I’ve been looking to upgrade my home networking equipment for quite some time. After doing a lot of research, I concluded that the Juniper Wireless Netscreen 5-GT would be a robust solution for my home network. VPN, stateful packet inspection, multiple wireless networks, spam/virus control, basically a lot more features than I will probably ever need.
I’ve had a lot of luck over my 7 years of ebaying, and only one bad experience, which led to me losing $300. I found an action for the Netscreen 5-GT, and placed multiple bids. The seller: rheythammond had a decent amount of feedback on three year old account.
I won the item on Sunday, and paid in full on Monday via paypal. Here were the sellers terms:
Hello Alex- In order for your item to be shipped on or before Friday, 11/17/06, your payment must be received via PayPal no later than Monday, 11/13/06 @ 5:00 P.M., CST. According to the auction terms and conditions you have until 5:00 P.M., CST on 11/15/06 to pay for your item via PayPal, but shipment could be delayed as late as 11/20/06. Thanks, Steven Roady
On Thursday afternoon, I sent an e-mail to get a tracking number for the item, when I came home from work on Friday, I received this e-mail.
Response from rheythammond
Alex-
This item wil not be shipped because Paypal locked my account and I cannot get the funds. They think I am a business since I sold 7 items that totaled $1300.00. I choose not to comply with BS like wanting to run my personal credit just to accept paypal. If I had known there was going to a limit I would have never accepted paypal. Submit a refund request to Paypal to get your funds back. Or you can disput the charge to your cedit card company if you used that method.
DANGER ALERT. First off, I paid for the item in full. Secondly, the idea that his inability to verify his paypal account has anything to do with my transaction is ludicrous. So I sent him this reply:
The transaction has been completed. Irregardless of your lack of the verification of your paypal account. Its a very simple process, and does not involve running your personal credit I have paid for the item. The transaction went through. IF I DO NOT HAVE A TRACKING NUMBER FOR THE ITEM IN 3 DAYS, I’m going to leave negative feedback, and file a fraud complaint with paypal and ebay.
Good Day.
Alex Valentine
About an hour after that message, another buyer of a Steven Roady item contacted me:
hello, I see you won an auction from rheythammond. I won an item on the 13th, paid him and now his email dosent work (kc.rr.com says he is no longer a user). Just wondering if your experience was (or is going) ok. Thanks, Brian.
At this point, I am pissed. I was waiting all week to configure this device, and now it appears that this guy is trying to rip off multiple people. So I decided to get his contact information via ebay.
User ID: rheythammond
Name: Rheyt Hammond
Company:
City: olathe
State: KS
Country: United States
Phone: (913) 772-XXXX
Registered Since: Thursday, Nov 13, 2003 17:12:29 PST
Surprise, Surprise, his phone number doesn’t work. I immediately filed for a refund via paypal. I finally got a response from Steven Roady of Kansas today:
Response from rheythammond
Do whatever you want ASSHOLE. I din’t even have to bother to e-mail you. AS far as I am concerned if I cannot get to the funds, the item is not paid for. Take it up with Paypal. And you can leave all the negative feedback you want.
So I replied with this message:
I received a refund from paypal. I will be publishing all your correspondence on the web for the word to see. Good Day.
Response from rheythammond
GREAT I WELCOME IT!!!!! A$$HOLE!
I received my refund from paypal less than 24hrs after making the claim. eBay is a great place to find good deals on high end gear, but just because someone has good feedback doesn’t guarantee a smooth transaction. Luckily, I used paypal. I will not touch a cash/money order transaction action unless its a face to face exchange.
Response from rheythammond
Your refund was iniitated my ME, NOT PAYPAL, you IDIOT. If I had not issued the refund you would still be waitng on PAYPAL to get your refund, and that takes 30 days or more.
Further, if there was fraud involved, then report this to the authorites. I welcome the investigatiion. It will prove I am telling the truth.
Bet you won’t post this!!!
Response from alexvalentine
Do you really think calling people idiots and a##holes is really going to get you anywhere in life? Bottom line, I paid for the item in full and did not receive the item. The refund, irregardless of how it was initiated, is completely irrelevant. I will update the blog with your posting. This is my final correspondence with you. Maybe both of us can learn something from this situation.