Author Topic: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller  (Read 3571 times)

Offline luvje0rdie

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Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« on: July 9, 2006, 04:54 AM »
Hi Star Wars fans. 

I need some help.  My back's to the wall on this one.   I found this message forum doing a search in google for a seller in Hong Kong named Andy_Thong.  He sold in Ebay for a while under the Ebay id Andy_thong@hotmail.com.  That's also his only contact address also.  That email address.  He then changed his Ebay id to Popsalute.  named after his new and seemingly empty website store called popsalute.com.

Back in March I sent this idiot $178.58 for a Medicom Jack Sparrow figure.  It was a pre-order.

 (I hate pre-orders because I nearly got burned out of $50.00 over a year ago from another seller who took the pre-order money and ran to Ca.  Ironically that was a different Jack Sparrow figure that time.  With the help of another burned buyer we all tracked him down and contacted the police and just solely doing the jobs of the police, FBI, and investigators ourselves, recovered our money.)

This time it's alittle more difficult.  Because this jerk is overseas.  He's a complete flake and I don't know if he's running a scam on me or not.  The first thing that tipped me off is that he soon after I sent his money turned his feedback onto PRIVATE.  Because negatives were piling up.   Then I started to get antsy.  I contacted him and asked when this figure is supposed to be in.  I found he only had a hotmail address as a primary email contact.  Another red flag.  Anyone can register hotmail accounts all day long.  All you need is real address.  Doesn't have to be your address.  Just ANY address with a correct zip code.  Then something just doesn't feel right.  I checked and he's only selling like one or two items in Ebay.  I check again and he's no longer a registered member now.  He writes me back this email.

Quote
hey that figure will be shipped by july time! so pls. keep in touch!

i am off ebay as i have new business in my local city..stay cool and have a good day!
 
best wishes,
 
andy

So I write him again and tell him I don't trust him and this is just too long to wait for this item and too much money to just entrust with him with all this funny stuff going on.  I asked REPEATEDLY for an address to contact him at , or a phone number.  Something besides a free sign up hotmail address.  He never gives me one.  I finally just tell him Look, I don't want to wait anymore for you.  I'm getting the run around.  I want my money back.  Just cancel this pre-order and refund my money.  I will buy this item from a more reliable source or wait til it comes out and is in-hand. I now send him a Paypal money request bill for the complete amount I sent him.  All he's got to do is click it and pay it.

He writes this..

Quote
greetings,
 
we have already placed an preorder for you.
 
so pls. keep in touch and we will ship your set once the set has been released.
 
thx. and regards,
andy


Now what?!!!  So that was 5/25/06   I wait all of June and now into July.  The figure was listed as coming out in June, then July.  Now I see in the Entertainment Earth website it's scheduled for September!  And since I paid him in March Ebay nor Paypal will do anything.  Because too much time has passed.  I will contact the authorities, the better business beuoro(sp), Fraud.org, and anyone else I can to track him down.  The police.  Whomever is in charge of regulating the importation of goods to the United States.   I finally have sent a couple of emails just this week to his hotmail account address. With no reply.

I sent second notice and third notice letters.  I threatened legal recourse.  I sent a paypal reminder for that money request.  I told him I didn't have to nor want to wait for his order.  When he gets it, he can just resell it to someone else, but I wanted MY money refunded immediately.  Nothing.   I got his contact information from ebay and this was what I got:

Quote
User ID:    popsalute
Name:   Thong C Mao
Company:    POPSALUTE.COM
City:   Berkeley
State:   CA
Country:   Hong Kong
Phone:   63320781
Registered Since:   Monday, Aug 14, 2000 21:22:17 PST

I can't make out that phone number.  I tried looking up the number in Hong Kong directories online to no avail.  I don't know if it's fake or not.  I looked up the country codes for hong kong but I don't know if their phone number there have eight digits or not.  I don't know what the berkeley Ca. address is for though.  My assumption.  The contact info is FAKE.  And I blame Ebay for that.  They accepted a half ass address like that, no questions asked??!!!

So I went through Popsalute.com and all they have is a ghost forwarding address for the site.  orderinfo@popsalute.com, Contact@posalute.com, blah blah@popsalute.com.  It's all going to the same address no matter what word or words is in front of @popsalute.com.  And that's not even an internet email address either.  It's a forwarder.  I know, because I use one on my own website.  Probably forwards all mail to that andy_thong@hotmail.com address.  So I look up the info on the domain name. popsalute.com.  The whois information on that is this.

Quote
Registrant:
   Thong
   Flat F, 25/F, Tower 10, Laguna
   Hong Kong, Hong Kong  55125
   HK

   Registrar: DOMAINBANK
   Domain Name: POPSALUTE.COM
      Created on: 17-JUN-02
      Expires on: 17-JUN-07
      Last Updated on: 21-JUN-06

   Administrative Contact:
      Thong, Chung Mao  00009172@hkbu.edu.hk
      ABACA
      Flat F, 25/F, Tower 10, Laguna
      Hong Kong, Hong Kong  55215
      HK
      21269173

   Technical Contact:
      Thong, Chung Mao  00009172@hkbu.edu.hk
      Abaca
      Flat F, 25/F, Tower 10,
      Hong Kong, Hong Kong  55125
      HK
      21269173


   Domain servers in listed order:
      NS.HKTECHNOLOGY.COM
      NS1.HKTECHNOLOGY.NET

End of Whois Information

 So I just tonight sent an email to that email address in that info and I haven't heard yet.  But what else can I do?

I read through this forum on a thread and saw that some of your collectors were dealing with him and got taken for a ride a little bit.  I was wondering do any of you have a legitamate address on maybe a box that he shipped your items to you.  A return address on a customs form or something?  Any other info at all maybe.?  I'm really trying to get this guy.  I think he's run off with the money from myself and many others.  He built up some cash and just chucked the ebay account and business and left us all out several hundred dollars.

 Maybe to get a new ID and come back again later to do the same thing.   Any help any of you guys could give would be so appreciated. 

Thanks

luvje0rdie@aol.com  (spelled with a zero)

Offline Bobafett77

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #1 on: July 9, 2006, 11:07 AM »
Why don't you try going through Paypal Buyer Protection. With Paypal in order to have an account you have to have an address verified through a credit card or bank account. Good Luck!

Offline Holographic Elvis

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #2 on: July 9, 2006, 11:18 AM »
That's why you never do pre-orders through ebay.  Too easy to get taken, especially by an overseas seller.

Offline kirk_dougall

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #3 on: July 9, 2006, 11:31 AM »
Quote
So I write him again and tell him I don't trust him

Heres your first mistake the guys done nothing you and you tell me hes untrustworthy.... doesn't sound very nice nor fair to me.

Quote
 I finally just tell him Look, I don't want to wait anymore for you.  I'm getting the run around.  I want my money back.  Just cancel this pre-order and refund my money.

Then the seller is stuck with an item he has ordered just for you, yes he can re-sell but thats an inconvenience to him.


Perhaps you should wait for the figure to be released?
The seller cannot send you something which hasn't been released yet!
By the sounds of things this item has had its date pushed back if EE are also delaying it.
Its too late now to contact paypal or Ebay.
I have have ordered pre-order items before and you cannot blame the seller for release dates being pushed back its simply not there fault.
Sending emails threatening him with legal action and calling him a conman etc I wouldn't imagine would get you anywhere either if it were me it would just annoy me.
Really you'v been silly by sending him a money request. What you should have done was made a non recieved item complaint to get your money back, the way you did it was foolish and has led to you now being in the situation you currently find yourself in.... perhaps a lesson for next time?

Sorry if I sound rude here but I am a trader myself and customers like yourself are just irritating and annoying.
You make demands, call sellers names etc when they have no right to.
The sellers done nothing to you other than sell you a preorder item.
A pre-order is exactly what it says it is a pre-order a seller is not at fault when the manufacture have to put back there release date were just as annoyed about it as you.
Most sellers do you usually offer refunds if this happens but obviously your seller hasnt.
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Offline luvje0rdie

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #4 on: July 9, 2006, 11:24 PM »
hello,


A.  It's too late to file any kind of claim with Paypal or Ebay, so that's no longer an option.

B.  This seller has given me every indication he doesn't plan on sending the product by his unreliability to answer simple emails requesting the address of his store, or any way with which to contact him.  In other words there is no way to track him down if he does decide to take the money and run.  It's simple piece of mind.  If you have my money, I'd like to know where you are and I'd like to occassionally get a little note letting me know the timeline on the order or any updates, or perhaps a little acknowledgement that says "I haven't forgotten about you......or YOUR money"

and C.  I don't think I'm being unreasonable when in the past few weeks, I've located MANY people this guy has stolen from.  He's taken literally thousands of dollars from people and NEVER even contacted them...before, during, and after the release of their items from manufacturers.    He ditches his Ebay account or has it suspended...only after hiding his feedback by making it private.  I find out half of his contact information is from Hong Kong, the other half from Berkeley California.

On top of that, the people who have finally gotten what they ordered were sold brand new items and upon recieving them, they were broken, very used, or just not the right item at all. 

When somone is given the benefit of the doubt from the start and all signs point to them being a reliable seller, you send money.  When you begin to hear things you do a bit of investigating and start to hear all the horror stories behind the dishonesty and unprofessionalism of a seller.  When that occurs, I should think anyone would want to just void the whole thing and get their money back instead of sitting back and taking it up the rear so to speak and just hope maybe the guy doesn't screw you like he did so many others.  Meanwhile all this added time is passing by and the seller's just gone off on his merry way cash in pocket and a big grin on his face.   

I'm sorry if I sound annoying to you as a customer but if you did the same thing to me and the kinds of people were coming out claiming you robbed them of that much money, I'd want to void the transaction with you to.   These sellers just seem to think that their customers have money falling out of their behinds when it comes to this stuff. And it's that nonchalant attitude of "Don't call me, I'll call you.....eventually"  that makes for poor business practise.  It's not the fact the item was pushed back.  It's the reputation this seller has that's come out upon deeper inspection that makes me want to forget him and just end it with my money refunded. 

 By the way,  he did offer a refund if people don't want to wait.  He also gave three different dates to the release of the item just to string me along.  The truth is,  He had no idea when it would come out.  He just listed it and took the money.  That's the unprofessionalism I'm talking about. 

I just want my money back and I will go to any lengths to get it.  Even if it winds up COSTING me more than I'm out to him anyway.  Because NOBODY steals from ME. 



Offline DSJ™

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #5 on: July 9, 2006, 11:46 PM »
Popsalute is according to eBay is No longer a registered user. This is ethier done by the seller or eBay, my guess eBay.

Andy Thong is a piece of ****, after the crap we went through, I would not trust him. A quote from Susan hawk, Survivor:

Quote
If I were ever to pass you along in life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take you and do whatever they want with you, with no ill regrets.

Yep, kick him in the nuts I would.  >:(

As for pre-sales, have a looky of the eBay rule if you have not read them:

Pre-Sale Listings

Even if the pre-sale date changes to a later date the seller must refund or face suspension.

He won't answer your e-mails. I would still plead the case to Paypal, explain everything & the rule listed, blah... blah...blah.

Paypal may take you in favor but may not refund as the seller must have the funds in his account. Good luck on that!  :-\

Offline kirk_dougall

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2006, 09:23 AM »
 ??? I didnt reralise he had already been conning people. I personally rarely deal in pre-orders and I'd never buy anything expensive from anywhere like hong kong, I mainly only buy from U.K and U.S occasionaly some Europe countries close to U.K such as Germany, France etc.
I really cant see any way other way for you to get your money back other than legal action, even then I think you'll be lucky. Sorry.
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Offline luvje0rdie

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2006, 10:17 PM »
Update on my order.....Right after I contacted several toy dealer's websites and posted in some forums, This one included, and sent the links to Andy Thong...and after not hearing from him at all since late May...he emails immediately then to say he just then got my figure in and was shipping it.  He emailed and wants me to notify the websites I posted in that he shipped my item.   There's one way to get someone's attention.  ::) 
So to the others who gave up on getting their items from this guy.  Just keep at it.   People like that only have one way of listening to their customers....and that's through their business.  Begging and begging for your items or your refunds fall on deaf ears.  Taking further action seems to get their attention.  Just don't give up to anyone who's had trouble with this guy.

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2006, 12:48 AM »
Awesome news for you, very happy.  I was fortunate that I filed a paypal complaint and got almost all of my money back.  But I was better off than most.
Minivans: a sign of the apocalypse.

Offline DSJ™

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Re: Could you guys help? Andy_Thong seller
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2006, 01:09 AM »
Yes, awesome news. Keep us posted when you get the figure.  :)

As for Andy Thong, never & I mean never deal with this person!  >:(

Hope your reading this ya piece of ****!  :-*
« Last Edit: July 22, 2006, 01:10 AM by DSJ™ »