Ever been burned buying from a forum member? What to do?

[aim4squirrels]

Hey All, I need some help.

I bought an item from a member of another forum who promptly burned me by sending the incorrect Item. Classic bait and switch tactic.

He advertised a BBK 85mm Throttle Body and I purchased it from him through Paypal.

He then sent me this:



looking good so far:



Wait, a BBK has a brass throttle blade,and is that a pentastar logo? Uh Oh:



Just to show that I'm not fooling around:



Yes, that is my TB still on the block with his held up next to it, Like I need 2 stock TB's. Son of a....

I immediately filed a claim with Paypal, Copied his for-sale page off the website in case he tries to delete it, copied all my PM's with the seller to text, but what else do I do from here?

I hate dishonest people, especially ones who claim to be military and dishonor their service branch.

[Rose City GC SRT8]

Chances are he shipped it with delivery confirmation. If so, this puts the ball back in your court to prove your case. If not, you will prevail because he cannot prove you have received it. Are the pics enough if he has delivery confirmed? I'm not so sure. His claim will be that YOU are trying to scam HIM by trying to pull this stunt. I've yet to have this happen to me, but I could imagine it going this way. Sorry to be a downer about this. An opinion from someone who has gone through this would no doubt carry more weight.

[aim4squirrels]

double post, see below

[aim4squirrels]

He did send a tracking number, so there will probably be a confirmation of delivery. I'll wager he's more skilled at scamming than I am at being scammed. people suck sometimes. :(

[done]

Did you actually measure the throat? Ported throttlebodys are exactly that ported stock throttlebodies.

[aim4squirrels]

BBK should not be a ported throttle body, it's a cast 85mm, comes with a brass throttle blade, and is not made by Chrysler.

But done, you did give me an idea for more evidence:



At least he can't claim what he sent was 85mm.

[EvilSRT]

Out the member. Who is it?

[aim4squirrels]

Update:

Took his name down, he contacted me back on the other forum, posted this:

Matt:

That is exactly how it came back to me from Arrington Performance I didn't rvrn look in the box you see it has the packing and the instructions and everything so I thought I didn't need to look. My profuse apologies it was not meant to be sent that way I will straighten this out right now. I will PM you back after calling Arrington now.

and then this:

I just called Arrington and received their after hours line. I will get this straightened out if I have to buy you a brand new BBK TB myself. My reputation means everything to me. I better look through the rest of the boxes that came back with her from both engine swaps. The BBK 85 came off the first time when the maggie went on. I didn't ask for my stuff back until the second swap 4 months later. Either way I will make you whole as agreed give me until Monday afternoon please. BTW you can keep that OEM TB as a Bonus.

If he does indeed value his reputation I will ask him to paste that last email in the Paypal dispute center window as direct evidence that Paypal has to work with. If he does that I will give him the 7 days Paypal asked for him to rectify the situation.


Smithers, don't release the hounds just yet.

[injunwiz]

Things do happen and maybe the wrong TB got put in the right box. Big plus he answered you and seems to want to make it right. Hope it works out for you!

[DTECH]

This could easily be just a situation where someone grabbed the throttle body for an install and like most puts the stocker back in the box for storage...he could have been sent the wrong box when he asked for his parts back and whom ever packaged them up assumed the bbk tb was on your car and the bbk tb was part of there inventory...just a thought..but he should of at least checked inside the box to verify the product he is selling is not damaged and all the parts are there AND its the part he is selling...hop it all works out go you...

[aim4squirrels]

Refund issued. I will send his stock TB back to him Monday.

Thanks guys! I appreciate you all helping me "talk" it out.

Probably just going to order a new Arrington 85mm Unit from them directly.

[Mopar5150]

Things do happen and maybe the wrong TB got put in the right box. Big plus he answered you and seems to want to make it right. Hope it works out for you!

Yep, just the fact that there was an instant response from him was a good sign and then he made it right. Post the members name. We are quick to bash and out somebody so lets give this guy some credit.

[aim4squirrels]

Guys name is NYMarine1.

He's only made two posts on this particular Forum, I made the attempted purchase on another Forum. I withdrew his name initially as i didn't want a dog pile when he showed he was willing to make good.

[aim4squirrels]

Things do happen and maybe the wrong TB got put in the right box. Big plus he answered you and seems to want to make it right. Hope it works out for you!

You're absolutely right, unfortunately it's a fairly common scam in F/S sections to post up one thing and send another, then delay the buyer until his Paypal dispute options are long gone. That's why i reacted so quickly, just the process of disputing via Paypal has some pretty involved steps that you have to keep on top of, or you miss your window to get a favorable resolution.

The guy did right by me, that's good enough. I brought it up because i figured people who had been stung before would have some good insight on what to do.

[Geospeedjr]

Glad it worked out for you. But filing the claim imediately was the right thing for you to do also. If you wait too long to file the claim Paypal can't help you. Sellers will string you along sometimes past the file time and then you are SOL. Had that happen to me and now I spent out a couple hundred bucks and can't even get the seller to contact me or get my money back. I checked his I Trader before I purchased and it was 100% and he had been a member here for several months.