posted on October 19, 2001 09:09:01 PM new
To begin at the beginning, you may want to see my previous thread about my mother being suspended from eBay for being the same person as a previously suspended member, even though she isn't.
She had changed her phone number on her eBay account to the office number, because she wanted to request the contact info of a seller who had not sent her items, but had sent some very nasty e-mails, and did not feel comfortable with giving this person her home telephone number.
(I also work there, the company was started by my father.) This evening, I was at work, and answered the call of a person asking to speak with my late father. (Apparently Mom never changed the name on the eBay account.) I told the caller he was deceased, I was his daughter, gave my name, and asked if I could help her. She replied "Well, if he's dead, are you the one stealing people's money on eBay?" I asked her who she was and what she was talking about. She refused to give her name, and kept repeating that if I was the one "ripping people off" I "had better own up to it," and that she was going to have me prosecuted for fraud. I finally hung up on her, and I called my mom. She checked her e-mail, and found that this person had e-mailed her half an hour earlier, asking where her item was. SIX MINUTES later, the person had e-mailed again, this time through the eBay mail forwarding system, threatening prosecution if she did not get her item immediately. She apparently then turned around and requested the contact info.
My mother began composing a reply, calmly informing the buyer that she had not received the buyer's payment yet, reminding the buyer that the auction had only closed just over a week ago, and they live 2500 miles apart. Before she could hit send, the buyer e-mailed her again, "Nice talking to you at your job tonight, XXXXX. I hope you value it since you're a thief and I wonder what they will think when they find out you stole my money." My mother replied that this was uncalled for, and repeated that she had not received the buyer's payment. She even double checked all the envelopes she had received in the past week to make sure. The buyer e-mailed her EIGHT more times in 15 minutes, threatening and calling all sorts of names. My mother responded that if the buyer could provide a copy of the cancelled money order, she would like to see it, but otherwise, not to e-mail or call again, and that if the money order was received, it would be returned. The person e-mailed again, that she would contact whomever she chose, whenever she chose, and by any manner she chose. After several more e-mails, my mother finally blocked the sender.
THIS is why my mother did not want to give out her home phone number to total strangers. The ironic thing is, this was not the loony eBayer she was concerned about.
Would eBay even do anything if this person continues to call and e-mail, or are we on our own to take care of her?
posted on October 19, 2001 09:54:08 PM new
I have read here before that if you contact your ISP they will contact their ISP and sometimes that gets things taken gave of faster. Personally, I have never had to do that.
posted on October 20, 2001 01:07:10 AM new
Contact both your ISP and the nutso's ISP. Include a selection of the emails with headers from the nutso in the body of your message to the ISPs.
Then try a trick I used when being harassed by my own personal nutso a while back. I informed the nutso's ISP that I would be forwarding all further emails from the nutso directly to them, then I set up my email rule so any emails from that address went directly to the nutso's ISP and didn't even clutter up my inbox.
For all I know, the nutso is still sending emails to his ISP(hey, I never saw another email from the nutso). More than likely, the ISP dealt with him pronto(the nutso was flooding my box with his dreck).
Make sure you keep all copies of the emails you already have, just in case. Put 'em on a disk or something, so you don't lose them if your computer crashes.
posted on October 20, 2001 08:44:53 AM new
Get a message phone!!!
Some are free, some are $10-20 a month...or a cell if it's cheaper.
Let them dump into a message.
If they are kosher, you can call them back.
If they are nutbars you can save the message for your records.
posted on October 20, 2001 03:58:37 PM new
Capriol. I agree with you. My home phone number is ex-directory, why should I share it with the World on eBay? If you pull my details you get my cell phone number. This is not my trading name.
