Just looking for some feedback from some members on here who I am sure have come across some situations such as this before. The skinny is this... I was browsing Nasioc one day in the 93-01 Impreza sub forum in the for sale section. Came across a Cusco rear strut bar listed as "Cusco OS Rear Strut Bar". Being that it was in the 93-01 specific for sale section, I didn't think anything of it and bartered with the seller for a fair price. (the thread http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2400397 ) Long story short, I come to find out once the package arrives that it is not for a GC but a GD chassis. I headed back to the forum to investigate what I must be doing wrong. Didn't find anything obvious that it was my fault.. So I sent him a PM and explored his other items for sale only to discover this: Okay, so this guy had it listed in a forum it did not belong in.. Now, I contact him asking for some explanation and, well, you can read the rest for yourself.. NASIOC;http://forums.nasioc.com/forums Private Message Dump for User ctracey218; 09-15-2012 08:14 PM --> ################################################################################ Folder :Inbox ################################################################################ ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-04 22:10 Title :Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How about $160 shipped/paypaled? And you got a deal. My paypal is [email protected] ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-05 13:01 Title :Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Haha thanks I got payment. Is this the address you want me to send the strut bar to; Chris Tracey xxxxAnderson Road Duluth, MN 55xxx United States If you can confirm soon I can ship today. I have to go to the post office to ship something else. I'll make sure to give you feedback and tracking # as well. ================================================================================
From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-05 22:50 Title :Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok sounds good Chris. I'll have to make a box for the strut bar and send it out. Hopefully I can get all this done tomorrow. -Justin ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-06 18:20 Title :Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USPS Tracking # 9434610200883489106563 ================================================================================
From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-13 19:20 Title :Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey Chris it was installed in a wrx. What subie are you installing it onto? I did the mounts then slipped/wedged the middle piece in. Seems the easiest way. Let me know if that works. -Justin ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-13 23:12 Title :Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you sure you dont have the mounts backwards or at the wrong angle...it should fit http://www.rs25.com/forums/f9/t135924-will-gd-strut-tower-bars-fit-gc-gf.html ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-13 23:42 Title :Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I believe you. dang I guess the info is misleading? ================================================================================
From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-15 17:27 Title :Re: Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey Chris sorry got busy. To be honest I really needed the money which is why I started selling all my parts. My hours at work were drastically cut for some time now. Even if I could I don't have the funds to refund you. I'm sure you can sell it back on nasioc or to friends. Thanks for understanding. -Justin ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-15 18:00 Title :Re: Re: Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like I said Chris I apologize for the inconvenience but I'm going through a finiancial crisis and won't have the money. I'm sorry the bar didn't fit but its not my responsibility to do the research and see if the aftermarket part fits your application. If you file a claim through PayPal it'll show that I shipped you exactly what you paid for. Thank you. ================================================================================ From :Seller To :ctracey218 Date :2012-09-15 18:08 Title :Re: Re: Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also I'm not a store that accepts refunds. Everyone knows peer to peer sales or private party sales are sold "as-is" with no returns. NASIOC;http://forums.nasioc.com/forums Private Message Dump for User ctracey218; 09-15-2012 08:38 PM --> ################################################################################ Folder :Sent Items ################################################################################ ================================================================================ From :ctracey218 To :Seller Date :2012-09-15 20:10 Title :Re: Re: Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then whose responsibility is it to list the item in the appropriate For Sale category? Was willing to work with you, Justin, and I am sorry for your situation... But you cannot just walk away from this one. Last chance as I understand that you are going through some hardships or I will start a PayPal claim. Thanks, Chris
I wish there was something you could do or that the dude selling it would be understanding, but unfortunately this sounds like it falls under the "buyer beware" field. Granted, you can leave him a horse**** review but beyond that I don't know how much recourse you have. I'd just try to sell is for around the same price to try to break even and start back at square one. Sorry EDIT: Only saw your first post when I wrote this. Maybe you do have a leg to stand on with a PayPal complaint. And don't worry about ruining his credit or anything like that...people like this are the reason that scores exist, so reputable people can show a strong rating!
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2400398 Looks like he knew what car it was for and listed it in the 93-01 also... I would flag both his posts on nasioc... I also would make a PayPal claim... He knew what he was doing when he listed the part in the wrong sub-forum. Sorry buddy
I think your claim with PayPal would work because he sold you one thing and you got another. It isn't your job to know that he gave you bad information. His misinformation means that he is in the wrong. I would make sure that PayPal knows that he listed the part for the wrong car, and you bought it off that car. That my friend is Fraud and you have a good chance. I have worked with PayPal as a 3rd party (not buyer or seller) and they are very good at their fraud claims. Better than most banks!
I got some one IP banned off sl-i for doing something similar, I also googled his screen name and found all his other forums and made threads attempting to ruin his internet reputation haha
+1 on flagging his thread/username and making a PayPal claim! best of luck to ya, sorry you got screwed.
The original ad is edited now so it's impossible to see he how he was advertising it. Did he have pics? part numbers? Maybe he legitimately thought it would work on a GC? Sucks that he won't step up, but as a buyer you have to weed through the ignorant sellers and know exactly what you are getting. (if he did specifically list bad info, I take it back... but you still may be better off saving yourself the aggravation and just re-listing it.)
Well, after nothing back from this fine fella, I opened a PayPal Dispute. Re: Re: Re: Re: Cusco rear strut bar Justin, As I did not hear back from you and I see you were active over the weekend on the forum, I assume you are not wanting to resolve this politely. Per the PayPal dispute, you have until the 6th of October to reach a resolution. If I do not receive a full refund by that point, I will pursue the dispute via PayPal further. Again, I am sorry about your situation, but it is not my fault you listed an item for sale under false pretense. ~Chris
Did you get photos of the item before sending payment? Did you confirm the part number? Did you note part number or fitment in the PayPal payment? Did you note the FS thread in the PayPal payment? I think this should be taken as a learning experience that when you buy something used from a private party, you need to do some work/research on your end. Without having all of the above properly documented prior to sending the money, I think you might be out of luck on this one. If PayPal does refund your money, I think you're very fortunate. If not, you should be able to sell it on NASIOC and break even.
Also, if you have an address we could all crap in a box and send it to him with our regards. Good luck with everything, have you contacted any of the mods on NASIOC to see if they can do anything?
I have sent a message to a Mod on Nasioc asking what can happen. It is hard to fight something when the initial post has been modified to reflect something other than what was listed... But we will see what they can do. If anything, this will be an "interesting" experience... NASIOC;http://forums.nasioc.com/forums Private Message Dump for User ctracey218; 09-17-2012 10:06 AM --> ################################################################################ Folder :Sent Items ################################################################################ ================================================================================ From :ctracey218 To :AaronB Date :2012-09-17 07:55 Title ealing with a FS issue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello Aaron, Just curious if you can help me or point in the direction of a moderator that can. I recently purchased a Cusco strut bar from the 1993-2001 For Sale section and when it arrived it was for a GD chassis. No big deal as it is really not too big of a pain in the ass to install. In communicating with the seller, I asked for a refund as he did not properly list the product in question. I offered to send it back at no cost to him and that once I received a refund via PayPal, I would get him tracking numbers of the product on its way back to him. His response was basically to get bent and that he doesn't have the money any more. He also mentioned that it was my fault for not verifying that the part was indeed what he said it was. In going back to his thread to show him how it was falsely listed, he has since modified the thread and stopped communicating to find a resolution. Do you have any thoughts towards this situation? I can relinquish our PM conversations to you but I would imagine you should have access to them. The thread in questions is http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2400397 Any and all assistance is appreciated. Thanks, Chris
When you put your paypal payment in, did you put anything in the comments? I've taken to adding notes when i send any funds via paypal, such as: "Payment is for Cusco Strut bar that fits 99 impreza 2.5RS, sold through nasioc, (THREAD URL)" This way, when he accepts the payment, he is also accepting the comments added, and you have an additional line of defense if something like this happens.
Nothing too specific, but this is going to be a standard on all of my paypal transactions moving forward.
That's exactly what I was getting at with my post above. If you just sent money with no comment, or even with a minimal comment like "Cusco Strut Bar", then he can claim that he shipped you what you paid for. Without any other info, PayPal will probably (and IMO should) side with him. If PayPal starts refunding money to anyone who buys the wrong part, then I'm going to have to stop selling things via PayPal. I'm always very thorough in my listings, but that doesn't mean I haven't had buyers buy the wrong thing from me. And if PayPal starts refunding money just based on claims with no back up info, then it will become increasingly easy to screw over a seller. I'm NOT implying that is what is happening in your case. I think he is in the wrong (because he listed it in the wrong section), but by not including details or links to the FS listing, you really have little to no ground to stand on in this case. He is being a complete asshole about it though. If I had goofed like he did then I would obviously refund the money even if PayPal didn't obligate me to do so.
Since NASIOC allows entire original listings to be wiped out neither we nor anyone else can verify what the original classified looked like. This is one of many reasons we don't allow that here. That said, unless you have some documentation explicitly calling out the part number(s) I think you're going to be hard pressed to get Paypal to side with you. Pursue it aggressively with NASIOC. From Paypal's perspective there is very little here to force a refund. People spam things all the time with little to no regard for whether the subforum (or even website for that matter) is appropriate for what they're posting. So long as he didn't specifically say the product was something else it's hard to prove he was lying. Curious to see how this pans out.
Here is the funny thing about it.. Since he changed his FS thread title to "Cusco OS Rear Strut Bar" he is trying to play this card... From Buyer - Chris Tracey9/16/2012 22:45 PDTJustin, This item was listed for sale as one item in a specific location. Once the item was received, it was not for the application specified. Please refund my purchase and I will send you the tracking information of its return to your ownership. Thanks, Chris Justin denied Chris Tracey's request for a $160.00 USD refund.9/17/2012 12:17 PDTFrom Seller - Justin 9/17/2012 12:17 PDTWe can dispute this with paypal if you'd like, but it's not my responsibility you did not take the necessary precautions to see if it fit your application. My title clearly stated 02-07 also you could of at least asked me if it the strut bar were to fit. From Buyer - Chris Tracey9/17/2012 13:52 PDTAre you sure you want to stand by what your title said? And if you really believe that is what is said, then why did you have it listed in an area for 93-01 specific models?
My first response was going to be caveat emptor...but given the listing above I'd say you definitely got screwed.
After a half an hour on the phone with paypal I was able to give them the link to his cached thread. Guy on the phone was super understanding and that was a plus... Nothing set in stone yet, but outcome looks good.
It's promising that he took the time to learn how to dig up cached threads just for this case... That was a damning action by the seller.
My only dealings with PayPal fraud left me with the impression they were indifferent at best. That was almost 10 years ago though. I'm pleasantly surprised they're willing to do any actual work to dig into this.
It may be for a GD, but unless my car is some kind of freak, GC and GD chassis bars fit eachother, I have a hotchkis rsb on my car (that came off an 04 wrx), and have since about 2005, no fitment issues, no issues whatsoever......
For the rear? That is really odd... There is no way what I have will fit in my coupe.. Edit* I could bend it and re-drill some holes.. Then it would fit.
I didnt have to do anything. I literally pulled the bar off of the wrx and put it on my L, and put the L bar on the wrx.....
The bolts in the frame didnt fit? The mounts should move back and forth on the bar, as they are only held on by the bushings.
Better to do it into a bag and then freeze it... It will thaw by the time it makes it to Cali I have been on the fence of taping 1 dollar to the bar when I send it back, for his "financial" struggles.. If you own three cars and house and are that bent on not refunding 160.00... You have some skewed priorities... Just my .02
Just got an email from PayPal Hello Chris Tracey,After carefully reviewing your case, we've determined that you'll beeligible for a refund (including handling and shipping) once you'vereturned the merchandise to the seller.Once you have returned the merchandise, you will be covered under PayPalBuyer Protection and eligible to receive a full refund.
