What would you do?

[dprince]

OK, here's the situation............I found a gorgeous caramel albino female ball python on KS. Did a search here - found good guys threads (although a little older.) Contacted the seller, put a deposit down. This was on Sept. 20. I'm now ready to pay off the BP, and have emailed the seller twice now since last Friday - no response. I don't have his phone number, or even the state he's located in (I know, my bad.)

Now, to be fair, I didn't think I'd be able to pay this girl off so early. So, he is not expecting me to pay her off early. However, the lack of communication is - well, it freaks me out a little. As many times as I've seen folks get ripped off...........and now, my gut is feeling, not so confident.

So, my dilemma is............I have 30 days to file a complaint with paypal. That makes it 10 days from now. Do I...........keep trying to contact the seller, with a deadline of 10 days from now for some communication? Do I just trust that he might be on vacation, or his computer crashed, or whatever and just can't contact the outside world right now? Any other choices?

I *really* don't want to be paranoid, and panic........but in this day and age, communication is key. Any advice is appreciated.

[Freakie_frog]

I be burning up the Email every day letting him know that if you don't hear from him by "X" date you will report it to paypal and every day send the same Email then the day or so before the time expires. Let them know that you have reported them to pay pal and to consider your sale void.

[OhBalls]

If you know WHO the seller is, perhaps someone here will know how to contact him if you posted his name

[JLC]

I be burning up the Email every day letting him know that if you don't hear from him by "X" date you will report it to paypal and every day send the same Email then the day or so before the time expires. Let them know that you have reported them to pay pal and to consider your sale void.

I agree with Ed. Obviously you've learned your lesson about getting a real name and contact info from someone before sending them real money...so I won't belabor that point.

If I were in your shoes, I would be e-mailing every single day. Nothing angry or accusatory....but very calmly laying out the uncomfortable position you're in of having sent money and being ready to pay off the balance and suddenly having no communication in return. Explain that you don't want to open a paypal dispute, but will have no choice if contact isn't reestablished by such-n-such a date.

In other words...while staying on top of it and being very open about what you need to do....TRY to not antagonize or otherwise offend the person. I've seen way too many deals busted simply because many of the "business people" who get into this have the maturity of a petulant 10 year old child who will walk off the playground in a huff if they get a hint of offense or accusation.

[Freakie_frog]

Be professional and firm without being accusing.

[LadyOhh]

Agreed...

That amount of time is a bit too much, and you need to get answers soon.

Be firm, and ask for a response.

If you don't get one by the weekend or by the end of five days, open up a paypal dispute.

[Custom Exotics]

Hey Debbie, sorry about the bad situation, but I wonder if this is the first snake he has sold on KS, probably not. So I am thinking maybe you can post something in the forum there, asking if anyone has done business with him/her and see if they have their contact info, other than that I am with Ed, keep on them with the emails til the deadline comes til you have to report them to paypal.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

While there are people with whom I would not worry if they had my money and were a bit behind on communication due to personal reason, if it was someone I did not know that had very little to no reputation I would start getting a bit nervous.

Give it 7 more days emailing him EVERY day (being courteous) and on day 8 if he failed to answer file the complaint with paypal letting him know why you made that decision.

Hope this get resolve, good luck.

[dprince]

Thanks you guys. I have his name, John Manser, and his email. I just don't have his phone number. *smacks self* And I didn't learn how to do screenshots until AFTER his ad went down. *smacks self again* He has positive BOI threads, albeit not super recent. I thought I was covering my tail. Stupid dumb.

If you guys don't mind, I'll hash out my email so you guys can give me feedback. I think I'm relatively good at using my "inside words", but..........when I'm a little freaked..........eh. Some outside words might come out.

[dprince]

OK, here's my email. Too strongly worded? Not strongly worded enough? Any feedback appreciated.

Hi John,



I'm starting to get concerned that you haven't contacted me back. :-( I would really like to complete our deal, but since I haven't heard back from you, I don't feel comfortable doing so. Please respond to this email by Oct. 15, 2008, or I will be opening a paypal dispute. I don't want to go this route, but without communication on your end, I feel I have no other choice. My phone number (again) is 530-320-9185. Please respond to this email, or call me as soon as possible.



Thank you,

Debbie Prince :-)