I have often boasted of accepting well over one or two thousand small personal checks and sending the items without waiting for the checks to clear. Last March my string was broken when I got a returned check from my bank for $7.50 and a note that there was a $10 fee as well. I tried to write the Yahoo buyer and he refused to reply. I changed the positive feedback to a negative and said he passed a bad check and beware. It really got to me that he could get away with writing a bad check and he was 3,000 miles away. I remembered reading on various online auction message boards about the M.A.D. Collection Agency and thought I'd give it a shot. It wasn't the $17.50 that bothered me near as much as the principle of the matter. After looking at all of the associated MAD fees and such I thought it had better be just on principle because I'd be lucky to get very much back at all. At least the buyer might be hassled a little by a collection agency and any recovered money was money I'd never see again anyway. I filled out the online form and sent it and got an auto-mailer email response that an account was opened. I thought they wouldn't even mess with a $17.50 claim but today was there was a check in the mail for the full $17.50 from MAD. They must have gotten their share out of the buyer. It took about 3 or 4 months total.
It was the way the buyer ignored my very cordial emails that really got to me. I'm glad that there is a little justice in the cyber fraud arena.
posted on June 20, 2002 07:02:22 AM new
Did Yahoo suspend you when you changed the feedback? They did this to me and many other "members" in order to protect their sleazy sellers when we complained. After all, the money comes from their sellers, not their buyers.
posted on June 20, 2002 07:46:08 AM new
I've changed a lot of feedbacks in my time at Yahoo. You can actually use the feedback changing ability at Yahoo to good use with feedbacks like "When you pay me I will change this bad feedback into a good one". That works sometimes. eBay should like it's users change feedbacks. All the old feedbacks are still there so you get a history of the feedbacks in every transaction. Some are quite long and make fascinating reading. Some read like the book "The Diary of a Mad Housewife".
posted on June 24, 2002 03:00:00 PM new
Good Job bidsbids in wringing another deadbeats @$$. I applaud you. Now my story about a group called M.A.D.D.
Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
My buddy Gerald Seabolt & I was stopped at the corner Shop & Go getting a case of Moosehead beer. This lady said that she was a member of M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) and that we shouldn't be driving and drinking. I told her that I belonged to the group D.A.M.M. (Drunks Against Madd Mothers) and to get outta my face. She left a sulking. See ya'll later, Hillbilly
At least the buyer might be hassled a little by a collection agency and any recovered money was money I'd never see again anyway. I filled out the online form and sent it and got an auto-mailer email response that an account was opened. I thought they wouldn't even mess with a $17.50 claim but today was there was a check in the mail for the full $17.50 from MAD. They must have gotten their share out of the buyer. It took about 3 or 4 months total.