Chronology of an ebay fraud account
On July 15, 2004 I visited the ebay auction site and placed the winning bid. for an Ipod w/20 gig drive.
On July 19,2004, at 3:37 PM (PDST) I informed the seller, Mr. Charles Locke that a Western Union Money Order was mailed to Charles Locke in the amount of $277.30 On July 19, 2004, at 6:47 PM (EDST) I received an acknowledgement from Mr. Locke that he had been informed of the Money Order.
On July 20, 2004, I received verification from Western Union that the Money order had been sent by U,S, Mail.
On July 28, 2004, I sent an email inquiry to Mr. Locke asking what was the current status of this transaction. There was no response.
On July 29, 2004 I received an email from Mr. Locke that the Ipod would go to the shipper around the eighth of August, 2004.
On August 9, 2004 I sent an email to Mr. Locke asking for an exact shipping date for the Ipod.
On August 10, 2004, I received an email from Mr. Locke stating that the Ipod would go to the shipper this week and he would forward a tracking number as soon as he had it.
On August 21, 2004 I again queried Mr. Locke on where the Ipod was and asked for a firm shipping date.
On August 26, 2004, Mr. Locke informed me that due to circumstances beyond his control he was discontinuing his business and would be unable to fill my order. A refund in the full amount would be processed and sent to me.
On August 27, 2004, at 9:17 AM (PDST), I sent Mr. Locke an email asking for a firm, fixed date to receive the refund.
On August 27, 2004, at 8:32 PM (EDST) Mr. Locke responded by saying that his accountant was handling everything and the check would be sent the second week in September.
On August 27, 2004, I sent Mr. Locke one last email stating that if he had not responded with a date and check by August 3, 2004, I would file fraud charges against him.
Trying to contact ebay with evidence of fraud is the internet equivalent of getting an abortion at the local Baptist clinic. I filed a complaint with the FBI, Secret Service (Mail Fraud) and the Internet provider for ebay. The FBI complaint resulted in a ?Local investigation? in Mr. Locke?s town after being transferred through three different jurisdictions. As of this date, 4/6/05, I still am out my $277.00 and a total of 67 others that I am in email contact with are out a total of over $24,000.00 with no recourse. Locke is out on bail, ebay has collected their dollars so they do not care, and those who have been lucky enough to have recovered their money through their credit card or bank by using pay-pal and later requesting their bank/credit card to refund the money as a fraud, are being punished as having negative pay-pal balances.
I believe the current teen-age vernacular is ?ebay sucks!?
If you want the responses from others in this case, let me know I have them.