johnnyhungus
Active Member
A problem has arisen whilst dealing with a trader/Premium Member of the forums.
Trader posted an interest run of an item, to which I added my interest and further to this, placed a deposit. Prior to doing so, I stated how much of a perfectionist I am and how I like things to be right and to my satisfaction, to which the trader was in agreement, he would not send anything out unless it was perfect.
I have made one other payment to him and on reflection, should have been less trusting, especially as the PayPal email address was not in his name (his name I had to ask several times for and eventually got it!).
I was shown a few photos and we exchanged emails and messages on this forum.
My warning alarm sounded when I found it difficult to get hold of this trader and had to ask an associate of his to get in touch with him. Some excuses came about how he would never ignore me and he did not see my emails as he was changing his server. I posted messages to him on the RPF, I am not sure why he didn't reply to me on here.
In our email exchanges, the trader offered to send me something to help me out with my own sculpture (this never happened) which raised another alarm to me.
Amongst all of our conversations (which have not been many) the trader moved from one email address to another (his domain) which is fine and was telling me how his website was going to come online soon. I thought this was great as it would give me some confidence in the trader and his overall abilities and not just leaving it to blind trust, which is what I was doing.
Nothing. No website has appeared.
At this point, I had made two payments to the trader and started to ask more questions, my levels of patience were being worn and I was fast losing confidence.
I understand that people are busy but if you are taking someone's money, you have a duty and responsibility to keep them happy. I don't expect to be spoken to everyday but I do expect prompt responses to my questions.
To cut a long story short, the trader showed me some photos of the product, which was far from perfect and also been painted up (which we agreed on a custom paint job) - this led to more suspicion as it seemed as if the product was prepped already and not fresh, ready to be customised to my specification, as agreed. Also, the product was far from perfect, as already discussed.
I sent multiple messages to the trader with no response. I also saw him online at one point on the RPF, so he would have seen my messages for sure.
Still no response.
After nearly 3 weeks of waiting, I got in touch with his associate again asking if he could get in touch with the trader. By this time, I have had enough of this and have lost all confidence in the trader, it appears I am not the only one as his associate had fallen out with him too, for various reasons.
Miraculously, the trader got in touch by email, a couple of days after he got my message from his associate, knowing I was not happy. What arrived was an email, containing the usual stuff - excuses, words of how he would never ignore me etc.
I replied immediately, with my feelings and a couple of options on how to go forward, I expected a reply by return, this is how people do business, especially if your customer is not happy. I got nothing, so yet again asked his associate to get in touch, otherwise I would post on the RPF. I got an email telling me he would reply in the morning and he was not ignoring me. I have not seen a reply yet and that was over a day ago, he has also been on the RPF and has definitely seen my messages.
I realise people are busy, running their businesses and lives but it is the responsibility of the trader to step up, especially as he has my money - you do not take someone's money without being held accountable.
If it was me and I had taken a person's money and they were unhappy, I would do everything I could to make sure that person was happy and the situation sorted out PROMPTLY.
Anyway, I am not happy to give this trader any more money, especially after this. He stated that the deposit I gave him is not refundable but I have not seen that anywhere and I have his original thread open on my web browser.
There are a lot more odd and suspicious things that raised my alarm bell, that I could put here but I will hold off for now.
I am not one to unduly damage someone's reputation, yet, this trader was explicit in saying that he would not risk his reputation, just for this product he was selling.
Well, as far as I am concerned, he has damaged it with me and I am not happy. I don't want to work in this sloppy and manner.
My options to this trader were:
Fully refund my money (nowhere was it stated that the deposit was non-refundable until his recent email)
or
Finish the product, send it to me and if it is as perfect as you say, then I will pay the balance immediately.
Trust goes both ways.
I have lost trust in this trader by the way he has operated, so I believe that it is now up to the trader to build it again and my options are fair.
Before I give the name of this trader (I have given multiple warning of doing this), I would like some feedback from the forum please.
Just to add, I sent the money as PayPal gift, not because of the fees but because I had no reason to distrust this person, before anyone says it.... more fool me, though I am not sure how much protection it would actually give.
Trader posted an interest run of an item, to which I added my interest and further to this, placed a deposit. Prior to doing so, I stated how much of a perfectionist I am and how I like things to be right and to my satisfaction, to which the trader was in agreement, he would not send anything out unless it was perfect.
I have made one other payment to him and on reflection, should have been less trusting, especially as the PayPal email address was not in his name (his name I had to ask several times for and eventually got it!).
I was shown a few photos and we exchanged emails and messages on this forum.
My warning alarm sounded when I found it difficult to get hold of this trader and had to ask an associate of his to get in touch with him. Some excuses came about how he would never ignore me and he did not see my emails as he was changing his server. I posted messages to him on the RPF, I am not sure why he didn't reply to me on here.
In our email exchanges, the trader offered to send me something to help me out with my own sculpture (this never happened) which raised another alarm to me.
Amongst all of our conversations (which have not been many) the trader moved from one email address to another (his domain) which is fine and was telling me how his website was going to come online soon. I thought this was great as it would give me some confidence in the trader and his overall abilities and not just leaving it to blind trust, which is what I was doing.
Nothing. No website has appeared.
At this point, I had made two payments to the trader and started to ask more questions, my levels of patience were being worn and I was fast losing confidence.
I understand that people are busy but if you are taking someone's money, you have a duty and responsibility to keep them happy. I don't expect to be spoken to everyday but I do expect prompt responses to my questions.
To cut a long story short, the trader showed me some photos of the product, which was far from perfect and also been painted up (which we agreed on a custom paint job) - this led to more suspicion as it seemed as if the product was prepped already and not fresh, ready to be customised to my specification, as agreed. Also, the product was far from perfect, as already discussed.
I sent multiple messages to the trader with no response. I also saw him online at one point on the RPF, so he would have seen my messages for sure.
Still no response.
After nearly 3 weeks of waiting, I got in touch with his associate again asking if he could get in touch with the trader. By this time, I have had enough of this and have lost all confidence in the trader, it appears I am not the only one as his associate had fallen out with him too, for various reasons.
Miraculously, the trader got in touch by email, a couple of days after he got my message from his associate, knowing I was not happy. What arrived was an email, containing the usual stuff - excuses, words of how he would never ignore me etc.
I replied immediately, with my feelings and a couple of options on how to go forward, I expected a reply by return, this is how people do business, especially if your customer is not happy. I got nothing, so yet again asked his associate to get in touch, otherwise I would post on the RPF. I got an email telling me he would reply in the morning and he was not ignoring me. I have not seen a reply yet and that was over a day ago, he has also been on the RPF and has definitely seen my messages.
I realise people are busy, running their businesses and lives but it is the responsibility of the trader to step up, especially as he has my money - you do not take someone's money without being held accountable.
If it was me and I had taken a person's money and they were unhappy, I would do everything I could to make sure that person was happy and the situation sorted out PROMPTLY.
Anyway, I am not happy to give this trader any more money, especially after this. He stated that the deposit I gave him is not refundable but I have not seen that anywhere and I have his original thread open on my web browser.
There are a lot more odd and suspicious things that raised my alarm bell, that I could put here but I will hold off for now.
I am not one to unduly damage someone's reputation, yet, this trader was explicit in saying that he would not risk his reputation, just for this product he was selling.
Well, as far as I am concerned, he has damaged it with me and I am not happy. I don't want to work in this sloppy and manner.
My options to this trader were:
Fully refund my money (nowhere was it stated that the deposit was non-refundable until his recent email)
or
Finish the product, send it to me and if it is as perfect as you say, then I will pay the balance immediately.
Trust goes both ways.
I have lost trust in this trader by the way he has operated, so I believe that it is now up to the trader to build it again and my options are fair.
Before I give the name of this trader (I have given multiple warning of doing this), I would like some feedback from the forum please.
Just to add, I sent the money as PayPal gift, not because of the fees but because I had no reason to distrust this person, before anyone says it.... more fool me, though I am not sure how much protection it would actually give.