Potentially ripped off by another forum member

[richey]

DSW I hate you didnt get a chance at the old stuff. We have had several older ladies in our community that did about the same thing. A couple of days after the funeral everything was hauled off. Sad but thats the way it is. I think I need to make a list of my old junk and let my family know what it is.

I have been on the forum less than an year and I enjoy seeing what folks have for sale. I think it is an asset to this forum. I hate to get ripped off but it happens in other aspects of our lives occassionally and its hard to swallow. My impression of the members on this forum is that 99.99% of them are honest and will bend over backwards to make things right. I lean toward keeping the buy sale trade available. Hopefully our fellow member will get his equipment. richey

[SWells]

Milkbone, you are calling the shots here. After a fair amount of time to respond, feel free to let everyone know who to watch out for...screen name, real name, city etc. We Mods need to get together and set up a "Bad Seller/Buyer" sticky.

[Scott Young]

DSW, I think there should be a hanging! I was mad after reading your post.

[gnm109]

I see a few downsides to that type of procedure. Guys who really want to come and sell just make a few pointless posts..." hey great job", "looks good" etc to meet the minimum number and then just go on as they always have. Chances are making 10-20 posts won't slow them down at all. I know I've made posts like that on a couple of diesel forums so I could get enough posts to start a thread and ask a specific question I needed answers to. I hated to just make "filler" posts, but that was my only choice.


On the other hand you are possibly discouraging people who may have stuff members may be interested in getting at a good price. As the population ages, more and more people who grew up working with their hands are passing away. Their children or grand children often don't have any interest in these sorts of things. That gives them two choices about what to do with the "junk" their family member collected, sell it or trash/scrap it. I see a lot of good stuff that goes out to "trash" simply because family members don't want to be bothered with the hassle of a sale often, They just call these "haul the junk" guys or scrappers and off the stuff goes to the scrap yard. I know of several people whose family members had a knee jerk reaction and sent a lot of very valuable stuff off to the landfill or scrappers partially because it was easy and painless to get it done that way, and partially because they really didn't have an understanding about what that "rusty old item" was really worth to someone who knew what it was.

Case in point: My helper's family was trying to sell off the grandfathers old farm house and property. There was a beautiful old pedal powered grind stone partially buried under the roof of an old barn along with some old farm implements, tractors with iron rims, scythes, a few adzes, iron horse draw plows, several beautiful brass and iron heating grates from the old coal furnace. We had been trying to get a few antique dealers out to look at the stuff to appraise and buy it and give us an idea what the family could get for the stuff we'd dug out and set by the barn doors so far. Well it turns out the other side of the family decided to take a few days off and "help" "clean up" the place to get it ready for sale without letting anyone else know. They simply called in a scrapper who hauled off a couple old tractors we had buyers lined up for, along with any other piece of metal that was or wasn't nailed down. They even pried out or cut the hand made barn hinges ( both from the wrecked doors as well as the good ones) and took a cutting torch to the grind stone. All we found on Saturday when we showed up was the stone ( broken so they could get the axle shaft out of the stone), a few small remnants they torched off when they couldn't get the hinges out of the posts and the scythe and adze handles someone sawed off. They also called in one of those "haul the junk" guys who cleaned out all the furniture from the house he was looking to put up on CL or sell to the antique dealers. I was really ticked I missed out on a chance at all his grandfather's old firearms. His wife hauled them all down to a local gun shop and just gave them to the shop because she wasn't a big fan of guns and didn't want them in the house. A couple of really nice antique 16 ga side by sides, that had a fair amount of engraving and value went away for free before I found out that his grandfather had died.

When my mother's aunt died many years ago in Illinois, the relatives swooped in like locusts. They removed every last stick of furniture, all of the dishes, a 1911 Colt .45, several classic shotguns, a vintage john Deere Tractor, a running Model A sedan, all of the tools and tack in the barn and you name it. They picked it clean in less than two days.

The family that robs together, stays together.

[WelderBill]

I will make another post when I have given up trying to contact the person. Thanks for the continued concern.

Did you get the rest of your stuff ?

If not, Then let us know who the person is.

[Milkbone]

Ok, after several attemps of trying to contact the person I will share what happened.

The forum member "Bird" had a Miller 12vs feeder for sale.
The long and short of it is we managed to figure out a deal for $1400 (Delivered) for the feeder (like new condition) a used M-25 mig gun and a Miller pedal. I figured that with the Miller pedal the deal was fair.

I used USPS Money Orders and sent them off. He replied that he recieved the payments and would send the feeder and pedal out and provide a tracking number. He never sent the tracking number and it took almost three weeks to get the feeder and mig gun but thankfully they showed up, it is in very good condition.

The problem is that the pedal was not shipped with the feeder and has not showed up yet. I have tried several times to contact the seller with not so much as a reply, I also check the forum here to see if he has logged in and he hasn't. I have e-mailed and messaged through the forum.

Here is his contact information:
Tom Pattison
Plantsville, CT
sales@pdfperformance.com
Forum name: "Bird"

If for some reason the pedal shows up I will respond, apologise and update this thread. Please beware and if anybody runs into this guy on the forum please let him know I still waiting for the pedal.

Thanks

[tire fire]

That sucks. I was close to having this happen to me a couple months ago. A member from another forum was selling some car parts I needed for my build so after some texting, PM's, emails and a phone call I decided to purchase the parts. He answered every message I sent him promptly...until he received the $1,200. Then I didn't hear from him again. He was in Texas I live in Pa. After 10 days I filed a claim through paypal and started a thread about my ordeal on the forum. Much like you I didn't want to name him or trash him too much since he may have had some personal problems that held him up but after 10 days his only excuse could've been death. As far as I'm concerned if you call some ones cell phone a couple times over 2-3 days and they don't answer or call back they're avoiding you. After 13 days of him maintaining radio silence he issued me a full refund through paypal and said it was a big misunderstanding. I still can't figure that out. We were totally clear on the phone. He said what he had and what he wanted for it I said ok got his paypal address and sent the money, he text me back he received it and would ship it out the next day. That was it.

Unfortunately buying on the internet, or anything used for that matter comes down to trusting the seller and your gut. It doesn't matter how many posts they have or how knowledgeable they are about the products on the forum. It comes down to honesty and trustworthiness. I hope you get everything you paid for and it's everything you expected it to be, or receive a partial/full refund. But your in a tough spot right now with this.

One thing other boards that I'm on have that this one doesn't have which I think helps is a Trader Feedback Rating. Much like ebay there's a little number by a members login and you can click on that number and see feedback from other members who have dealt with the person trying to sell their stuff. I always check it before I consider a purchase.

Jeremy

[gnm109]

This fellow is well known on the internet. Open this link and then scroll down. According to the people on the linked thread, he got a free motorcycle and is using other people's emails to gain free items.

http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/774...eraider/page-3

And then this:

http://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/...ad.php?t=42793

And this:

http://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/...oostlee&page=2

Apparently he uses numerous different ID's and emails. The User Name "Bird" doesn't show any posts on this site.

[Milkbone]

This is the link to the "for sale" area.....

http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=291091

Thanks for the info, I will be tryiung some different angles.

[gnm109]

I just permanently banned him after seeing the many aliases & other bad info floating around about him. Thanks for posting the links gnm109.

Think it's safe to say we know what this guy is about.

You are very welcome. I only took a few minutes to find him. He's apparently a professional scammer.

[scooby074]

What a scumbag!

This brings me around to "ALTS". Forums should not allow alts in any way. Yes there are ways around it, but its a start. If your found to be an alt, all accounts related to that address should be banned.

[tire fire]

Thanks for the info, I will be tryiung some different angles.

What I try to do when I'm considering a purchase is look at as many things as I can number 1 to get a feel for the quality of the product, number 2 to get a feeling of the seller. Try to get pictures from all angles and ask questions about anything your not sure about. Are there nicks, scratches broken pieces, or parts missing? As they say a photo is worth a thousand words. Also it somewhat verifies the person actually has the product being advertised. Number 2 and this is easily as important as number 1, find out what you can about the seller. If there is a feedback section, I check it. I also click on the members log in and check some of the posts he/she has posted in the past. Were they helpful and knowledgeable or an ignorant a$$. You know they are going to be nice to you in the for sale ad, just like any good salesman. But what are they like in their other posts. This is a no brainer but make sure you know at least somewhat the value of what you are buying. I wouldn't buy something used for a few dollars less than what I can buy it new for. Do a search for what it costs new and what the going rate for it is used. That is 1 thing ebay is good for. Also search the guys login name, paypal email, and I have even gone as far as finding there address from old posts and looking up their neighborhood on googlemaps to see what part of town they live in. I know a little over the top but I work hard for my money and I don't plan on just giving it away.

I hope this helps somebody out and gives some ideas how to try and protect yourself. If anybody else has any ideas please share or pm me I'd like to know other things to do to be more secure.

Jeremy

[gypsywanderin]

Ebay is interesting went thru a whole arbitrary with them over a few dollars( i was to get a refund but never did) i did work my way up to bigger purchases... they gave me a full refund once on a GPS ... i think it was around $80 something+ shipping (but got a cd instead?) lol think they would put in rocks in a box to make up the weight.? I started using paypal right before that ... the last buy gone wrong had to deal with a new miller maxstar 150sth...learning experience !!!! I did get the part sent that was listed as a feature.(a fingetip control).. the guy has never fixed the posting either (reposted a dozen times since)lol it still even lists one of the processes as MIG and an electrode box is included?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370493250209...#ht_4868wt_842
just looked up the new 18 bad feed backs for the saler, seems he has alot of problems on how he lists items...and still has a 99.4% good feedback
one of the newer problems is that i used the bill-me-later crap... which is paypal ..which is ebay. my advice there is use your regular credit card to pay paypal ... as ebay tend to side with high sellers. ebay knows the credit cards will stop payment and makesure you getrefunded... the ebay credit will loop you around in circles.
Also print out the page of the item . it helps in making sure what you get what you paid for
i think if the seller is banned or if they close the account the post disappears
I am just starting to sell stuff on ebay and set up using paypal to collect

[zapster]

And with that...
A word to the wise..


BUYER BEWARE!

End of discussion.

...zap!