O/T, but car & HAMB related

About a month ago I ran a wanted ad on Hot Heads hoping to find a blower manifold for my red ram hemi. The ad was a few days old when I received a response from someone in Buna, Texas who said they had one tucked away along with some other speed equipment for my motor. He told me that he has been sitting on this stuff for years but his circumstances had changed & was reluctantly going to sell the parts. He gave me a description of the items and a deal was made. I overnighted a money order for close to a $1000.00 for the parts and shipping and was told they would ship as soon as he got the payment. Well, I am sure you guessed by now that I still have not received any parts. I have spoke with him a few times since and have received assurances but also a lot of excuses on why he has been delayed in the shipping which have made me wonder if the parts even actually exist. I believe that he now has my phone number blocked on his incoming calls. I'm starting to get that awful feeling, again. While I'm not very happy right now I'm starting to believe that this is the way the "new generation" car thing is going. It even happens on here, probably more than anyone thinks. The last half dozen or so deals I have made here I have gotten the short end of the stick. And these deals were not made with new members, but some that have been here for a long time and are well thought of and respected. It really bothers me when I click on the hamb and see these individuals posting threads about the stuff they recently bought and yet have not paid me for over a year or more. In the last few weeks there have been three members that have posted about new projects and between the three of them I am out close to $1500.00, plus I lost a car I paid for because of one of them. Two of them acknowledge they owe me the money and offered to pay but nothing, & the third wont answer my calls. But there they are, posting about what they just bought. Now I know part of this is my fault, I should not have let parts leave my shop without getting paid, but I felt I knew these people from here and gave them the benefit of the doubt. I never for one moment thought anyone on here would screw me. Dont get me wrong, I have met & had good dealings w/ some very good guys on here. However,the sad part is that I now feel uneasy about dealing on here and that makes it bad for the honest people. I know that I am not the only one because I have a good friend that I met on here who has had the same thing happen to him and he decided it just wasn’t worth it and went away. So please excuse me for my ranting, but I have received many messages & e-mails asking where I have been or is everything ok & felt this was easier than answering everyone individually. I really appreciate everyones concern and can tell you everything is fine on my end, its just I don’t come on too often anymore because of this problem. It’s a shame really, I thought this was a place for friends to hang out. Anyone that has met me knows that I am generous and not one to complain, but it gets old after awhile. Again I apologize for this rant but felt I needed to get this out of my system. DAVE

 

Man, that sucks Dave.

It is good to see you back on here, though!

Dave is one of the best guys I have ever met on the HAMB. It sucks that someone here wants to fuck him over. He has done a lot for me and I am extremely grateful for it.

 

Thanks Aaron, youre one of the good guys. LOL

 

Dave --

That truly, truly stinks, especially if it involved current/long time HAMBers. Stories like this reluctantly make me think that there should be a general "shit list" of members who are are in arrears to others. It used to be that a man's word was his bond... now it's apparently "screw everybody else as fast as possible, before you get caught."

I think a good idea for financial dealings with anybody online is an escrow service like escrow.com -- they insure the buyer has the money, but won't release it until the seller sends the goods. Cheap insurance when the world seem so full of conniving a-holes.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, Dave. You sound like a good guy, and I can see how the people posting up about their new projects without paying for their parts would burn your ass. Scandalous!!

PS - thank you for being civil and coherent in your rant, so often these discussions are just pissing fests. Fortunately I haven't been screwed over by anyone here or elsewhere, but I usually only deal with people I know. Good luck man,
Danny

 

Sorry to hear you got burned. Sign of the times I guess.

I had pretty good luck with HAMBers, some are a little slow on the draw, but I go through times that I'm a little slow movin' myself. So I blow it off.

There are a coupls of folks that have owed me parts for a long time, like since a couple of years ago, but they don't even exist anymore, so I just figure that's the way it goes. of course i'm not talking anything more than 10 or 20 bucks and not like the way you got ripped.

For the most part I guess I've been luckey. I can truthfully say that no one I have delt with in the last year is a problem, and I've recieved enough good deals and or free stuff from the Bros that it more than makes up for the stuff that didn't work out.

Anyway back to it, sounds like you got the shit end of the stick, maybe someone in the neighborhood can go by and give the guy a visit. Where is he again?

 

It was decent for you not to pst names. I think I would pm ryan with the names. bad for every one thanks for the heads up.

 

Anyone that doesn't hold up thier end of the deal risks having
their name and contact info posted here for the world to see.

If you got screwed on a deal in the HAMB classifieds,talk to Rashy.
Ryan takes this sort of Shit seriously.

Might get your money/stuff and save someone else the same aggrivation.

 

Check your PM's

 

If you sent payment or parts by US Postal Service, you can contact them and the other party can be investigated for mail fraud. These things tend to get sorted out real quick when the Feds come knocking on the door.

 

cryin fuckin shame...i like doing deals on a hand shake because at the end of the day when everything is squared up, i know iam standing in front of someone i can trust (to a certain extent).

personaly, i dont want to get Ryan or Rash involved because iam responsible for my dealings, iam the idiot for sending things out before getting paid.... MORE than ONCE.

chaukling my losses here to a hard lesson learned. it really sucks but life in general is a pain in the ass, so it comes as no suprise to me.

i still enjoy the HAMB though.

 

I dig the HAMB

I hate thieves

Sorry to hear about ya getting screwed, esp. since they used sand, instead of lube


I wish I had the self control you've shown, in how you've dealt with it.
Your a better man than I


Good luck, I hope they come thru for ya!

 

If a credit card was used, it violates interstate commerce law, you can use that leverage.

 

I can vouch that Plan9 is without a doubt a stand up guy.

 

I am not real sure why you can't just air it out. It seems entirely appropriate if the people that owe you money are advertising spending money without squaring up with you first. I say let everyone else know for their protection.

1500 dollars is serious cash.

 

I had one deal that went south too..nothing major, thats why i never contacted anyone..i've actually had a couple, but i feel the other's were for legit reason's and i hold no grudges on them for backing out...
But on the one i mentioned.
I was "told" he wanted the item i was selling, and after telling other's it was no longer for sale i waited 3 month's with nothing but excuses on why the money hadn't arrived..
I was promised it would be sent out asap, and yup, you guessed it...nothing..
Then it went to not even returning my pm's after about 5 month's.
Shame on me for wating, but when a guy say's he wants something i honor that..

I contacted the other's who were interested in it, and they had all since purchased similar items and no longer needed one..

I still deal here as most of the time i've had great dealing's with other member's..but it did rub me the wrong way..

 

thanks man

got some new news... ill shoot ya a pm

edit - the classifieds is an excellant resource and iam able to get things without having to use ebay... hopefully, it doesnt become such a thorn in the ass that its taken out of comission altogether

 

I hope that after seeing this thread these guys will work things out with you Dave.
Max

 

This is the way to go. Don't blow it off, but keep your cool and let these guys know what's up. Sounds like you're already doing that, so that's good.

Not only would we like to see you get your money/parts, but we'd all feel better knowing there was no bullshit like this happening on the HAMB.

 

Ditto..............!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've bought my 455 Olds engine, Rebuilt turbo 400 tranny, front suspension, wheels and tires from Dave at Very reasonable prices... yet he extended me some "time" to pay them off which I did as quickly as I could.

Dave ... you're a "Stand Up Guy" and I hate to see this happen to anyone...!

I guess some folks take that type of kindness for granted... and think that they don't have to square up for the item(s)...!!!

Dave ... have you p.m.ed the members about these issues???

(p.s. thanks for the Grand Am tranny remmedy...! )

 

i have witnessed some events very similar to this recently, it is very disturbing. i always thuoght car guys (hot rodders especially) were the most stand up guys out there, and now after witnessing several different shady transactions and plain theft i am starting to fear that those days are gone. this used to be about helping eachother out in anyway possible, the love of the machines but now its turning into a greedfest fueled by shitty magazines and the ebay price conspiracy. i cant stand to see stand up guys get screwed over, people taking advantage of generosity are the worst kind of people. i have been screwed over so many times because i am always willing to help someone. i am a man of my word because that is how i was brought up to be, it is the most honorable way to live.

reputations are built on trust and honoring one's word, the hand shake is a powerful contract, it represents an agreement and understanding reached by both parties. breaking this contract should be a punishable offense, and it is when ones reputaion is on the line. there seem to be alot of people out there these days that dont give a shit about theyre reps and are willing to make a buck/save a buck anyway possible.

but i also feel that most of the guys on the hamb are some of the most upstanding, honorable guys you will ever find.

sorry for the rant but i had to vent too as i had some parts stolen from me recently.

 

Couldn't hurt to post his name, address, phone, etc.

 

This is interesting... I better NOT be one of those established hambers your referring too regarding the olds I picked up from your place.

I think it went like this... "500 for the car... but... I want to bring a falcon up to your shop to paint. We'll figure it out don't worry about the cash. I just need this thing out of here so just take it, we can work something out."

do you need cash??? if so please respond to my PM if not than disregard this reply. I've Pm'd YOU about this with no reply that I got read receipts for... and you havent requested cash on the phone nor via email or pm... its hard not to "read into" a post like that so maybe this is out of place.

I hope you get things sorted out... but I KNOW your impossible to get ahold of from someone whos worked with you in the past... I think I called 15 plus times in one week and you never returned my calls... thats crazy...

Tuck

 

That does SUCK and I am with Zenor..there should be a HAMB "shit list" or some type of Feedback in the Classifieds. BTW Plan9= great guy +1!

 

I agree 100% with what Plowboy says. I was sorry to hear about your troubles, I really do hope you can get them worked out. You've helped me out more than just about any other HAMBer, and my students thank you to.

 

haha.. now im blushing... shux!

its deffinately been good dealin with ya

 

Me too, I hope I'm not one of those guys...... I had a deal for a hemi and Tuck ended up with it.... Then you guys had a bunch of deals going on so I figured it would all pan out.... I really wasn't woried about it, as you told me not too... but now I am kinda.

If it hasn't, let me know and it will. I'm sure not out to screw anyone....

I've also tried to call you a bunch of times and left a bunch of messages with no calls back.... I just kind of gave up... I don't know of anytime you've tried to call me because I would have called you back right away...

Anyway, there is still a bunch of your stuff waiting at my shop... a hood, some fenders, some F1 brakes... Its all been there over a year....

Anyway, I hope this all has nothing to do with the Hemi deal, as I would hope if you had problems with me you would contact me directly because I'm pretty easy to get ahold of......

PM SENT.

 

I have tears in my eyes just reading about how some have taken advantage of your generosity I'm so sorry you have to go thru this after you've done so much for not only a ton of HAMB folks BUT for other less fortunate non-hot rod type people as well. Your kind, generous spirit knows no bounds. I'm really disappointed for the HAMB right now. I sure hope this gets straighten out right away. I miss you being around here and I really hope no matter what happens that you still continue to do what makes you happy with life.

xoxoxo

 

Hey DAve

Maybe some of the other guys can locate this guy and help him 'FIND' the parts (or your money) that belong to you........ Its just not right to screw somoene else who has the love of the hobby.

Car guys who screw other car guys AINT car guys....theyre scum