blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

well looks like i got ripped off by a guy in Terry, Montana..It all started January 2nd when I had a Area 51 gas engine that I wanted to trade for a smaller gas engine for my cub, he stated that he would pay for shipping and trade for a ccrc-26cc gas engine along with a money order from the post office for $80.00 for the cost difference of his 26cc engine, He posted an ad for a trade for his ccrc pro 26cc engine on RCU but closed it without accepting my offer. (I shipped the engine with haste to meet my dead line to get my plane in the air). After emailing back and forth we agreed to do the above trade. I shipped the engine 2day mail as he was supposed to do the same. Off the bat he stated he shipped the engine off the same time i did.He gave me a bogus fedex tracking number that was for another package he shipped going to texas..not here in NC.
after not recieving the engine for a week, and nuermous emails from him stating he sent the package via fedex, I contacted FEDex and check to see if any package was being shipped from terry Mt to my address. Fedex stated no package was scanned or shipped heading to my address.This was a total lie i found out. I emailed him back stating the fedex said he sent no such package from his address or from Terry Montana to my location. He basically said he shipped it and pleaded, but would go to the store where he shipped it .He gave me a story that they did not send the package since it smelled like gas. This to me was somewhat understandable and belivable. He also told me that the engine I sent him had a bad ignition and had some paper in the carb, which is completely false since I ran the engine on a stand right before I shipped it to him. It ran flawless, and had a new spark plug in it. I told him that was very, very odd since I just had it running. And I never ever had any issues with it. He stated he had to replace the carb at $60 dollars and how he is out of an engine and had to pay out of pocket BS. This whole time I still have not recieved the engine from him...1.5week later the engine arrives. the engine looks good and has the timing removed from it. After trying to get this engines timing correct, i try to start the engine. It never starts, after having a well known gear head from my airfield that knows gas engines for 15+ years fails to get the engine to start with new spark plugs and even an electric starter. We deem this engine a useless lemon. After emailing the orginial owner of all the difficulty were having, the outcome we had with it, I tell him that we need to figure out a solution and that the money order is still missing and has not came and how its well over due. He states send the 26cc back to him and he will send the area 51 engine back, at this time I never recieved the 80.00 money order that he claimed he shipped at the same time as the engine which to this very day (march 13th has not arrived.This was again a lie.) I ship back the ccrc pro and he complains how i scratched it up and it was not the same condition as when he shipped it after it being on a test stand it did have very little clamp marks on it which i thought were extremly minor and normally happen when you mount an engine. Also one sensor screw hole was already stripped when it arrived my my house. After 1-2 weeks of no replys to my emails or contact, I decided to contact the local sheriff and see what he can do. He stated that this guy was well known to police for fraud and other related stuff..after the police go talk to him he said he plans on shipping the engine back to me..its now march 13th and i still have no ccrc-pro engine in my hands nor do i have my area 51 engine or money order..out of $400.00 in engine. After harsh words with this guy, he tell me that I ripped him off by sending him an engine with a bad ignition and carb! But he had the engine running and flying. Now he has both engines. he then goes and tells me he will not send the money order and for me to sue him. I told him I'm not out to sue anyone, I just want my engine back..After telling him he can keep the money if he rethreads the sensor and gets the 26cc running and im ok with that. well that was about 8 days ago and still no motor I called him 4 days ago and he claims he shipped it via us snail regular mail about a week ago..I'm now severly POed..and ready to fly to montana. I still dont have the engine or money order.
I've bought and sold from RCU over 65 times with no problems until now...Its people like this that ruin the potential good experiences here, but I'm not going to let one bad rotten apple ruin this for me...I have the guys address & cell phone number and call him asking where the heck is the engine his last excuse was I got to check the reciept. Now i'm about ready for action. tired of the lies and want results...feeling a bit burned, I realize this is a civil matter, but would caution people about this member, also I was wondering what RCU could do on its end.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Contact JWN although when you bypassed the tools
I'm not sure what all he can do for you but give it a shot.

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

yeah, it stinks real bad this guy knew what he was doing from the start

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Not tyring to be cold hearted here, but it's as BarracudaHockey stated. Since the sale on RCU was closed and you did all of this "on the side" there is nothing that RCU can do about it. However, I will bring this to the attention of our Marketplace Moderator (JWN) just in case.

Ken

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

yeah I'm with you RCKEN,the thing is it was shipped before he accepted my offer,that was the understanding,so it wasn't supposed to be "under the table" but he obviously planned it that way to work a loop hole in the system, but yeah just feeling a lil shafted, any help would be greatly appreciated!

ChuckW

I had an experience a few months ago with a thief here on RCU. I mad an offer on two engines he had for sale, he accepted and i sent a Paypal payment. After a couple weeks I hadn't seen the engines so I contacted him. I got the standard "I shipped them last week, let me check with the post office". Couple more weeks went by and I contacted again. I got a different lie. This went on for a couple months. It was difficult to even get the guy to respond but I was able to find him at various forums and sites on the web with a Google search. Eventually I was able to get some solid contact information. None of it did any good though, I still never got the engines. I decided to file a complaint with Paypal before my time ran out to do so. He never responded to them and they reversed the transaction, giving me my money back. I also filed a complaint on RCU and he was booted off.

I complain about Paypal and their fees but they saved me in this case. I would have never seen my engines or my money again if it weren't for them. That's why I will always hesitate to do a trade on here; there is little protection. 98% of the time, they will probably go perfect because people are generally honest but when they go wrong it is no fun. If I were to do a trade with someone on here I think it would have to be with someone well known here or someone local/semi-loacal so that we could meet in person and see the items before trading.

I hate thieves.

bigtim

My Feedback: (13)

I have done several transactions on RCU with good results as a seller and buyer,and have also done trades but you really need to work within the RCU system

I would agree the fees on PayPal are steep, but there are also protections that ChuckW also pointed out that have there advantages, its also important to check a buyers reputation and rating before doing a deal, unfortunitely sounds like you were a little too eager and got taken advantage of.

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

How does working withing the RCU system actually protect you? Is it just the ability to rate each other at the end of the deal? I can see you have a paper trail with offers, acceptance, etc., but in the end if someone rips you off are you going to travel across the country to sue them, or is there more to it?

gunneredwards

My Feedback: (4)

I sure hope you can get that ******* in court... all you have to do is win and he will be liable for the court costs and the equipment in question. People like that need good people to step up and put them in their place, otherwise they will do it again. It's a shame the sheriff could not be of more assistance, but at least if it goes to court, the creep has a history with the law and the judge will see that he is a piece of xxxx
dan

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Its always funny to me to read things like this from people who think it would be easy to sue somone.

If it were that easy to get these guys, they wouldn't be out there. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you aren't going to get them to court due to the cost out of your pocket. You are better off to chock it up to tuition and say you learned something. It sux, but that is the way life is. I have seen the legal side of things. The only ones that win are the lawyers and the people on both sides get dragged through the dirt and thrown away trashed.

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

well flyboy, you might have some valid points, but you shouldnt just lay down and get rail roaded either and say "well i learned somthing". but whatever

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

RCU provides nothing other than a paper trail in this event. and a dang good way to network with the normal decent RC community.

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

Yeah dan i'm with you. problem is I dont have a surplus of money where I can drop $400+ on a normal bases, I have other needs to tend too as well, just stinks that I'm engineless and with a almost ready to fly plane..took me a very long while to save up that much..[] just an avg joe.

carrellh

If you do spend the time and money to go to Montana, you may or may not get the results you want.

Best case, you get one of the engines in whatever condition it happens to be in.

Winning a lawsuit gets you a judgement that may or may not be enforceable. State laws for civil matters vary and I have no idea what they are in Montana. Most likely though, you will waste a lot of time and money and still have neither engine.

In this case I think the bad guy wins.

Oberst

Sorry to read what happened. Just remember that one bad grape doesn't make the whole vine bad. Most here I found on RCU are very honest .


Pete

bruce88123

Too bad FLYBOY lives so far from him (530 miles) or you could ask him to pick the engine up for you. Darn, that's a big state.

armody

My Feedback: (10)

Those who cheat honest people they think they are smart, infact they are the biggest stupids plus they are cheating themselves and what goes around comes around sooner or later.

blhollo2> I wish you all the best and success in this case, I hope you get your money or your engine back and this guy has to pay what he did.

Mody

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

yeah, well he has got a few things coming to him karma is a b**ch, and i will make every effort to make his life a living hell, i might even post his rcu user name, his real name, where he works, his local hobby shop, his address and phone number..hate to be like that but well, when you try to rip off a cop your life suddenly turns into a personal hell.

ChuckW

I understand exactly how you feel and I would want to do the exact same. I would be careful however. Even though you are the one who got ripped off, you might be the one who gets punished somehow for posting any of his personal information. I know that seems ridiculous but it is a messed up world we live in sometimes.

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

yeah chuck, thought about that and all of it is public information and has no expectation of privacy there for it falls under public information either way i could careless, a dirt bag is a dirt bag. i dont even care about the loss anymore its the principal of the matter

LargeScale88

What is the guys username?

armody

My Feedback: (10)

Well, anybody at your place would do the same, but sometimes you leave things to higher authority or sometimes you handle it your way. I have left matters to God and they got what they deserved, infact they had it coming, so he has something coming soon.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

You never want to roll over. Do what you can. I almost got hosed on a $30,000 car last summer on ebay. he underestimated what I could do from here though.

Find another member from there. See if he can help.

Hopefully you can get it taken care of.

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

you sir are very right

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

he goes by the user name mikeee911