Would you trust a VCA vendor to refund your money?

[1fast400]

Have an interesting situation with a VCA vendor. Would like some board advice. GTS-R 001 sold me a speedster stop 3 months ago. It was part of his garage sell thread. After paying and waiting for tracking, I eventually got my top. It was the incorrect top. I had asked for a non painted low **** speedster top. Instead I got a fake CF one, which I didn't want. I explained that it was the wrong top. He said I could return that one and get the correct one if I wanted. He apologized for the mistake. I decided I would see how this one fit first, before deciding what to do. It didn't fit, so I asked if I could send it back at my cost for a refund.

The item was sent back and signed for by steve on 8/10. On 8/13 I contacted him about my refund. He had signed for the package himself, but had not issued the refund. There was no contact from him prior to this. Nothing was mentioned about damaged goods. After 2 PM's proving he had signed for the shipment: 1Z5583TT0379842376 He said he inspected it and it was damaged, along with the box. Now, anyone that has been in the mailorder business knows when a package shows up damaged, you document it right then. This was not done in this case. Only after I asked was all of this brought up.

He refused to refund my money, claiming it was damaged. He only did this after he found out I had 800.00 worth of insurance on it. A claim was filed with UPS. A claim that was denied as of this morning. He had no evidence that the box had received any damaged, he just had top with a VERY small crack on one end. I contacted Steve today in regards to this. I want a refund prior to shipping this item back. I don't feel I can trust this vendor to provide a refund with all the shady things that have gone on to this point I have offered two solutions:

He refund my money at which point I will ship the item to him the same day with tracking.

He send the money to a third party we both agree to, I then send the product back and third party gives me money upon its arrival.

I do not trust this vendor at this point. Between other consumer stories I have found out and now my own personal experience, it's hard for me to trust him. I feel if I ship the item to him, I will get nothing. At this point I do have some leverage by having the item back. What would you do if you were me? Would you send the item back and hope for a refund?

 

[bluesrt]

your screwd unfortunatly

 

[eucharistos]

sorry for your situation, but thanks for posting the heads up, hope it all works out

 

[Shelby3]

Shipping girl.

 

[DodgeViper01]

How did you pay for the item? I always say when purchasing an item either pay with your AMEX card or pay with Paypal with AMEX as your payment through Paypal just in case things go south. AMEX is very good about things like this.

 

[rocman]

If you reused his packaging he should honor the refund regardless of damage. Damaged shipments are a part of doing business. If one of my customers received something damaged, I don't even bother with a claim. I get a new one to the customer as soon as possible. If I ship the wrong item, I issue a call tag and ship the correct one out ASAP whether I have got the old one back or not.

You are the customer and trust should not even be a factor in any of this. You paid for a certain item and you should get what you paid for.

I agree with you regarding him signing for the package as well. If the box is damaged, you note that with the driver. Most drivers will wait there while you open the box to see if the item is damaged.

 

[plumcrazy]

He will make it right. He's just slow in doing so.

 

[bluesrt]

If you reused his packaging he should honor the refund regardless of damage. Damaged shipments are a part of doing business. If one of my customers received something damaged, I don't even bother with a claim. I get a new one to the customer as soon as possible. If I ship the wrong item, I issue a call tag and ship the correct one out ASAP whether I have got the old one back or not.

You are the customer and trust should not even be a factor in any of this. You paid for a certain item and you should get what you paid for.

I agree with you regarding him signing for the package as well. If the box is damaged, you note that with the driver. Most drivers will wait there while you open the box to see if the item is damaged.

unfortunatly nobody has any class these days and are desparate broke asses that want to only make excuses once they have your money- hopefully this doesnt happen to you- he needs to get you the right part and deal with the other bs later..

 

[Twister]

thats some BS right their...Thanks for the heads up...

 

[1fast400]

How did you pay for the item? I always say when purchasing an item either pay with your AMEX card or pay with Paypal with AMEX as your payment through Paypal just in case things go south. AMEX is very good about things like this.

Paypal won't honor a claim. I process about 30k a month with paypal and they still wouldn't do it. To them. he sent the item to me and I wasn't filing a claim based on not getting the item. Even though I had proof of tracking going back to him, they denied the claim.

Why is he allowed to be a vendor on this site if so many people have issues with him? Being allowed to peddle his goods here gave him a decent reputation. Now I find out all these other people have problems.

 

[GTS-R 001]

WOW!

Quite a few half truths here.

You ordered a speedster bubble

I shipped you one

YOu received it in perfect condition but I shipped you a carbon fiber one instead of fiber glass at the fiberglass price and did not charge you for shipping

You claimed it did not fit

You returned it by UPS

The box arrived beat up and when checked a few days later the item was found to be broken

In the meantime you filed a paypal claim and escalated the claim over the weekend

I advised you of the damage, you did not believe me and refused to file a claim with UPS for the damage which you should have as it was your shipment back to me on your account #

I filed the UPS claim, I had no knowledge of the amount you insured for at this point, you paid $650, why you insured for $800 is your dilema.

Paypal refused your claim and it was in your message to them that the $800 amount was mentioned, you never mentioned the amount to me and it would have been paid to YOU anyways, not to me as it was your account and your shipment - we clear about this?

Now this AM, you email me demanding to be paid, (before you even advised that the UPS claim had been denied, in fact I asked numerous times for the denial doc, yet you have yet to supply it - CORRECT?

You emailed threatening to have me banned from the VCA website unless I paid you the $650 in 24 hours - CORRECT?

Your email said exactly - "Your claimed was denied about UPS. You have 24 hours to provide my refund. I'll be posting this entire story on viperalley and viperclub and petition to have you banned from VCA due to fraud if I don't have my refund."

After we went back and forth this AM, with you demanding your money before returning the damaged by your carrier goods, I advised you that I would refund you the money whether you returned the goods or not, CORRECT?

To be clear,

The refund is being processed

you have not returned the goods

your carrier damaged the goods

I had to file the claim with your carrier because you refused to

The carrier would have paid you, not me and since it was your carrier I am out of the loop (i.e. they do not advise me, only you.

Your first contact with me now after you were supposedly advised by them that the claim is denied is to threaten me with banning and a fraud charge for WHAT?

wanting you to follow proper business protocol to file a damage claim with your shipper?

Like I said earlier "Send it back, I will issue your refund, if you do not send it back I will still issue it, end of this story!"

RECAP - refund is under way

No return necessary

Just as it was before you made this thread up.

 

[1fast400]

WOW!

Quite a few half truths here.

You ordered a speedster bubble

I shipped you one

YOu received it in perfect condition but I shipped you a carbon fiber one instead of fiber glass at the fiberglass price and did not charge you for shipping

You quoted me a price for a given product. Here is what you said:

I do take paypal, do you want the 3 piece or the one piece?

my paypal is [email protected]

the one piece is $650 and can ship in approx 3 weeks, the 3 piece has the same shipping and costs $800.00

PS. Nice Car! I have an SRT Convert ACR Clone kit I will be introducing soon,( I am making 20 sets for VOI)

You offered a service at a set price, I don't know why you keep making a point about the "didn't charge me for shipping". I paid you what you asked, 650.00.

The box arrived beat up and when checked a few days later the item was found to be broken

You signed for the package. If the box was arrived beat up why did you not file the complain then when the driver was there? Why did you not contact me on the 10th when you signed for it? Why did it take me contacting you to remind you of the refund? You got an item returned, signed for it and didn't open it for 3 days? Uh, ok.

In the meantime you filed a paypal claim and escalated the claim over the weekend

After contacting you and not getting responses I did

I filed the UPS claim, I had no knowledge of the amount you insured for at this point, you paid $650, why you insured for $800 is your dilema.

Because I feared you'd pull a scam, just like you did.

Paypal refused your claim and it was in your message to them that the $800 amount was mentioned, you never mentioned the amount to me and it would have been paid to YOU anyways, not to me as it was your account and your shipment - we clear about this?

You had the top, so it would only make sense I get the money. UPS found no documentation of damage, which is why they denied the claim. I JUST had the UPS rep in here 1 hour ago. He said they attempted to meet you 2 times and you refused. That it was only after a 3rd time you finally met with them to allow them to inspect the top. You of course had no proof of a damaged box or anything shipping wise.

Now this AM, you email me demanding to be paid, (before you even advised that the UPS claim had been denied, in fact I asked numerous times for the denial doc, yet you have yet to supply it - CORRECT?

I just found out this morning. At which point I informed you if you didn't refund me in 24 hours I would post about this situation. The ups rep that just left here is emailing me all the information on the case and I'll be HAPPY to post it as soon as I get it.

You emailed threatening to have me banned from the VCA website unless I paid you the $650 in 24 hours - CORRECT?

Your email said exactly - "Your claimed was denied about UPS. You have 24 hours to provide my refund. I'll be posting this entire story on viperalley and viperclub and petition to have you banned from VCA due to fraud if I don't have my refund."

That is exactly what I said because you are scamming people. Judging from the responses in this thread, I'm not the first. I'm asking you refund an item that was the incorrect item that doesn't fit. Pay the refund and I'll send the product, that simple.

After we went back and forth this AM, with you demanding your money before returning the damaged by your carrier goods, I advised you that I would refund you the money whether you returned the goods or not, CORRECT?

To be clear,

The refund is being processed

As I was typing my response, I got this:

Steven Prescott sent you $225.00 USD

Transaction ID: 8M480286054642129
Hello Mike McCandless,
Just thought you'd like to know Steven Prescott sent you $225.00 USD.
.notes ul, .notes ol {margin-left:0; padding:4px 0 4px 20px;} .notes ul li, .notes ol li {margin-left:0;padding-left:0;} Note from Steven Prescott:

Re partial refund for the return of the speedster Transaction ID: 3JR66162YY9780037 remained will be refunded in a couple of days

As soon as I get the full payment, it will ship, I have it sitting right here ready to go.

 

[bmw2nv2000]

OK I am confused or I did not read correctly. What do you have that needs to be returned. Casue it sounds like you got the carbon cover in and when you saw it did nt fit right you sent it back and just wanted a refund. But when it returned to Steve it was cracked. So what have you got to return now to get your refund???

 

[GTS-R 001]

Mike,

It seems your years of internet business has made you quite cynical.

As I mentioned in my email earlier today, if you just approached things from a more communicative angle, like Hey, I got the claim notice and it was denied and UPS shipped the package back to me, where can we go from here?"

But instead every step of the way is shoot first ask questions later, "Give ,me my money, claim denied, I'll slam you on the forums if you don't, you're a fraud!!!"

Being advised of the damage you were the same way, (PS. Not everyone has time to look at and in a package at the end of the day when the guy in brown bounces in and needs to run off right away, I mentioned the box looked beat to the driver he just said "check it out and let me know and you can file a claim")

Same with the paypal dispute and unnecessary escalation to a claim

I have paid you back partially, I just paid a vendor the other day and I have to refill my paypal account and that will take a few days, so, hopefully you can be patient.

As for the speedster, keep it as a trophy you've earned it!

Now that it is cracked it is useless to me, if it doesn't fit your car you should look further into that as we all know your car has been dismantled by your body shop that painted, and I have never had one of these speedsters not fit so do yourself a favor and get it checked out, something may be out of alignment between the roof, trunk deck lid hinges etc.

As for scamming people, you seem to read more into things than I, most responses were heeding your warning which in my opinion was entirely unfounded, a damaged return needs to be treated properly, why did you insure the shipment at all, if you do not believe in the principals at hand?

Do you issue refunds in your 30K in transactions a month without following your own policies and procedures for getting the item back, in fact very few if any retailers refund before the return, many charge a restocking fee etc.

 

[GTS-R 001]

OK I am confused or I did not read correctly. What do you have that needs to be returned. Casue it sounds like you got the carbon cover in and when you saw it did nt fit right you sent it back and just wanted a refund. But when it returned to Steve it was cracked. So what have you got to return now to get your refund???

Hey Wayne,

when I had to file the Claim with UPS, they pick up the item and assess the reason for damage, at this point, only Mike knows what their response was, but reading between the lines, I believe they delivered it back to him.

 

[Bobpantax]

Guys. With all due respect this thread should be deleted and the two of you should settle this matter between yourselves. There was clearly a failure of communication about a $650.00 item and that's it.

 

[bmw2nv2000]

Hey Wayne,

when I had to file the Claim with UPS, they pick up the item and assess the reason for damage, at this point, only Mike knows what their response was, but reading between the lines, I believe they delivered it back to him.

OOHHHH now I see. Yeah that was never covered about how he got the top back. Man what a mess guys, I hope it gets worked out and both parties are satisfied in the end

So far all my dealings with Steve have been smooth and I will write a review on our recent transactions too as soon as I get the new Vipair hood and the M&M connection pipes in and installed

 

[bmw2nv2000]

Guys. With all due respect this thread should be deleted and the two of you should settle this matter between yourselves. There was clearly a failure of communication about a $650.00 item and that's it.

This is what needs to happen here by all means.
And I too was thinking what vendor will ever refund money before having item returned no matter what the case may be? But it sounds like you will get the refund and the part to boot, but question is will you sell the part, use the part, or ship it back to steve??

 

[GTS-R 001]

This is what needs to happen here by all means.
And I too was thinking what vendor will ever refund money before having item returned no matter what the case may be? But it sounds like you will get the refund and the part to boot, but question is will you sell the part, use the part, or ship it back to steve??

I vote for him to ship it to you, since you have been a great customer and an all around good guy, LOL!

 

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Bought from Steve with no issues.....He even sent extra.......

 

[1fast400]

I told you I have it and I will send it to you as soon as I get my money back. I never asked for this thing to come back.

 

[1fast400]

The short version was I sent it back to him when it was the wrong item and it didn't fit. He avoided ups after multiple attempts to start a claim. UPS picked it up, denied the claim because he had no PROOF that anything was damaged and then sent it to me for some reason. I was asking the board, given this guy refused to refund me when he had this item in his possession a month ago, should I send it back and trust him to give me back my money.

Public boards make people accountable, which is why I posted everything on here. I have no desire to own this hunk sitting here. He will have a tracking number as soon as I get refunded, which should have happened the first time.

 

[CitySnake]

This is an excellent example of how things can get out of hand between a vendor and a VCA member real quick.

First off - As Mike stated in his original post, he is dealing with a VCA Sponsor. Right off, the mistake was made in going public with a problem. ALL the VCA Sponsors are known to some extent by VCA members, moderators and/or officers. If there's ever a problem with VCA Sponsors, that you can't get resolved to your satisfaction with the sponsor, contact someone at the VCA! Call or email your region president, a moderator on the site or any of the national officers. Someone will help you out and at a minimum, get you some insight into why there's a problem.

Secondly - Steve (Vipair) happens to be a very well known, longstanding VCA Sponsor. As a few have mentioned in the course of this unfortunate thread, he's had some issues, however, he's resolved most everyone to the satisfaction of our VCA members (customers). For many of us who have done business with Steve (count me as one) he's been an excellent vendor. Despite that, he'd be the first to suggest that he's sometimes a bit slow in getting back to people which often get's him in temporary trouble. Invariably, he winds up paying through the nose (with overcompensating generosity) when he has to make amends. Often you can learn more about people (in this case a vendor) when you see their reaction to and resolution of problems. No doubt Steve's had issues (that all relate to the timeliness of communication), but I think you'd find all his customers have been ultimately satisfied with the resolution.

This should never have gone public (especially with prior threats) in this manner. Especially so quickly after onset of the problem.

In summary, when anyone has problems with a VCA sponsoring advertiser or sponsor, PLEASE get a hold of someone on the site or one of the club officers immediately so that we can help. Do this PRIOR to making a public appeal if you want the problem resolved.

 

[1fast400]

The initial post was asking a question if I should TRUST this vendor. It wasn't a threat. It was a honest discussion of what happened and if, based on other members experience, I should trust this vendor to be honest. I can only base my opinion on my dealings with him, which have not been positive. He was the one that came in, wrote a post that took this off course. I simply asked for opinions on what I should do. He had refused to refund my money over a month ago when this started on August 13th. Doing a refund via paypal takes about 1 minute. I had not gotten anything from paypal, until I made this post.Which to this point is only 1/3 of the initial amount. Funny how a vendor finally responds when you go public. Just a thought.

 

[Bobpantax]

Enough already! Ship the item back per HIS UPS account number at his expense. If he does not refund your money, post again. Then we will all jump on his back.

 

[Sweet Ride]

The irony in this thread blows my mind, but I'll hold my tongue for now...

As for the OP subject and for the record, I have had dealings with Steve and all has gone quite smoothly.

 

[RichieSRT10]

In all my dealings with Steve I have found him to be dishonest and extremely good at twisting the truth. I understand he is a vendor but his bad reputation has spread like a disease out of control. With a limited amount of vendors I still can not perceive why the VCA takes his dollars when everyone is fully aware of his antics and finger pointing.

At least he didn't blame the shipping girls for this fiasco.

 

[Twister]

customer is always right...

bottom line is once the vendor realized that he had sent the wrong item to the buyer and recieved it back the correct part should have been shipped out or money refunded.

It's just that simple...

What happenned was..

wrong part shipped out=vendors mistake

correct part not shipped or money not refunded=vendors mistake

No word on part received by vendor for 72 hours or refund or correct part shipped=vendor mistake

buyer has to contact vendor to get ball rolling=vendor mistake

vendor says wrongpart was recieved damaged=what does this have to do with 400? he simply sent back a part that he was never supposed to get in the first place, takeing his time on waiting to the wrong part and then also takeing his time by haveing to send the wrong part back.


Then the wrong part again ends up at 400's door?


id be livid...

So someone is gonna send me the wrong part and then I send it back and dont here anything back from them for a lil while so I call them up and they say the part was damaged ect and then the wrong part ends up back at my door with nompromise of refund ect....

Vendor or not. damaged good through the mail are a regular ocurrance. If the vendor failed to inspect the item when received from UPS then again how would this be 400's problem???

Just send the customer the correct part or his money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And whats with the $225 stuff...It was 650....So now the customer has to wait for his payment in increments..did he send over $200 at a time????


If it was one of you, youd be PISSED. So forget about the word vendor and look at the overall situation at hand from a non biased perception...

At this point would YOU send back the part without a full refund?

 

[Bobpantax]

If it had been me, I would have used my Visa card to buy the part. When the defective part showed up, I would have called him and requested a return authorization and a charge credit. If he did not respond, I would then quickly file a protest when my credit card bill arrived. I have had to do this twice (not with VCA Vendors) and each time it has worked.

 

[Bobpantax]

Yes. If he paid the shipping cost. What are you going to do with it other than clutter up your garage?

customer is always right...

bottom line is once the vendor realized that he had sent the wrong item to the buyer and recieved it back the correct part should have been shipped out or money refunded.

It's just that simple...

What happenned was..

wrong part shipped out=vendors mistake

correct part not shipped or money not refunded=vendors mistake

No word on part received by vendor for 72 hours or refund or correct part shipped=vendor mistake

buyer has to contact vendor to get ball rolling=vendor mistake

vendor says wrongpart was recieved damaged=what does this have to do with 400? he simply sent back a part that he was never supposed to get in the first place, takeing his time on waiting to the wrong part and then also takeing his time by haveing to send the wrong part back.


Then the wrong part again ends up at 400's door?


id be livid...

So someone is gonna send me the wrong part and then I send it back and dont here anything back from them for a lil while so I call them up and they say the part was damaged ect and then the wrong part ends up back at my door with nompromise of refund ect....

Vendor or not. damaged good through the mail are a regular ocurrance. If the vendor failed to inspect the item when received from UPS then again how would this be 400's problem???

Just send the customer the correct part or his money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And whats with the $225 stuff...It was 650....So now the customer has to wait for his payment in increments..did he send over $200 at a time????


If it was one of you, youd be PISSED. So forget about the word vendor and look at the overall situation at hand from a non biased perception...

At this point would YOU send back the part without a full refund?