Bad Transaction with OriginalFake2
 

The following is a copy/paste of the PM's sent between myself and OriginalFake2

I have confirmed that there is no hold on the mail. I paid for this item in full on March 1st 2011.

As you can see in the above quoted section, I was told once that the item was shipped then again later it appears that I'm being told it will go out soon.

It's been two months (as of May 1) I have sent follow up PM's to which I have received no reply, (even though I checked the user's logon activity to see they have been online after my messages were sent).

I would advise against doing business with OriginalFake2 in the future.

-Geoff

I can't say if this is a 'scam' or not... but OriginalFake2 has been extremely flaky with me.

On multiple occasions he has contacted me about items I had for sale, sounded really interested, had me quote prices to Italy, negotiate back and forth - then just go silent. Sure, I'm sure it happens to everyone... but OF2 has done this multiple times to me on multiple items.

Was he trying to scam? Probably not. But could he be lazy / flaky? Absolutely.

Id hold out hope - hopefully this thread will kick start him.

-M

Well if he is active US military you got a great chance of getting your item or full refund.

As you know if he fails to comply you can actually get him in trouble with his commanding officer. Usually with that looming people tend to move their feet a lot quicker.

Something you should take into consideration is customs, that can greatly slow things up

well, his IP does resolve back to Aviano Air Base in Italy, and we have USAF assets stationed there as part of NATO.

Customs does not take two months. Nor was a tracking number ever provided.

-Geoff

Italian post can be totally crap, i can guarantee on that in 1st person so there could be also a chance that the item got lost by them; anyway he should be able to provide information through on-line tracking or by contacting the post customer service with the tracking number.

Read the exchange between myself and him. It did not go Italian post, he said USPS (he's stationed on a military base). Not that I believe it went out at all.

-Geoff

The user continues to log on, but does not reply to my PM's. (His last logon as of posting was today)

-Geoff

he sent me a few pms over the last few days to buy something from me, After this thread i decided to stay away and ignore his pms

If it helps, his last pm was today

I got the same runaround from him. No item for two months.

Any way of finding who he is? I am sure ripping people off like this could be a vary hazardous career proposition while in the military.

Martin

Got a full refund from him. He said that the AST was returned, which is why I did not get it.

I just received a message with the exact same story about my item getting returned. I don't believe him, seems like this is just a ploy to buy some time.

I was offered $30 back and he'll ship the item. I need it, so I said yes, but I've not received any tracking information nor my $30.

Terrible seller, just terrible.

-Geoff

Just refunded you as well, why would I try to steal money from you guys. I enjoy using this forum.

Quick story about why I have such a hard time trying to get things shipped. Post office hours are short here on base, I don't have my car since it got in a wreck (which is why I've been trying to buy a hood), I don't have a second car at the moment and getting rides to and from base is hard enough, I don't currently have internet at my place so I can only get on it at work and it's a pain in the ass with supervision hounding us about work.

Sorry for all the troubles, not trying to scam anyone.

I won't try to sell anything until I either get my FD back or I can get a cheap second car (which i'm working on right now, a old BMW).

Also forgot to mention to the others about the Libya conflict, I was working 13+ hours shift for over 2 weeks STRAIGHT, which means no day off and no lunch break, we were eating while working. No time or break in the middle of the day to run any errands. The Post Office opened and closed while I was at work. After the 2 weeks, I got 1 day off a week which was a Sunday and the Post office was still closed.

Excuses excuses.

Lets get to the facts:

On March 1 I paid you $100 for an item you had listed on the for sale section.

Two weeks went by with no information, tracking or update from you.

I sent you a message to find out what was going on. You replied that you had shipped the item march 14 via USPS, but did not provide any tracking information.

Three more weeks went by with no item arriving, no update and no tracking information. I messaged you again and you claimed that the mail was on hold. I have since verified personally by simply making a few calls that no hold was ever placed on mail from US military bases in europe during this time period.

You STILL did not provide tracking information.

I messaged you repeatedly after this, you did not reply to any messages. I checked your online status frequently, noting that you had logged onto the board. Some members here have even posted in this thread that they got messages from you during this period of time.

You then messaged me with a story that the item had been shipped and got returned to you. You also used this exact same story with another forum member. You never provided any tracking number for this returned package. You cannot ship an item to canada via USPS without a tracking number. You clearly lied to me twice regarding the shipment status of my item. If you want to dispute this, please post up either of the march 14 tracking number or the second attempt tracking number.

In the message explaining the "returned" shipment you offered to re-ship and refund me $30. I waited 3 days for you to provide a tracking number or to refund the $30. Neither happened. I messaged you to say that if neither were received by monday I would begin contacting authorities on your base. After this I was refunded the full $100.

A quick google search shows that american military intervention in Lybia did not begin until March 19. Almost 3 full weeks from the date that I paid you, and OVER 3 full weeks from when we started negotiating prices and shipping details.

You may have been busy but that does not absolve you from your obligations. You agreed to send me an item in exchange for money. I paid promptly. Two months later you had still not fulfilled your side of the agreement, but instead lied multiple times to me, and to another forum member regarding the status of his item.

My experience with you as a seller has been terrible. My opinion has not been swayed one bit by your excuses. Your credibility has been damaged by lying about shipments (if you post up these tracking numbers I will retract these statements upon verifying that the tracking numbers correspond to items being shipped from italy to canada).

I really don't care about the $100 it's not a make or break amount for me. I'm more disappointed in the experience, I have purchased multiple items from multiple members on this board, all of which have arrived in excellent condition and in short periods of time. You have soured me on this.

-Geoff

Regardless, you got your money back and I never argued about it. I think it's time for you to get over it and move on. There's always both sides to a story and I know my reasons and you think you know my reasons.


End///

FWIW, USPS does not offer delivery confirmation when shipping from APO/FPO to international addresses. I know this because I've shipped a few items this way (to canada)

If you ship by Usps it can be tracked through Canada by Canada Post with the same Tracking Number,and you can verify that it has arrived.
Besides,you have to sign for it at the postal outlet.