BUGA Community
General Category => The Sump => Topic started by: BlackBedford on January 16, 2011, 08:32:00 AM
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Found this while researching ebay:
If you have ever been ripped off on ebay, this will make your day!
“I had tickets to a sporting event and couldn’t attend. I made a 1-day listing and clearly stated that the tickets must be picked up in person within 24 hours (the game was the evening after the auction ended, so there wasn’t any time to ship the tickets). A woman won the auction for about $US600. The auction had ended at 10:00am and by 5:00pm she still hadn’t responded to my emails trying to organize the exchange. Finally, at 9:30pm, I got a one-liner email: “I overbid and my husband won’t let me buy these. Sorry and enjoy the game! ”
I first tried explaining that I wouldn’t have the time to resell the tickets (I already got turned down by the losing bidders). She said, “… that’s not my problem. It’s eBay, not a car dealership. I can back out if I want.” I still don’t understand the car dealership reference.
I was pretty upset. I was basically going to be stuck with tickets to an event that I couldn’t attend. That’s when I got the idea to convince her to change her mind.
I created a new eBay account, “Payback” we’ll call it, and sent her a message: “Hi there, I noticed you won an auction for 4 [sporting event] tickets. I meant to bid on these but couldn’t get to a computer. I wanted to take my son and dad and would be willing to give you $US1,000 for the tickets. I imagine that you’ve already made plans to attend, but I figured it was worth a shot.”
At 11:30pm she responded to Payback: “I’ll do it for $US1,100, no less. I can meet you at the game if you agree. I need your phone number.”
At 11:35pm, Payback wrote: “Deal. Here is my number…” (Thanks Google Voice for the throwaway number). She called a few minutes later and made Payback “promise” to go through with the deal. She emphasised that she’d be out a lot of money if Payback backed out. Payback swore he would never do such a thing.
At 11:45pm, the woman emailed me: “Fine. I’ll buy them. But you have to drop them off at my house tonight. I’ll have the cash ready.” So at ####ing midnight I drove to her house across town and met her on the road in front of her apartment building. She was a nasty and rude individual. Things didn’t get any better when I told her I wanted an extra $US20 for the trouble of driving there at midnight (yeah, pushing my luck, I know). It became very awkward and she literally threw 31 $US20 bills at me. I counted them before handing over the tickets. I said, “thanks for the great transaction” as she flipped me off while walking away.
At 10:00am she called Payback to make sure they were still on for the exchange. Payback said that he could no longer go to the game and wouldn’t be able to do the exchange. She blew her ####ing top and I swear to god started speaking in tongues. Payback said, “Ma’am, this is eBay, not a car dealership” and hung up.
I got a rabid email 10 minutes later telling me that I was going to hell and that she’s reported me to the local police, FBI, and… the fire department. WTF?”
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Mate this is a classic reason why i never do ebay, or online banking. Online has got a long way to go to secure the customer and users b4 i will venture into those waters. For me there are too many con artists out there just waiting for a pc dummy like me to roll on up. lol Dont get me wrong, i use the net to find what i want, but if there is not a contact number then forget it, if there is, then i will ring and pay by card over the phn. To me if you are a legit business online, then you should have no problem with putting a contact there for people to use. Maybe its all the years i spent working security and as a PI, thats made me wary, hey if i want to throw my money away i can just give it to energex, or the insurance company. lol ;) ;D
george
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LMFAO, thats great, i'm sure i'll send it to a few friends for a laugh. i have a love hate relationship with eBay, it annoys the hell out of me, but it seams to be the only place to find parts for my Beddy, I've got a few great deals from it but had a few bad run-ins too, luckily never lost any money, but been inconvenienced and screwed over a number of times
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Yep im with you George....I like to see things in the flesh before handing any dosh over. ;) :)
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Hey guys, dont have a shock here ;D but i recon the net is an awesome tool, when not in the hands of scum bags, but its like everything in life there is always someone out there waiting to take advantage of someone, i dont get it, i mean i just dont sit around thinking, how can i con someone today. Look at the low lifes that were looting the flood victims, the count is 10 the last i heard. Out of a city of 4million, thats not to bad. The comissioner of police has said that those caught looting will see a 10yr jail sentence, >:( i will let you know when the yellow belly judges start giving out suspended sentences. I will try and be positive, they will get 10 yrs - they will get 10 yrs. ;D ;D ;D At the end of the day it is up to each person to be one step smarter then the crims, mmmmm thats not to hard heheheh ;D ;D ;D
george.
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on the other hand i love ebay. only had 1 bad transaction and been using it for 5 years..
ben
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I so luv that..
Hi guy's, I have to say that Ive had this internet banking and ebay discusion
( & arguments) many times. I use it constantly & have done for years, I use it to pay everything I can because everything is right here in front off me and I just go click. As for paper work & records, well they are there ...in the BANK. You write in who & what and it's there on the statement. ( no baggage). You can be onsite with a laptop or phone and transfer into an account & vice versa. I find the convenience and freedom very handy. I intend on doing some long term traveling & for this it is ideal.
I was off the net for a while (again, thanks, non English speaking Indian Telstra employee) & found all the running around & having to talk to women like this Miss Ebay here, just because I want to pay my rates ...an experience I never want to go back to.
The point is security.
Everybody carries on like they're gunna loose the house, the Aston Martin AND the Bedford will be stolen and the dog will leave home.
I use this account like this and when it needs topping up I walk into the credit union next door and get the money out of my account there & walk it back. Then they cant get at my many many millyins or the dog.
I have done all my business banking on the net & have never encountered a problem, nor have I been concerned, due to keeping minimum money ( risk) in the account.
The only thieves I'm having major trouble with are the people IN the bank.
Ebay..I only pay cash on pick up if it's over $100 basically. Or heavy duty sussing.
It will be the only way you will be able to do some things very soon.
You HAVE to put centrelink forms in on the net now. If you turn up there, they just point you to a computer.
so that's my ramble on the situ,
cheers
mark.
I've managed to get the thieves at telstra out of my computer & life as well.
YEH !!!
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Im with Ben i love ebay and internet bank maybe your in the wrong bank George neither had any securety probloms(just hope i'm not the bad 1 Ben had)Allan
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I've managed to get the thieves at telstra out of my computer & life as well.
YEH !!!
G'day
Congratulations!
When fixing computer problems I charge an extra $25/hour if they are using Bigpuddle and an extra $30/hour if they are using Business Disadvantage. I call it grief money because that is what I get trying to sort them out.
I have a bucket load of bad stories about those blokes and what they do to their customers.
Just the other day my daughter was going off her tits about Bigpuddle. Up until then she had not had any problems and did not understand why I was so down on them. Now she does understand and she is not a happy customer.
If you are ever thinking of going with Bigpuddle, or worse, Business Disadvantage ring me as I am sure I can convince you not to go there.
And don't get me started on T-hub and all that stuff. I have sorted out 1 installation and I just shook my head in disgust at what they had been sold.
I ebank with a Credit Union and the security and service is really great. Every time anything out of the ordinary happens one of the girls rings me to find out what I have bought now. From talking to other members I gather that is standard service.
Regards
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Hey allan, to be fair to the online age, part of the problem is me, i am not real savy with a pc in general, here is an example, i had my 3yr old grandson here on the weekend, and a new flip video camera, after he and i repaired his trike, we took it out for a test drive up and down the driveway, i shot a lot of video of his excitement, while he was asleep [exhausted] lol i tried to email the video to his mum as a surprise, yeh right would not happen. So i decided to burn to a DVD and send it back with him when he went home, yeh right, would not copy to disc, so i have it on my pc, but thats as far as it is going for now. lol Anyhows point is if i can not do a simple task as that, what hope do i have on ebay or online banking ;D but i do think i am justified in being sceptical, 2 reasons, 1 you only have to type in a wrong number or decimal and your money can end up anywhere if you are not concentrating. And 2nd, you only have to look at google and what happened in brittain a couple of years back, google earth were doing their mapping, and as they drove past homes, all those on wireless had all their banking medical and other personal information stolen in a millisecond, millions of brits had lost their information and it was now on a google super computer hdd. When authorities uncovered the theft and google ceos appeared b4 a parlimentry hearing they said it was a glitch in the software and the theft was unintentional, investigators found that the only way the theft could of happened to wirless systems was if a software package had been written to do the job, hearing found google guilty of writing the software and theft and fined them hundreds of millions of dollars, exact amount i cant remember now. My tech mate keeps telling me to go wireless, i wont say what i tell him ;) I am affraid the pc world will have to do a better job of security on our computers b4 i give out details of accounts and cc details.
For the likes of benny, ebay is a godsend for him, selling his beddy bits, and look maybe if i was to get into it more i would probably like it, bottom line unlike my 21yr old son i dont walk around with a mobile phn glued to my ear, and i dont take my laptop with me when i go to visit. My mobile is there in case i break down and need racq, my laptop to check emails, find beddy things and to keep in touch with you guys, short of that i dont want to know about my pc.
george.
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I didn't mean to knock you,i still use 1 finger to write, still have trouble using mobile(which is only for breakdowns)but sell a lot of car things. Allan ebay name alajhotrod
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Great story Chris - good way of getting back at the greedy.
As for ebay, ebanking and wireless there are a few things to remember.
ebay - check the buyer/sellers reputation, only deal with people with positive rep over say 20, when buying big ticket items (anything over $500) view it first (if possible) and go for cash on pickup.
ebanking - some banks have token generators, if yours do, get one - these token generators have a little computer in them that generates an new token (number) every X seconds based on a security algorithm each time you log in to your ebank you will type in a new token that is verified by your bank - so even if someone has your bank details they will not be able to guess the token.
Banks will NOT ask for details over the phone - they will not send you emails with links to follow in them, you will have to log into your account and update things if needed.
If anyone asks for Banking info - acc number cc number etc assume it is a con and DON'T give it to them.
Wireless routers - make sure you are using the highest level of encryption the router has, and only allow known *MAC addresses to your system - this can be set as part of the modems settings.
* A Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment.
I have been ebanking and ebaying for years and had no problems - I also use an accounting package on my PC to track all my financial transactions, and check all my bank statements against it.
remember the old saying - if it sounds to good to be true it most likely isn't.
Warren
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I was just born in the wrong generation for computers ;D I use my pc for itunes, i love doing up my own cds for the truck, i have had 2 ipods now and they have both failed on me, so i have given up on them, they are just crap. When i get the beddy done and i set up my sound system, i will get a new ipod, and i will get the longest warranty available and if it dies i will just keep sending it back. It took some convincing for me to even look at an ipod, but when i saw what i could do in itunes i was converted, now they just need to build a reliable ipod. Mine was a classic, with 20,000 song capacity, i am shy of 4000 in itunes. ;D ;D ;D Technology, love it, but its all crap in the reliability stakes.
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Well george if you can master iTunes, you should be able to master ebanking and ebay :D
I find apples itunes to be a Pain in the A$$ compared to other more open formats (its so much easier to just drag & drop). I upgraded to iphone3 a while ago and have to use itunes to update it, and while some aspects of the iphone are good, I think they are highly over rated.
Maybe you could consider the iphone instead of the ipod.
Warren
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Hey warren, now you have hit a raw spot with me and technology ;D ;D you want a rant hey ;) ;D ;D ;D my wife has got an iphone and i had to try and set it up for her. The problem i have with this is, almost everything now is coming out with the logo socialising, bloody TV is not a tv now, a tv allows you to get on line, tv is a monitor for your pc [ so long as broadband cable is connected] mate when i switch on my tv i want to watch tv, rambo or news, not be able to get onto bloody facebook or twits, thats why i have a laptop, or my mobile is to ring someone for help, not listen to music, thats why i have a cd player or radio in the truck.
Look i can see the positive side though, ipad, take that with you and you have itunes, google, net, satnav, phn you name it, BUT, what happens when you have scrapped all your components and just have an ipad, and the ipad dies, you loose everything, music, satnave, phn, net and addresses, same with tv, it crashes, you have no net or music. I recon i will stick to my separate things, and here is why. I had my ipod set up for the truck, hometheater in the lounge, and when it died so did the doc in the theater system, but i still have my music on my pc, so for now i just play itunes on the laptop till i upgrade again. ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D
george.
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well done George,
whilst I can ebay and ebank, I cant drive an ipod. ::)
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well done George,
whilst I can ebay and ebank, I cant drive an ipod. ::)
::) I CAN MAKE EM FLY, BUT :o ;D ;D ;D ;D ;)
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well put Skip ;D ;D ;D
I've had mobile computers, and they weren't laptops. >:(
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http://www.youtube.com/v/6dmhF1rqaZk?fs=1&hl=en_US (http://www.youtube.com/v/6dmhF1rqaZk?fs=1&hl=en_US)"
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ha ha nice one busy
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On e-bay I only accept payment via Pay Pal or cash on collection also in the ad I state that false bidders and non payers will be reported to e bay, havn't had any problems
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Ok Q. from pc dummy ;) the government, and all the geeks and experts tell us that they can not stop or know the identity of people posting if they dont want to be identified, so they cant shut down sites and prosecute offenders.
Q. if there is a dummy bidder or non payer, how the hell are you going to find them, especially if they are routing themselves through different servers and names and so on. I keep hearing how people love the world wide web because they can vanish or stay anominous.
Anyhow guys have to run, just looking out my window, black as, we have a super storm about 20mins out.
george.