Just Got Scammed on Geekhack!

[SinisterSquirl]

Hello geekhack!

It is with great regret and sadness that i have to inform a scamming incident to this great community. But first some background.

I have never owned a mechanical keyboard before and have done a lot of research, so much so that i have stumbled unto this wonderful community late last year. I have learned a lot from this community and finally came to the conclusion that i wanted to purchase a leopold mx brown 700r (as filcos were out of my price range).

Because this community was so giving and kind i decided to purchase a keyboard from a fellow geekhackian (geekhacker?). I looked at the classifieds and came across member akuJIWA who was offering my desired keyboard and switch! akuJIWA had a background of selling keycaps and other keyboards as well as hand painted novelty keycaps, this assured me (falsely) that i would be dealing with a trusted trader.

I contacted him and sure enough he had the board and sent me pics of its condition and it was so very beautiful. So, during early January, 2013 (after 2 weeks of discussing about the board and its quality) i purchased the board via paypal. I paid for the board in full $160 including shipping (I moved to SeA) and was told that it would arrive in 2-3 weeks.

But it didnt come, I understandably contacted him and he said he would look into it. A few weeks later he told me i gave the wrong adress, and the board was now in a post office an hour away from where he resided. Understandably i sent him a revised adress. He told me that he will keep me updated.

That was the last i heard from akuJIWA. It has taken me three months to write this incident (I thought that the board was just running late), i hopefully anticipated my board to arrive everyday since. I will never feel the satisfying click of a keyboard and i am a hundred dollars poorer now.

Let this be a lesson to all of you, even if the person seems like a reliable trader, always keep your guard up, it is better to purchase of a retailer. Thank you Geekhack for teaching me this lesson.

Warm regards,
Stefano

[SinisterSquirl]

his profile
http://geekhack.org/index.php?action=profile;u=20877

[daerid]

That's terrible, sorry to hear that.

But please don't judge the entirety of GeekHack just because of the bad actions of a single member. Many, many people (myself included) have had nothing but great experiences buying and selling here on GeekHack.

[SinisterSquirl]

I dont doubt that,

It just so happened that my first experience was a really horrible one and it has left a horrid taste in my pallet.

[OnTheBrink]

Sorry to hear that man.

File a dispute with PayPal. Maybe you will get your money back.

Also, you said that a Filco was out of your price range, but you bought this keyboard for $160. That seems more expensive than a Filco. Are you from an area where it is more expensive?

[SinisterSquirl]

cant buy filcos here in the philippines unless i buy them from amazon.

and for some reason they go for like 200+ dollars (without shipping).

Also, i patiently waited with trust until i would receive the board. Got the bill for the board on my card 2 weeks ago.

[noons]

Agreed there are tons of people in these forums buying/selling/trading from each other without any problems.

[ekw808]

That is pretty brutal, did you gift the money on paypal or did you send it as goods? I almost had an encounter with him, now kind of glad I didn't. We were going to trade a few items, I gave him the full details for the product and the costs associated with shipping and assembly, and last minute he backs out but I did not even hear it from akuJIWA, it was from someone else who received a PM from akuJIWA stating he was trying to trade a keycap that he was supposed to trade with me in the first place. His communication is also pretty awful, he claims that there is something wrong with the PM system and that 50% of the pm's that he sent were not delivered. Not trying to hate on AU members, but most of the times I have had a sour encounter were with people from down under...

If you paid using goods, try to see if paypal will help you out in any way.

[Lu_e]

One of his last posts was:

classifieds / Re: SELLING OFF KOREAN CUSTOMS! [Pics are online]
« on: Wed, 27 February 2013, 16:45:39 »
Hopefully you're doing good, I am in some **** myself.  Good luck.

So maybe there is a legitimate reason for the lack of communication?

[keymaster]

When was the last time you tried to contact akuJIWA? I don't feel like this is the whole story. If the wrong address was given, it would have been returned back to the sender as you mentioned.

I'm sure akuJIWA will have a good explanation once he posts here.

[jdcarpe]

His last PM to me mentioned something about immigration...

[akuJIWA]

I just PM'd you.

Anyway, I would not go on about how the deal has gone and the delay(both side), but the keyboard is with me, and it was bounced back because of an invalid address, I had PMd him before about this and will take me awhile to send due to work commitment, I don't come to this website as much as I wanted anymore. I had just lost 3 parcels in the mail, and doing a refund to other peeps right now. I have yet to send some free stuff and follow up too. Sorry to anyone that got involved.

I sent a PM about how to resolve this. Thank you.

And to people that want to have a jab at me, go ahead, I have explained and I won't be saying anything back.

[jwaz]

Thread locked/moved while the parties attempt to resolve this transaction.