John Grefe (JohnGriff)
06-15-08, 04:35 PM
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John Grefe (JohnGriff)
Mr. Grefe has perpetrated a fraud, and I have pursued legal action against him and recently won judgment.
As you may know, Mr. Grefe was advertising a lot of new old stock (NOS) A.R.E. mesh automobile wheels which were supposedly left over in a warehouse that his friend’s father had purchased. Mr. Grefe apparently offered to help his friend sell the wheels, instead of scrapping them.
I started to communicate with Mr. Grefe in late July, 2007 via personal messaging from that website. After a few personal messages we agreed upon a price of $732, with shipping, for four wheels of varying diameters and offsets. The wheels were all advertised as NEW, but he offered to take them to a local wheel shop to be polished, at no additional cost, since they had been gathering dust in the warehouse for so long and had possible scratches.
Since I had all of his contact information, and he had good ratings on this site, I felt confident in the sale, and arranged a PayPal transaction to get him the money on August 1st. That’s when the trouble began. Ten days later, according to an e-mail from Mr. Grefe, the wheels I had purchased were picked up by his brother to be shipped to me, but he noticed they were not “up to his standards,” so he sent them back to the wheel repair shop to have the lips repaired.
Another two and a half weeks passed before I heard from him again; this time, he e-mailed me to apologize that the wheel shop was backed up, and he himself had been involved in a car accident. He claimed the wheels would be shipped on August 30th. They didn’t ship for another full week, according to Fed Ex, and it took 8 more days for them to arrive (that’s 44 days from the date I paid for them).
When the wheels arrived and I unpacked them, I could see that they were in no way NEW, and the offsets were not what I ordered. What I received wouldn’t fit what I bought them for, and they looked like they had been pulled off of someone’s car. There were signs that wheel weights had been removed; one wheel hub had rust on the back side, as if it had been mounted on a car and the rust had transferred from the rotor hat to the wheel hub, and there was curb rash. Immediately I called Mr. Grefe to complain. He apologized again and claimed that they had been shipped by a family member and that he hadn’t seen them first. The day they were shipped (Sept. 6), however, Mr. Grefe had sent me a personal message with pictures that he supposedly took before they shipped. [I didn’t catch it at first, but look at the dirty paper towel next to the roll sitting beside the wheels…it looks like Mr. Grefe did the polishing himself, not any wheel repair shop.]
Mr. Grefe suggested I send the wheels back, saying he would refund my shipping cost, and have them brought up to standards, or he would exchange them altogether. The more I examined them, though, the more I noticed what was wrong with them, so I said instead that I would rather just send them back and get a refund (half right away and the rest when he received the returned wheels – to show good faith.) He replied and said that he could not refund my money and that he would put the wheels on consignment, refunding half of the money when he received the wheels and the other half once they were sold. That did not suit me, since he sold them straight to me in the first place, and didn’t have any problem taking my money for shoddy merchandise that took more than a month to arrive.
I contacted PayPal to file a dispute, but was told that they have a 45 day dispute period - awfully convenient for Mr. Grefe, since I didn’t receive the wheels until day 44. PayPal recommended that I should have filed a dispute after two weeks, and dismissed it once the merchandise was received and satisfactory, which, honestly, hadn’t occurred to me because we were in contact at that time, and he gave reasonable excuses for the delay. There was, of course, NO excuse for the condition of the wheels I actually received, nor any of his conduct since.
After weighing my options for a few days, I finally caved, and, on October 12th, I sent Mr. Grefe ALL four wheels back, with specific instructions in each box as to what needed to be done to each to bring it “up to standard,” per his earlier recommendation. I sent him an e-mail the same day, with all of the tracking numbers. More than a month passed, AGAIN, with no word, no wheels, and no refund. On November 19th, I e-mailed him for a status update, and replied saying he had actually SOLD all of the wheels I’d returned and would now be sending out NEW ones once he found some (he claimed to be looking for the perfect set), and he’d get back to me then. Patient and trying to be understanding, I waited another week before again asking for the status of my order. The next day he replied with a claim that I would (finally) be receiving 4 wheels that matched the condition of the instructions I’d sent with the returned wheels. WHAT? Those instructions were for the repair of the wheels that I returned; wheels that he never repaired and, in fact, sold out from under me (making even more of a profit)! I e-mailed him one final time on January 3, 2008 (remember, I paid for the wheels on August 1, 2007) once more asking for a full refund, giving him a week to comply, and explicit instructions on how to send me the money back. More than a month had passed and I still had not received any refund, nor had I heard from him at all.
In February 2008, I filed a small claims case against Mr. Grefe. He was served in late February 2008 with a summons to appear before the District Court in May 2008. Mr. Grefe failed to appear and my case was heard before the judge and judgment was issued against Mr. Grefe. It is now my responsibility to attempt to collect from Mr. Grefe. I wanted to wait until the court date had passed before telling my story to everyone. I hope this has been informative.
As you may know, Mr. Grefe was advertising a lot of new old stock (NOS) A.R.E. mesh automobile wheels which were supposedly left over in a warehouse that his friend’s father had purchased. Mr. Grefe apparently offered to help his friend sell the wheels, instead of scrapping them.
I started to communicate with Mr. Grefe in late July, 2007 via personal messaging from that website. After a few personal messages we agreed upon a price of $732, with shipping, for four wheels of varying diameters and offsets. The wheels were all advertised as NEW, but he offered to take them to a local wheel shop to be polished, at no additional cost, since they had been gathering dust in the warehouse for so long and had possible scratches.
Since I had all of his contact information, and he had good ratings on this site, I felt confident in the sale, and arranged a PayPal transaction to get him the money on August 1st. That’s when the trouble began. Ten days later, according to an e-mail from Mr. Grefe, the wheels I had purchased were picked up by his brother to be shipped to me, but he noticed they were not “up to his standards,” so he sent them back to the wheel repair shop to have the lips repaired.
Another two and a half weeks passed before I heard from him again; this time, he e-mailed me to apologize that the wheel shop was backed up, and he himself had been involved in a car accident. He claimed the wheels would be shipped on August 30th. They didn’t ship for another full week, according to Fed Ex, and it took 8 more days for them to arrive (that’s 44 days from the date I paid for them).
When the wheels arrived and I unpacked them, I could see that they were in no way NEW, and the offsets were not what I ordered. What I received wouldn’t fit what I bought them for, and they looked like they had been pulled off of someone’s car. There were signs that wheel weights had been removed; one wheel hub had rust on the back side, as if it had been mounted on a car and the rust had transferred from the rotor hat to the wheel hub, and there was curb rash. Immediately I called Mr. Grefe to complain. He apologized again and claimed that they had been shipped by a family member and that he hadn’t seen them first. The day they were shipped (Sept. 6), however, Mr. Grefe had sent me a personal message with pictures that he supposedly took before they shipped. [I didn’t catch it at first, but look at the dirty paper towel next to the roll sitting beside the wheels…it looks like Mr. Grefe did the polishing himself, not any wheel repair shop.]
Mr. Grefe suggested I send the wheels back, saying he would refund my shipping cost, and have them brought up to standards, or he would exchange them altogether. The more I examined them, though, the more I noticed what was wrong with them, so I said instead that I would rather just send them back and get a refund (half right away and the rest when he received the returned wheels – to show good faith.) He replied and said that he could not refund my money and that he would put the wheels on consignment, refunding half of the money when he received the wheels and the other half once they were sold. That did not suit me, since he sold them straight to me in the first place, and didn’t have any problem taking my money for shoddy merchandise that took more than a month to arrive.
I contacted PayPal to file a dispute, but was told that they have a 45 day dispute period - awfully convenient for Mr. Grefe, since I didn’t receive the wheels until day 44. PayPal recommended that I should have filed a dispute after two weeks, and dismissed it once the merchandise was received and satisfactory, which, honestly, hadn’t occurred to me because we were in contact at that time, and he gave reasonable excuses for the delay. There was, of course, NO excuse for the condition of the wheels I actually received, nor any of his conduct since.
After weighing my options for a few days, I finally caved, and, on October 12th, I sent Mr. Grefe ALL four wheels back, with specific instructions in each box as to what needed to be done to each to bring it “up to standard,” per his earlier recommendation. I sent him an e-mail the same day, with all of the tracking numbers. More than a month passed, AGAIN, with no word, no wheels, and no refund. On November 19th, I e-mailed him for a status update, and replied saying he had actually SOLD all of the wheels I’d returned and would now be sending out NEW ones once he found some (he claimed to be looking for the perfect set), and he’d get back to me then. Patient and trying to be understanding, I waited another week before again asking for the status of my order. The next day he replied with a claim that I would (finally) be receiving 4 wheels that matched the condition of the instructions I’d sent with the returned wheels. WHAT? Those instructions were for the repair of the wheels that I returned; wheels that he never repaired and, in fact, sold out from under me (making even more of a profit)! I e-mailed him one final time on January 3, 2008 (remember, I paid for the wheels on August 1, 2007) once more asking for a full refund, giving him a week to comply, and explicit instructions on how to send me the money back. More than a month had passed and I still had not received any refund, nor had I heard from him at all.
In February 2008, I filed a small claims case against Mr. Grefe. He was served in late February 2008 with a summons to appear before the District Court in May 2008. Mr. Grefe failed to appear and my case was heard before the judge and judgment was issued against Mr. Grefe. It is now my responsibility to attempt to collect from Mr. Grefe. I wanted to wait until the court date had passed before telling my story to everyone. I hope this has been informative.
06-15-08, 09:19 PM
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hi 240, and thanks for informing us...
something else I would like to know--what state does this guy live in? In most states, theft of more than $500 constitutes grand larceny, a felony. I have been quite successful in the past in these situations with getting police involvement. In one such case, one person got ripped off to the tune of $140 and through investigation, we were able to put together a list of 66 different people who each had sent this scammer $140 for the same merchandise--an item she later admitted that she never possessed in the first place. That scammer is now on trial in Florida for 66 counts of scheming to defraud, multiple grand larceny counts, and mail fraud counts as well. Granted, that turned out to be a bigger case than this, but grand larceny is grand larceny and I may be able to help you recoup your loss on this. Please feel free to PM me or post here about what state he lives in and we can look further from there.
something else I would like to know--what state does this guy live in? In most states, theft of more than $500 constitutes grand larceny, a felony. I have been quite successful in the past in these situations with getting police involvement. In one such case, one person got ripped off to the tune of $140 and through investigation, we were able to put together a list of 66 different people who each had sent this scammer $140 for the same merchandise--an item she later admitted that she never possessed in the first place. That scammer is now on trial in Florida for 66 counts of scheming to defraud, multiple grand larceny counts, and mail fraud counts as well. Granted, that turned out to be a bigger case than this, but grand larceny is grand larceny and I may be able to help you recoup your loss on this. Please feel free to PM me or post here about what state he lives in and we can look further from there.
06-16-08, 12:16 AM
#3
Jon,
Here is some information-
John@RPSport.net
AIM: RPSport John
Phone:562)489 5016
Link to a thread that I had moved to violations. (You will be able to view)
https://www.rx7club.com/non-classifieds-violations-59/15x7-25-4x110-enkei-mesh-new-old-stock-660649/
https://www.rx7club.com/members/johngriff-102107/
Here is some information-
John@RPSport.net
AIM: RPSport John
Phone:562)489 5016
Link to a thread that I had moved to violations. (You will be able to view)
https://www.rx7club.com/non-classifieds-violations-59/15x7-25-4x110-enkei-mesh-new-old-stock-660649/
https://www.rx7club.com/members/johngriff-102107/
Last edited by Rx-7Doctor; 06-16-08 at 12:38 AM.
06-16-08, 05:21 AM
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well, I just did a basic search so far, and this is what came up--
http://www.rpsport.net
This is the same guy with the same email and phone number. Seems that he's quite possibly involved in scamming others since he has a full-up business. I am going to keep digging and see what comes up. If anyone else here has dealt with this guy please PM me or post here to tell us how things went.
also, I checked out the site where you originally found out about these rims and the guy doesnt have any complaints there about him that I have found yet. He has a near perfect reputation there. I also found him on a few other car sites, like drifting.com and dodgeinterpid.net forums as well, although the person in that forum wasnt selling things. Some other places I have found him on so far are:
viddler.com
nicoclub.com nissan forums
alfabb.com alfa romeo forum
cnet.com
Here's his myspace page....
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=259394799
more to come, this was just a quick couple of searches
http://www.rpsport.net
This is the same guy with the same email and phone number. Seems that he's quite possibly involved in scamming others since he has a full-up business. I am going to keep digging and see what comes up. If anyone else here has dealt with this guy please PM me or post here to tell us how things went.
also, I checked out the site where you originally found out about these rims and the guy doesnt have any complaints there about him that I have found yet. He has a near perfect reputation there. I also found him on a few other car sites, like drifting.com and dodgeinterpid.net forums as well, although the person in that forum wasnt selling things. Some other places I have found him on so far are:
viddler.com
nicoclub.com nissan forums
alfabb.com alfa romeo forum
cnet.com
Here's his myspace page....
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=259394799
more to come, this was just a quick couple of searches
Last edited by rx7roller02; 06-16-08 at 06:21 AM.
06-16-08, 03:00 PM
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Hi all,
I got an email alert as to this matter this morning from a rx-7 moderators post on the alfabb forum.
I have checked with the courts and there is no case against myself or my business in our jurisdiction. I was shocked to read this thread, knowing I had not ever been served.
If 240ztt has any information he would like to share with me, or to open a dialog, my contact information has always been the same, and has not changed.
I will NOT use the RX7club forum as venue to settle buyer/seller disputes, especially when the transactions did not originate on this forum.
Someone mentioned that we have a near perfect record? That is very true. We have shipped 400 sets of those mesh wheels. We also served 6000 customers in 2007. We usually ship same or next business day, and our loyal customers could not be happier.
Hopefully we can seek resolution on this issue quickly, I can be reached at my following contacts.
Thank you!
John
562.489.5016
John@RPSport.net
I got an email alert as to this matter this morning from a rx-7 moderators post on the alfabb forum.
I have checked with the courts and there is no case against myself or my business in our jurisdiction. I was shocked to read this thread, knowing I had not ever been served.
If 240ztt has any information he would like to share with me, or to open a dialog, my contact information has always been the same, and has not changed.
I will NOT use the RX7club forum as venue to settle buyer/seller disputes, especially when the transactions did not originate on this forum.
Someone mentioned that we have a near perfect record? That is very true. We have shipped 400 sets of those mesh wheels. We also served 6000 customers in 2007. We usually ship same or next business day, and our loyal customers could not be happier.
Hopefully we can seek resolution on this issue quickly, I can be reached at my following contacts.
Thank you!
John
562.489.5016
John@RPSport.net
06-16-08, 05:05 PM
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Hi all,
I got an email alert as to this matter this morning from a rx-7 moderators post on the alfabb forum.
I have checked with the courts and there is no case against myself or my business in our jurisdiction. I was shocked to read this thread, knowing I had not ever been served.
If 240ztt has any information he would like to share with me, or to open a dialog, my contact information has always been the same, and has not changed.
I will NOT use the RX7club forum as venue to settle buyer/seller disputes, especially when the transactions did not originate on this forum.
Someone mentioned that we have a near perfect record? That is very true. We have shipped 400 sets of those mesh wheels. We also served 6000 customers in 2007. We usually ship same or next business day, and our loyal customers could not be happier.
Hopefully we can seek resolution on this issue quickly, I can be reached at my following contacts.
Thank you!
John
562.489.5016
John@RPSport.net
I got an email alert as to this matter this morning from a rx-7 moderators post on the alfabb forum.
I have checked with the courts and there is no case against myself or my business in our jurisdiction. I was shocked to read this thread, knowing I had not ever been served.
If 240ztt has any information he would like to share with me, or to open a dialog, my contact information has always been the same, and has not changed.
I will NOT use the RX7club forum as venue to settle buyer/seller disputes, especially when the transactions did not originate on this forum.
Someone mentioned that we have a near perfect record? That is very true. We have shipped 400 sets of those mesh wheels. We also served 6000 customers in 2007. We usually ship same or next business day, and our loyal customers could not be happier.
Hopefully we can seek resolution on this issue quickly, I can be reached at my following contacts.
Thank you!
John
562.489.5016
John@RPSport.net
I am the one who posted this on the other forum. My goal is not to cause trouble, but to get resolution and to ensure that we dont have members here that scam others elsewhere as well. While I understand what you are saying, I feel that it is relevant to this forum because you do sell parts here. And again, let me state this here as I stated it on the Alfa forum---this seller has built a very good reputation. He sells on several forums and a lot of people are satisfied with his transactions. That aside, however, this does need to get resolved, I'm sure you agree.
I will also say this--I dont think it's fair that you put your telephone number here and tell the buyer that's out $732 that he needs to contact you if he wishes to open a dialogue. He already did contact you when he sent you over $700 at your request, did he not? At that point it is now your responsibility to contact HIM to ensure that this transaction is completed. He has done everything you have asked of him, and as he tells it he tried to contact you more than once, and you never replied. So at this point, might I suggest that you contact him through whatever method you prefer--he's on two forums that youre on--to see about getting him what he deserves? I think thats only fair, and to be honest its the least you could do after he's been waiting to hear from you since January.
The guy paid you in good faith--please, lets complete this transaction in the same manner. I would also like one of you two to keep me updated so we can close out the thread once this is completed.
06-16-08, 09:34 PM
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I am surprised you responded, considering you have fallen off the face of the earth for the last 7 months concerning our transaction. I have documentation regarding the case I filed against you and would be glad to post them here if you wish. This documenation includes the notice of service to you issued on February 25, 2008 by certified mail.
You can resolve this issue by sending back my money including court costs as listed in the judgement I received from the St. Mary's District Court. As you may or may not know, a law suit may be filed in either my county and state or yours. So there may not be a case pending in your "jurisdiction" but a case was won against you in mine.
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06-16-08, 11:10 PM
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Fair enough. I have found the contact info for your court and will be getting in touch tomorrow. Hopefully this will all be resolved within the week.
Good Day,
John
Good Day,
John
07-16-08, 10:31 PM
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It has been a month now and I have not heard anything from you. I am concerned as to when this will be "resolved" as you put it? I would assume that if you didn't know before you now know that you have a judgement against you. None of my contact information has changed and I would like to get this resolved as soon as possible so that we both can move on.
08-18-08, 08:51 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnGriff
Fair enough. I have found the contact info for your court and will be getting in touch tomorrow. Hopefully this will all be resolved within the week.
Good Day,
John
Good Day,
John
Mr. Grefe,
It has been 2 months now and I have not heard anything from you. I am concerned as to when this will be "resolved" as you put it? I would assume that if you didn't know before you now know that you have a judgement against you. None of my contact information has changed and I would like to get this resolved as soon as possible so that we both can move on.
10-18-08, 07:54 AM
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It has been relatively sometime since I updated this thread. JohnGriff has made no attempts to contact me to resolve this issue as he said on here that he would back in June. I have all the proof as to what he promised and he never followed through. I sent him back the wheels for replacement and now he has both the wheels and my money.
Buyers beware if anyone has any business dealings with him be VERY cautious. If he screwed me over who is to say he won’t screw anyone else over. His track record was excellent up until our transaction. This was a very sobering lesson for someone who I trusted and ended up getting taken advantage of since I live on the other coast. I have exhausted all possible ways to collect other than knocking on his door in which I am a better man. I have learned from this and will chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. Thanks to all who have supported me in this debacle!
Buyers beware if anyone has any business dealings with him be VERY cautious. If he screwed me over who is to say he won’t screw anyone else over. His track record was excellent up until our transaction. This was a very sobering lesson for someone who I trusted and ended up getting taken advantage of since I live on the other coast. I have exhausted all possible ways to collect other than knocking on his door in which I am a better man. I have learned from this and will chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. Thanks to all who have supported me in this debacle!
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