WARNING! UPS store offering po boxes with street addresses.

[KAMIKAZE]

I just got burned on an ebay deal with a person that used a UPS store mailbox with a street address. I might have lost my money if I had not
explained to the lady that this little creep had been abusing his mailbox.
She agreed to give me his address if I didn't tell him where I got it.So I drove to New Orleans and confronted him at about 10 o'clock that night.
Immagine his surprise! Lucky for me this guy was dumb enough to leave his home address with the UPS store.I threatened him and told him I was not leaving without my money.He told me that the police were on the way.I told him I would love to tell them my story.Total bluff on his
part.After about 10 minutes of this he finally admitted trying to cheat me.

I don't know if driving 9 hours in worth $100.00 but it gave me a lot of satisfaction knowing that I caught this bastard.Just thought I would warn the rest of the board in case you run into a similar circumstance.

Mark

[macvsog]

Wow-

Thanks for the heads-up on that... hmmm.. ebay and such should notify them of the problem that they are creating for online transactions.

I bet they will change it, not right away, but if there are enough problems, they will.

And as for driving 9 hours - sounds like something that i would do... and good for you for actually taking one of these guys down - but do be carefully - i would hate to see some crazy nut do something rash if confronted with his own immoral actions. but again, it's something i would do...

haha - i can only imagine his face and the satisfaction that you must have...

good job

-mike-

[macvsog]

also: did you report him to ebay? he should get kicked off and banned for that?

[tmanthegreat]

I almost got burned when I sent a guy an XD Bombed French Building that he won from me on Ebay. In retrospect, there were a few common sense things I should have done (such as getting a tracking #), but to make a long story short, I sent the package first class the day after I recieved his payment. Three weeks go by and that was more than long enough for the product to go from California to Virginia. I start getting e-mails from this guy saying that he never recieve the package, wants his money refunded, will leave negative feedback, contact the authorities, etc. etc.

The catch was that his package was sent and arrived on time. It went to a PO box at a US Post Office and the Post Office had been holding the package behind the counter for two weeks. He never bothered to take note of the slip that should have been left in the PO box and never inquired about the package at the counter down the hall!

There are plenty of idiots and malcontents out there, and its too bad such systems as ebay aren't entirely foolproof to weed out less-than-honorable people.

[aferguson]

Good going, Mark. The $100 was not the main issue in your situation and you done good.

The only trouble with confronting someone is you never know who you're dealing with and whether or not the situation could get ugly/violent. But since we've seen that the police are uninterested in pursuing such matters then what choice does one have?

As far as Ebay goes...make sure you leave negative feedback and describe as fully as possible what he tried to pull......even if he leaves retaliatory negative feedback you've got to warn other people. Also, contact ebay at [email protected] and describe in detail what happend. They will say they can't get involved yadda yadda but if they have other similar complaints they will shut him down.

I sell a lot of stuff on ebay and occassionally get someone who says they didn't get their stuff and makes all kinds of threats. Almost always it is a misunderstanding of some kind and resolves itself in time but there was one time the other person was trying to pull a fast one.

The best way to handle it is by saying: "Check with your local post office as maybe a delivery notice was overlooked or not sent out. Also, check with neighbours in case it was delivered to them by mistake. I'm sorry i can't be responsible for packages that get lost in the mail. You had the option of insurance but declined. If you review my feedback you will see i am a very honest seller and can confirm your package was shipped to the address you indicated. If you honestly feel i have cheated you then you are free to leave negative feedback. I must advise you that i will be obliged to do the same to you to indicate that you claim you have not received your goods. Many buyers try this ploy in order to get a refund from the seller and others need to be advised. Please let me know if i can be of help. Regards....."

Unless they truly feel cheated they won't bother to leave negative, they realize they have zero chance of getting any money out of me and will just drop it...

[macvsog]

I had an idea:

Does anyone out there think that if we started a petition and sent it to all types of boards - i mean anything - and had ebay corporate in on it - so that they could send it out to their users, we could then have ebays backing and its members and other online communities and then have it sent to major police departments around the U.S. Canada and such - that then perhaps the police would take this more seriously?

If a compnay like ebay makes a plea for police to become more involved in criminal activities and it has teh backing of citizens then they have to pay attention.

If they don't - then i honestly don't know why anyone needs the police - they are their to peacefully resolve problems etc etc.

maybe its too crazy... there could just be a website - and people could go there and sign it etc.

well maybe it's crazy - just thinking about the overall good of us collectors and everyone else.

-mike-

[Teamski]

Hardcore! And, bravo!!!!

-Ski

[Big Duke 6]

Man, I thought I was nuts, next time give me a call for back-up, I am 45 minutes from N.O. (LOL) Glad it worked out, not to sound like a broken record, but heed this advice given to me buy a Force Recon Marine "Never mess with someone you do not know, you never know who you are dealing with" Especially at 10:00 pm on a Sunday in New Orleans, man there are places there I do not go to in the daytime.


BD6

[immeww2]

Gotta hand it to you fella. That took some bravery to confront someone like that. Glad it worked out for ya. Hope that guy learned a lesson!

[Mr. Football]

Kazi, are you in Houston?

Houston's about 4.5 hours from N.O., so I deduced that your 9 hour drive was there and back. Hope you got to enjoy some of Mardi Gras while you where there.

I would bet that guy was pretty damned shocked to see you.

[Quixote511]

I am proud---Hey, anyone wanna join up with me for a trip to Richmond, Indiana. I think there is someone we need to visit.
Aaron

[kenhil2]

way to win one for the little guy kam

[KAMIKAZE]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys.Sometimes I do things
just because I'm pissed off (I'm an escaped mental patient with a history of violence) .It was dumb luck that I even found the creep's house.
The whole area was swamp and bayou country.


Quixote511: I have realatives in Xenia Ohio. Get my drift.

Aferg: Good advice as usual.I'm going to have to start calling you dad.

Mrfootball:I live in San Antonio.Anytime you are in town give me a call.
(210-656-7074) my office.

Macvsog:You are clearly a psychopath. I like that.If you lived next door
my wife would definately not let me come outside and play army
with you.We are too much alike!


Mark

[ParatrooperCarbine]

Off to Ohio. Or Indiana. I'll bring the beer!!

[immeww2]

And I'll bring the dogs. Not the kind you eat but the kind that has 4 legs and bites.

[ParatrooperCarbine]

We can play Keep-Away with his spleen...

[JOC]

I don't know if this fits here, but about three weeks ago, a fellow was convicted of mail fraud here in Bellingham for selling car engines on eBay and not sending the items buyers purchased. He was supposedly selling new car engines, but would ship junkers. Postal Inspectors and local police caught up with him, and the County Prosecuter took care of this guy. Seems eBay cooperated with the investigators to get this guy.

[tmanthegreat]

Perhaps that will eventually happen to that Audie Murphy character!

[sakuraba]

It will take alot for scam artists to be arrested. I saw on the news the other day a story about a guy that sold dogs on the internet at a thousand dollars a pop and ended up scamming 6 people for a total of $6,000. The news crew went to the guy's house, but he wasnt home. They later contacted the authorities and the DA's office said he will consider prosecuting, but the city gets about 5,000 or (50,000 Im not too sure) complaints like this a year and can only advise that the buyer beware.