Bought something on classifieds and never received.

Blown68 · 04-17-2006, 01:09 PM

I purchased a set of AFR cylinder heads that were posted on the message board from a member here last year and never received them. He first told me he sent them and then sent me a bogus tracking #. Then he said that the shipping company lost them and he would submit a claim. Then he just gave me the run around about the checks having to clear 21 days because it is Canada and it takes that long because it is going to the U.S. I have had many correspondences w/ this person and each time he keeps promising me he will sort it out. Now, I can't get him to respond to any of my e-mails and I am out $1,150. I don't know if I have any recourse since I purchased them thru this site from the classifired message board and not someplace like eBay. I am so F***ing pissed! I have all the records of the money orders I sent him along with confirmation of him receiving it from the U.S. postal service along w/ all of the e-mails I have sent, but I feel like I have been scammed. Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to get my money back or to get this peron to pay me. This is a lot odf money to me and I am really angry that this person has taken my money and not sent me the heads or returned my money. I am temted to post all their info on this site so that everyone can see who it is and what their address is so they can see who this scammer is.

Unit 5302 · 04-17-2006, 05:53 PM

Contact the post office/postmaster general. Since you're in Canada, I can't imagine you used a US postal money order. If you did, it's now felony mail fraud. Regardless, contact the money order issuer and see what they advise you in terms of their fraud protection policies. If they do, they will go after the thief, and believe me, they want their money back, and they know how to get it back.

If I had been screwed out of $1,150, I would post it everywhere I could for multiple reasons. First, I want to make their life hell, and second, other people that might try to buy things from the thief later should know that they'll get ripped off too.

Blown68 · 04-17-2006, 06:38 PM

Thanks guys! I am actually from the U.S. and I paid w/ U.S. Postal money orders. I also sent return receipt so I have a receipt w/ his name on it and all of our e-mail correspondences. His screename is Strokedstang and his name is Remo Innamorati and he lives in Nepean, ON Canada. I will go to the post office office tomorrow to see about the fraud and also talk to my brother who is a lawyer. I thought that being on a board like this you could trust people, but I won't ever buy anything online unless I have some type of protection like ebay. I also can't believe I let him scam me this long. -Mike

StangFlyer · 04-17-2006, 06:26 PM

My advice to you is:

1) Post this persons username, name, and locale. Make them known to everyone so that no one else will do business with the person unless this is resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
2) As Unit suggested, contact the money order issuer, the postal service, and any other applicable authorities. Get the ball rolling to hopefully put pressure on this person to get your money returned, or at least get your merchandise.

Personally, I would never purchase anything from someone I didn't know online by sending them the money before receiving the merchandise in a fashion that is like giving them cash (i.e. money order, cashiers check, or check). Either request the merchandise be sent COD, or at least pay using PayPal or a credit card where you have some protections through those services. I believe PayPal has refund guarantees and if you don't receive your merchandise after paying with a credit card your credit card company will typically refund your money and go after the seller for the money.

Rev · 04-19-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StangFlyer

My advice to you is:

Either request the merchandise be sent COD, or at least pay using PayPal or a credit card where you have some protections through those services. I believe PayPal has refund guarantees and if you don't receive your merchandise after paying with a credit card your credit card company will typically refund your money and go after the seller for the money.

Don't depend on Pay Pal for anything. I got scammed by Tony C. Yang on Ebay for $650 for an Olympus camera, and paid thru Pay Pal. Since they couldn't recoup the money from him, I got nothing but terse replies from Pay Pal. I repeat, don't count on Pay Pal for anything.

Rev

StangFlyer · 04-17-2006, 06:57 PM

Well, this is the exception rather than the rule. Most people selling on the classifieds are up front people and do an honest transaction in my experience. Mustang Works has been around for about 11 years. Overall, there have been very few incidents of members being scammed or having any significant problem with classified transactions. However, like I said, take precautions in how you do the transaction regardless. You could get scammed doing a private party transaction just as easily on eBay, or anywhere, if you pay up front otherwise.

Also, another suggestion is that if you do not know the seller either by reputation on the site or from already doing a sale together in the past you can ask for a list of other members the person has completed transactions with. Then, you can private message a couple of them to see what their experience with the member was.

In addition, we have some classified buying facts here:

http://members.mustangworks.com/ClassifiedAdFaq.html

mustangII460 · 04-17-2006, 08:52 PM

http://www.muscle-mustangs.com/forum...2244#post22244

Do a google search, hes ripped off more people than you.

His # 613-321-6231

Remo Innamorati (Ray)
Nepean, Ontario, Canada
K2C 3Y9

PO box address:
1363 Woodroffe Ave, Unit B
Nepean, Ontario, Canada
K2C 3Y9

E-mail:
strokedstang408@yahoo.ca

Possible IP addy:
ms-mta-02-smtp [10.10.4.6]

Blown68 · 04-17-2006, 10:50 PM

Damnit! That sounds like the same e-mail crap he sent me. The same excuses and the same bogus tracking #'s. They were for a set of AFR 185's and I bet he still has them along w/ my $1,150. I should not have waited this long, but I will get him to pay one way or another. I still don't understand the mentallity of people who think they can just take peoples money when they are offering a part on a legitimate site. So if you are reading this Remo (Ray), you better be sending my money back because I plan on contacting the police in your jurisdiction along with the U.S Postal Inspector tomorrow. -Mike

StangFlyer · 04-19-2006, 08:33 PM

Wow Rev... I thought PayPal was supposed to have a guarentee. Since you've dealt with them what is the specifics of their policies for covering transactions?

Unit 5302 · 04-19-2006, 09:53 PM

Not sure about what their guarantee is all about, but my brother got screwed on a paypal transaction a few years back too. Considering they're owned by Ebay, I don't hold them in very high regard.

StangFlyer · 04-19-2006, 10:13 PM

Originally when PayPal started I think they did have a guarantee on all transactions. However, it appears that is not the case now reading their complaint policy as currently posted.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...plaint-outside

Regardless, an alternative is also to use an escrow service. They HOLD the payment for merchandise for the seller until the buyer receives the merchandise. Once they have then the escrow service releases the funds to the seller. Otherwise, the funds are returned. I've used this type of service before myself.

Blown68 · 04-20-2006, 08:19 AM

I think using an escrow service is the best idea and in the future I plan on doing that. As for this guy Remo, I heard that he is in jail until July, but I filed a complaint w/ the police in Ontario so maybe I'll hear something back. Otherwise, I hope he gets what he deserves because I have heard he has ripped off a lot of people.

Maroon 5.0 LX · 04-21-2006, 06:35 AM

Only fund any PayPal payments with a credit card. If the deal goes sour and PayPal won't help you, you can then go to your credit card company and file for a chargeback.

If you use a checking account or debit card as PayPal prefers, its like sending cash, and there is not much recourse.

Bounty Hunter · 04-23-2006, 12:42 PM

Blown68...I am in the process of trying to get my money back from Remo also. PM me or shoot me an email (tlayton@clemson.edu) so we can talk. I have some info which may be useful for you. Maybe we can tag team this guy b/c he's not getting out of jail until december. We've got some time to get our ducks in a row.

Blown68 · 04-23-2006, 03:36 PM

Thanks for any info on him. I would be glad to work with you on this and any help I can be of to you. He has scammed a lot of people from what I have heard. -Mike

Bounty Hunter · 04-23-2006, 04:07 PM

Remo Innamorati
1356 Erindale Dr
Ottawa, ON K2C 2G6

That is his actual home address. He lives there with his parents.

Rev · 04-23-2006, 04:52 PM

I might add that I got roundly criticized by two sons that are more Ebay savvy than I am. They both said it was partly my fault since Tony C. Yang had only one sale in his history even though that made him 100% positive on the response scale. I, of course, being a dummy, interpreted that as good. That chronicles my stupid loss of $650. Ebay and Paypal woudn't help at all since the $$$ was removed from my bank account.

I might add, that Pay Pal had both my bank account # and my AMX account #. I thought they were to charge my AMX # but instead they made a charege against my bank account that I could not recoup.

My advice is if you do use Pay Pal, don't ever even consider giving them your bank account #. Make them go through a credit card #. At least that way you can still fight a fraudulent transaction.

Rev

Capri306 · 04-25-2006, 09:47 AM

You guys are being pretty civilized about this. If it were my money, I'd pay someone to go over to his place and, "have a nice talk about giving the money back."

Bounty Hunter · 04-25-2006, 03:55 PM

He's in jail or I would...

Unit 5302 · 04-25-2006, 05:30 PM

Online tips:

1. Funds from credit card. Have a special "online" transaction card with a low limit that you pay off every month or balance transfer. Two reasons. Reason 1, if somebody rips you off, you'll get your money back (huge). Reason 2, if your credit card information is stolen, you'll catch the problem right away, and the thief won't be able to rack up a debt you'll be paying on for years.

2. Feedback. Not only ebay has feedback, there are sites that allow sellers to track feedback like www.heatware.com when selling through classified sites. If the seller has no feedback, little feedback, lots of negative feedbacks or an overall negative feedback rating, be very wary.

3. Online store vs Ebay vs Classifieds. I would rank them in that order, generally, in terms of safety.

A) Please be aware there are a "LOT" of scammer online stores. Do some searching on google/yahoo/lycos, etc regarding the site you plan to purchase from. Do some searching on forums that specialize in the product you're buying from the online store. It really doesn't take much time. 15-30min can often yield a TON of information. Key words you should include in your search "bad" "problems" "scammer" stuff like that added to the company name. If an online store is selling something significantly cheaper than other well respected online stores, it should send up red flags.

B) Ebay is very often a what you see is what you get. If you see a seller with a 10,000 feedback rating with a 97%+ positive rating, chances are really really good you're not going to get screwed. Take the time to see if you can read the negative feedbacks the seller has in the past few months (it's worth the 5-10min of paging through feedback). You'll likely spot trends if they are a scammer. If the feedback is under 20, I would be a lot more concerned about a couple negatives. There will ALWAYS be a buyer that isn't satisfied so don't let 1 or 2 negatives on a 95% positive rating really put you off UNLESS they are on the last couple of auctions or their rating is under 20 etc.

C) Classifieds are extremely dangerous because you often know nothing about the person you're buying from, and how many scams have we all seen? Too many. Absolutely make sure you have some sort of buyer protection on your payment. CODs and escrow are also highly recommended. Ask the seller if they use heatware or another online seller rating site. Review their feedback if they have any.

4. Use common sense. If the seller is slow to respond to your questions or gives you a bad vibe, don't buy from them.

04-17-2006, 01:09 PM	#1
Blown68 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 5	Bought something on classifieds and never received. I purchased a set of AFR cylinder heads that were posted on the message board from a member here last year and never received them. He first told me he sent them and then sent me a bogus tracking #. Then he said that the shipping company lost them and he would submit a claim. Then he just gave me the run around about the checks having to clear 21 days because it is Canada and it takes that long because it is going to the U.S. I have had many correspondences w/ this person and each time he keeps promising me he will sort it out. Now, I can't get him to respond to any of my e-mails and I am out $1,150. I don't know if I have any recourse since I purchased them thru this site from the classifired message board and not someplace like eBay. I am so F***ing pissed! I have all the records of the money orders I sent him along with confirmation of him receiving it from the U.S. postal service along w/ all of the e-mails I have sent, but I feel like I have been scammed. Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to get my money back or to get this peron to pay me. This is a lot odf money to me and I am really angry that this person has taken my money and not sent me the heads or returned my money. I am temted to post all their info on this site so that everyone can see who it is and what their address is so they can see who this scammer is.

04-17-2006, 05:53 PM	#2
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Contact the post office/postmaster general. Since you're in Canada, I can't imagine you used a US postal money order. If you did, it's now felony mail fraud. Regardless, contact the money order issuer and see what they advise you in terms of their fraud protection policies. If they do, they will go after the thief, and believe me, they want their money back, and they know how to get it back. If I had been screwed out of $1,150, I would post it everywhere I could for multiple reasons. First, I want to make their life hell, and second, other people that might try to buy things from the thief later should know that they'll get ripped off too.

04-17-2006, 06:38 PM	#3
Blown68 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 5	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Thanks guys! I am actually from the U.S. and I paid w/ U.S. Postal money orders. I also sent return receipt so I have a receipt w/ his name on it and all of our e-mail correspondences. His screename is Strokedstang and his name is Remo Innamorati and he lives in Nepean, ON Canada. I will go to the post office office tomorrow to see about the fraud and also talk to my brother who is a lawyer. I thought that being on a board like this you could trust people, but I won't ever buy anything online unless I have some type of protection like ebay. I also can't believe I let him scam me this long. -Mike

04-17-2006, 06:26 PM	#4
StangFlyer Founder Join Date: Jun 1995 Location: Michigan Posts: 19,326	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. My advice to you is: 1) Post this persons username, name, and locale. Make them known to everyone so that no one else will do business with the person unless this is resolved to everyone's satisfaction. 2) As Unit suggested, contact the money order issuer, the postal service, and any other applicable authorities. Get the ball rolling to hopefully put pressure on this person to get your money returned, or at least get your merchandise. Personally, I would never purchase anything from someone I didn't know online by sending them the money before receiving the merchandise in a fashion that is like giving them cash (i.e. money order, cashiers check, or check). Either request the merchandise be sent COD, or at least pay using PayPal or a credit card where you have some protections through those services. I believe PayPal has refund guarantees and if you don't receive your merchandise after paying with a credit card your credit card company will typically refund your money and go after the seller for the money. __________________ StangFlyer 1991 Mustang GT - Supercharged 377 Stroker 2000 Ford Lightning - Project Lightning Hauler Media Center Gallery - View my member photos

04-17-2006, 06:57 PM	#6
StangFlyer Founder Join Date: Jun 1995 Location: Michigan Posts: 19,326	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Well, this is the exception rather than the rule. Most people selling on the classifieds are up front people and do an honest transaction in my experience. Mustang Works has been around for about 11 years. Overall, there have been very few incidents of members being scammed or having any significant problem with classified transactions. However, like I said, take precautions in how you do the transaction regardless. You could get scammed doing a private party transaction just as easily on eBay, or anywhere, if you pay up front otherwise. Also, another suggestion is that if you do not know the seller either by reputation on the site or from already doing a sale together in the past you can ask for a list of other members the person has completed transactions with. Then, you can private message a couple of them to see what their experience with the member was. In addition, we have some classified buying facts here: http://members.mustangworks.com/ClassifiedAdFaq.html __________________ StangFlyer 1991 Mustang GT - Supercharged 377 Stroker 2000 Ford Lightning - Project Lightning Hauler Media Center Gallery - View my member photos

04-17-2006, 08:52 PM	#7
mustangII460 Factoy Five Roadster Join Date: May 2000 Location: Sevier Co,Tennessee Posts: 1,681	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. http://www.muscle-mustangs.com/forum...2244#post22244 Do a google search, hes ripped off more people than you. His # 613-321-6231 Remo Innamorati (Ray) Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2C 3Y9 PO box address: 1363 Woodroffe Ave, Unit B Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2C 3Y9 E-mail: strokedstang408@yahoo.ca Possible IP addy: ms-mta-02-smtp [10.10.4.6] __________________ Frank

04-17-2006, 10:50 PM	#8
Blown68 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 5	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Damnit! That sounds like the same e-mail crap he sent me. The same excuses and the same bogus tracking #'s. They were for a set of AFR 185's and I bet he still has them along w/ my $1,150. I should not have waited this long, but I will get him to pay one way or another. I still don't understand the mentallity of people who think they can just take peoples money when they are offering a part on a legitimate site. So if you are reading this Remo (Ray), you better be sending my money back because I plan on contacting the police in your jurisdiction along with the U.S Postal Inspector tomorrow. -Mike

04-19-2006, 08:33 PM	#9
StangFlyer Founder Join Date: Jun 1995 Location: Michigan Posts: 19,326	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Wow Rev... I thought PayPal was supposed to have a guarentee. Since you've dealt with them what is the specifics of their policies for covering transactions? __________________ StangFlyer 1991 Mustang GT - Supercharged 377 Stroker 2000 Ford Lightning - Project Lightning Hauler Media Center Gallery - View my member photos

04-19-2006, 09:53 PM	#10
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Not sure about what their guarantee is all about, but my brother got screwed on a paypal transaction a few years back too. Considering they're owned by Ebay, I don't hold them in very high regard.

04-19-2006, 10:13 PM	#11
StangFlyer Founder Join Date: Jun 1995 Location: Michigan Posts: 19,326	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Originally when PayPal started I think they did have a guarantee on all transactions. However, it appears that is not the case now reading their complaint policy as currently posted. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...plaint-outside Regardless, an alternative is also to use an escrow service. They HOLD the payment for merchandise for the seller until the buyer receives the merchandise. Once they have then the escrow service releases the funds to the seller. Otherwise, the funds are returned. I've used this type of service before myself. __________________ StangFlyer 1991 Mustang GT - Supercharged 377 Stroker 2000 Ford Lightning - Project Lightning Hauler Media Center Gallery - View my member photos

04-20-2006, 08:19 AM	#12
Blown68 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 5	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. I think using an escrow service is the best idea and in the future I plan on doing that. As for this guy Remo, I heard that he is in jail until July, but I filed a complaint w/ the police in Ontario so maybe I'll hear something back. Otherwise, I hope he gets what he deserves because I have heard he has ripped off a lot of people.

04-21-2006, 06:35 AM	#13
Maroon 5.0 LX Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Southern Maryland Posts: 471	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Only fund any PayPal payments with a credit card. If the deal goes sour and PayPal won't help you, you can then go to your credit card company and file for a chargeback. If you use a checking account or debit card as PayPal prefers, its like sending cash, and there is not much recourse. __________________ '89 LX 5.0 - 5 speed. Original Owner '94 E-150 4.9 Hi-Top Conversion Van '06 Mustang V-6, 5 speed

04-23-2006, 12:42 PM	#14
Bounty Hunter Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 4	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Blown68...I am in the process of trying to get my money back from Remo also. PM me or shoot me an email (tlayton@clemson.edu) so we can talk. I have some info which may be useful for you. Maybe we can tag team this guy b/c he's not getting out of jail until december. We've got some time to get our ducks in a row.

04-23-2006, 03:36 PM	#15
Blown68 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 5	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Thanks for any info on him. I would be glad to work with you on this and any help I can be of to you. He has scammed a lot of people from what I have heard. -Mike

04-23-2006, 04:07 PM	#16
Bounty Hunter Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 4	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Remo Innamorati 1356 Erindale Dr Ottawa, ON K2C 2G6 That is his actual home address. He lives there with his parents.

04-23-2006, 04:52 PM	#17
Rev Registered Member Join Date: Nov 1998 Location: Houston, Tx. Posts: 3,887	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. I might add that I got roundly criticized by two sons that are more Ebay savvy than I am. They both said it was partly my fault since Tony C. Yang had only one sale in his history even though that made him 100% positive on the response scale. I, of course, being a dummy, interpreted that as good. That chronicles my stupid loss of $650. Ebay and Paypal woudn't help at all since the $$$ was removed from my bank account. I might add, that Pay Pal had both my bank account # and my AMX account #. I thought they were to charge my AMX # but instead they made a charege against my bank account that I could not recoup. My advice is if you do use Pay Pal, don't ever even consider giving them your bank account #. Make them go through a credit card #. At least that way you can still fight a fraudulent transaction. Rev __________________ '66 Coupe, 306, 350-375 HP, C-4, 13.07 e.t., 104.8 mph, 1/4 mi. O.B.C. #2 '66 coupe

04-25-2006, 09:47 AM	#18
Capri306 Moderator Join Date: Sep 1998 Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA Posts: 1,001	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. You guys are being pretty civilized about this. If it were my money, I'd pay someone to go over to his place and, "have a nice talk about giving the money back." __________________ Capri306, Moderator The Mustang Works Online 1979 Mercury Capri 1987 5.0L Mustang LX Notchback 1993 5.8L Eddie Bauer Bronco

04-25-2006, 03:55 PM	#19
Bounty Hunter Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 4	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. He's in jail or I would...

04-25-2006, 05:30 PM	#20
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	Re: Bought something on classifieds and never received. Online tips: 1. Funds from credit card. Have a special "online" transaction card with a low limit that you pay off every month or balance transfer. Two reasons. Reason 1, if somebody rips you off, you'll get your money back (huge). Reason 2, if your credit card information is stolen, you'll catch the problem right away, and the thief won't be able to rack up a debt you'll be paying on for years. 2. Feedback. Not only ebay has feedback, there are sites that allow sellers to track feedback like www.heatware.com when selling through classified sites. If the seller has no feedback, little feedback, lots of negative feedbacks or an overall negative feedback rating, be very wary. 3. Online store vs Ebay vs Classifieds. I would rank them in that order, generally, in terms of safety. A) Please be aware there are a "LOT" of scammer online stores. Do some searching on google/yahoo/lycos, etc regarding the site you plan to purchase from. Do some searching on forums that specialize in the product you're buying from the online store. It really doesn't take much time. 15-30min can often yield a TON of information. Key words you should include in your search "bad" "problems" "scammer" stuff like that added to the company name. If an online store is selling something significantly cheaper than other well respected online stores, it should send up red flags. B) Ebay is very often a what you see is what you get. If you see a seller with a 10,000 feedback rating with a 97%+ positive rating, chances are really really good you're not going to get screwed. Take the time to see if you can read the negative feedbacks the seller has in the past few months (it's worth the 5-10min of paging through feedback). You'll likely spot trends if they are a scammer. If the feedback is under 20, I would be a lot more concerned about a couple negatives. There will ALWAYS be a buyer that isn't satisfied so don't let 1 or 2 negatives on a 95% positive rating really put you off UNLESS they are on the last couple of auctions or their rating is under 20 etc. C) Classifieds are extremely dangerous because you often know nothing about the person you're buying from, and how many scams have we all seen? Too many. Absolutely make sure you have some sort of buyer protection on your payment. CODs and escrow are also highly recommended. Ask the seller if they use heatware or another online seller rating site. Review their feedback if they have any. 4. Use common sense. If the seller is slow to respond to your questions or gives you a bad vibe, don't buy from them.