I sent a gentleman a large sum of money for a 60gb Mk2a, he got the money Saturday, and I paid for OVERNIGHT shipping. He finally emailed me yesterday said that he got the money and said the unit would be going out yesterday. Overnight shipping means that I should have it today or tomorrow at the very least if he didn't make the cutoff for pickup. If by tommorow afternoon I do not have an empeg I intend to contact the police and press charges. I did send it via cashiers check and I think I can recoup the money, as well he signed for it. I will post more information as I find out.
stahi

I work with damn UPS USPS & Fedex. Every day shipping laptops \ server and the occasional mainframe from here to Brazil to Sweden. IT NEVER ARRIVES ON TIME! to protect yourself in the future. 1.) ALWAYS request a tracking number for shipping. 2). Optional insurance (USPS automatically insures packages in "Priority" mail up to $500 AT NO ADDINTIONAL COST) 3). The USPS is the ONLY shipping company that CAN NOT open your packages!! Since UPS & Fedex are privately own & operated outside of the goverment, they can inspect open or steal ANYTHING without risking breaking a federal offenses. 4.) Call the shipping company 1st. they can at least give you an idea what side of the damn continent this empeg is located. Once you have confirmed its location (ex. West Coast) and you live in California, give them an additional day to give your package to the local Distibution center so the guy in the stupid brown pants can hand it to you the following day. My advice ship everything USPS (it may not be the fastest but they are consistant. -Fedex horror story, shipped a 2 million dollar built mainframe to the east coast (SHIPPING NEXT BUSN. MORNING) I paid ten grand for some dumbass lady to tell me its somewhere on the east coast at 11AM in the morning. Well it got there at 2:00, but christ all mighty. You always expect small package or people who only spend $20 bucks in shipping to get [censored] losted every once in a while but how do you not know where a 2 ton 10grand IBM paper weight is? Oh.. try to always pay by credit card. You can always ask the credit card company to reverse the charges.

Why do you say USPS can not open packages.. I've had many that have been opened and then resealed with their sealing tape. Yes they can open it if they have a reason to and anyone can think of a reason. In a perfect world every shipping company works... in out courrupt world every shipping company has its horror stories. Just make sure you get a tracking number/reciept and insurance on the item and you'll be fine. I seem to have the best of luck with ups, they are the only ones to seem to have a somewhat working tracking system.

-Greg

I have a hard time believing anything run by the federal government is reliable. That plus I have had about the total opposite experience you described (with much lower cost items I can't imagine having to ship anything like that wow !).

Well, although the post office is part of the government, they have tried to distance themselves from that image. You have to admit that for the volume of mail they move every day they are very efficient (and cheap). I did have an airborne express person drop off a package yesterday that looked like it had been run over with a truck. The lenses that were in the package were crushed to bits. I cant believe that someone signed for it.

Sean

of course, they're tyrying to distance themselves for that image, look how good their competition is doing.... It's rare you can compete with the government and win.
Next I'd like to see a privately held gasoline chain. One that is not succeptable to the $0.40 per gallon of tax. Now That'd be something.

Stahi,
I have sent you mail.
Maybe there is chance that you get your money back.
I gave you additional discount on mail on my MK2a, so you can get at least somewhat cheaper. Hope this helps.
I got other offers as well, so if no deal, no harm done. Just wanted you to know.

Next I'd like to see a privately held gasoline chain. One that is not succeptable to the $0.40 per gallon of tax. Now That'd be something

ROTFLMAO. Some people just don't realise how lucky they are. I *love* paying only $0.40 a gallon.

Try living in the UK for a while: The current excise tax is fifty pence per litre - the equivalent of $3.40 per gallon - and constitutes 60 percentof the British price of fuel. source

not to hijack this thread
but, genixia, I don't think out american cousins can imagine paying what we pay for petrol back home in europe
it would be a terrible shock to them if they woke up to that one day

PS when are you going to get that 1.8 chipped?

<offtopic...sorry>PS when are you going to get that 1.8 chipped?

When I can persuade my wife that the money needed doesn't have a more urgent use.

When are you going to tell your wife that you bought an empeg?
</offtopic>

stahimooney - I hope that your situation resolves itself amicabilly. I rarely bother with overnight shipping because there is no guarrantee that the item will ship that day or that the service lives up to expectations, even though it is reasonable to expect that they both *should*. I once payed for 3 day service from a computer parts reseller, only for the items to not be shipped for 3 weeks. I was pissed off to say the least. I tend to pay for one service level better than I want/need. So if I want 3 day service, I pay for overnight. If I want something within a week, I pay for 3 day service. Should I have to do this? No... but at least it keeps my stress levels down, and when something really does arrive on time it is a pleasant surprise because I wasn't expecting it to!

But here is the kicker. He got the money SATURDAY and since then I recieved one email stating that it was going out Monday. Then NOTHING ELSE. No tracking numbers, I have called him a couple times and no returns on my phone calls. If I had a tracking number at least I wouldn't worry at all. Between the insurance and tracking number I would at least know that this gentleman didn't take the money and run. Both shipping and recieving is in the continental US. The guy may have shipped it but I wish that he had the courtesy to give me a tracking number

Ahh. I see. That's a tough nut. I'd advise giving him a few days leeway anyway - with a private seller you don't know what emergency circumstances may cause a day or 2 delay, the last thing you want to do send the police around his house if he's spent the past few days in hospital due to a car wreck. Have faith in the fact the the vast majority of people are honest and well-intentioned and try not to worry too much. With that in mind, you should set a reasonable deadline whereby you must have either the unit or tracking number, and act on that date if need be.

It's really not worth worrying until that date - until you can convince the police that you have probable cause for concern, they're not likely to act anyway, so you are effectively powerless in the situation at the moment.

Accept that and try to relax for now. If it helps, prepare for what you will do when it is time to take action - print out any correspondance, copy any transaction reciepts, investigate options for recovering your money etc.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Next time you see your royal government on tv with all their diamonds and rubies, you'll know where your $3.40 went.

*cough*see profile*cough*

I won't even get into health care.

...or education.

He has emailed me. There have been some extenuating circumstances. That is fine I can deal with that I am not overly impatient--Not knowing anything was the problem.

Of course I am going to wait until he follows through--but at this point it appears that I jumped the gun a little. When it is all over I intend to publicly (on the forum) apologize.

Hey off topic myself now... someone mentioned chipped 1.8--were you talking about the VW 1.8 engine? I have a 16v 1.8 that I was thinking about getting a fuel management system for it --maybe something similar to laptop in the "Fast and the Furious" would that be do-able in linux maybe with the empeg controlling it? Just a rambling thought. Not that I really need a fuel management system around here... LOL I took a Honda Prelude VTEC to SCHOOL yesterday. It was one of those wanna be type R's--(I will give respect to a legit Type R) I was trying to get over and he cut me off, causing me to miss my turn. Then he started revving his engine like he wanted to go. Next light I pulled up next to him. The light turned and I dumped the clutch, barked the tires going into 2nd, chirped them going into 3rd, and shifted to 4th a hair under 100mph. I got to a point where the lanes merged and he was probably 5 car lengths back. I was gonna stop and talk to him but when I pulled over he flipped me off and kept going. I hate sore losers. Now to be fair I have seen some Honda's that are bad ass and I couldn't come close, but the ones around here mostly have stock engines with alot of body mods and huge wings, a few have coffee can mufflers, but nothing really special. My car believe it or not is fairly stock--16v 1.8 with the close ratio AUG tranny, tall 5th gear, and cat removed. I am running the stock CIS-E injection system and knock sensors and such.

Any v-dubya fans drop me a line.

stahi

The only Honda's that really give much of a threat ont he road are DOHC VTECs and the occasionally turbo(though the SOHC turbos are pretty slow). The preludes are to heavy in my opinion and everyone here knows my love for the Integra Type-R. AFAIK the Integra is the only car in the US that can be a legit Type-R so unless its right-hand drive no civicor accord is a type-R. BTW there isnt even a Prelude Type-R in Japan. The only Type-Rs honda makes are NSX, Integra, Civic, and accord. And well now the RSX but its an integra anyway

were you talking about the VW 1.8 engine?


Indeed. A lovely beast of an engine. 2000 Golf GLS 1.8T - totally stock. The urge for other mods is creeping up on me - rear sway bar, slightly stiffer/lower springs and a better set of boots have all somehow entered my subconscious dreams. (In addition to the chip, which is a purely conscious decision!)

1.8T huh? I have mixed emotions about the new(er) VW's. I haven't really forgiven Volkswagon for discontinuing the Sciroccos and the (heavy slower) Corrados. I have rebuilt a couple of Sciroccos from the ground up-- now that I am going to Italy I am going to be looking for some Euro parts and maybe a Euro spec engine. If I can pick up one of those new Euro 24 valve V-6 (200 sum-sumthin' horses of v-dubya love) they have for the jetta there I am gonna jump on it. The wife put the stops on me taking my favorite Scirocco there as I can only ship one car and SHE HATES THE RICCARO SEATS. (women are evil I tell ya) She wants the Cabriolet there so I made a deal with her--Cabrio can go but I am slapping a 16v in it once we get there. If she is gonna make me drive a chic car --I am gonna soup it up a little.

HAHA

its recaro

Ummmmm....the Marvels of the 1.8t.....now if only APR would finish their damn chip for the Turbo S!

Used to love my 2000 Golf GTi Turbo - nice 150bhp motor. Thought it was pretty fast till I got me an Impreza
It was good though, and I do miss the trip/consumption/temp gauge in the dash. I miss the Recaros as well, so I'll have to get some for my Scooby.
Just had a wee race with my senior manager this morning - he has the 180bhp Audi A3 - turns out my (non-turbo) impreza will easily have him up to about 90mph and then he gets the edge on me.

Sorry about the off-topic nature of this post

If I can pick up one of those new Euro 24 valve V-6 (200 sum-sumthin' horses of v-dubya love) they have for the jetta there I am gonna jump on it.

We have this same engine available in the states now too. It's been here since December or January.

did you get the empeg yet?

No I haven't recieved the empeg or a tracking number. I filed a report with law enforcement today.

I haven't really forgiven Volkswagon for discontinuing the Sciroccos and the (heavy slower) Corrados
I don't know where you live but maybe it was never discontinued but rather not imported anymore. I had always thought the VW Beetle/Bug had stopped being made when I no longer saw new ones. I saw a history of the VW Beetle on Discovery instead they were still made, in Mexico, up until the new style took over.

nope, the Sciroccos and Corrados are no longer made....anywhere

I am sorry to hear that.

Can you give us more details? Where you came in contact with this individual? etc?

He was selling it here. I emailed him and asked him how much and offered a trade sooner than a cashiers check. He said he was willing to wait, so I got the money and sent it to him. Further than that I would like to wait to see the outcome before divulging details. I don't want to get the guy in trouble. I made it very clear to the Police that once I get the Empeg or a full refund I want to drop the charges. Being that the value is more than $300 it falls under the felony catagory, crossing state lines, possibly even mail fraud--they mentioned something about the Federal Trade Commision getting it on it too. I think all of that is a little excessive, and would prefer to handle this quietly without big brother laying the smacketh down, but the gentleman that I have been dealing with promised me shipping today and has thus far been unable to be reached.

Crappy deal but I don't have many options left.

I have had quite a bit of experience (on ebay and through other venues) of buying merchandise from strangers, and I have found that the great majority of people are honest, honorable, and well-intentioned.

This does not mean that they are competent, but the person who will actually, intentionally defraud you is extremely rare.

I would suggest that patience and friendly communication are your best allies here. My guess is that the seller really does not understand the nervousness and urgency you are experiencing, and just "hasn't got around to" shipping your player in the timely fashion you are expecting.

The closest I have ever come to being "scammed" on a blind purchase was for some wheels for my ShoWagon. The seller thought he had them, turned out he couldn't deliver, and was so embarassed about it he didn't want to talk to me. When I convinced him I wasn't angry or upset, and that I had obtained the wheels from another source and no longer needed his, he refunded my money plus a little extra for my trouble. Throughout the entire three month experience, I was never seriously concerned abut getting "taken" -- I knew we would resolve it eventually.

I have found that by being very trusting right up front, people respond by wanting to justify my faith in their integrity.

I will be very surprised if this whole situation has not been settled to your satisfaction in the next ten days.

tanstaafl.