WARNING!!! Mr Fake and Mrs Fraud!
 Dec 22nd, 2003
(Dec 23rd, 2003)
Advantages:
Its good fun, and may hold a bargain
Disadvantages:
Fakes !
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Yes
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  englishminx
About me:
Wow, I got my first diamond!!! thanx to everybody for the comments! Oh well I got something out of ...
Member since:11.10.2002
Reviews:55
Members who trust:19
Review rated by 22 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
This review received a counterstatement by a party concerned
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***JUST A QUICK UPDATE***
Update at bottom!!!
Firstly, apologies for the title! Secondly, I am not writing this review to help people understand how to use ebay, I am writing it to help people understand something a lot more serious! so apologies if someone is reading this expecting how to actually use ebay!!
I have been an avid ebayer for over 4 years now, I have brought many items and even sold a few. Ebay is a great site for getting hard to find items, as well as some great bargains, I have brought things from tuskers, my great collection!, football memorabilia, calendars, books camcorder tapes!, and charity items. Rob has been on and on at me, that he wants a certain model casio g-shock watch for xmas, I have ploughed and ploughed the internet looking for it!, RRP is £119.95. Everywhere I have tried has sold out. So I decided to look on ebay. There was a nice guy from Japan selling them (Japanese model), which concerned me a great deal, I really didn't like the idea of buying from someone outside of the UK.
There was one other guy who was selling a large number of g-shocks who also advertised that he was a UK Offical Casio Retailer!. I thought great, BUT he didn't actually have the watch I wanted on the site. Ebay allows you to send messages to sellers through
its system, so I sent him an email asking if he had the model I was looking for.
***Great News ***
Great News .... not only did he have it, but I managed to get him to sell it to me for £85 instead of the £99 he originally quoted. Most of the sites on the web sell between £85 and £110. So it was within the right price, and was in stock. **Payment ***
Becuase I wanted the watch quickly, I need it for this Thursday (Not sure if anyone is aware but thats xmas day!!!). So the nice man suggested I pay through Nochex, which I did! For those who don't know, Nochex (or paypal, a similar company) are an online banking system, where you can pay someone without giving out your bank details etc.
***Despatch ***
Still something in the back of my mind worried me, I couldn't work out why, but I was sure I wouldn't get the goods in time for xmas, I reckon he just wanted my money and would send the goods after xmas, BUT his feedback on ebay was good!!. *** Surprise ***
I couldn't believe it, the following morning, postie knocked, and there he was standing there with a special delivery in his hand for me, from the watch company, I take it all back I was totally shocked!!! ...... until .......
*** Anger ***
.... I opened the package, the idiot had sent me the wrong watch, I couldn't believe it, a cheaper watch at that!!!! Now I thought, he has done this on purpose!! he has sent me a cheap one intentionally thinking I wouldn't notice the difference in the design!! Straight away, I jumped on the computer and sent a stinking email (had to do, I had no phone number). *** Response ***
He responded quickly, with a very abrupt message, saying he would check stock. I wasn't happy (trust me, I am not the kind of person who likes to be ripped off!!). So I sent another stinking email saying that wasn't good enough. He responded rudely, stating they are storting it ok!!!
He has now promised me that I will receive the correct model in the post Tuesday. I asked for an address to send the wrong one back to, he said dont worry, we will enclose a pre-paid envelope with the replacement so you are not out of pocket on postage. I thought this was quite strange that someone would send another out, risking they may not get the first one back!
**Unsatisfied female ***
In the meantime, something was niggling me, I wasn't happy!!! why didn't he give me an address. So as my job is an auditor, trained to follow audit trails, I decided to do some digging, I enrolled a friend into my plan. ***Julie - the actress ***
Julie contacted him with the intention of buying a watch, of course, julie couldn't pay through nochex, she would have to send a cheque. This has given me an address and a name to make the cheque payable to!
This was strange as he wanted the cheque made payable to a wesite. Of course I checked the website out, I now have more details!!! The mobile and office number he gave Julie, were dead numbers as well!!! Of course Julie never intended and never will buy the watch! ***Next step***
I have now contacted casio, to check he is a legitimate distributor as he claims. Casio, are fully aware of this company, they have had many complaints. He has never been a distributor, and to make matters worse, they aren't even the real thing, they are fakes!!! So I have wasted £85 on a piece of crap!!!
This left me furious, anyone who knows me, knows this man chose the wrong woman to rip off!!! ***Police ***
Surprise, Surprise, the police don't want to know!! I rang them, they said, its not a criminal offence, all he is done is mislead me, so therefore its a trading standards issue.
***Trading Standards***
Trading Standards were great, as their lines are constantly engaged, I drove to their office. They don't take drop in appointments, but I think the receptionist took pity on me! They were helpful and understanding but as casio already know about it, there is nothing they can do!!! They would only pass the matter to casio anyway ***Ebay***
My next step is to contact ebay, but this will not be done until tomorrow morning (I dont want to scare him yet!!!). I have also contacted all the people he has brought from ebay, to try and get details of his address etc. Once I have informed ebay, I will also inform all his buyers, who have already brought these watches, not knowing they were fake!!!
***My next step***
Tomorrow, I am off to the seaside, to pay a visit to my seller in person!!! I have also passed all his details on to casio!!! and also requested that casio put a disclaimer on their website, that there are many fakes out there, and that people should only buy from authorised retailers. Summary
I can't believe I was fooled by this seller, the fact that he sells so many watches on ebay, and stated he was an official casio distributor, I didn't think it would be a problem, what an idiot I have been.
I am angry at the police, who didn't want to know, the trading standards, saying there was no more they could do, casio for not caring about its legit customers, more concerned with making sure people aren't earning good money of their name!, and ebay, who I am sure won't do anything either, apart from remove him from their site!!! That leaves you and I, the buyers, the Joe Public of this world, the ones who are ripped off, we can't get our money back!! A crime is a crime, but no-one cares when its just Joe Public affected. The only time they care, is when they are losing money in lost revenue, ie taxes.
So, please be warned, please be very careful who you buy from on ebay, they may have good feedback, but then their buyers may not realise they are fakes!! Still with this in mind, I will still use ebay, because for every criminal like this on there, there are thousands of real people! selling real items!.
Just next time I will be more careful, I hope this review helps even one person think before they buy!, then what happened to me, didn't happen for nothing!!! In the meantime, this bitch from hell is after revenge, I will keep you all posted, following my trip to brighton tomorrow!!!
***UPDATE***
For those who have already read this, I didn't go to Brighton, my other half wouldn't let me!, but I can tell you, that no only do I have more addresses, I have scared them enough, that they spoke to me on the phone, after I traced them through another phone number. And I am now currently in possession of my full refund!!!! If anyone needs anyhelp dealing with problems like this give me a shout!!!!
I woulf give ebay a 5 before this happened, but now just a 3 because of these problems!
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by (77%):
by (23%):
28.12.2003 15:19
Go for it - congrats on getting your money back. A lot of my friends and colleagues buy and sell through E-Bay - I must admit I always have, and will continue to give it, and similar sites, a very wide berth - they may have offers, but I would rather buy through well known high street traders in their stores, for the time being at least. Sue
27.12.2003 12:09
Thank you for sharing that horrible experiance with all of us...I know I would be pissed off. I've been an avid Ebay user for over 4 years too, and I usually get movies, music or something else, no electronics or cars or any of that stuff. There was a couple of times where they never sent the item, and I complained to Ebay and got my refund...but you are right, everyone needs to be careful. I personally love Ebay still, because you can get ANYTHING.....Outstanding op!!! Chris xxxx
23.12.2003 01:47
What a nightmare, I will definitely be wary in the future. Merry Christmas, love Sharron xxx