Some thing very interesting happened today. Rose from FedEx called. The Indonesian Government has decided to wave the “storage” fees for my Grandmothers ring. Please note, that it was not the Indonesian Customs who decided to wave the fees. It turns out that some of the information Stormy on mySpace gave me helped us big time. Storm gave me a link, that took me to more links, and some how I ended up with the person in charge of Indonesian foreign trade’s email address. I am not sure how I got there, but I used it. Lets just say I used all the email address’s I found. On top of that there was a very nice newspaper story done about my Grandmothers ring, and that has been sent by email all over the place. That helped out a lot. It seems the more people heard our story, they passed it on and more people heard it and so on and so on. So we are not sure how but the story reached the right peoples ears, our blog was mentioned to FedEx as they informed FedEx they would wave the so called “storage” fees. Wow, the power of the Internet and people who will not shut up and just let people, business’s or Governments get away with things.
Now mind you, they did say they would be willing to let us fight over the $330.00 they still want for the original customs fees. However, if we chose to go that route it would take about two years before we would see the ring, and they would charge us storage fees. So we are paying the $330.00 to get the ring back. This time though they said it would take about two weeks before we saw the ring. I will believe it when I have it in my hand. Then I will be happy about it.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
If you get ripped off don’t let them get away with it.
If you get ripped off don’t let them get away with it. Now it is hard if a person burns you, but at least if it is a company you have options. I found a great website called Ropoff Report, http://www.ripoffreport.com that is worth looking at before you buy. If some one has had a problem this is a great site to tell every one. Some of the stories here are outrageous. The things some companies think that they can get away with. I am glad that we found this site. Being an e-store owner and a consumer it is important to me to get the bad business’s known and stop them from taking people and at the same time let people know about the good business’s.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Mark Cripps wrote the story, its in the news now
Mark Cripps wrote the story about what happened with our ring and eBay and Indonesian customs. To see this story please go here http://www.stoneycreeknews.com/scn/viewpoint/viewpoint_802106.html.
I hope it helps some one else from getting burned.
Please pass this story on so others can hear about it.
I have copied the article here as well.
Please let Mark Cripps know what you think about his story.
Grandmother's ring held ransom
Mark Cripps, Stoney Creek
(Jun 1, 2007)
At least twice a week, I receive an email made to look as if it is coming from eBay suggesting my account is in jeopardy if I don't update my information and report back as soon as possible.
I continue to forward these to the RCMP email fraud centre (info@phonebusters.com), despite the fact it seems almost impossible to control the fraudulent use of eBay and PayPal and other companies involved in the sale and trade of goods over the internet.
Recently, I received an email from a reader scammed a few weeks back by an eBay fraud artist who bilked this woman of a treasured family heirloom.
Needing some extra cash for her family, Lori-Lee Craig decided to sell her grandmother's ring, valued at more than $1,200. On social assistance, Ms. Craig hoped to garner some extra cash to pay off some bills, buy her four-year-old son a nice birthday present and use some of the money for a move to a larger residence.
She received a bid from a buyer who has a 100 per cent rating on eBay (ratings are used on eBay so sellers and buyers can determine who they are dealing with) asking whether the ring can be shipped immediately. The buyer says he wants to give it to his mother for Mother's Day.
After payment from PayPal was confirmed, Ms. Craig shipped the item via FedEx. The buyer was in Indonesia. She borrowed the money for the shipment costs, as the purchaser said he needed the ring immediately.
The next day, she received an email from PayPal saying the funds were being held for investigation into a possible fraud.
Ms. Craig called FedEx and asked them to stop delivery. She was told her shipping fee was not refundable ($116 down the drain) but that a stop shipment order had been processed.
Unfortunately, the item had already cleared customs and was sealed in a container. There was no way to get the item back until it was actually shipped to Indonesia.
Ms. Craig said it was a heartbreaking decision to sell her grandmother's ring, but she was trying to do something for her family, who lives on Ontario Works.
PayPal determined the account of a legitimate individual had been fraudulently accessed. They refunded the money to the owner of the stolen credit card used by the thief in Indonesia.
Expecting the money, Ms. Craig had planned a birthday party for her son and promised him a toy he had his heart set on.
"He does not understand we are $116 short of our monthly budget and now it is just not possible. No party, no money."
They continue to check with FedEx, hoping at the very least they will get the ring back. They find out from FedEx an individual attempted to pick up the ring but did not have the $360 wanted by Indonesian customs officials. He walked away. Indonesian customs now wants Ms. Craig to pay $360 to release the ring. She agreed. As soon as FedEx responded Ms. Craig was willing to pay the $360 to have the ring returned, they decided they wanted $900.
"We were prepared to spend our month's budget for food just to get the ring back," said Ms. Craig.
Through this entire ordeal, neither eBay or PayPal offered any assistance for what was basically a fraud orchestrated through their online services. eBay said it would refund the $1 posting fee they charge to put an item up for auction. How sweet they are.
"eBay and PayPal might as well put up a sign - Thieves Welcome," said a frustrated Ms. Craig.
Knowing she will likely never see her grandmother's ring again, Ms. Craig said she just wants to let others know eBay is becoming a target for scam artists all over the world. She started a blog and has received numerous responses from others who have been scammed.
She said she's learned eBay is being abused by fraud artists in numerous ways:
1. people are cracking the system and eBay is not addressing security concerns.
2. fake eBay emails - don't ever respond!
3. scammers who phone people and say they are calling on behalf of eBay and ask for personal info. Once they get this info, they go into people's personal accounts and change passwords, post fake items and always use Western Union for purchases.
4. letters arriving via pre-paid envelope. Look like they are from eBay or PayPal, ask for updated info.
I contacted eBay's PR firm Environics based in Toronto and they did not provide any comment on this specific case, offering up only basic rules for keeping eBay accounts safe.
"PayPal and eBay have flaws in their security and nothing to protect sellers," said Ms. Craig.
Personally, incidents like this reinforce for me why I will never purchase anything on eBay.
It's swimming with scammers and as long as eBay and PayPal continue to ignore problems, it's only going to get worse.
For those who use eBay, review the following Web site - http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/mrkt_safety.html.
I hope it helps some one else from getting burned.
Please pass this story on so others can hear about it.
I have copied the article here as well.
Please let Mark Cripps know what you think about his story.
Grandmother's ring held ransom
Mark Cripps, Stoney Creek
(Jun 1, 2007)
At least twice a week, I receive an email made to look as if it is coming from eBay suggesting my account is in jeopardy if I don't update my information and report back as soon as possible.
I continue to forward these to the RCMP email fraud centre (info@phonebusters.com), despite the fact it seems almost impossible to control the fraudulent use of eBay and PayPal and other companies involved in the sale and trade of goods over the internet.
Recently, I received an email from a reader scammed a few weeks back by an eBay fraud artist who bilked this woman of a treasured family heirloom.
Needing some extra cash for her family, Lori-Lee Craig decided to sell her grandmother's ring, valued at more than $1,200. On social assistance, Ms. Craig hoped to garner some extra cash to pay off some bills, buy her four-year-old son a nice birthday present and use some of the money for a move to a larger residence.
She received a bid from a buyer who has a 100 per cent rating on eBay (ratings are used on eBay so sellers and buyers can determine who they are dealing with) asking whether the ring can be shipped immediately. The buyer says he wants to give it to his mother for Mother's Day.
After payment from PayPal was confirmed, Ms. Craig shipped the item via FedEx. The buyer was in Indonesia. She borrowed the money for the shipment costs, as the purchaser said he needed the ring immediately.
The next day, she received an email from PayPal saying the funds were being held for investigation into a possible fraud.
Ms. Craig called FedEx and asked them to stop delivery. She was told her shipping fee was not refundable ($116 down the drain) but that a stop shipment order had been processed.
Unfortunately, the item had already cleared customs and was sealed in a container. There was no way to get the item back until it was actually shipped to Indonesia.
Ms. Craig said it was a heartbreaking decision to sell her grandmother's ring, but she was trying to do something for her family, who lives on Ontario Works.
PayPal determined the account of a legitimate individual had been fraudulently accessed. They refunded the money to the owner of the stolen credit card used by the thief in Indonesia.
Expecting the money, Ms. Craig had planned a birthday party for her son and promised him a toy he had his heart set on.
"He does not understand we are $116 short of our monthly budget and now it is just not possible. No party, no money."
They continue to check with FedEx, hoping at the very least they will get the ring back. They find out from FedEx an individual attempted to pick up the ring but did not have the $360 wanted by Indonesian customs officials. He walked away. Indonesian customs now wants Ms. Craig to pay $360 to release the ring. She agreed. As soon as FedEx responded Ms. Craig was willing to pay the $360 to have the ring returned, they decided they wanted $900.
"We were prepared to spend our month's budget for food just to get the ring back," said Ms. Craig.
Through this entire ordeal, neither eBay or PayPal offered any assistance for what was basically a fraud orchestrated through their online services. eBay said it would refund the $1 posting fee they charge to put an item up for auction. How sweet they are.
"eBay and PayPal might as well put up a sign - Thieves Welcome," said a frustrated Ms. Craig.
Knowing she will likely never see her grandmother's ring again, Ms. Craig said she just wants to let others know eBay is becoming a target for scam artists all over the world. She started a blog and has received numerous responses from others who have been scammed.
She said she's learned eBay is being abused by fraud artists in numerous ways:
1. people are cracking the system and eBay is not addressing security concerns.
2. fake eBay emails - don't ever respond!
3. scammers who phone people and say they are calling on behalf of eBay and ask for personal info. Once they get this info, they go into people's personal accounts and change passwords, post fake items and always use Western Union for purchases.
4. letters arriving via pre-paid envelope. Look like they are from eBay or PayPal, ask for updated info.
I contacted eBay's PR firm Environics based in Toronto and they did not provide any comment on this specific case, offering up only basic rules for keeping eBay accounts safe.
"PayPal and eBay have flaws in their security and nothing to protect sellers," said Ms. Craig.
Personally, incidents like this reinforce for me why I will never purchase anything on eBay.
It's swimming with scammers and as long as eBay and PayPal continue to ignore problems, it's only going to get worse.
For those who use eBay, review the following Web site - http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/mrkt_safety.html.
Another eBayer taken by theif then Indonesian Customs
Hi I have just red through your story and I am in the same predicament. My ring too is also been held by Indonesia customs. It does not have any sentimental value like yours but did have a value of $999.00. They too won't return it too me unless I pay release fees and also fees for them holding it. I too am in debt with paypal(first time ever) as I too was rely-ing on this money and I withdrew the money from paypal as soon as payment went through and before I got the message from paypal to say that this transaction was been investigted as a fraudulent paypment. I believed this to be a genuine transaction and like you wanted to do what I could for the buyer as he wanted it urgently as a "special gift". I had it posted and money withdrew from account before the warning signs came through. Paypal too were no help. basically I was told you will learn from your mistakes, are we now suppose to be wary of all buyers as I never had any trouble before...I am now in debt with paypal and don't have the money now to bring my account back in credit, so is this what happens to genuine sellers and buyers who have great feedback, they get treated like shit and the thieves just carry on doing what they do. I am really annoy with what has happened to me and have lost countless nights sleep over it cause I just didn't think I could be taking for a fool. There is nothing I can do to get my ring back as I can't afford to pay the fees that Indonesia customes are asking for so basically I will have to learn from one big mistake Belinda
Friday, June 1, 2007
Paypal is back, why did it go down?
Paypal is back up. No explanations yet for what happened that had Paypal down for most of the day. I wonder how many sales were lost, how many websites are now looking for other payment gateways. It is not like there are not 100’s of them out there. What ever caused this has hit Paypal a large blow. People are not going to be so trusting with their money now. It only takes one time not being able to access my funds to make me to start looking around for another payment gateways. Even if it is just a back up so I can continue to do business if Paypal goes down again. At this point most sales at www.medievalmagic.ca are done threw Paypal but now we are going to spend the extra money to get the software so we can use other gateways. I am sure that there are a lot of other companies doing the same thing, not to mention the number of individuals who are going to start questioning using Paypal. I guess it all depends on what explanation they give every one. I doubt that they would tell us if some one hacked in and did this. It would destroy our perception of security. Not that people are not having their accounts broken in all the time, it is just usually because some one gave their information to the wrong people. Darn those scam emails. At this point in time most people feel secure using Paypal. However, I want to know why Paypal was down for so long.
Paypal is down, no one can access their accounts
Does any one know what is going on with Paypal. It’s down. Go ahead; try getting into your account. You can try but you will not be able to access your account. We called customer service; they don’t know what is going on either. Here is their number 1-402-935-2050 (a U.S. telephone number), or their contact page https://www.paypal.com/row/contact-phone. Their techs are trying to fix it, but they don’t know what happened, so they don’t know if they can fix it, or when they can fix it. They keep telling every one it is safe to do transactions and that when some one gets into your account that you must have given the info to some one. There is no way some one can hack in, and now this happens. I don’t know. I hope they can fix this, but we will be looking for new payment options for www.medievalmagic.ca from now on. Keep trying your account; let us know if you can get in.
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