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Burned on TB classifieds

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kapaauguy

kapaauguy

Dec 12, 2010
171
45
Kawela, Molokai
#1
Back in July i bought a Spector Rex 5 string off TB classifieds from diechris. I paid $700. The bass was poorly packed. It arrived in a gigbag which was not secured inside the cardboard box. The first thing i noticed when i picked up the box was the bass freely moving around inside of the box. When i got it open i discovered the fretboard was delaminated from the nut to the 3rd fret. Not suprising considered the lack of adequate packing material.
i immediately contacted Christian and he said he would file a claim with FedEx and also get in contact with Spector (he gets deals with them as an artist) to see how difficult it would be to repair. Christian then told me Fedex would most likely pay the entire amount to him and he would send that money on to me as he had insured the bass and that i would just keep the bass.
I said that sounded strange i should get all my money back and keep the bass. I told him i would see if i could get it repaired and then we could possibly come to a new price on the bass. He told me it should be a very easy repair and even sent me an email from Spector saying the fix should be easy. A month goes by and out of the blue Fedex shows up at my door asking for the bass. I was never told by Christian anything about this and had by then sent the bass out for repairs. I told Fedex i would get the bass back and talk to the Christian about Whats going on. I PM'd Christian and asked whats going on and he claims he knows nothing about whats going on...he doesnt work for Fedex:eyebrow:. I tell him i got the bass repaired per our conversation and that the bill was $90.75. I live 1.5 hours from the nearest repair shop and had also invested $75 in gas. I told him i would keep the bass if he sent me $300 back to my Paypal account to pay for the repair, my expenses and knock $135 off the price of the bass as i did'nt think it was fair to pay full price for a damaged item. He stated he did'nt want to do that and he would rather see what Fedex could do for him.
So i packed the bass back up and called Fedex and they came and picked it up. The next week (Sept. 11) Fedex comes back to my house with the bass and i tell them they need to take it back to the shipper....not back to me.
I contact Christian and tell him Fedex has the bass, you have my money and i'm out for the repairs and expenses. I ask for my $700 back as well as the repair cost. $790.75
He tells me he wont pay for the repair and he wont give me any of my money back until he gets the bass. I state that i put my money upfront before i had a bass in my hands so he should just pay me, be done with it and deal with Fedex himself. He says no. Soooooooo......
I'm out $865.75 and since i waited more than 45 days to make a claim with Paypal as i waited for Fedex to process this claim. I spoke with Fedex today and they say the claim has been processed and closed. Fedex sent him the bass and also paid him $90.75 for the repair. Of course...i have not heard a word from Christian. Hows that! he has actually made extra money burning me!
My only recourse now is file a claim with my credit card company to at least get the $700 back.
I've waited patiently for months to get this resolved and now the seller acts as if he could care less. Why should he? he's had my money for months and now another check from Fedex for $90.75! I told him numerous times to fix this our i will be forced to leave negative feedback and see what the members here think of this and be warned of dealing with him.
Mike
 
#2
Wow.

This sucks.

I have had dozens of transactions with TBers ($6000+ in gear currently on its way to me from 3 different TBers) and they always seem to go well. Obviously have a phone conversation and look for lots of positive feedback.

The only problem IME seems to be with loss or shipping damage. Why? Most of us aren't rich and the couriers don't exactly show up at your door with cash the next day if an item is lost or damaged. Even with proper insurance, the couriers don't seem to ever want to take immediate responsibility.

Really Understand who owes who what.... and confirm with the seller. He may need a few weeks or more to pay as the couriers take forever, but if there is no communication or solution in sight, leave negative feedback, call your CC company, call PayPal, etc.

We all work too hard to get stiffed for such a large amount of $$$.

Good luck.
 
#3
Sigh! Shoulda just kept the bass and try to recoup the $90. Worst that could happen is you'd be out $90. He could at least ship the bass back to you. Not understanding why he's holding onto the bass. Sorry, Fedex wouldn't have gotten the bass from me after paying to have it repaired!

Man, I just love the moral of some of these members here. On one hand, you got the perfect angel, moral majority and on the other hand............the evil scammers! I thought we were all brothers in bass here but obviously NOT! Ain't no better than eBay!

SMH!
 
#4
The msitake in all of this is having the repair done before the carrier picked up the bass for inspection and claims process. Carriers will not inspect on the spot and pay. They pickup, ship, and inspect elsewhere. You never get to keep the item if they pay the full amount insured either.

Seller should still refund bass sell price plus repair cost that was paid. Credit card company is your only recourse. I've had good luck with this (not bass related). I had to paper document everything as proof such as the tracking information to show it was returned to the shipper. This took forever, but my CC company gave me an immediate credit and it remained after they ruled in my favor. Good Luck.
 
#6
DWBass said:
Sigh! Shoulda just kept the bass and try to recoup the $90. Worst that could happen is you'd be out $90. He could at least ship the bass back to you. Not understanding why he's holding onto the bass. Sorry, Fedex wouldn't have gotten the bass from me after paying to have it repaired!

Man, I just love the moral of some of these members here. On one hand, you got the perfect angel, moral majority and on the other hand............the evil scammers! I thought we were all brothers in bass here but obviously NOT! Ain't no better than eBay!

SMH!
Click to expand...

I agree with this, i rather be out 90.00 bucks than 700.00. Since it was repaired by you, if you were satisfied with the repairs i would have told FEDEX things were fine. Then i would have dealt with the seller for those 90.00 bucks. If you were NOT satisfied with the repairs thats a different story. Hope things work out though.
 
#7
I guess I'm going to play the devils advocate here. I dealt with Christian last year and everything went great. He does have close to 60 transactions on TB and all positive until this. Before we get the noose out, why don't we see what he has to say and how he's going to make this right.
 
#9
Something here in this story just isn't adding up.

First, the seller has over a 98% positive feedback rating and yours is the first and only negative out of 61 transactions.

This is apparently your first TB transaction, you have no feedback at all yet.

Seller also has several professional endorsements, not that that indicates anything as far as morality, but it does raise the stakes for him reputation-wise. The TB community can be quite harsh if it perceives a scammer.

My questions are:

Why did you not notify Paypal immediately that there was shipping damage so thet can follow the resolution process?

Why did a month go by with no communication between you and the seller? You say FedEx showed up out of the blue and you had already sent the bass for repairs. Why did you jump to that step without clear current communication as to what was happening?

Did you take photos of the damage? With what you posted here, the age old scam of the buyer claiming damage to get a partial refund and keep the instrument seems a possible scenario. I'm not accusing, but I'm wondering if photos exist that can eliminate that possibility. (You know the rules at TB. Pics or it doesn't exist.)
 
#10
TinIndian said:
I guess I'm going to play the devils advocate here. I dealt with Christian last year and everything went great. He does have close to 60 transactions on TB and all positive until this. Before we get the noose out, why don't we see what he has to say and how he's going to make this right.
Click to expand...

I doubt this thread is going to stay open.

I will say that I've heard Christian's side of the story and I do not see Christian as a scammer. He's been on TB for a while and has many positive transactions. The OP here took it up on himself to get the bass fixed after Christian stated he was going to file a claim with FedEx.

When you file a claim with the shipping company, they collect the damaged merchandise, that's just part of it.

Also, I have been told by PayPal specifically to never release funds back to a buyer until the item is back in my hands.

Here's hoping for a resolution.
 
#11
I initially just wanted to ship the bass back and get my money but when the repair was discussed with the seller even sending me an email he got from Spector saying it should be fine with the caveat there would be a new lowered price reflecting the repair, expenses and the bass's lessened value. I offered to keep the bass for $300 off it's total price which included all those costs. As the sender i have no say in how Fedex deals with the sender. If the repair was not an option i should have been told that and the fact he mentioned it (repair) led me to believe there was nothing wrong with having it repaired. As it is he has the bass and the check from Fedex for the repair and i have NADA!
 
#12
I never claimed Chris to be a scammer. He is simply not doing the right thing in this case. I waited for Chris to take care of this because i felt he was an upfront guy but now i fiind the Fedex claim is closed and i hear nothing and have nothing i'm taking it to the TB court of public opinion.
 
#13
kapaauguy said:
I initially just wanted to ship the bass back and get my money but when the repair was discussed with the seller even sending me an email he got from Spector saying it should be fine with the caveat there would be a new lowered price reflecting the repair, expenses and the bass's lessened value. I offered to keep the bass for $300 off it's total price which included all those costs. As the sender i have no say in how Fedex deals with the sender. If the repair was not an option i should have been told that and the fact he mentioned it (repair) led me to believe there was nothing wrong with having it repaired. As it is he has the bass and the check from Fedex for the repair and i have NADA!
Click to expand...

I am sorry for your loss. Like I said, I hope for a mutual resolution. It seems there was a communication breakdown somewhere though. Having the bass fixed before filing a claim with Fedex didn't work out. Clearly one or the other should have been decided on as a plan of action and mutually agreed upon.
 
#14
Nev375 said:
Why did you not notify Paypal immediately that there was shipping damage so thet can follow the resolution process?
Click to expand...

I work at PayPal, believe me, I ask myself this question every single day when I get a call from someone 2 months after their transaction. Credit Card company really is the best recourse if possible. Also there is a possibility you can talk to Fed Ex and see where the bass is.
 
#15
Only having one side of the story to judge from makes it hard to be a judge and jury. Makes it seem wore seller didn’t chime in IMO.

*You buy anything it arrives damaged take pictures contact seller and courier and arrange for pick up period.

*You had it repaired you should have kept it as it now became yours.

*Waiting past 30 days to file claims with a courier and or PayPal is too long.

*I don’t blame you for wanting it to work out and siding on believing in the good of a seller on TB’r

*Once repaired you should have just asked for the repair amount from seller

*If your description is accurate the seller should be flogged and given feedback that a proper turd should get.
 
#18
Paypal does not cover shipping damage on non Ebay transactions. They only cover lost items that are never delivered. Unfortunatly you are at the sellers mercy since they purchased the insurance. The shipper picks up the item and inspects it along with the original packaging and will pay the seller any damages since they purchased the insurance. It is up to the seller to return the buyers money. Looks like having the bass along with the repair cost was too much of a temptation for the seller.
 
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