It's un-freaking-believable. A friend of mine bought a Motorola Atrix from an eBay seller called "Cellphoneforever" and, when he got the package, it turns out he received a pair of PS2 joysticks and a note that said "Don't buy overseas, d**head" (I live in Argentina, so it was in Spanish, and that made it sure that it was our own postal service that scammed him). Can you believe this? I can't! It's just... shocking. He said he won't initiate an eBay dispute but he's doing everything to make sure what our post office is really like.
I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. The fact that they sent you a note shows that they may be doing it quite regularly and they are not afraid of getting caught. In South Africa we also have the same problem of parcels going missing. I don't send anything expensive through the post unless I insure it first, even then they only pay out if the parcel goes missing and don't pay out for damages.
You are protected through ebay or paypal depending where you live. Why would you not put a dispute in and at least get your money back? Or does he not want to punish the seller? I would be betting my money back for sure. I just got screwed over by a seller and kept calling until ebay finally gave me a coupon code to give me my money back. I wouldn't suffer financially for it.
It wasn't the post office who scammed your friend. It was either the seller or the shipping company. If a deal sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Unfortunately, we can all be victims of a scam by buying on line. Do your research, check out the company reviews and the facts about the company. It's unlikely you will be scammed if you do a little homework before making a purchase.
The note was in Spanish and the seller was Chinese, so it couldn't have been him; also, the people in the post office, he said, acted quite nervous when they asked him for the tracking number. He thinks they knew about it. BTW, he didn't make an eBay or PayPal dispute because he doesn't think it's the seller's fault. But if it had been me, I'd have at least gotten 50% back.
I have never had anything like that happen thankfully. I would at the very least mention it to the seller and see how they respond. You never know they may be very apologetic and feel badly or maybe they are at fault and the guilt and threat of possibly being caught will stop them from doing it again.
I'm sure there are quite a few people in China who speak Spanish, just as there are in many modern countries. Was the note on the outside of the package loose? Or on the inside? I would have a hard time believing it's from the post office as well, but you never can tell these days.
I would suggest that he should file a dispute right away especially if he paid through paypal. It is easy to get his money back with paypal. All he needs to do is take a screen shot of their discussion with the seller and also a picture of the package that he received. No matter who scammed your friend, he has a big chance of getting his money back. I doubt though that it was your local post officer.
Corruption runs rampant at times, however I somehow doubt someone would send on a pair of joysticks while stealing a phone. It doesn't make sense. More likely the package was checked and the note left by a jokester in the system. Tell your friend to get his money back and next time order via UPS or some other private venture.
That is terrible! I despise scammers. I never buy overseas, and rarely buy online unless I totally trust the store I'm purchasing from. Maybe your friend can report the scam somehow.
That really sucks. I don't understand why he is not putting in a claim when he has all the proof in the world, at least get your money back, and then let it be a lesson learned. Don't buy oversees, unless it is a well known trusted company. Simple as that.
My Dad was a Postal Inspector. You'd be surprised at how much theft that occurs in the US postal system from the employees. So, this type of thing happening outside of the US doesn't really surprise me.
That sucks. I wonder why they even bothered to put the Playstation 2 controllers in at all. I wouldn't buy a cell phone on eBay. There are a lot of stores that you can physically walk into to buy a phone.
That's very disturbing. I thought that eastern European countries were corrupt but this just gives a new meaning to the concept of corrupt. Did they actually open the package? On the other hand, it could be the seller who ripped your friend off; Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world.
Just as I thought. I for once have been a victim. CJ.com sent me a paycheck that I worked for months and until now it didn't arrived. I send a messge to CJ about it and they said it was sent 2 months ago and was already cashed out. I don't know how they did it but I lost it. I suspect the post too because who else, Its jsut me and my girl that live in my place.
The thing is that he actually didn't write the word "d**ckhead". It's some kind of curse word, but used to describe wealthy people who only care about them: oligarch. Also, in Argentina, we speak some kind of Spanish dialect; completely different to what you may listen to in Mexico or in Spain. We use "vos" instead of "tu" (both mean "you") and the note said "No comprés afuera, oligarca". "Comprés" belongs to "vos" and not "tu", so only someone who knows "Argentinean" could have written it. Sorry if I'm over analyzing this, but I'm just proving the point that it's not the seller who did this. In addition, the seller has tons of positive feedback so it'd be dumb to try to scam one of their buyers. Especially Chinese ones, which really, really care about 100% positive feedback. Just think how many Chinese sellers there are! The package was sealed so it didn't look like it was opened. It seems like someone was really, really careful when opening it, replacing the items, and then sealing it back again. A whole new level of corruption, sadly.
This is interesting, but I don't know if it is post office's fraud. Maybe the seller did this on purpose, what if he's chinese? With google translate you can translate anything pretty accurate. I think he did this on purpose and now you think others did it. How was the package? Did it got all the original stamps and writings on it? If it wasn't repacked and it has all of these it must be the seller scamming your friend.
I also agree that the seller may not have anything to do with it, since in doing so, it will hurt his feedback on Ebay. But the strange thing is why would they leave a pair of PS2 joysticks right? Maybe that person doesn't need it anymore and did it just for kicks. I know a method where you can open a package, and the tape will seem intact even if it has been tampered already, so I think that that was the method used by the thief in the post office. It's really risky to buy online, so I think that the best website to buy stuff on the net is amazon or other websites that are the sites of the large retail stores in the malls.
This is the reason why I don't buy online. You just don't know if you will get scammed or not. If I were you, I'd file a dispute so that I can get my money back. There is no way in hell that I would let the one who did this get away.
Google Translate doesn't have dialects. I'm most certain it wasn't the seller because: a) he has thousands of positive feedback; b) other friends have received cellphones from the same seller multiple times; c) the note was written by an Argentinean. Here are pictures of the package: Luckily for him, he got a full refund from eBay, but he had to send the joysticks back to China (is it just me or that does round ridiculous?). Anyway, to me, if the seller agreed for a refund, it's because he wasn't really trying to scam him - I guess.
