[Closed] **SINGLESTEED** Dodgy seller,,,**BEWARE**(AKA Tim Lott) **AVOID**

In the grand scheme of STW Classifieds witch-hunts, someone who takes your money, screws up and refunds you promptly with a little bit of extra cash is hardly the devil incarnate, no?

Think you need to get some perspective here.

So you're up on the deal? There's no pleasing some folk.

Is this the queue for pitchforks?

The quick refunding suggests that he's not a scammer, merely a halfwit 🙂

thegreatape - Member
The quick refunding suggests that he's not a scammer, merely a halfwit

Agreed. A halfwit with cashflow issues.

You've been stewing in those juices for 4 whole days? You poor thing.

How can he not be a scammer when he's accepted money for some wheels he's already sold.

Definitely a halfwit who's left me without any wheels.

-10 out of 10. Not sure you even know what a rant is.

[img] [/img]

Hold on a minute he sold wheels he had already sold [ and has still not delivered these] and you lot are defending him and criticising the OP 😯

Some days STW is a very strange place

Regardless of the scammer/not scammer aspect of it, poor planning on your part in selling your wheels before replacements were with you, what if they'd been lost in the post, or delayed, or damaged etc.

EDIT - realised the above sounds more scathing than I meant it to, was trying to highlight a way of protecting yourself from potential problems in the future, not bash you when you're already down.

He's not much of a scammer if he's refunding the people he's scammed.

Certainly agree that he is someone to avoid buying from.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I would also be p**sed off if I was in the OP's shoes. Glad you got your money back.
This transaction is not too dissimilar to buying something from Planet-x

Agree with JY it's not the OP's fault is it?

I'd be naffed off. Maybe not quite so hystrionic but naffed off.

From the sellers point of view sounds like he posted the response to the wanted ad without noticing the offer from the third party and got his knickers in a twist. Still should have had the cash back with the OP tout suite though.

Well, he did refund him, maybe he is just a bit disorganised and confused sellers etc. There are plausible explanations for this.

Well, he did refund him, maybe he is just a bit disorganised and confused sellers etc. There are plausible explanations for this.

Wrong, I contacted the original buyer who said he'd purchased the wheels a week ago and was still waiting for them to be sent.

I'd be pretty disappointed in that situation, but I would certainly not have sold my own kit until I had received and checked the new secondhand ones - it's not John Lewis or Asda, it's an online forum, which is free....

Some folks are a bit haphazard, disorganised, that's life...

The guy refunded, all is good (apart from the OP selling his wheels to a mate, which is unfortunate given outcome)

What does 'purchased a week ago' really mean though?

Assuming the best of the seller, seems he doesn't know his a from his e, entirely possible the other buyer thought he'd struck a deal and sent cash a week ago, while in the meantime the seller hadn't checked / realised that had actually been done.

I'm all for getting the forks out over dishonest sellers, and admittedly the above does assume the best of the seller, the worst is a totally different situation. But until the wheels either arrive or don't arrive at the third party, jury's out.

I'm not bothered about "getting the forks out"

I'm just warning other people that paypal gift to this guy might not be a very wise option.

Unless you know and trust the recipient we strongly advise against using Paypal Gift as a way of making payment to a seller. Paypal Gift transactions offer NO PROTECTION in the case of a dispute over a sale.

From here:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/note-new-rules-and-advice-on-buying-or-selling

This transaction is not too dissimilar to buying something from Planet-x

😆

Does it work out cheaper than using a payday lender? 'Borrow' £230 for 4 days and pay £10 for the privilege?

Good point..
That's £460 borrowed for a few days and then giving back £480.
That said, wouldn't you be better of pretending to sell a bike/forks?

This transaction is not too dissimilar to buying something from Planet-x

Now you've pointed it out, I wholeheartedly agree.

I'm just warning other people that paypal gift to this guy might not be a very wise option.

Your money is OK. But he didn't PPG to you; maybe he didn't trust you?

But he didn't PPG to you; maybe he didn't trust you

He's in the process of raising a dispute right now I reckon 🙂

I am sure nothing will come from it but I would be cautious having received a payment back to me as a goods and services payment rather than a refund attributed to the original funds to him 😕

Tin foil hats at the ready but given the above whats to stop the sender of the money claiming it back for goods or services not received?

It would have been exactly the same process, e.g.funds from a PP balance or from a debit/credit card, to have simply refunded the original transaction even if he had withdrawn the funds.

I think a good deal of folk on this thread are being unnecessarily harsh on the OP 🙄

Thanks for the heads up OP, one seller to avoid.

Anyone that takes payment for an item they have already taken payment for is more than disorganized and is dishonest. Especially not refunding immediately.

Your money is OK. But he didn't PPG to you; maybe he didn't trust you?

did it come through as a refund, or just a payment? If its the latter i wonder if he could use paypals buyer protection against the original buyer? i.e. make a refund as a "payment" then open a dispute on goods not received or something.

I'm not suggesting this is planned or anything, just curious if it could happen.

EDIT - beaten to it by legend 🙂 and LMTTM 🙂

The payment never came though as a refund but attached to it was a note from Tim...Full refund for Hope wheel set. Tim. Sent via mobile using the PayPal app.

Hold on a minute he sold wheels he had already sold [ and has still not delivered these] and you lot are defending him and criticising the OP
Some days STW is a very strange place

Exactly.

Also, the seller asked for PayPal Gift, and refunded when it was sent as a payment for goods (dodgy)

Also previously sent the same wheels to someone else, who's not received them yet (paid for by PayPal gift possibly?)

Also, as above, your "refund" was sent as a PayPal goods payment, so it can disappear at any moment (unless you have proof of postage for something he didn't even buy from you)

All sounds a bit iffy.

He's not much of a scammer if he's refunding the people he's scammed.

It does sound like a somewhat flawed scam. 😕

Does look like greed and incompetence rather than malice... but he may just be playing the long game.

vermillion - Member

[b]The payment never came though as a refund[/b] but attached to it was a note from Tim...Full refund for Hope wheel set. Tim. Sent via mobile using the PayPal app.

😡 😐

Op, have you thought what you might spend your £1.60 on?

Can't you borrow your mate's old wheels?

Also, as above, your "refund" was sent as a PayPal goods payment, so it can disappear at any moment (unless you have proof of postage for something he didn't even buy from you)

Unless he thought the sale to Tuskaloosa had fallen through, tried to flog them on to you, only to find that the sale to Tuskaloosa was in fact still a goer? Something like that maybe? I don't know, just playing devils advocate. Looking at his history I'm not getting the sinking feeling that you are dealing with a master criminal here, more like he cocked up and didn't deal with it very well.

EDIT - too slow

If a scam Zilog has it nailed.

Also, as above, your "refund" was sent as a PayPal goods payment, so it can disappear at any moment (unless you have proof of postage for something he didn't even buy from you)
All a scammer (talking purely theoretically, you understand) would have to do with this is wait until the window for claiming on the original payment had passed and then open a claim of his own!

So, repeatedly selling the same wheels, asking for paypal gift, refunding people who use goods and services, and performing that "refund" via a new GnS payment which can be disputed later.

I'd be contacting Paypal and telling them step by step what has happened. Otherwise my initial instinct is to dispute the original payment and only refund the "refund" when the dispute is settled in the OP's favour. But I think getting Paypal involved, [i]immediately[/i], is the best bet.

You're all being a bit harsh on this one, I think.

Selling something you don't own is wrong, pure and simple. The way it was refunded is also very dodgy and leaves you open to being ripped off.

I'd treat it as a scam, and get paypal involved now.

I'd be contacting Paypal and telling them step by step what has happened. Otherwise my initial instinct is to dispute the original payment and only refund the "refund" when the dispute is settled in the OP's favour. But I think getting Paypal involved, immediately, is the best bet.

Good shout Klumpy,,,and done. 🙂

grenosteve - Member
Selling something you don't own is wrong, pure and simple

Online retailers do this all the time.

I've had many occasions where I've ordered something "in stock" and then they turn round saying sorry it isn't after all as they can't get it from their distributor, and they'd taken the money up front so have to refund it.

Most the smaller online retailers work this way as they don't carry stock. They don't own the stock until they've put the order in with the distributor who give them a lead time and so they list it "in stock" maybe with a delivery date of a couple of days based on an assumption of when and if they can get it.

Many of the more professional eBayers I suspect also work on this basis.

Comparing an online retailer with a supply infrastructure to an individual with who sells THE SAME WHEEELS TWICE is to compare chalk and cheese.

Still surprised so many folk can make an excuse for him selling the same wheels twice and neither person receiving them

He's the Nigerian fella who swindled my Aunt out of her life savings I bet, told her he was a Captain in the Army, just waiting for his war fund chq to clear...."barstards fawlty,shoot the lot of em !".

lovelly fella, by all accounts, never met him, he was always too busy,or on his yacht !.

Wasn't he the guy who sold the dodgy phone too?
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/advice-for-if-you-think-youve-been-done

Goes by the name titaniumtit on PB..

[img] [/img]
"if you could just paypal gift me the monies, I will get those wheels sent with a friendly courier straight away"

pictonroad-member
Can't you borrow your mate's old wheels?

No,,he sold them on to his mate

sounds to me like he could have a potential buyer for the whole bike and is hedging his bets now.

If its the same chap on pinkbike then why do all his pictures say hes from gloucester but on here claims to be from inverness??

I nearly bought these wheels from Tim, but something didn't sound quite right so I backed out just before hitting 'send'. He was pretty annoyed and then quite rude when I explained why - it sounds like he was desperate for cash. I was going to collect in person later that week, but he was demanding payment up front. I think this whole carry on is a way he has used to borrow a few hundred quid for a week. Perhaps not an outright scammer, but certainly not someone I will deal with.

I have plenty of contact details and address for him if anyone is left out of pocket.

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/advice-for-if-you-think-youve-been-done/page/2#post-6761416 ]See this thread also[/url]

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/profile/singlesteed ]Still posting...[/url]

I've received a polite Email from Tim and although there was no real explanation for this, he does seem genuinely apologetic. Also the original purchaser would've received his wheels yesterday had he not been on the school run when the postie came.
So it's pitchforks away from me and if it isn't too much trouble,could the mods please close this thread now. Thanks

Pitchforks are like the sgian-dubh for my kilt: it's bad luck to put them away without them having tasted blood.

I did buy the wheels a week ago. Tim kept me posted throughout the time and was busy with work commitments hence could not get to dismantling the wheels/cleaning and boxing them. I had regular updates from him during the week and the weekend when he was in the process of getting the wheels ready. I wasn't in any hurry either.

Paid by paypal (goods and services), I did offer BT but we agreed on PP (G&S).

Parcel force 24hrs did attempt delivery yesterday but no one was at home.

Lets not get too carried away with the post-argument love-making, it still doesn't explain why he also sold the wheels to vermillion. I speculated above that this was quite possibly a genuine mistake that hadn't been handled very well, however I'm still keen to find out what the reason was for taking vermillions money when the wheels had been sold already.

what he said he still sold them twice. IMHO no one is that disorganised

*sharpening pitchfork*

Can we go now?

its possible he sold them hoping/expecting to recieve payment via gift which he stated he wanted, when received it as goods&services, either refunded the money as he knew had no chance of being able to keep the money, or refunded via goods&services hoping being able to file a not recieved item claim, only time will tell which route he takes

Sent you an email mate.

Sent you an email mate.

what he said he still sold them twice. IMHO no one is that disorganised

And asked for PayPal gift on the second sale (when he didn't on the first)

This has actually worked out better for me,
I've been contacted by a guy who read this thread and we've done a deal on the same wheels, with tyres, already set up tubeless and should be with me for the weekend so it's not all bad 🙂

I sold a frame twice once. The original sale went cold so I sold it to someone else. Next thing I know the original buyer out of the blue pays me via paypal. Its just people and lack of communication, it can happen.

should be with me for the weekend so it's not all bad

Awaits "**WISHIWASCALLEDSTEVE** Dodgy seller,,,**BEWARE** **AVOID**" thread when wheels don't arrive by weekend 😉