What a surprise right? Sorry this is going to be a lengthy read but it has taken place over the course of almost two months and i try to get all the details in.

I know some of you have delt with bri2203 (Brian Meier) as he has been selling things on the forum as well as ebay for quite some time. Well a few months ago I had posted up for sale my stock K04 since i swapped my car. He messaged me saying that he will take the turbo (which i had posted pics of). And then as a bump I said that my O2 housing and manifold will be for sale as well. Well without asking for pics or even giving me time to update my original post, he said that he would take those too and asked for a price. We agreed on 400 for the 3 parts shipped. But directly before we came to the agreement he had stated to me that he didn't really even want these parts and that he regrets making the offer but he would stay true to his word of buying them.

So he sent the money and within 2 days i had the parts boxed up and ready for shipping. The turbo i had in a USPS Flatrate box wrapped in shipping paper and stuffed on all corners so there was no movement. And the other two parts were in a regular box but stuffed the same. Both boxes were new boxes i should add. So I dropped the turbo off at USPS and the others at UPS the same day. He received the parts on time with no hiccups. A few days later he PM's saying that the Turbo had many broken parts (bov nipple and bent vacuum & coolant lines). And he also said that there was one stud bent on the manifold and another stud was broken. He sent me pics of a manifold with said injuries as well as the turbo with these broken parts (whether those were actually mine is a different story). I then asked him if the boxes were all beat up and he said no that they were in perfect condition...just like i shipped them, which leads me to believe that something fishy is going on. Regardless, I am sympathetic about this situation and try to make it right. I offered to paypal him back some money to fix these pieces. Nope..didn't want it. Then he PM's me back saying that he tried fixing the bent stud and broke it off flush. Now its his fault that its broken. He claimed that he works in a shop and does this stuff all day so that he knows how...obviously.

Again, I try to make it right by refunding some money and even buying a new bpv assembly...still...nope. He decides he wants to file a claim with paypal saying that i sold him parts that weren't what he paid for. (I should also add that I did have pics of the manifold right before shipping..with no broken or bent studs. He just chose not to ask for them) So, couple days later I get an email from paypal saying so and i also have a negative balance in my paypal account. ( I had already spent the money he gave me). Well since my paypal balance was about -400, they decided to pull that money from my checking account to cover their end. Well that was only my car payment and insurance...no biggie . So I follow all the steps and provide my evidence of me shipping on time and pics of non broken parts, etc. It all checks out via paypal and they side with me on the dispute and send it to his credit card company to dispute. Cool..whatever...except that their dispute wont be finalized for 75 days (which ends on Dec 28th). WTF. Im a college kid here..thats my Christmas money and ****.

So I make calls and see what i can do and basically paypal says that i have to ride it out as there is nothing they can do since they closed the case and sided in my favor. Fine. About a week later i get a hair to check ebay...and what do i find but MY FREAKING PARTS for sale!!! I do a little next level slipstream maneuver and emailed him from another ebay account asking incriminating questions that prove that those parts all came off the same car and that he had just recently purchased them and the manifold had bent and broken studs...Coincidence? i think not. SO I PM him asking why he is selling parts that aren't legally his now? Yadda yadda denial denial..i slap the screen shots of the emails from the other account on him and he's backed into a corner with my rib caging him. He slides up his little white flag admitting that those were my parts. The problem there is that if those parts sell and his credit card company sides in his favor..he has to send those parts back to me. Thats going to be tough when he FREAKIN SOLD THEM!!!

Anyway, he knows he is caught so we try to come to an agreement outside of this BS dispute. We land on this...he pays me back the 400 bucks and I in turn pay his credit card dispute fees of 60 dollars. Done. I just want this clusterf**k over with. So we do an e-handshake and I assume all is going to work out. NOPE..Chuck Testa. No money in my account, no updates from him...and oh yea, my turbo is no longer on his ebay (sold?). So emailed him yet again..and again..and again and finally he responds after a week of ignoring me. Now he says that he doesn't want to do it because he doesn't want to get screwed over. DUDE...You have your money AND the parts...who is really getting screwed over here? So I threaten to report him as a fraud to ebay and paypal. This hurts him because his home business is buying and reselling car parts. He responds with his panties in a bunch and basically says "screw it..im tired of this. report me to ebay and paypal and the forum" Ask and you shall receive my man!

 

I'm so tired of seeing people getting scammed on the net. I think CSS.net should start a minimum post requirement on the classifieds to post an ad. Alot of forums are doing this now to try to keep scammers away and there are even a few I know of that require you to be a supporting member to post classified ad's and I know that is a frustrating route to go for people like me that can't afford to give up any money to support the sites they love. So sorry to hear about this happening to you man, hopefully karma is real

 

Daaaaaayum! That's F'ED UP!!

I had a Paypal dispute go awry once and after all the hoopla, I managed to get a Paypal mgr to put the money in my account immediately. Same situation at the time too, was my last $400.

Report his ass like there is no tomorrow. Tell him you're going to seek legal council too. That outta get his attention.

 

Yea im hoping Karma is very real. The thing is, is that he is a long standing member. Has sold many parts. Guess he sucks at being a buyer tho eh?

Yea Im going to call Paypal and Ebay tomorrow and squak like bird! And I already have legal counsel lined up

 

thats really a shame he would would file a claim for his money back and then sell what he claims is your items on ebay too. Id say ban him just plan bad business there.

 

my thoughts exactly. and HE is worried about getting screwed over? I think he forgets that i know where he lives!

 

bump...just getting this out there!

 

A minimum posts requirement just causes an increase in spam/useless posts. It wouldn't stop people from getting scammed at all.

 

not that it would have helped in this situation but i think the "paper in the pic" rule should be used. Piece of paper next the the item for sale that has the forum, your forum name and todays date. If a thread is posted without pics or pics without the paper, it is instantly deleted. Also only members who donate or something of the equivalent should be able to view the classifieds. Another forum i used to be on used those rules and it seemed to work great.

 

Soundes like a bs situation and hope you get your justice

 

thanks i appreciate it.

 

I can smell rotten fish also. UPS gives $99 of free insurance also. Theres no way all that damage could happen in shipping unless they dropped it off a 8 story building.

 

"nope... chuck testa"

but wow thats a BS story guy sounds like another one of those douchebags.... hope everything works out man and thanks for teh hedz up

 

I don't think it would cause spam at all. If anything it would deter scammers because it will have to cause them THAT MUCH effort to scam someone on here. They'll just walk away. It's just like when someone is breaking into a house. If it takes that long to get into it then they'll go on to the next one. Simple. I vote 500 post minimum.

 

YEA minimum posts is a good idea, don't just join and start buyin/selling **** but it does suck for anyone whos serious on here but just joined... like a lot of ppl join just to buy/sell a few parts

 

It doesn't help, the guy has over 1,000 post.

Cobalt SS Network - View Profile: bri2203

Also he's viewing this right now, should heat up soon

 

Ill agree with minimum posts but 500 is kinda steep IMO. Plus I've dealt with some members with low posts that were easier to deal with than some members with higher post counts. I say we need a scammer list though so we don't have to search threads. Other than that all we can really do is take the usual precautions an hope we don't get screwed

 

Now he's just private messaging, FAIL! I was ready for a battle

 

I agree with Tommy, a minimum post requirement would just increase the bs threads. Theres enough of those in the LE5 section anyways. Also I think I've been a great seller/buyer with even a low post count

 

Incase anyone wants to hear my side of the story as Bryce's story isn't 100% accurate.

I did agree to purchase three parts from Bryce and because they were not packaged properly 2 of the 3 items were damaged in shipping so he claims. One box had some packing wrap but not enough to securely protect the turbo. Neither box contained bubble wrap, noodles, or air pillows like the shipping companies want you to use. At this time I sent him pictures of the items.

Exhaust Manifold- Broken stud and a bent stud
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/turbo010.jpg

Broken valve nipple
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/turbo013.jpg

Bent vacuum nipple
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/turbo012.jpg

I offered to return them and he didn't want them. I asked him if he wanted to file a claim with the shipper and he didn't want to do that either. He offered to credit me $20 which wouldn't cover the replacement BOV nipple. I was upset as it was not my fault the parts were damaged. IMO a fair refund would have been $50-70.


The part that I have listed on ebay is not the parts I purchased from Bryce.
I do have an LNF 02 housing that is listed on ebay. If I included the 02 housing from Bryce I have two and can take a picture of that to prove it. Because the parts I receieved were not as described I filed a claim. The parts I recieved from Bryce are still in the boxes that I recieved them in.
edit- The turbo that sold on ebay was not purchased from Bryce -edit

 

Page not found
But now that you're here, go ahead and search through the billions of photos, images and videos on Photobucket.


you sure bro?

 

Why not the money and parts simply be sent back to the original owner? Problem solved.

 

Minimum time membership and post count will help. 3 month minimum of being a member would be good, not sure about the post count though as people can just spam the hell out of things.

 

Links no worky.

Also it doesn't matter what gets said in this thread.There's always going to be two sides to every story and unless the OP video taped himself packaging the items, and placed the camera inside the box with the items so that he could watch the entire shipping process and post the video here then there is no way of telling who is truthful. It's just a bunch of he said she said on the internet and this thread is pretty much useless.