🚀 go-pugleaf

Ok misc.forsale.computer.netter's, I have been successfully buying/trading
items on the net for over a year now - voraciously feeding my computer 
hardware 'gotta have it' hobby - with very few problems. Now however, I am on
the receiving end of a bad deal and I need your advice.

I have included the "MIKE and ROD story" below (and no, the ROD is not short 
for Rodney - my name - but two one of the two parties I have been dealing 
with in this net.transaction).  I apologize, in advance, for it's length - 
but this has been a long battle so far - 7 weeks and still counting - and I 
have tried to keep it down as much as possible, while still keeping in as 
many facts as possible.

I have withheld the fullnames for now, as my intent is not to start a flame
war with either of them, but to find a solution to my problem. Thanx.

=============================================================================
=============================================================================

                  ***  The "MIKE and ROD story ***

On October 27, MIKE posted the following article about a 150MB tape drive:

    > For Sale or trade
    > 1-150 meg tape backup (From Moutian(Quick O-2 controler))
    > Make an offer or Trade.

At the time, I really needed a tape backup system, and I had a spare 170MB
ESDI hard disk, so I offered it in trade. Now, I know that the 'used' value
on this disk drive, is about equal to the 'new' value on the tape drive, but
I really wanted a tape drive, and I thought it would be less hastle to just
swap than try to sell my disk drive first. In my offer to MIKE I guarranteed 
that the hard drive worked with a money-back offer, and asked if the tape 
drive worked, and if the proper PC drivers were included. He replied the SAME
DAY with the following:

    > as far as I know  - I don't have any tapes to try it only the realy 
    > small > ones but they don't fit but it spins and rewinds and every 
    > thing i'll get it ready to ship for wedness day

At this time, I only had MIKE's email address, and not his name, but when
I was told to ship the disk drive I was given a name - ROD and an address in
Eau Claire, Wi.  At that time, I had no reason to believe that ROD was not the
person I had been dealing with so we agreed to ship the tape/disk drives
on the same day so that we both take an equal share of 'risk'.

About 10 days later, the tape drive arrived, but it had NO documentation and 
NO software (including no drivers for it).  I emailed back that I really needed
the software drivers and asked were they left out by accident (first assuming
a simple mistake). After 3 seperate emails, I finally received the following
very cryptic message on November 19:

    > call 1-800-555-1212 and ask for the # for mountain and call them 
    > they will get the software for you

Not a lot of help, but atleast it was a start. So I called and got the 800
number for Mountain, and they said they would SELL me the driver for $53.50!
Well, since I beleived the disk drive was worth much more than the tape drive
already, and since I was promised the drivers, I contacted MIKE again. 
Finally after several more emails to him (that were ignored again), I 
received the following from him on December 9:

    > This is MIKE [my note: This is the first time I realized that the email 
    > address I had been conversing with did not belong to ROD, as MIKE gave
    > his fullname. I am withholding his name from this post for now] a UWEC 
    > student.  I have never had a TAPE drive and never will.  quit sending 
    > me messages ASAP.
    > Please Contact the Correct person the next time you Bitch

Now I was really upset! I first thought it was a simple mistake, but now I
was beginning to believe that the tape drive was intentionally misrepresented
and that something was fishy.

So I sent mail to MIKE mentioning that someone had used his account to set up
a trade with me and had not upheld their end of the bargain. IMHO, the only
choices were that MIKE really is the same as ROD, or he was the go-between
for ROD, or ROD had 'stolen' access to his account; so I asked MIKE about it.

He replied (same day, Dec 9):

     > hello again
     > If this account wes used to advertize something it was not ME please 
     > QUIT this E-mail Shit ASAP.
     > If you continue this i will take this it the Dean of students at UWEC 
     > and see about having your privaladges on Inter net Discontinued.
     > This account has just been changed no one can use this account if 
     > that indeed have been it was not to my knowleded

So it seemed that MIKE was stating that ROD must have stolen access to his
account and used it to conduct the tape/hard-drive business swap.

So, I then called information in Eau Claire, and found the phone number of 
both ROD and MIKE.  (It turns out that MIKE is a student at UWEC, but ROD is
not). So I tried calling MIKE and found out that he moved, and got his
correct phone number. I have left a message for him to call me, but so far
I have not heard from him. 

I then tried calling ROD this morning, and found him home. He claimed that he 
and MIKE are good friends and that MIKE lets him use his account whenever he 
needs it. He also stated that MIKE did know about the tape drive deal. When I 
asked him about the tape drivers, he mentioned that he was going to send it, 
but that he had a hard disk crash right before he mailed me the tape drive, 
and he lost the drivers. He told me to try call Mountain. When I told him 
about the price they were charging, he told me to try their BBS - he had 
used it before.  I mentioned that I did not have a modem on my PC yet and 
that I can't access the BBS, asking would he do it for me (since he did 
promise the drivers). HE said he would, but that his PC is also not working 
(both a hard disk crash AND a defective PC - this was getting REALLY fishy).

I then mentioned that I don't think his end of the deal had been upheld, and
said that I would be willing to pay shipping on BOTH the tape and disk drives
if we just called the whole thing off. He said "Well, I suppose..." and then
the phone conversation ended! Thinking that it may have been a mistake, I 
called him right back and let it ring over 10 times. I have called several
times again today, and still no answer.

=============================================================================
=============================================================================

So, what do you think I should do? It seems that I was 'ripped off' by both
MIKE and ROD, and I still have a useless tape drive paper-weight, while 
my disk drive is somewhere in Eau Claire....

Thanx, and please email either post the replies, or email them to my work
account at sasrer@unx.sas.com.

--
---
Rodney Radford          || Computer Graphics/Imaging
sasrer@unx.sas.com      || SAS Institute, Inc.
(919) 677-8000 x7703    || Cary, NC  27513