Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

Ok, i'm not sure this belongs here but this is the only forum i really use and trust so i seek your help. So i posted one of my Traxxas Slash for sale or trade and found a guy with an Emaxx that wanted to trade, he has good ratings dating all the way back to 2004, we both agreed to ship on Wednesday November 30th, well i shipped the slash out no problems but he stated he didn't get a chance to ship the Emaxx, i have contacted him over and over again trying to get a straight answer but nothing. What should i do, or better yet, what can i do?? I have already considered consulting a lawyer, and contacting the police in his area but i need advice from someone wiser than I before i take extreme measures.

Foxy

Need dates in order to make a judgment. It always pays to be patient in these situations. If the guy has good feedback give hima chance, he may have just had some kind of upheaval in his life, you never know. Anyway, tell me the dates of communication and what was said and I'll tell you what I'd do.

Also, was this done via formal offer here on RCU? What was the media in which the deal was made?

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

Not really much you can do..

How did you ship your Slash?

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

If you sent your Slash through UPS of FedEx you can call and have the Slash sent back to you but if you sent USPS you are out of luck.

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

Foxy, it started on Sunday 11/27 and he had good communication with me until I sent the tracking # for the package I sent. Like I said we agreed to ship on 11/30 but he gave me an excuse why he couldn't, he forgot to get packing supplies. I have tried contacting him numerous times through here and email. Yes it was a legitimate offer done through the market here on RCU, he made an offer on the slash and vice versa, the reason I'm jumping to conclusions is I have been scammed before through the market on here and the way this one is playing out is about the same as the other one except a lot more property value is at risk here.

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

Yep I did send USPS but i'm going to call on Monday and put a forward in on that package, basically like I once lived there at his address and the shipper made an error and used the wrong address so I forward it to my new address.

yakfish

My Feedback: (27)

Sometimes stuff comes up. There have been times when I can't get to a computer to check email and what not for a couple days at a time. I would give him a couple more days before I took any drastic action. Unfortunantly there is always a degree of risk involved when we do "internet deals". I like to deal face to face whenever possible but sometimes its not and we just have to weigh the risks. I really hope everything works out for you, and if he has the rating you say he has I will bet that it wil work out just fine!
good luck!

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

Why in the world would you wait till Monday to call? I would do it now.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Why don't you just tell them what really happened? No sense in making stuff up if you have a legitimate reason.

nitrosportsandrunner

i would be a tad more patient. give the guy till sat night before you assume he hasnt shipped.

not all are prompt about sending emails and letting people know they shipped. this doesnt mean that he hasnt shipped tho.

i recently had to delay some shipments of stuff i sold on ebay cause i had a kidney stone. i had to go to the ER and get some wicked pain killers.
was laid up for a couple of days.

when i felt better i let the buyers know and got the packages out ASAP.

so, its possible you have not been scammed, and that its just a delay.



however, if you havent heard from him by monday, then by all means get the packaged returned to you if you can.

amazing to me that some people will lie and steal over RC stuff! I mean, its cool, but how lame are you if you scam fellow rc hobbiest?

Foxy

Yeh I would give the guy more time before starting anything. It's not like waiting a few days is going to make any difference if he HAS scammed you, but if he hasn't it will make all the difference. The last time you were scammed on RCU did you talk to JWN (the marketplace mod) about it?

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

I'm waiting because Foxy is right, maybe something came up.

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

I'm waiting until Monday, and you are right, maybe something came up but regardless he should communicate with me.

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

Very true, and yeah last time I was scammed I opened a formal case etc. and all you guys could do was suspend the user.

xON3MERCx

Wait the heck with that. A deal was made if he could not hold up his end of it then you have everyright to do what it takes to get your stuff back. No matter what happened he should have contacted you and let you know the details. Sucks though but yeah dont wait if you held up your part then you have to the right to get your stuff back. Next time try UPS alot better when trying to get your stuff turned around.

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

Thats my argument, I did everything as planned and discussed but i feel like he burned me. I don't know what my next step would be because no crime was committed, it may be a white collar internet scam but the authorities would say its a civil matter and to file a small claim but that wouldn't be very cost effective. He doesn't realize the damage he is actually doing if it is a scam. The trade was for my nephew, he is 8 years old, and he has a learning disability, he's basically an 8 year old with the mentality of a 4 year old. Before anyone flames me or Bashes me, no the Emaxx wasn't for him to drive, he loves watching me and his dad drive, it brings a huge smile to his face. The slash i traded was perfect, brushless and all with RPM upgrades all around, and a brand new body that my nephew watched and helped me paint(he got to pull off the masking tape.) The reason i traded the slash is because we went to monster jam and he said to me, wouldn't that be cool if you had a truck like that, well i was going to surprise him by having one but on a smaller scale. Its truly heartbreaking if this guy totally ripped me off and i do plan on pursuing this legally no matter what it takes.

cheezer1222

My Feedback: (3)

I'd maybe give it another few days for a response, but I wouldn't wait too long to do something. I had a similar situation happen to me. Traded a truck for a boat. After 5 months and many legal threats, the other guy finally sent out the boat he was supposed to send out on day 1 (kinda). He had my $500+ truck and I got a boat hull and hardware worth (maybe) $300. POS human being stripped the engine and electronics. Worst deal of my life. Don't let that sort of thing happen to you.

Lightning Fan

My Feedback: (17)

This same deal happened to me, except the goods were two airplanes, 25% CAP and a Cub.
I am in Wisconsin and the other guy was in New York.
The deal was that I send the Cub, the guy uses my crate to send the CAP to me.
Cub goes out by Greyhound, received ... communications stop.

I got myself into the same state you are in now. Very angry, and feeling powerless.
The guy would respond every now and again with excuses about his mom in the hospital, him in the hospital, etc. I gave him ... months.I called a lot at different times and emailed.

So, I finally realized that he had to belong to a local RCClub ... the AMAhas the names of club presidents. I contacted the likely clubs and came up a winner with one. I arranged to talk to the club president, who was surprised, because "John is a great guy". The pres talked to him, and suddenly the guy is angry at me for ruining his name, and he ships the CAP.
In the last exchange with the guy,I realized that this was not a scam ... the guy is just incredibly lazy and a procrastinator. He just neede some adult supervision to get going.

I know the truck guys do not have a national org to fall back on, but the point of this is that while legal means exist ... it can be expensive, and lead to a lot of effort for no gain. Another method is to find a way to apply local peer pressure. It is easy to ignore a guy thousands of miles away, but not so easy with someone you know. Is there anyone in the are the guy lives in that you know? Is there a fellow modeler you could find in the area that would talk to him? Think of this problem as trying to get a lazy kid to clean his room. Make it painful not to send the goods.

If it does not work out, make sure you let the RCU guys know so nobody else gets burned. Good luck!!

Sunfirefoot

My Feedback: (30)

He finally shipped it today, a week later after he of course received his package, if he wanted me to ship first, a simple negotiation would've worked. Thanks everybody for giving your helpful input.

xON3MERCx

I think he should still be reported. A week later no that sounds fishy to me. I would also make sure that you get what was agreed on. If he is telling the truth about being late on sending it or not he needs to be flagged as "FISHY" or how ever they do it.

Foxy

If things work out 'acceptably' if not always completely fairly, then people should not initiate cases, it just adds to the 'sue you' culture, and leads to people taking advantage of other people. As long as nobody lost anything except maybe a few extra days waiting, then all is ok in the end. Give them a poor rating for communication if possible, but leave it there. I've given a few people scares in my time simply because I'm lazy, but I did always communicate.

pyromatic177

i guess people are just slow sometimes. but it does drive me nuts when people dont ship stuff out

JRockZ

Hmmmmm i just read this thread, i work a small part time job and what i do basically is i deliver a letter to people behind on thier car or house payments, i document the address with photos and if they are home i hand deliver the letter and ask them to please call about their account asap, some of these cases i have to have them call while i am present and or call myself IF the borrower refuses to call. This is called a Field Agent position. I think im going to mention to my boss that we should start a company doing this sort of thing on items that were shipped/not shipped/ paid for/ not paid for etc,,,,
I would think if this guy with the Emaxx had someone come knock on his door and deliver a letter demanding him to ship the item asap or other actions will take place would get him to do the right thing and ship it off, if that didn/doesnt work then when he sees the person taking pictures of his home and the cars in the driveway etc,,,, He would then ship Hahahaa. If he never did shhip or it was 30-60 days after the letter was delivered then i would take him to small claims or do whatever action needs to be done to rectify the situation,,,,

Would anyone on here be willing to pay and extra 30-40 bucks to get that letter delivered and maybe actually get their package? Of course if its a 100 dollars or less item i would guess not but at least there would be an option to send some scare tactics lol.

Foxy

It's not a bad idea, but business would be slow until realised they had this option. HAving someone turn up at your doorstep asking what's going on is surprisingly effective without needing to be threatening or abusive, it just gives people the wake up call they need and reminds them they aren't out of reach just because they conducted a transaction through the internet. I used to work for a debt collections company back in the UK, some of these agents are pretty good and very clever at finding people.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Alternatively we could help each other out not in the name of financial gain.