Ebay laptop scam

A blow-by-blow narrative, not for the faint of heart.

For another person's experience with this same cheat, click here for a blow-by-blow.
There is an interesting followup to the above on this page.

May 02 I won this item (an IBM Thinkpad T-series laptop) on ebay from this seller who calls himself "electro_depot" a.k.a. Brian Silverman.
May 05 I was contacted by Brian with payment information.
May 08 I sent the payment by personal check to Brian.
May 10 Brian received my check, as per his own email dated May 23.
May 13 My check had cleared, i.e. the funds had been transferred, as per my bank's statement.
Jun 07 Answering my inquiry, Brian stated in an e-mail that the item was supposed to ship by Jun 14.
Jun 15 I wrote to Brian indicating that he'd failed to meet the deadline stated by himself and that he should either send me a tracking number for the shipment or send me a refund.
Jun 18 I wrote again to Brian asking for a full refund right away.
Jun 18 Yes, same day. Brian replied to my earlier e-mail (dated Jun 15) claiming that he "really could not feel any worse about this" and that he expected "to be fully caught up in the next 7-10 days". He also stated, in the same e-mail, that he would "understand" if I requested a full refund as per his auction terms.
Jun 24 I wrote to Brian yet again asking for a full refund immediately.
Jun 25 I called Brian's telephone number (as listed at ebay) and got a recorded message asking to e-mail electro_depot@yahoo.com. Assuming it was an answering machine, I left a message anyway asking for that elusive refund.
Jun 26 I sent Brian this strongly-worded e-mail. I actually did file a complaint with ebay too.
Jun 26 Within seven hours Brian replied saying that he "understood" and that he was "very sorry". He had the cheek to suggest that I consider "upgrading" to "one of the new Sony models".
Jun 26 Late that night I sent Brian a crisp mail saying that I absolutely did not want anything other than a refund.
Jun 28 Finally, late this night, Brian wrote saying "A refund will be sent promptly with our sincere apologies".
Jul 8 Note the number of days since the last e-mail. I had still not got a refund and I wrote asking Brian if he had sent me one.
Jul 12 I hadn't got a reply to the above e-mail, so I wrote Brian this final note.
Jul 14 Brian wrote saying he would "look into this" and offered this excuse for the delay. Great! Now not only do I have to wait 34,561 days for the laptop, I must even wait 12,895 days for a refund!
Jul 16 Brian e-mailed me that my refund had been processed and sent me a tracking number for the letter carrying the refund. I wondered what new tricks he would now pull out from under his sleeve, but the next day the tracking number did show up as valid on the USPS website.
Jul 20 Wonder of wonders! I did receive a check from Brian refunding the exact same amount that I had paid him. Thankfully, this sorry episode ended here, since the check cleared eventually.

Net loss: 73 days of interest on the amount I'd paid. Plus, not having a laptop at a time when I really could have used one.

PS: I'm pleased to report that I'm typing this out on my new IBM Thinkpad T30.

From: Amit Chakrabarti 
To: Electro_Depot 
Subject: Ebay Item #2019977371 - Complaint
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 12:18:59 -0400

Dear Mr. Brian Silverman,

Since you have chosen to ignore my last two emails and my phone
call in which I clearly requested for a FULL REFUND of my payment 
for item #2019977371, I am forced to take this next step.

Once again I repeat: you had promised that my laptop would ship
by June 14th.  When it did not, I requested that you return me
my money on June 18th, and again on June 25th.  I have yet to 
hear from you in reply.

I shall have to file a fraud complaint with ebay.  It is soon
going to be 60 days from the date of completion of the auction
and this is ebay's deadline for dealing with such issues.  I 
had paid you and waited patiently in good faith, but now I must
take this step to protect myself.

I hope that this matter is settled before we get to legal action.
If you have read this e-mail, please refund me NOW.

Sincerely,
Amit Chakrabarti
(marvin1024 on ebay)

From: Amit Chakrabarti 
To: electro_depot@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: REFUND request on Ebay Item #2019977371
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 12:05:29 -0400

Brian, 

What's the matter?! Why haven't you replied to my
mail and why haven't you mailed me a refund?

Are you trying to cheat me?

-Amit

As you know from our auctions, we ship warehouse and
distributor direct. So the refund is just a bit more
complicated than normal.

Whenever we place an order with the distributor, it is
paid in full. So when an order is cancelled we must
cancel it with the distributor and await the funds
return from them. This normally only takes a week and
refunds are processed here each Friday.

May 02	I won this item (an IBM Thinkpad T-series laptop) on ebay from this seller who calls himself "electro_depot" a.k.a. Brian Silverman.
May 05	I was contacted by Brian with payment information.
May 08	I sent the payment by personal check to Brian.
May 10	Brian received my check, as per his own email dated May 23.
May 13	My check had cleared, i.e. the funds had been transferred, as per my bank's statement.
Jun 07	Answering my inquiry, Brian stated in an e-mail that the item was supposed to ship by Jun 14.
Jun 15	I wrote to Brian indicating that he'd failed to meet the deadline stated by himself and that he should either send me a tracking number for the shipment or send me a refund.
Jun 18	I wrote again to Brian asking for a full refund right away.
Jun 18	Yes, same day. Brian replied to my earlier e-mail (dated Jun 15) claiming that he "really could not feel any worse about this" and that he expected "to be fully caught up in the next 7-10 days". He also stated, in the same e-mail, that he would "understand" if I requested a full refund as per his auction terms.
Jun 24	I wrote to Brian yet again asking for a full refund immediately.
Jun 25	I called Brian's telephone number (as listed at ebay) and got a recorded message asking to e-mail `electro_depot@yahoo.com`. Assuming it was an answering machine, I left a message anyway asking for that elusive refund.
Jun 26	I sent Brian this strongly-worded e-mail. I actually did file a complaint with ebay too.
Jun 26	Within seven hours Brian replied saying that he "understood" and that he was "very sorry". He had the cheek to suggest that I consider "upgrading" to "one of the new Sony models".
Jun 26	Late that night I sent Brian a crisp mail saying that I absolutely did not want anything other than a refund.
Jun 28	Finally, late this night, Brian wrote saying "A refund will be sent promptly with our sincere apologies".
Jul 8	Note the number of days since the last e-mail. I had still not got a refund and I wrote asking Brian if he had sent me one.
Jul 12	I hadn't got a reply to the above e-mail, so I wrote Brian this final note.
Jul 14	Brian wrote saying he would "look into this" and offered this excuse for the delay. Great! Now not only do I have to wait 34,561 days for the laptop, I must even wait 12,895 days for a refund!
Jul 16	Brian e-mailed me that my refund had been processed and sent me a tracking number for the letter carrying the refund. I wondered what new tricks he would now pull out from under his sleeve, but the next day the tracking number did show up as valid on the USPS website.
Jul 20	Wonder of wonders! I did receive a check from Brian refunding the exact same amount that I had paid him. Thankfully, this sorry episode ended here, since the check cleared eventually.