Scammed ?

[ron1945]

dont pussyfoot around this guy,if you pay promptly you have a right to expect the same courtesy from the vendor.honesty and good manners cost nothing,if there as been some mishap he should understand.

 

[srtiwari]

I recall the kit sold here not long ago. He is a well-established member here (IMHO). Why would he want to scam you? It's beyond my understanding but I would tend to agree that he might be in some kinda trouble (not an excuse to what happened).
Report to paypal, get your money back but I wouldn't jump to a conclusion that he is a scammer or something like that.

That is why I have not named names, though someone else guessed correctly who it was. I do not want to embarrass the person unless it is certain it IS a scam, but have filed a claim with PayPal. If nothing happens by Monday, 04/27/09, I shall feel justified in letting the community know so as to think twice before buying from this seller.
Subhash

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dont fall for some ideas like "seller is suffering from depression" - what sort of an excuse is that? Depression keeps one from driving down to the post office?

Clearly you know nothing about depression. It can do a lot worse to you than that. Anything from not being able to get out of bed to killing yourself.

You will also note that I did NOT suggest letting it slide. Rather, I said that even if there is a legitimate excuse -- and there could be many, up to and including the possibility that he has just died -- the OP should act anyway.

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[cirque]

If this is who I think it is, the seller was logged on one day ago, so I guess that rules out the "dead" thing.

 

[Paul T.]

You're entirely right in posting the PayPal claim; fingers crossed for you, i'm sure it will work out.

Perception is a strange thing - what seems like a short time for one person can seem a long time for another.

I bought a VC lens from a forum member here, with whom I'd be very happy to deal again - and I had no notification for 13 days, until I finally heard it had been sent. I got a note of apology, and was busy at the time, too, so it didn't bother me. These things can happen, can't they?

 

[Roger Hicks]

He is not depressed, poor or dead.

He was on-line here yesterday.

In the last couple of days he has up-loaded photos to flickr taken with one of his two M8's.

There is no excuse for this sort of thing on RFF. I've been a victim here twice myself.

Dear Richard,

Fair enough. In which case I stick by my original advice. Contact Paypal.

You know who he is. I don't. The only 'benefit of the doubt' I was giving him was that there might be a legitimate reason. This seems to be less and less likely, but it is still not completely impossible.

I'd have thought my original point was clear enough. Even if he (eventually) comes up with a good reason, contact Paypal.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[srtiwari]

well, the second you file the claim with paypal, it locks the availability of those funds from his account -- he has to provide shipping numbers and tracking numbers --0 the funds are not resolved until you close the dispute.

good luck to you

Thank you, I'll need the Luck.
My PayPal account draws from my bank (NOT Credit card), so I don't know what protection there is. Also, if I were doing what he seems to be doing, I likely wouldn't leave the money in the PayPal account. So...can they pull it back from the person's Bank or Credit Card account ?

 

[George S.]

Are you people crazy saying "don't name him" and "give it more time"?! This is well over $1000 and three weeks into the ordeal. Shee-it! If I was in financial difficulties and someone paypal'd me over $1000, I'd thank him, kiss his arse and ship it out right away.

Three weeks is far too long to pussyfoot around. Whether you want to believe he's no scammer, his actions- or lack of same- speak differently, no matter his intent or not.

Make your complaint with paypal ASAP and please, name him here, ASAP. This is not punishment, it is an effort to keep the RFF classifieds a clean place to buy and sell. Now you have a lot of people afraid to buy, thinking our seller might be "him". We need to weed out the ones who do this to fellow members. Like someone said, we're not talking about a $65 accessory here, we're talking real money.

This has happened to me once on photo.net. I showed good faith with someone with whom I had (thought) I established trust with thru many emails discussing equipment and what he was looking for in gear, and I sent him several lenses to examine and he was to pick out the one or ones he wanted to buy and send the others back with whatever payment was due for whatever he was keeping. No communication for a couple of weeks, I sent several terse emails, nothing back. I used my connections in my local police department and they contacted his police department. (He was 3 states and about 300 miles away from me in the US) His local detectives paid him a visit at 7PM, asked him what kind of internet thief did he think he was, must have scared him shirtless, and I had all my gear back in my hands by 10:30 AM the next day, the guy overnighted everything back with a written apology. Taught me a valuable lesson.

 

[felix5616]

File a claim with paypal, when you prove that you have been scammed you should post the persons name here as a warning to other members. While its possible that shipping is delayed, not returning e-mail inquiries is a dead give away that you have been cheated. I understand wanting to give someone a break but isn't people always seem to "run into trouble" once they have your money, never before they have your money.

 

[zenlibra]

I feel your frustration, the lack of communication is uncalled for. If there is no explanation by Monday I would name the seller, for everyones benefit. You're a good person for not flying off the handle and giving someone the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Pablito]

The RFF is a great place to buy and sell. Like so many others, I have had great transactions here. Except for one. A guy sold me a Pentax K-1000 (which I bought for a student of mine) that was "in perfect working order". He was selling because he "needed to buy baby formula". Camera arrived broken, guy would not refund the money because he already used the cash for "baby formula". Guy said he'd pay for repair but "it would take a while". Repair cost what camera cost, doubling the price. Never heard from him again. I WILL name him if he posts another ad here.

 

[CameraQuest]

At this point, the seller is not responding to ANY questions !

You simply don't know what is happening with the seller. The many possibilities include medical emergency. Lack of info is just that.

Place the complaint to Paypal and get the money back.

Stephen

 

[Krosya]

Clearly you know nothing about depression. It can do a lot worse to you than that. Anything from not being able to get out of bed to killing yourself.

You will also note that I did NOT suggest letting it slide. Rather, I said that even if there is a legitimate excuse -- and there could be many, up to and including the possibility that he has just died -- the OP should act anyway.

Tashi delek,

R.

Clearly you know NOTHING about me to say what I do and dont know. And speaking of depression - if a seller was not "depressed" enough to list the items, communicate enough to receive a payment and only THAN got so "depressed" so he couldnt ship the items - tells me that he is a scammer or at the very least irresponsible person I'd never deal with. Not something I'd classify as a depression.

 

[fbf]

Speaking of which, it happened to me once: sold something to someone on west coast (me on east), I sent the package via USPS priority the next day and informed the buyer as well. Heard nothing back from him for 3-4 weeks so I assumed everything went fine. Got an email later from the buyer saying he didn't receive anything. lol. Luckily I kept the tracking form from USPS and it showed that they tried to deliver the package but failed to do so 3 times. I received the returned package from USPS just yesterday...
It took almost a month since the day I shipped the package.

 

[srtiwari]

I think its time...

I think its time...

I have looked at his earlier posts, and even recently this person has talked about owning a ZI, Leica lenses, and 2 M8s, and dreaming of buying an MP.

This thread has certainly been balanced in offering explanations other than the obvious. If there has been a genuine mistake, the person will certainly be able to explain it here, and clear up the mystery. However, until that occurs, the likelihood remains that I have been the victim of a scam, and I would recommend NOT dealing with -

CARL MOGERLEY,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

cmogi10


Sadly, an April 2008 post by him reads-
Don't hate because we're smart enough to cheat.;


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[Gumby]

This is why I never buy or sell on RFF... or buy/sell stuff to family or friends. (Didn't Ben Franklin have a saying about this??) I'd rather do all of my transactions on ebay where the "community" is better policed.

I sincerely hope that this situation is quickly resolved to the satifaction of both parties.

 

[pevelg]

CARL MOGERLEY,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA

cmogi10

Actually, this member has been mentioned here before for scam in an older scam thread. I had one dealing with him for a 35mm Biogon. It took a couple weeks for me to get the item, but I did get it. I hope things resolve for the better for you.

 

[elshaneo]

It's very sad to read that a fellow RFF member here did scammed you. But You did the right thing by filing the item not received with Paypal.

I believe that a transaction should always be a "two way process", once the money is in, the item should be posted at once or a day after, there cannot be any excuses no matter what.

In my case, I sold a few cameras and lenses here, never had a problem yet. And I always made sure that the buyer was well informed about everything in the transaction.

I hope that eventually you will get your money back or at last the MF Kit at your door.

 

[climbing_vine]

So, has anyone ever bought from him and not gotten their shipment?

No?

So this is pretty nasty. You need to get the item or get your money back, no doubt. Yesterday. But the guy has never absconded with anybody's money from what we're hearing. Calling him a "scammer" sounds like libel to me. Say "he's slow so if you're impatient then beware", but that is utterly different.

This is just wrong.

 

[climbing_vine]

I believe that a transaction should always be a "two way process", once the money is in, the item should be posted at once or a day after, there cannot be any excuses no matter what.

Unsurprisingly, given that this is a collector's forum to a large extent, there seem to be a lot of people here with a certain sort of rule-loving obsessive streak. This is totally absurd. So if someone's wife dies in a car wreck on way home that day, the first thing they should think about is sending a package? Or even emailing you?

It'd be nice if they did, but jesus christ. This is sick and absurd.