An update for victims of eBay seller Leisure Imports

[*wheels*]

To all buyers who have not received their items purchased from Fitness & Leisure Store, eBay seller ID leisureimports.

Please contact Vic Police ASAP:

Dean EARP
Leading Senior Constable
Williamstown Police Station
________________________________
email: Dean.Earp@police.vic.gov.au
web address: www.police.vic.gov.au
Phone: (03) 9393 9555
Fax: (03) 9393 9502
Address:  100 Nelson Place Williamstown Vic 3016
DX211041

[*wheels*]

Ah, some eBayers are on the move!

Another email just received:



Dear Ebay Customer,

Due to the large number of replies we are currently receiving in relation to the Ebay Deception Investigation into 'Leisure Imports' I am asking for all enquiries and replies to be made by email rather than phone.

Dean EARP
Leading Senior Constable
Williamstown Police Station
________________________________
email: Dean.Earp@police.vic.gov.au

[Primaryaim]

Hi Wheels, Thanks for this thread. I was not affected but so many were and this sort of information is invaluable to those who feel angry and lost and feel like giving up.

[Bellagina]

I was not caught either, but it strikes me as having been a very long time since it all happened, and they are still cleaning up this mess??

Good grief.

[*wheels*]

Yes, our winning bid was made 2/7/08, payment made (by bank deposit) on 5/7/08.

As far as I know:
There are still only a few buyers waiting on refunds. All the buyers who paid by paypal have been refunded, even though some claims were not lodged until months after the deadline. All buyers who claimed creditcard chargebacks have had them approved by their banks, again, even though their claims were 'late'. The only ones that appear to be left are the buyers who paid by bank deposit or who paid in cash or cheque in person at the store.

At least the investigation is still moving along. Whether we ever get a refund is still in doubt. I would like the money back but, even more, I want to see the seller prosecuted and hopefully jailed.

[*CountessA*]

The fall-out from this type of fraud lingers for a long time, and the investigation grinds slowly for various reasons. Possibly the difficulty of obtaining information in a timely way, and having it presented fully rather than piece-meal, may be part of the problem.

[*wheels*]

Exactly Countess, how much easier would it be if eBay handed over the sales records of the seller! They have all buyers contact names and email addresses and all transactions details. Instead, we have had to try and keep in touch with each other and get all the complaints lodged and sent to the one police station. The baysidediner site has been very helpful with this.

[*wheels*]

SLAP

and another

SLAP

For posting the Vic Police contact details on the Trading on eBay - Buying board!

[*wheels*]

try, and try again

http://forums.ebay.com.au/topic/Buying/An-Update-For/600115998&start=0

[*CountessA*]

In my opinion, there is something very wrong indeed in being sanctioned and having a post removed for simply including a link to the police. Who on earth would have reported such a helpful and perfectly legitimate post? How can any forum justify such a thing? Is it theoretically possible that the person who reported that post may be considered liable if the report resulted in so much as a single consumer potentially having been able to read that post to find much-needed help... not being able to find the help? Would that be considered complicity in fraud? What about eBay? Do eBay not consider that removing this sort of information is against every principle?

Wheels, consider emailing Shane to point out that the slap was not called for. (Perhaps he will think it IS called for. I wonder on what grounds it was removed.)

He must be getting very, very tired of the emails he receives, but there's no help for it if malicious reporting occurs.

[*wheels*]

Both for:
Posting private emails or chat transcripts. (This refers to the text of emails sent to you from some other person or chat transcripts of conversations).

I have already sent a terse reply with CC to Shane. Don't know if it will make any difference. Both posts have been removed from the board, so I've posted a briefer version, not mentioning an email this time.

Seems they were ok all day until another poster started responding to questions on the board this evening. Then, poof!

[Numb!]

Perhaps a brief re-cap is in order here which might end up being crawled by search engines?

[*wheels*]

A brief history:

Fitness & Leisure Store Pty Ltd, Williamstown, Vic, trading on eBay as seller ID: leisureimports
seller of Lounge and Bedroom Furniture, Sports & Fitness Equipment, Outdoor Living Furniture

eBay Powerseller "one of the Pillars of the eBay Community"
Feedback approx 9,500, over 99.0% postitive, at time of our purchase
Feedback at time of NARU, mid Oct 2008 http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=leisureimports&Dirn=Received+by

Our purchase: bid 2/7, paid in full 5/7. Pre-order, with delivery due 6-8 weeks.
Did not know that delivery times were not as per eBay guidelines. eBay rely totally on members' reports to remove listings that breach this policy.

Original delivery due mid - late August
Several phone calls and emails to seller - kept getting different (plausible) reasons why delivery was held up.
End of Sep, phoned seller yet again and was told would be delivered mid October
14 October, phoned seller, told lounge was landing on dock on 19 Oct and would be delivered by end of week
21 October, tried to phone seller. Shop shut, seller disappeared, eBay ID made NARU (17 October)

Started trying to find another contact for the seller. Googled eBay name and found the RT!
Did some digging and found direct links to another eBay ID and an online store. Contacted seller's family.

Contacted Consumer Affairs who handle Fair Trading matters in Vic. Contacted Police.

End of October, seller phoned (surprised that we had found his info) and promised refund end of November. No refund received, surprise, surprise!

Lodged complaint with Consumer Affairs. They were unable to help as we do not have a current address for seller. Lodged complaint with Police. Investigation ongoing.

[*wheels*]

I received a further email from Vic Police today:


As part of Operation "CHESTS" I am investigating the Ebay Seller "Leisure Imports'.

Due to the overwhelming number of reponses and calls we are getting in relation to this matter I am asking for all replies to be by email only at this stage. I will arrange for someone to contact you back by phone as soon as practical.

I am looking to hear mainly from people who had a negative experience when dealing with this company, in particular anyone who bought items and never received them, whether or not your money was refunded. Please include your contact details and a brief summary of your transaction.

Please do not call the police station unless you have an urgent enquiry.

contact email address as above

[*wheels*]

Good News!!

Just received an email from the Vic Police. My favourite ebay seller has been arrested!

[*FluffyDuckee*]

Jolly good stuff Wheels.  Jolly good!!!!   

[Bellagina]

Great result wheels!!

[da_ewok]

COngratulations Wheels - all we need now is for more people to file a complaint as per the instructions

[Centuries]

Excellent!! And excellent work by the Operation "Chests" investigation team. :fuzz:

[*CountessA*]

Terrific news, Wheels - people who con and defraud must learn that merely because they use the internet as their sphere of activity, they should not expect to be able to get away with it.

[tellomon]

Yawn, but the icon speaks:

[*CountessA*]

The icon has indeed spoken. I'm just not certain how well I speak Skullic. I was sure I heard your icon say, "Yay, and the second Yugoslavian dachshund has a crippled third tongue while whistling bananas", but I KNOW that can't be right...

He probably said something like, "Fantastic result, Wheels. Well done. Really good news."