The eBay auction was mid-January. I found a car in our price range being sold by bargainsonsale. My son needed a car for school, so we both chipped in half.
Anyway, I bought the car; I paid $2,508 cash even though I had my doubts. I should have walked away right then and said to hell with it; if he wants to leave negative feedback, let him. But, I didn't. They say when you win an auction, you have entered into a binding contract.
My son drove the car home. He barely made it. The car had so many undisclosed negatives, I contacted the seller not more than two hours later and said I can't keep this car because he misrepresented it. He said he would take the car back; however, he told me he had already sent in the paperwork (for registration and title) and I would have to wait until I received the title to return the car.
I received the title about a month later and tried to set up a date and time for the transaction. It was like he dropped off the planet. When I could reach him he gave every excuse in the book why we couldn't get it done. Then my husband took over, as he was getting quite irritated with this seller, because I was going out of town for 3 weeks. The car was still here when I got home.
When we did reach the seller (my husband called from a payphone so he couldn't get the caller ID) the dealer, Chris, started saying, "I don't have to take the car back at all" and "I can't give you what you paid for it because it's not worth that to me"... And so on and so forth. Basically he had us and he knew it, but he kept stringing us along, kept saying as soon as he had the time... Blah, blah, blah... We would get it done.
Then last week I said enough. I filed a case with Square Trade. I didn't hear anything for a few days. Then I emailed the seller and said it was his right to ignore Square Trade and me, but then I had the right to seek my own remedy, the least of which is to leave appropriate feedback.
Soon, he started emailing me all over the place and calling me, leaving messages and so forth. He told Square Trade he would work things out with me and would not need their services. Then he told us he would bring a check to our house and pick up the car if, and only if, I would leave positive feedback for him. I was going to be alone that day. He wanted to look over my shoulder to make sure I left positive feedback.
I was so uncomfortable with that, you have no idea. We really just wanted our money back and had been kissing this guys butt all this time to get it; my husband called me and said leave the feedback so he'll see it and then we'll get the check and it will be over. The seller even told us what bank the check was drawn on. So, I left the positive feedback on eBay. Well, you guessed it.
I waited and waited past the agreed upon time. He never showed up; stopped answering his phone too. That was when I decided to add the follow up to the feedback I left for him. I reported him to eBay, but they sent me some form letters and pretty much have left me hanging in the wind.
I now have a car that I have never driven, that needs a lot of work, and I don't really have the money to fix. Because the seller made promises to me about buying back the car and strung the process out over two months. I cannot file a claim with eBay for seller fraud. To recoup my losses for seller misrepresntation I would have had to file within 35 days of the auction end.
Furthermore, I learned he (the seller/dealer), had been doing business on eBay under the name (unlimiteddealsonline) and Chris Veugeler and was shut down by eBay for fraudulent practices in November. He reappeared in December as bargainsonsale and the name Chris Schubert, essentially erasing all the negative feedback he had received under his previous alias.
Millie
Orland Park, Illinois
U.S.A.
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