Short scenario on my blunder:
Having completed literally 100 online purchases from folks, (on message boards, EBAY, etc) and never gotten burned, I bought a 30 Hour Panasonic from a guy in Tampa, Fla for $325. He advertised on www.remotecentral.com and we emailed for a few days. I paid him with Paypal and then he emailed me 3 days later saying "It hasn't gone out yet, Fed Ex didn't pick it up". Well, that was Sept 19.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - help me pressure the guy to right his wrong. His email is [email protected] His name is William Godek. He lives in Tampa, Florida, and his phone numbers WERE 813-964-0000 and (813) 908 - 9577. (Both are now disconnected).

I know I'm asking for a lot. The police won't do anything and PayPal won't give up his info without their intervention.

PLEASE - email him and request, nicely or otherwise, to make good on the deal or return my money using paypal. I was stupid to pay him, but he's a criminal to steal my money.

Thank you all in advance. I'd love to have him get 100 emails - it may make him realize how wrong he is and how upset I am.

I sent one of your behalf. I don't think that a scumbag like that is going to crack under pressure, but I wish you the best of luck. It looks like some of the undesirable have moved into the neighborhood.

Same here, eventhough it sounds pretty futile. You got scammed. Really stinks. This is why I usually go for COD only...

I've certainly learned my lesson, but I don't want this a$$hole keeping my $325 for teaching me!

Randy:

Sorry to hear about your loss!

Now, deal him some misery. Sign him up for EVERY email newsletter you can find. At least he'll have to sift through endless spam to correspond with and scam someone else!

A white page search shows his physical address to be:

William Godek
12101 N Dale Mabry Hwy
Tampa, FL 33618
813-964-0000

Sign the crook up for EVERYTHING you can find!

How come the police won't do anything? Have you tried to call the Tampa Police department to lodge a complaint? It's fraud, and it's against the law. I'd be pushing the police to do SOMETHING! If he gets away with it he is going to do it over and over again. I really think you should call the Tampa police and file a complaint, and then follow up on it to see what is happening. Good luck!

Doesn't paypal guarantee your money back, if you don't get the merchandise?

Did you use a VISA or Mastercard to pay for the purchase? All of the normal credit card protections against fraud apply to paypal purchases. Simply call your card company and dispute the charge.

Also, posting the guy's phone number, address etc. is really childish. Signing him up for email newsletters won't get your money back and actually makes whoever does it kind of an a-hole as well.

Yeah, if he was a verified user of Paypal they have a fraud protection clause found at

[Link: paypal.x.com]

"Buyers who pay with PayPal are protected by X.com's Buyer Protection Guarantee. If you purchase an item from a Verified Seller and do not receive your purchased goods, you are entitled to a full refund of the purchase amount up to $5000 per year. You may check the verification status of a Seller on every confirmation page before you Send Money. The Buyer Protection Guarantee applies whether you pay with a credit card, checking account, or funds in your PayPal acount."

Good Luck with it...

He wasn't verified :(

It doesn't matter if he is verified or not. That is only important in non-credit card purchases (checking account, paypal funds). Credit card purchases are protected 100% by VISA or Mastercard.

You don't get what you payed for -> You dispute the charge -> you don't pay.

E-bay also insures purchases up to $200 ($25 deductible). At least you'll get $175 back!

See the following link:

[Link: pages.ebay.com]

Chas

Folks, I don't think you read the whole post. I found him on this very message board, not ebay. He signed up for PayPAl to do the deal, so PayPal won't insure anything. Any PayPal used a direct bank transfer for the amount because at the time they only allowed $250 for credit card deals.

Was I stupid? Of course. Do I have instant recourse through PayPal or my bank? I don't think so.

What I need is a strong guy who lives in Tampa who has some free time :) I hate this crappy situation and I don't want this jerk to get away with it.

Again, I would call the Tampa Police to see if you can do anything. Let us know what you are going to do next, and if this ever gets resolved let us know how so we all may learn from it. Good luck!