Colin Johnson offered an item on Cloudy Nights Classified (internet astonomy web site) and I corresponded with him about the item and decided to buy it.
I suggested sending the item COD, but he insisted on paypal. I paid him $400 on August 21 and have yet (November 27) to receive anything but lies and obfuscation via e-mail and a couple of early telephone conversations. Curiously, the paypal account name was associated with a different e-mail account and different name (Johnne Newell) than the original add.
Colin (or Johnne, or Marshall Hagy - the name associated with Colin's address on various internet searches) continued to send me vagues e-mail responses to direct questions - like "Have you shipped the item yet? Can you send me the FedEx tracking number?". He responses could barely be considered that, typically something like "it should be there by now."
Then after about 1 1/2 months, I received a box from him containing some old magazines. I was livid, e-mailed my complaint immediately, and he responded by phone. He was very appologetic (good actor it turns out) and said his wife had mixed up the shipping addresses on 2 orders. He told me he had talked to the other party, and had worked it out so I would still be shipped the item. 2 months later, and many attempts to get info from him via e-mail or phone, and I'm still waiting. He has recently disconnected his phones, and no longer answers e-mail.
At first I thought he was just a bit incompetent in his daily life activities and had a hard time getting around to actually shipping the item. However, I no longer believe this. I have found NUMEROUS on-line records of Marshall Hagy (possibly the same guy as my Colin Johnson, or at least a good enough friend to let him use his address and phone numbers!) ripping people off. I now believe he is a crook and a thief and I hope he is eventually caught by the autorities and rots in jail. There is no room in civilized society for these kinds of acts.
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