Go Ahead, Call My Bluff. I Dare You.: "By it's very nature, a bluff can backfire. The bluffee could simply call, "Bullshit!" and the bluffer would be caught. Bummer. But then, sometimes the bluff works...
I recently bought a youth baseball coaching video on eBay for $27 from a guy with the nickname "skenterprise2". When it arrived, it was a counterfeit and didn't play in the DVD player. I emailed the seller and demanded my money back... no luck. And when I looked up the seller's contact information on eBay, I found his name is Paul Sant, and that he had listed a bogus phone number.
A quick online search found the correct home number for a Jenifer and Jay Paul Sant at the address listed on eBay. So I called. I spoke with Jenifer, who sounded surprised and fed me some lame story about how a friend of her husband's had used their contact information to set up his eBay account. Uh-huh. Yeah, right.
Frustrated, I did a little more online searching and fired off the email below. I can imagine what must've been going through his mind: How much of the email much was BS and how much was serious? Hmmm, that's the grand prize question! Should I call his bluff? What if I do and he actually does what he threatens?
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I still want my money back. Until that happens, I can carry an amazingly potent grudge a long time.
To refresh your memory, I'm [my email addy] at PayPal, and you stole $27.06 from me last month.
PayPal Buyer Protection rejected my claim, since they only cover items not received, not fraudulent items. At their suggestion, I'm filing a separate fraud complaint with them.
I've filed a fraud complaint with eBay as, I hear, at least one other eBayer ("excelwithme", whom you sold three counterfeit soccer videos to) has or will. Since my winning bid was under $25, I won't get money back from eBay, but they suggested filing the fraud complaint anyway since a copy goes to the FTC.
As I mentioned previously, I've contacted the USPS regarding fraudulent interstate commerce. I'll give the USPS through Tuesday to reply, then I'll contact the Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley's office (since the item was shipped from Natick, and Jay Paul lives in Natick) and the Bristol County District Attorney (since you apparently conduct business via a P.O. box in Warwick).
As you may know by now, I spoke with Jenifer who told me it was supposedly a friend of yours who was selling the videos using your eBay account. I also just spoke with "you" and you gave me the same story. Frankly, I don't believe the whole "a friend did it" baloney, but guess what? I don't really care. Whether Paul Sant ripped me off or his friend did... I still want my money.
However, the good thing that came from those phone calls is that I now have a confirmed address to give D.A. Coakley's office on Wednesday morning. I also, just after speaking with Jenifer, called Denny, the manager at Baseball World, and gave him a full name and current address so they can serve papers for a copyright infringement/pirating civil suit.
Yeah, it's a lot of hassle for measly 27 bucks. But if you choose to ignore this email as well, though, and it will not be about $27 anymore. Instead, it'll be about the simple satisfaction of getting even with someone who screwed me over. And that satisfaction is worth a 100 times more than the money itself.
In fact, the last person who did this to me (konacoffee44 on eBay who sold me a fake Prada handbag in January) got both her eBay and PayPal accounts closed. Then, when she still didn't give back the money she stole, she ended up having to explain herself to her parents (after they called her to relay my message to answer my emails), two neighbors (haven't confirmed yet, but in your case, a quick preliminary shows Joseph Perault next door at 315-3262, right?), her co-workers, and (of all people) the priest at her church -- it's astonishing how much info about a person one can get with a few private database queries and some creatively-worded phone calls!
Unfortunately, the Honolulu D.A. declined to prosecute, but that was after the police stopped by her place of employment in October looking to question her about it (which in itself made contacting the D.A. worth the effort). I never did get my money back, but I guarantee she'll think twice before trying to rip someone else off!
Hint for you: just ONE of the several personal information databases I use in my line of work shows addresses and phone numbers of relatives, roommates, and neighbors for your addresses in Natick, Chestnut Hill, Brookline, Hoboken, Pittsford, and Rochester; high schools and colleges attended; addresses and phone numbers of creditors and employers for at least the past ten years; bankruptcy and credit records; small claims, civil judgment, and criminal records; current and past lien holders; marriage and divorce records; and real property ownership. Just imagine the options those leads will provide me to follow... and that's from a single database, without even one phone being made yet.
Anyway...
To me, getting even is absolutely, without a doubt, almost pathologically worth the effort on principle alone. Apparently, you're a fellow runner (or your friend Paul is)... you should completely understand my obsession to hold out and finish what I've started. I guess this last email is sort of a last-chance-to-do-the-right-thing message.
[On the off chance that it really is "Paul's friend" reading this right now, fair warning: I don't care. Paul's not happy, and you are about to f*ck up his life BIG time. Since you're using his name and address, he's the one the D.A. will initially target for your criminal activity. He's also the one whose life I'm about to start making exceedingly difficult. You've certainly already screwed up your friendship. And hopefully, when folks start gunning for him, he'll give up your name and location... maybe even to me. Won't that be fun. You might want to give him a call and let him know what's coming!]
I know *exactly* what I'm capable of -- know how far I'll go -- this is far from a first time for me. You don't know. The question is: Is that gamble really worth a measly $27.06 to you?
Less than eight hours later, I received a PayPal payment for $27.06.
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So what was real and what was BS? Does it matter? It worked. But for the record...
I did file complaints with PayPal and eBay. I did call Baseball World to confirm the DVD was a fake. When I looked the seller up on whitepages.com, I followed a link that showed me that there were records on this guy showing addresses in those towns I mentioned. I did look up his neighbors name and phone number, and the names of his local district attornies.
That's it.
I never contacted the postmaster general's office. "Konagirl44" was 100% fictitious... that entire story was made up. Baseball World never said anything about a civil suit. I don't have ready access to the information I claimed.
So about 10% truth, 90% crap -- which is how any good lie is made up. Even if I never got my money back, this email was so much fun to write it was worth it even if I didn't get my money back."
