said he did.
It would make me wonder also, but if I had a nickle for every buyer that lied to me about when they sent their payment.....(post marks don't lie... If/when you get your package you will know.)
>When they start playing the "delay" game, there's a big problem.
Or a small to medium problem. Some people will tell "white lies" instead of just fessing up. What does this guys feedback look like? If it is high with less than .5% negatives, I wouldn't worry to much yet, but if he has little or no feedback as a seller, I might be concerned.
>Also, the contact info is inaccurate.
Big NO NO... I just yesterday moved into another house, and one of the very first things I did was set up the 'puter, and update our contact info. A bad phone number would not make me confortable. Your first post said you couldn't get him on the phone, not that the phone number was bad. I am not that easy to get on the phone sometimes, but I have a machine that will take a message
I'm not defending your seller, but unexpected things do happen sometimes, and if you are dealing with someone with a decent set of ethics, it will work out. If you have a scum bucket for a seller, you are in for a hassle.
posted on April 3, 2001 09:37:14 PM
Just to give the seller the benefit of the doubt. You didn't say how many videotapes in this "bunch", but if the box is large and he charged you $10, it was probably sent on media mail. Thus it could take 3-4 weeks to arrive. The post office requires a 45 day wait before you can report a media mail package as missing.
Now having said that, the inaccurate contact info is cause for NARU on eBay. You should report that. You can also put a stop payment on the money order. And, of course, you have eBay's insurance/fraud protection program.
Payment was mailed 20 days ago. He lives about 400 miles from me. Yes, things can go wrong with the mail, but odds are that it got there within a few days. And he certainly confirmed payment was received last week when he stated:
"This is xxxx, I sent the tapes out today. The delay was that I had temporary lost your address because I had deleted all previous emails of yours and had misplaced the envelope. That was foolish of me. Your tapes should be there by Saturday."
Considering I paid him $10 for shipping, which is above and beyond what was really called for, the item should definitely have made it here by then. When I e-mailed him on Saturday, his response 2 days later (yesterday) was:
"They should be there by Thursday. Sorry for the delay."
Now, he has 39 positives, 1 neutral and 4 negs:
Complaint: refuse to sell item and refuse to answer any of my email. stay away
Neutral: did i win? now what ? how did you get episodes on tape, how good is quality.
Complaint: Well over a month and no payment Avoid this one like the plague F - -
Complaint: NEVER RESPONDED TO NONE OF THE EMAIL, WON AUCTION, NEVER PAID !!, AVOID !!!!
Complaint: PAYMENT NEVER RECEIVED
I initially questioned him about the latest one (the top one) and he said they were from outside the U.S. and he told them he didn't accept bids from outside U.S.
The neutral was left by a newbie 2 hours after auction ended.
The other 3 negs were for non payment as a buyer.
Now, considering all that and the fact that he has had successful sales and I really wanted this item(s), I decided to bid
There are 6 tapes, which should weigh about 4 pounds MAX. Add another POUND for the box. That's still well below $10 and that's for PRIORITY MAIL no less!
This guy already believes it should take only 4 days total to get to me, he indicated as much in his e-mails; "I mailed today (Tues), you'll get it Saturday"
posted on April 4, 2001 12:59:42 AM
I once sent a set of aviation videos to Chicago. They were very expensive and became lost. They were sent Priority too. They finally showed up with no explanation after 5 weeks! I would wait a while before getting excited.
posted on April 4, 2001 01:32:52 AM
SCENARIO x-mas 99.. Before CREDIT CARD processing was widely available to all us "little guys".... Sent out a copy of Pokemon Yellow (yes it was a "hot" video game then).. To a lady COD (automatically insured for the $90 amount).. Lady waited 14 days & she was going nuts.. Finally, because I had another copy of the game (which was supposed to go to my cousin for X-mas).. I express mailed that copy to her on X-mas eve, it came on X-mas day...
The orginal Package? Oh it showed up.. 5 weeks after I mailed it!!! She gladly sent it back.. it was after all COD...
This was w/ help too, as one of her relatives was an employee in the local post office there & I know the post office here pretty well..
This Priority COD package went MIA for 5 weeks.. Relax.. Granted for what you paid.. I would have TACKED ON Delivery Confirmation & Insurance, at my own cost, whether or not the Buyer paid for it...
Just my 2 cents.. as I don't post here much..
All that & a Bag of Chips Too!!
