Bad Purchase

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Originally Posted by uforgot

...I kind of like this thread turning to online buying safety. That's really helpful to others. I honestly let my guard down because it was TE, but you know what? I will still continue to trust, whereas I don't on ebay. I've made several purchases on the TE for sale thread, and all (but one) were good.

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I wonder if it would be worth adding a feedback thread for items sold here in the forum.

I participate in a photography forum that has a sticky thread in the Flea Market / Sales area of the forum titled "Positive Feedback Thread (post/search here)". It's for posting positives, not negatives. Take a look at the explanation and see if you think something like this might help here too: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=7739. The postings there show feedback from (and for) both the seller and the buyer.

--- Denise

Denise's idea is a good one. Positives only.

Found her. I am relentless. She has a new blog so I mailed her and here was her reply: I took out any info that may identify her.

Just to make things clear, I didn't intentionally rip you off. Rather, I have not been able to pay you back because I was scammed. My 401K is gone, my checking account is about negative $1000 dollars, my savings is gone, and my Visa card is maxed out (and then some, but we won't go there).

If you'd like to think I'm a thief that's fine, but believe me, I didn't spend 42 hours bussing back to ****** after cleaning houses to earn the money for a ticket, to move back in with my parents for giggles. And most of my stuff is still in ******* - I made it back with one suitcase of clothing.

You know, there's a way for you to view the account information and see that you are the first and only person who has had a problem with me in the 5 years I've had the account.

I understand you're upset; I hate the fact that I couldn't get you taken care of, I hate the fact that the person who was supposed to help me get you taken care of is the same person who ripped me off (and yes, we're talking going in my purse and taking my Visa card out of my wallet kind of ripped off).

In spite of what you might think, I would honestly love to get the $35 back to you. I'm not sure if PayPal refunded it to you already and I'm in debt to them, or if I'm in direct debt to you, but I will see if I can get my parents to help me resolve this.

However, as obviously frustrated as we both are by the situation and what happened, I will state, very frankly, that I don't sppreciate being Googled and then called a thief.

SHE doesn't appreciate being googled??? I guess not, since I can still find and contact her. Paypal says they are still working on it, but I wonder if there is anything else I can do since I know her name and where she lives?!?!?!

take her to small claims court.

good for you for tracking her down. It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

Excellent use of the internet :D

Y'know, small claims isn't a bad idea.

So in her blog, does she mention all these unfortunate events? ie does what she say happened appear to have happened?

In her blog she mentions only that her computer had problems, she just got an ipod and oh, she has two digital cameras. I like the small claims court idea. Can you do it state to state? You can tell I've never had anything that I would need a small claims court for!

I had no idea. I was just thinking that Claudia was going to have to let it go and let karma get her. She's 23 years old and probably thought she could get away with it. I never have dealt with this or anything like small claims court!

Not only does she have cameras and an ipod, she works with the following: Photoshop/Image Ready 7, Apophysis, Panasonic Lumix FZ7, Epson flatbed, Intuos3 tablet.

And she KNITS and maintains websites.

But the poor girl doesn't have $35 to replay Claudia. :mad:

you probably have to do it in her state. I'm sure there's online info about it.

It's not really about the money anymore. I may spend $200 to travel to her state to recover $35, but think of the fun!

I'm picturing it...K.K., me and Judge Judy. K.K. starts in..."but my computer was locked in the car and I was being held hostage..." and Judy goes "Did you or did you not take this woman's $35????" I wonder if I can get on TV??? I need to find that face souffle pretty quick, and lose 25 lbs. Yeah, this could be fun. Sandra, do you want to stand next to me as my witness? You'll need to just answer the questions because you know how Judge Judy gets when a witness embellishes. I've seen the show maybe twice, so I'm kind of an expert...

Not I. I'm shy.

And I hear you look bigger on TV, so I better pass. :D

Judge Judy would tell her "don't pee on my foot and tell me it's raining".
I'm more of a Joe Brown fan.

She should make it right for Uforgot. No more friggin excuses. Time to grow up and take responsibility. This would be a good place to start.

Poor starving chickie could sell the I-Pod and one (or both) of the digital cameras, and any other extraneous stuff. Despite what some people think, you don't NEED an I-pod or most other electronic devices to live.

Yes, it's time for chickie to wake up, smell the coffee, take responsibility for her actions, and pay Uforgot back. And if that means selling stuff, so be it. Let this be one of Life's Lessons. Sometimes bad things happen that we have no control over, like being "down sized" out of a job (I have been, twice). But it's what we do with the circumstances, and making decent responsible choices, is what's important.

I better stop before I start sounding like an old phart, or worse, like my mother.

I doubt anything is going to get your $35. You certainly are not going to "reform" her in any way, and she obviously does not feel very guilty about it. Worse, she now sees you as persecuting/stalking her. She really believes she has good reason for her behavior. This is not going to change.
There comes a time when the struggle causes you way more of your valuable time, grief, and effort than the money. If it were me (and I'm pretty persistent) I'd just move on at this point. Sometimes knowing when it's time to do that is a healthy thing for ourselves. :cool:

I really do think Lisa is right here.

I agree with LIsa too. If it were a large sum of money ($500? $10,000?), it would be worth pursuing your legal options. But for $35, not only are you going to spend more recovering the money than the original sum, it's just really not worth the mental anguish/energy or time to pursue it on principle. You probably won't be "teaching her a lesson", she probably understands the ramifications of what she's done and thinks it's okay, and having to restore your $35 isn't likely to change that.

Sucks though.

I doubt she'll be back on TE...that'll teach her!:rolleyes:

Um, I definitely feel bad for this whole thread, especially someone losing money. If there is a sliver lining in this, at least it was a small amount. I hope everyone can find that silver lining...

I agree with some others, it's time to let this thing go. What good does it do to keep repeating the same things over and over? Let this bad situation be something that everyone can learn from, and a thing of the PAST! Let's move on to something more positive!! It doesn't do anyone any good to keep this as something that continues, and continues, etc... Move on!!!

Do you have a lawyer friend with some REALLY IMPRESSIVE stationery? Can you get him/her to write you an IMPRESSIVE letter demanding the money back? If you can do that, go with it. Otherwise... I'd drop it. It's not worth the aggravation/ bad karma to do more.

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Originally Posted by roadie gal

Do you have a lawyer friend with some REALLY IMPRESSIVE stationery? Can you get him/her to write you an IMPRESSIVE letter demanding the money back? If you can do that, go with it. Otherwise... I'd drop it. It's not worth the aggravation/ bad karma to do more.

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Heck - with word processing its not really that hard to *make* really impressive stationary... Send her a letter from Dewey, Chethem & Howe and see if she even gets the joke...