Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

barbene - 30.04.2012, 16:36
Dealing with unscrupulous sellers
I have an issue with a person who sold me a rare Abba item, and I am seeking any advice from anyone who had a similar problem.

The main problem behind this story is that the person in question is a high profile member of the fan community. I don't think they are a member here, although that does not really matter. I have met the person in the past and had good faith in them.

Last year, I was approached by this person who was selling several items from their collection in order to raise money for a family event. The items were all very attractive. The prices were high. I expressed interest in one item - a promotional umbrella from Japan.

Whilst I deliberated about whether to buy it or not, given that it was GBP 300, I received emails from the person encouraging me to make up my mind as they had interest from other people.

I finally decided to treat myself and go for it. I was asked to transfer the money quickly, which I did.

I then didn't hear anything. I emailed to ask if the money arrived. No reply. After a few chasers I finally got a reply to say that the money was received and the item would be posted.

It never arrived.

I chased regularly. On occasions I would get a very polite reply giving an excuse or two, about moving house, family events and so on. However, never once did I receive a confirmation the item was sent.

I was finally told the item had been posted, but not surprisingly it never arrived. Again I sent multiple chasers. Occasionally they were replied with (always polite) answers that they would check, but I never got any feedback until I chased again.

Finally after about 5 months of waiting I asked for a refund. Given that the postage was meant to include insurance, if the item was genuinely lost, they could claim. I received another polite reply to say a cheque would be sent, but of course nothing ever arrived.

I always found it strange that the seller was not proactive in their communication at all. Given the amount involved and the fact that they approached me, I would have expected a confirmation when the money was received, when the item was posted, asking if it arrived and was I happy. But in this case, they never sent one proactive email except to ask for the money.

The problem is that this person lives in Europe, and I live in Asia.

For me the loss of money is irritating but I am more angry about the way the person has so blatantly taken my money and clearly never had any intention of sending the item.

As you can see, I am being very careful not to reveal their identity as I think a lot of you would be surprised (or maybe not, I don't know) if I I revealed the name.

However, apart from venting, I am looking for any good advice that anyone can give.

Cheers
Neil

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

MADGE BOY - 30.04.2012, 18:12

What a horrid person! :(

I buy loads internationally but will only buy off ebay/ebid etc and always through paypal, because of their insurance.

I have on several occassion not received items, and lodged a dispute and have have money back.

It doesn't really help you now, but I would name and shame, to prevent anyone else from getting stung! :(

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

drimnagh - 30.04.2012, 20:44

:shock: I'm really very sorry to hear about this. I know it doesn't help but put it down to experience. I'm afraid I would 'name and shame' the low life but I suspect you're too nice a person to do this and I doubt forum rules would allow it anyway. But if you don't do it here, I definitely would alert others elsewhere on the net- for the same reason stated- so he doesn't rip anyone else off. Why the hell should he be allowed to get away with it? And like someone stated- he has done it before! What a despicable person.
I hope his karma catches up with him, and soon.

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

johnny59 - 30.04.2012, 22:41

SAS737 wrote: It's a pity the forum doesn't require everyone to log in.


As a side note, this is done by purpose. Only the forum community section is not visible by non members but all ABBA stuff is. We want to keep the barriers low to let people know about the band.

And I can't see what difference it would make in this particular case.

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

hbotis - 01.05.2012, 04:33

Only pay by paypal, and watch the time limit (6 weeks I think) in posting "Did not receive items" on ebay and paypal. Done properly, Paypal will refund your money. The new Paypal system does help the buyer in this way.

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

Maxi-saxi - 01.05.2012, 06:08

Disgusting I only had one problem years ago dealing with a collector thru ebay thank goodness I payed by pay pal never received the item put in a complaint, E bay and pay pal were great I got my money back and the person was banned from ebay and paypal

Apparently she had done this before to other people


Any way I am a great believer in what goes round comes around They will get what they deserve
Maxi-saxi

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

sovgott - 01.05.2012, 10:32

I checked my account - two people attempted to buy the umbrella from the guy on the auction site. The ad was the same for both attempts - it "sold" for £206, then £205. In both cases the item was never delivered due to the illness of a family member/friend (I wasn't party to the other person's conversations, obviously, but there's reference to it in the feedback.)

That said, he does have over 4000 positives and just 5 negatives. I'm not quite sure what it is about the umbrella - maybe he decides to sell then realised he can't bear to be parted from it? Or perhaps he uses it as a payday loan facility - you know, bit short of cash for a couple of weeks, "sell" the umbrella and then give the cash back later. ;)

I don't know. I can see from his feedback that he's actually pretty good at delivering - he just seems to be unable to part with this one item!

Do not be tempted by promises of strangers bearing ABBA umbrellas, that's my new motto as of today. :D

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

sovgott - 01.05.2012, 11:04

I'm not sticking up for him - he ripped me off too! All I'm saying is that apart from the two failed umbrella sales, he only has three other negatives in over 4000 feedbacks - none of them were ABBA-related, and all three were for different items. The umbrella is the only thing that recurs.

What gets me is that the price has gone up to £300 since last year, even though it's never been sold.

The illness thing is mentioned in several of the negatives - although other people were continuing to buy things from him, and those were being delivered. Go figure, as they say.

It took me weeks to get my money back - at least a couple of months if I remember correctly, possibly more. There were lots of excuses - "I haven't got a tube for it", "I'll pop it in the post next time I'm in town", "friend is ill and I haven't been checking my mail". I actually felt bad about giving him a negative because he actually seemed like a nice guy - but business is business, and £200-odd is a lot of money to give away.

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

sovgott - 01.05.2012, 11:30

drimnagh wrote: Crikey! Well, I'm sorry to hear you've had difficulties, too. What a palava! Let's just hope the whole sorry saga gets sorted. Espeically for the person who started this thread.

I still smell a rat, however. The internet does that to you. People aren't always the way they appear/portray.

I'm glad to hear you got your dosh back, eventually.

The thing was, he kept asking for more time to send it, and because he seemed so nice I let him have it! (I know - more fool me...) But in the end I had to call a halt.

I just can't work out how someone who I'd heard of in the ABBA fan community could act dishonestly - and if it weren't for this thread, I'd still have taken the whole saga at face value: friend ill, couldn't send, refund issued (eventually), sorted. But to bump the price up by £100 and then still not send it is odd.

My one remaining theory is that he doesn't actually have the umbrella to sell. He's waiting for someone in Japan to send him one and they've let him down, but he doesn't want to admit it.

The trouble is, I have no idea how to resolve the OP's dilemma. I didn't know back then, and I still don't know. I just used PayPal to get a refund and forgot all about it until I saw this thread.

Re: Dealing with unscrupulous sellers

billydog - 01.05.2012, 12:16

barbene wrote: I have written to the Fan Club at least to alert them, as this is where I met th person at a Fan Club event where they held a prominent role.

:shock: I do try and stay as non-judgemental as possible in these issues and, thankfully, this isn't the type of thing you read here everyday but, I do think you've done the right thing Neil. The fanclub works so hard in all they do, I would hate to think someone is tarnishing their image.

S x