Dead beat Seller- what to do?

[Bruce A]

Never having been in this position before, I need some advice. From a member of this forum, I agreed to purchase a product he had on the classifieds. I sent the money order, he received it back on the twentieth of december, said he would send it out in a day or two. On the 27th I emailed him asking if it had been sent, he said he had sick family menber, was running late but would get it out in a day or two. On the second I emailed, asking that if the item was not going to be sent , just send my money back, no harm, no foul. No response. On the third i repeated my request, again no reponse.
I don't want to be unreasonable, having had sickness/family problems of my own, but I would really just like my money or the item. It seems he has had my money long enough to either return it, or send the item.
Bow would you all proceed?

 

[sleepyhead]

Hi, I think that given the holidays and New Year's and the family illness, I would give him a couple of more weeks to respond. Most likely, he just has more important things on his plate right now.

my two cents, Yaron

 

[sleepyhead]

Also, the postal system gets weird around christmas - it's a good time of the year for packages to go missing...

 

[Bruce A]

I am hoping you are right. I want to believe that people are straight up, but don't want to be ripped off either.

 

[Frank Granovski]

I too would give it another week or so. Then kill! (Kidding) 😎

 

[George S.]

I personally wouldn't give it a couple of more weeks, I'd send a stern email right now, asking for him to give me another update NOW. Having been in this position as a buyer, the worst thing is having no response. He has the money, he should take 30 seconds to answer and at least give an estimated date when he'd be able to send it. Give him your phone number and ask him to call you tonight or tomorrow night, it'll only take him a minute. We all have things come up unexpectedly, but that's no excuse for no contact.

 

[Bruce A]

Thats what really gauls me - the lack of response. It doesn't take two seconds to answer an email. Of course he has told me twice it would be sent out in a day or two, but it doesn't look like it has.
If, worse case scenario, I am burned, what are my recourses?

 

[DerekF]

Thats what really gauls me - the lack of response. It doesn't take two seconds to answer an email. Of course he has told me twice it would be sent out in a day or two, but it doesn't look like it has.

Bruce,

My suggestion is not to get too upset about it just yet. If it is a serious family sickness, then it is understandable that this person might not even be checking his email. I'd give him at least another week before considering anything more drastic. I've been in situations where sellers did not respond right away, and it turned out that they were simply out of town for whatever reason and were not checking their email.

Good luck!

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

We expect email to be instant. But sometimes people can't be instant because they have other responsibilities. I never chase an email until it's at least one week old.

 

[bmattock]

Has this person logged onto RFF lately? You can look up their member name and it should tell you when they last logged in. If they have logged in since the last time you sent email, I would take that to mean that they should have received your email. If they have not logged in recently, then perhaps they have not received your most recent emails. Login is usually automatic, so if they just browse to RFF, that would be sufficient to log them and mark the date.

If they have NOT logged into RFF recently, I would tend to believe that the person really did have a family emergency and perhaps did not even have your most recent emails - and I'd give a bit longer. If they HAVE logged into RFF lately, then it appears that you may have your answer - you've been burned.

People have emergencies. People are sometimes procrastinators, and some actually forget things like this, strange as it may seem. But some people are crooks, and that sucks.

As to your recourse - you may have a variety of legal choices, but some depend upon how much money we're talking about. If the amount is small, the police in that person's jurisdiction may choose not to take a report or investigate. If it is large, they may. Postal Money Orders are not usually recoverable if they have been cashed.

I wish you the best of luck, of course. And if it turns out that the person is just crooked, it would be good for the rest of us to know about it. Sadly, it would give us the capability to avoid being taken by the same seller.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[ray_g]

We have always tried to keep transactions on the forum on a more personal and friendly note, and I am sorry to hear this.

You have received plenty of sound advice. However, given your sentiment, the fact that this is now all public, and that you have pretty much called this member a "Dead Beat Seller," I do not see how you can still consider going through with this deal.

 

[FrankS]

Christmas, New Years, postman's holidays, family illness.....

I'd wait a bit before getting upset. No one here at RFF would want to tarnish their reputation over a photo gear deal. A scam artist with few posts would try to sell a large ticket item and then disappear.

 

[rover]

I do believe a response from somewhere to your messages is necessary. I know though that shipping is still slow after the holidays as I am still waiting for a package that normally would have only taken a day or two to get a week after it was shipped.

 

[enochRoot]

i'm surprised no one has asked how many posts this person has (the seller). although not a *true* indicator...if the guy has like 5 posts, and all he has done is list something for sale here...that would raise some red flags. if it's a "member in good standing", it's probably just an oversight.

call me a cynic...but the "family illness" excuse is just that most times...an excuse. i have been ripped off twice over the years of online transactions (been doing this since 1997 or so). i'm not too worried about it, as i've taken part in tons of transactions, so the percentage is low enough. but in both instances (one for $700)...they had a "family illness". and being a nice guy, i gave them the benefit of the doubt. both of these transactions used paypal...and by waiting, i screwed myself. with paypal, you need to file a claim within 30 days of payment. on the $700 ripoff...i filed the claim at 31 days, and they did NOTHING. i know, this doesn't relate 100% to your situation, but just a note that crooks ARE out there.

maybe it's just a coincidence for me, but i have never had a seller say they have a family illness, and then get me an item. that said, maybe the dude did have a family illness, but i would think sending a quick email wouldn't be too hard. i really hope it's just an oversight, and this all works out for you! and really, having been on the other side, i have been slow to ship things at times. mostly it is from getting bogged down with work, and not having a chance to get to the post office before it closes day after day. but i ALWAYS reply asap to a buyer if this is the case, and most often i am proactive about emailing them and explaining the holdup, apologizing, etc. good luck man!

 

[enochRoot]

just re-read my post, and i see it rambles quite a bit. 😀 my point is that it's always best to give the benefit of the doubt, but don't screw yourself in the process!

 

[George S.]

"Family illness" sounds like an excuse that is getting more common. maybe people think that using that one gets people off their back faster and longer than "It's the holidays and I'm just too busy to live up to my end of the bargain just yet."

I don't agree with ray that it's all out in public now, because I have no idea who the seller is, nor do I want to know _at this point_. I would also advise you to rest easy if the seller has been a member here for more than a couple of months, and has, say, over 20 postings of other than "FS" topics.

Hopefully, it's just someone who doesn't have our responsibility ethic. The younger generation, for one example, just takes things at a slower pace than I'm used to, and the same can be said for other parts of the country and world; but maybe it's me, since I live in this fast paced, crazy, greater NYC area. I sent an ebay seller from the midwest about $500 in money orders once, and heard nothing, no answer at all to repeated emails. I did a little internet detective work and found an address for the ebay member. Turns out a 20 yr old girl was the ebay member, who listed the items for another 20 yr old male college chum, and she was giving him the messages, but he never got back to me. Only when I threatened further action thru ebay and the Postal Inspectors, did I hear from him. The tone of his "apology" was "Sorry, dude, my bad." They sent me the items via "next day air". Happy ending.

 

[Bruce A]

As far as being in the public, I have never said who this person is. I really don't want to slam someone who may genuinely be overwhelmed.
My concern is that he has had my money for 2.5 weeks, has three times in that time said he would send it out in a day or two, has not, and has now quite answering emails entireley, going back to the 27th.
It would take two seconds to communicate with me. Lots of red flags.

 

[JoeFriday]

this is very reminiscent of my experience with cameraleather.com

I emailed the company a month after sending payment of $68 for a new cover for my M3.. I had never received any sort of confirmation that they got my payment at all.. but I paid via paypal, so the transaction was on record, and covered by my credit card

a week went by (now 5 weeks after sending payment) without hearing anything from them.. so I emailed again, with a much more stern tone.. essentially saying 'send me a confirmation or I'll cancel payment' and mentioned the words 'fraud' and 'investigation'.. I felt bad doing that, but at that point all my correspondence had been ignored

I quickly received an email saying it would be sent out "within 48 hours".. it was actually more like 10 days before I received the item.. but at least I got it

both my anxiety and subsequent threatening emails could easily have been avoided if only the seller had kept me informed of the status of my order.. Henry Scherer, who is well known for Contax camera repair, has a backlog of dozens of cameras, with a waiting list going out approximately a year.. but his customers are content because he updates his website with a queue of all the units in the order they will be repaired.. I believe I'll be waiting another 6 months for mine to be worked on.. oh well

so anyway, I guess my advice is to give the seller the benefit of the doubt as long as he keeps you updated.. but when the seller insists on being paid by money order, you're the one taking the risk and therefore he should be extra good about handling the exchange expeditiously.. and it sounds like the seller isn't holding up his end of this bargain

 

[ray_g]

I don't agree with ray that it's all out in public now, because I have no idea who the seller is, nor do I want to know _at this point_.

Point taken.

My opinion is that this no longer seems to be a healthy, trusting relationship for you and the seller, to proceed with the transaction. You obviously have your sentiments, and the seller, if his family emergency is genuine, would probably be offended at being called a dead beat. Of course if his excuse is a lie, then he would not be someone you would want to trust anyway. Given that, then only logical option, imho, is to ask for a refund.

It is sort of like pissing your brain surgeon off just before going under the knife. :bang:

 

[ray_g]

I guess, the point is, if you are still entertaining the possibility of giving the seller the benefit of the doubt, and proceeding with the transaction, the title of the thread may have been better worded.