Badguy Alert!

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Dusteriffic

Dusteriffic

Stink finger
Joined
Aug 5, 2005
Messages
2,414
Reaction score
670
Location
San Diego, CA
Hey guys,

Just want to alert you to a criminal on eBay. His name is Richard Ellis and operates under the user-id midsouthauto801, selling reproduction A-body dash pads out of Mocksville, NC. I decided to take a chance and pick one up after he talked a good game about them.

I paid him $228 and waited…and waited…and waited. For weeks, he gave me every excuse in the book for not sending it. When it finally got here, I was pretty excited…until I opened the box and found myself holding what amounted to be a 5ft long mule muffin. Total and complete junk with more than its fair share of cuts, holes, scuffs, bubbles, etc. I’ve left better looking specimens in the bowl after a bout with a brutal Taco Bell lunch.

Anyway, I emailed him right away and told him “it would not fit my needs at this time.” He says, “no problem, just send it back and I’ll refund your $199”, so I did. For the past three weeks, I’ve been begging this j.o. to give my money back. Now that the pad is back in his possession, it would seem that he’s disappeared…along with my two bills.

I paid him via PayPal, so I also filed an immediate claim with them. Unfortunately, they slammed the claim closed because I actually did recieved merchandise. I guess for them to consider reimbursement, the claimant has to have received nothing.

Since you guys are his target market, I thought I’d give my A-body brothers a heads-up. Stay away from midsouthauto801 on eBay.
 
Wow that sucks sorry for your luck but thanks for the heads up i had heard about them from a friend and was going to look for them when i get my paycheck guess i wont bother now. I dont know how it works but i have heard of people filing a claim with their credit card companies and getting them to give their money back. Maybe that will work for you cant hurt to try i guess. Good luck and thanks again. Justin
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Stories like that just give Ebay a bad name and just adds fuel to the fire. I haven't had a bad dealing yet but wouldn't let one bad experience overshadow the many good ones that I've had.

Hindsight is 20/20 but looking at midsouthauto801's profile, he/she only has a feedback rating of 1. It could very well be his own from another profile. Try to stick with sellers that have at least 20-30 total AND 95+ % feedback ratings.
 
hi guys...
sorry to hear of the experience with the bad guy with a bad dash pad. When i'm not frying the tires on my 69 383 4-speed fastback formula s, i'm in my downtown pittsburgh law office. i don't mention the fact that i'm a lawyer much because.. well you know.. people hate lawyers... most of the time, i do too. but let me share some thoughts. i've actually filed three lawsuits against folks for stuff i've tried to buy off of ebay ... and i've threatened ebay on one occassion. my first problem on ebay was after i did a "buy it now" for $11k for a 69 formula s out of california. i make it a point to call the seller on the phone for any item i pay more than $100 for just to feel them out and get a real address and full name. when i called the cuda guy in ca, he started to get all nervous when i said i would draw up a sales contract for him to sign before i sent any money. he finally refused to sign anything so i backed out then ebay wanted to give me a negative rating. i told them i would be happy to join them in the action and they decided to drop the negative rating idea. my second situation came when i sent some farm guys in oregon $500 deposit on my 68 formula s. after they had taken the money, they decided to back out of the deal. i filed a suit here in pittsburgh against them seeking $35k in damages and served them with the papers. about a week later i got a call from some old attorney in portland saying they had changed their minds and would sell me the car. i deducted my filing costs from the price of the car and finally got it. my last experience was with a guy on ebay selling mopar parts out of fla. i bought an entire grill assembly and when i opened the box, it looked like someone had taken a hammer to it .. it was in about 100 pieces. he said it was "shipping damage." funny thing was that the box had no damage at all on the outside. i sued him and when he sent me all my money back, i sent him the box of grill parts.

the point is that you are best to adopt the old phrase from the "X files" on tv... "trust no one..." and every state has a local small claims court.. a justice of the peace or district justice or magistrate. just go down and give them $30 or 40 buck to file a complaint and then send the papers to the sob who is trying to screw you. legally, there are problems trying to sue a person in another state in small claims court (most of the time cross-state suits have to be filed in federal court) but it's worth the effort to do it. most shady characters will not hire a lawyer and will just try and settle once they get served...

it's a dangerous world out there... always try to get a written agreement for any high ticket item and it doesn't hurt to call and talk to a seller if you are giving him several hundred bucks..

take care... i'll keep on shifting at 6k and suing any sob that is trying to steel my mopar fun money..

jim coster, esquire
pittsburgh
ako ... jimharvard
 
just curious/did you take any pics of what he sent to you?don't know if it would help but it would be good proof of fraud on his part.i'm not 100% sure but i think california has a good faith law and he should not only refund the price but the shipping both ways.i know it would be a hassle but small claims court sounds like a good option for you.also file a complaint against him with ebay but do it quickly as they have time limits for that if he gets too many they will kick him off/not trying to be a legal adviser here i just hate to see people get ripped off ! ebay would be great except for the ocassional jerks that are allowed to stiff people
 
am i for hire... wow.. have you ever met a lawyer that turned down a case??? you know the only thing that matters is if the retainer check clears....

yea... i would give fabo folks a deal ... i've found that most guys (and gals) that are sincerely into old cars.. especially old mopars... are pretty decent people... and internet scammers who try to rip innocent folks off who are just trying to fix up a tired old mopar in their garage really get my old marine corps blood in a tizzy...

google my name .. .james l. coster ... or just search lawyer and pittsburgh...

take care..

jim c...
 
needsaresto said:
Is there no recourse through bay?
Click to expand...

Perhaps I didn't make my story clear enough...

I bid on one of his dash pad auctions, but lost. After the auction ended, I emailed him directly and asked if I could purchase one. He said sure, so I PayPal'd him the money. We never transacted through eBay - mistake #1.

In hindsight, yes I should have been leary of a newbie with no feedback - mistake #2. The single feedback score he has now came from the sale of a tailgate.

I also noticed that during our transaction, his eBay-id, midsouthauto, changed to "no longer a registered user" status. A couple days later, he came back as midsouthauto801. I can only assume that had something to do with the guy that beat me in the auction. Richard probably knew he was about to get a neg and dumped his account to come back fresh.

Yes, I do have pics of the p.o.s. he sent me.
 
eBay is a hotbed for scammers selling junk or just flat out ripping people off. I'd estimate somewhere approaching 30% of all the stuff on there is just garbage people are trying to offload. Another significant amount of transactions (2-5%?) are plain old fraud. Why do you think they have the prominent Paypal protection notices? Yeah, there's great deals available, but you gotta be careful!

Two things: 1) Never deal outside the auction. If you do, eBay/Paypal protection will not apply. 2) Never return it 1st - file the claim for not as decribed 1st. They'll just ask you to return it anyway, but you have to get the claim established first.

I've had attemped rip-offs a few times and always eventually got my money refunded. One time I bought a driveshaft from some wanker who told Paypal he did not even want it back. Kinda proved the point, I guess - junk!
 
Damn, you could be a case study on how NOT to buy something on eBay. ANd I would be number two behind you. :sad1:

I bought a "running" 80k mile 383/727 combo on ebay, drove 400 miles to pick it up, paid cash, drove home, then found out there was 4 1/2 gallons of water in the engine, everything inside was rusted in place. Ebay told me I was out of luck since I paid him cash and left with it.
 
jimharvard said:
internet scammers who try to rip innocent folks off who are just trying to fix up a tired old mopar in their garage really get my old marine corps blood in a tizzy
Click to expand...

Jim, there are those who might suggest former Marine & Lawyer is a double whammy
Semper Fi Brother :thumbup:
 
This is exactly why I only use credit cards to purchase items. It is the only way to be safe and get your money pack if it goes sideways. Now with that being said I also once got burned in the past that is why I use this policy now.


Chuck
 
Ace said:
eBay is a hotbed for scammers selling junk or just flat out ripping people off. I'd estimate somewhere approaching 30% of all the stuff on there is just garbage people are trying to offload. Another significant amount of transactions (2-5%?) are plain old fraud. Why do you think they have the prominent Paypal protection notices? Yeah, there's great deals available, but you gotta be careful!

Two things: 1) Never deal outside the auction. If you do, eBay/Paypal protection will not apply. 2) Never return it 1st - file the claim for not as decribed 1st. They'll just ask you to return it anyway, but you have to get the claim established first.

I've had attemped rip-offs a few times and always eventually got my money refunded. One time I bought a driveshaft from some wanker who told Paypal he did not even want it back. Kinda proved the point, I guess - junk!
Click to expand...


Amendment to rule #1. If you do buy outside of Ebay, verify that the seller runs a legitimate business. Ask for a website. Almost all legitimate businesses operate a web based store front. From there you can verify business phone and address.



Jim C, :thumbup: hats off to you and thanks. A lot of lawyers may have charged for the info you just provided for free. So there's a break for FABO members.
 
If any of our southern brothers know any leg-breakers, send them to the address below. It was sent to me by the first guy he screwed.

Mid-South Auto
Richard Ellis
240 Lake Road
Winston Salem, NC 27127
 
I bought something through paypal for a total of $40 when I never received the item I reported to Pay Pal. I won the argument but they never gave me any money back as promised because the other dude closed his pay pal account before they collected I got nothing for my money but I won! Good Luck with Ebay! Dartnabout!
 
I bought my '69 Dart via eBay but payment was made via an escrow account: my payment funds went into escrow and the buyer received payment only upon my receipt and approved inspection of the vehicle. I suggest this method for any FABO 'brother or sister' purchasing a vehicle sight unseen. In my case, the seller had no qualms about payment via escrow since he was selling a solid car that proved to be exactly what he said it was. I believe this purchasing method will show the 'crooks' to be exactly what they are since they won't want any part of an escrow purchase.
 
ocdart said:
I bought my '69 Dart via eBay but payment was made via an escrow account: my payment funds went into escrow and the buyer received payment only upon my receipt and approved inspection of the vehicle. I suggest this method for any FABO 'brother or sister' purchasing a vehicle sight unseen. In my case, the seller had no qualms about payment via escrow since he was selling a solid car that proved to be exactly what he said it was. I believe this purchasing method will show the 'crooks' to be exactly what they are since they won't want any part of an escrow purchase.
Click to expand...

I agree with ocdart! An escrow account is the safe way when dealing with the kind of money when purchasing a car!

A friend of mine just bought a Pink Panther Dart out of California from Ebay a few weeks ago... This car was on Ebay most of the Summer that some of you might recall! The Car is not what my friend thought he was buying and he is still having problems with this guy over many issues, I believe a lawyer has been hired! He has all the doc's from Email's and Money transfer to back up his claim! A plane ticket and escrow account would have saved all his troubles!
 
Here's an email I got today.

"We got your dash pad back , sending refund less shipping , Thanks , richard"

Don't anybody get too excited since I've gotten other emails just like it. I checked my PayPal account again and sure enough, nothing from my old buddy Richard. Whatta frickin' tool.

Remember, stay away from midsouthauto801 on eBay.
 
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