am i getting scammed?
 

here is the quick and simple version.

i bought a car from a guy here on the forum. i sent him the pay-pal for it on thurs dec 31-09. now the origanal deal was he was shipping as soon as he recived the money. but we both forgot with the holiday ( new years) that the p.o. was closed, so i sent him a email on friday jan 2-10 hes says his kid is in the hospital and he has not had time to make to the p.o. so i am like ok plz try to make it sooner then later. well i send a email every day to see if he has sent or for atleast a confermation number of the sent package. i finally get a email yesterday saying he has been waiting to get paid to so he has the money to ship out. ( remind you i payed extra on top of the agreed upon price to cover the shipping) so i say ok. now there where a couple emails in between these dates but all that was said is my kid is still in the hospital pretty much. so i finally send a email stating i want a confermation on shipping or a refund of my money. well here is a copy of the last email.


[B]from me to him[B]

From: [email protected]
To: BLOCKED ID BY ME
Subject: RE:
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 13:11:28 -0500

"hey bud. i know times are hard for you right now. i truly hope you kid is doing better. but plz can i get a confermation that you have sent out the car. i am sitting here waiting very ergerly and still nothing. i know you sign on to the forum every day so i know you get my pm's and i would assume you also check your email at the least daily. i send emails and pms and days before i hear back. well it has been a week now and still nothing. no car not even a confermation on the fact it has been sent. so i am asking for a confermation or a refund at this time, as i do have another car i can get and have here in time for this weekends events. once again i am sorry for the emails and pm's but i am sitting here not knowing anything other then the fact i sent the money agreed upon and i still have nothing. well hope to hear from you soon. thanks again and am sorry if this is a missunder standing."

and his response



RE: ‏
From: ALSO BLOCKED ID BY ME
Sent: Thu 1/07/10 4:53 PM
To: [email protected]


"listen man my family comes before anything... and that is bullshit i have told u threw this whole process what has been going on.... i keep u updated and email u once everyday or every other.. i told u the car will be mailed and to u by the weekend.... i am sorry for the delay but i had to wait till i get paid so i could ship it.. kus im running an hour and a half one way to the hospital and i have a ford expedition so moneys a little tight.. i spend over 500 on gas so far... so i had to wait till i got paid.... i am sorry.. u will have it soon, chill out"


so i do feel bad for his kid, but it is not like a guy scamming you is going to say it. so i am unsure if i should start the process of contacting pay-pal for my refund, or continue sitting here not knowing. also the deal was to have the car at my house before 1-10-10 as i have plans for a meet with friends at a indoor track this weekend.


well i am looking to see what you would do in this situation?

may i add this person does have a +1 trader rating but only 16 total posts.

Well, if his kid's in the hospital and his daily routines have been altered because of it, he probably isn't checking his email as frequently. I think you're a little aggressive with an email everyday. However...

I can't say I would be factoring in my gas consumption when I have a family emergency. Money would be the last thing on my mind. Using that as an excuse for not having money to pay for shipping is pretty weak to me


Sounds a little off to me, but its all entirely possible

well i do check his profile everyday to see if he has logged into the site. well guess what he signs in every morning.lol so that is why i am so/so on if i am getting scammed or not. i know he checks in here and i may be a little over whelming with the emails but at the same time all i know is i sent the money and still have and know nothing of the where abouts of my purchues. ( sp) so i do not want to jump the gun and be rude and at the same time i do not want to sit here and wait untill it is to late to do anything.

also i have read the scammers list and his name is not on it as of now. i was wondering where everybody gets the info on " joeshmuck" is listed on other sites under other names as a scammer. is there a web site to check there email address at?

I guess there are one in a million that do have ligit stories about there kids being sick.All the other scammersout there that use that story makes it hartd to believe the real ones. My bad for doubting the seller . Hope your kid gets well soon.

well i recived a email with a p.o shipping number. it is to early to check the number( i tried) but in the email he also said it would be here monday. so i guess i will no by monday if this is true or not.

I would have to say that you are. I go through a lot of RC cars and I buy and sell a lot of RC stuff on here as well as EBay.

Back in August of 2009 I had someone on EBay buy my old Traxxas Savage XL ... the auction ended at 1:32AM and at 5:22AM my daughter woke up running a 103 temp .. I got her in the car and shot to the hospital. I checked my EBay account on my Blackberry as well as my Paypal and the winning bidder had Paypal'd me the money already ... I emailed the seller telling him my situation BUT had said it would get out that day since my auction had said "Will ship upon Paypal payment". So at that time (10:50am) I had my girlfriend run all the stuff down to UPS and had UPS package it all and ship it. I eneded up eating the "packaging charge" but I'm an honest seller and business has to get done whether it pertains to my personal business or as simple as some RC business.

I've been given the story that you have been given in the past but I always DEMAND proof to validate their story whether it be a picture of their kid laying on the hospital bed or something. Its an a**hole move but hey you have $xxxx.xx amount of my money and you better give me some type of proof.

You could handle it many different ways .. ask for a picture or some type of proof that can validate his/her story .. file a claim through Paypal before its too late .. or simply just sit back and trust him.

Balls totally in your court .. I personally would ask for proof and he cannot provide it go DIRECTLY to Paypal and file a complaint.


Jay

well he sent the package. so his last email states. he did give me numbers to track it but with post office numbers they are about useless.lol they never update like ups or fed ex does. so i will try checking the numbers this evening again and see.

you are getting scammed, or BS'd, or both.

sure family comes first, but he has an obligation to ship out your goods you have paid for in good faith.

the BS about waiting to get paid to afford the shipping costs doesn't fly.
the BS about having a child in the hospital gets him 1-2 days leeway, otherwise if he has to drive to the hospital each day I would guess he could find a way to also sneak by the post office on the way.
if he has time to log on here each day, he has the time to go to the post office. I've never heard of a hospital that has WiFi.

FILE YOUR PAYPAL CLAIM NOW!!!!!!!!

The hospital by me has WiFi... Its a public unsecured SSID. However, they make you turn your phone off when you enter the building.. so yeah... real handy eh?

When was it shipped I have a number for a package that was shipped yesterday afternoon and it tells me when it was scanned in where it was scanned in and also how it was shipped I agree It won't track it to me but you should atleast have time date and how it was shipped and should show it being scanned in at the po it shipped from

the united postal service site says try back later it is to early to check try back later

If it was shipped today then it may not be availible but if it was shipped yesterday there should be some info

USPS tracking site is useless.. Always has been, always will.

I've gotten a package via USPS and the tracking site still showed in process a week past delivery. It has never, ever, in dozens of shipments never showed accurate information.

unless you get overnight from USPS the # your getting is just a delivery confirmation # and is not real time tracking. This is what the people at the post office told me the last time I used USPS, so now I use only UPS or FedEX