E-Bay Problem and Advice

[Bulldog Stang]

I recently purchased a Steeda Clutch Quadrant from an EBay merchant. I paid for the item within seconds of hitting the "Buy it Now" button. When the package arrived, I had received a C&L Mass Air Meter Pipe (approx. $250) for a Fox Body Stang.

Being the honest person that I am, I call the company and tell them that I received the wrong item. They they tell me to take the item back to the Post Office and tell them thta I cant accept the package and for them to "return to sender". OK.. So I do that and I call them and let them know that the package was on its way. They tell me that when they receive the package, they will send me my clutch quadrant back. Well a week and a half goes by, so I call the company during business hours, and no answer. I do this for 2 Days straight, and leaving messages. Finally I get someone and they tell me that my item will be in the mail soon. Well, like another week goes by and nothing. I have already had to re-schedule my Installation Date with a shop that I was going to do the work at. Finally, the Thursday before my new scheduled date to do the work comes, I finally get the part in.

So.. I go to my Ebay account and for my feedback, I put a NEUTRAL Comment which is this "Received wrong item 1st Time... Seller corrected and shipped right one....... A-"

2 Days after that I get feedback from them. It is NEGATIVE Feedback and all it says is "Negative". So I get pissed off and ask them why they gave me the NEG feedback and tell them to take it off or else I would post my experience with the Company on the Mustang Forums, ie.. Stang Net, United Mustangs, Mustang Corral, etc...

Well they send me an email threatening me that if I post my experience with their company, which I feel I have the RIGHT to do, they will take me to court and SUE me for their Damages or Losses. They say that I am trying to blackmail them, and will also sue me for Slander and Defamation of Character.

Luckily, I live in Texas and am Also a Police Officer here in Texas, so I am pretty familiar with Texas Law. Technically, if I am violating any laws by posting on the net/forums, the laws are being violated or broken in Texas, so I guess that they would have to file their Lawsuit here in Texas. Well, Texas has a Law called the Texas Homestead Act. This law prevents me from losing any property that I own, such as my house, and 1 car per adult in the household. Well, I live in an Apartment, have 2 vehicles, I own 1 and my wife owns the other. Both cars have leins on them, so they cant take my vehicles due to the leins. I dont have any $$$ in Savings, or Bonds, or whatever. I live Month to Month Basically. So, What the hell can they take from me ?????

This is how I feel about what I can do......

First of all, I have the freedom of speech (1st Amendment). As for Slander, Slander means saying something Publicly that may RUIN someone's Good Name and what is said is NOT TRUE. And that is pretty much the same thing as Defamation of Character. (Both deal with INDIVIDUALS, not companies) What I am wanting to say is the Truth and to let everyone know my experience with a particular company. As for blackmail, I dont see it as blackmail. I flat out threatened them to remove their negative feedback, or else I was going to start posting on the Forums about my experience with them and suggest to people not to do business with them, or to be cautious when doing business with them.

As to my knowledge, when you own a Company, you are open to people making comments about the business that you run. How can anything said about a company be considered Slander or Defamation of Character ??? To me it is just like what Newspapers do and News Channels do when the have "Resturaunt Reports"... anyone agree????

So give me some feedback on what I should do. If there are any Lawyers in the House, please feel free to help me out and give me some advice. I just want to make sure that I am 100% in the right before I release the name of this Ebay Company.

 

[Skidawg]

That's quite a story. Sounds to me like a shady operation...

The company could never win a lawsuit against you for your opinions and observations of a transaction. If you wrote it, it'd be lible, not slander. Regardless of semantics, you would have to really, really, go out and create false information to even get there. I've never heard of a company going after an unsatisfied customer who shared their experience. That's more than rediculous.

 

[01Steeda]

Yeah I wouldnt worry about them. They are just blowing hot air.

 

[xmikevankuikenx]

Go to the ebay homepage and click "feedback forum" at the bottom. Click on "followup feedback". You can leave another comment on their feedback to let everyone know about their ethics. I suggest the ALL CAPS method.

You can't be sued for giving your opinion and for telling the truth...no matter what state you live in.

 

[DTNODYA]

Well, I would recommend finding out their phone number and giving them a call. It is often difficult to communicate through email. Your situation really does not make much sense to me. If I were you, I would tell them to give me my money back, then contact ebay and let them know about your ordeal, and if they do not give you your money back or ship you the correct item .. tell them that you are going to sue them. Shady indeed!

 

[FivePointStang]

2 Days after that I get feedback from them. It is NEGATIVE Feedback and all it says is "Negative". So I get pissed off and ask them why they gave me the NEG feedback and tell them to take it off or else I would post my experience with the Company on the Mustang Forums, ie.. Stang Net, United Mustangs, Mustang Corral, etc...

Well they send me an email threatening me that if I post my experience with their company, which I feel I have the RIGHT to do, they will take me to court and SUE me for their Damages or Losses. They say that I am trying to blackmail them, and will also sue me for Slander and Defamation of Character.
.

First of all, what is this companys name. I frequently buy off eBay and I want to avoid them if i can.

I agree, u should definitly do a follow up to his NEG. Thats the ****ty part about ebay and their feedback system. Once someone leaves feedback, its pretty much in the other persons court because if u already left a positive feedback they can leave negative or neutral without "revenge feedback"

Let us know how this turns out.... and the name of the company

Chris

 

[DropTopPony]

Go to the ebay homepage and click "feedback forum" at the bottom. Click on "followup feedback". You can leave another comment on their feedback to let everyone know about their ethics. I suggest the ALL CAPS method.

You can't be sued for giving your opinion and for telling the truth...no matter what state you live in.

I agree!!! you can rebutt their negative and say what happened...write something like... you sent me the wrong part then gave me the runaround for a month but leave me negative feedback??? LOSERS....that should do it. And make sure you contact ebay also.

 

[alsyr44]

As long as you spoke the truth you would never lose a case. And there is no way you need to worry about your assets.

I mean seriously, how much business do they really think they would lose if you posted the name of the company on the internet?

Because really all that happened was you got the wrong part, sent it back, took a little while to get the right one, but in the end you DID get the correct part right?

The ebay feedback thing kind of sucks, but like you said...freedom of speech.

 

[imblown-ru]

ok. heres whats up. most people have hit close to this. Post the companies name. you have already told the story, and it sounds like you havent inflated or adlibbed what has happened. bookmark this page just in case, so you will have something to back you up. you can post anything you want on here as long as it is the truth, and not a lie fabricated in order to make things look worse then they actually are. You can be protected under the Texas Homestead Act, it basically states that anything under 10 acres qualifies as a homestead, and no creditor except for a mortgage company can force you to sell that property to satisfy the nonpayment of a debt. And since you owe on both of your vehicles, you can not be forced out of those, but do a little research, because if you ever own a home, you can qualify for some tax exemptions under the homestead act. let me know if you need anymore info. good luck.

 

[helty]

dude just bash the **** out of them. they'd lose more money taking you to court (which I doubt they would actually do. sounded more like an intimidation method to keep you from telling all of us what a ****ty business they run) then they would by ignoring it. what a bunch of jackasses, you had every right to leave neutral feedback, then they leave you negative bc you told the truth. F'kin tools

in all honesty thats how I'd want to approach it, but to play it safe you better just save all the e-mails and not drag their name in the mud anymore than need be to get your point accross. Just tell the truth and there's nothing they can do.

 

[Bulldog Stang]

Wow.. So much respone in a short amount of time... Thanks Guys!!!!!!

As for the item.. yes I finally got it.... I think the only thing that they have on me would be blackmail..... However, I do feel that I have the right to tell my story amoungst friends.. right ???? Secondly, this forum is privately own or ran right... it is only "public" because of the fact that anyone can access it via the web.. however, you do have to register to become a member.. therefore.. I am a PRIVATE member right ????

As far as contacting Ebay, I tried.. I keep on getting link after link after link... haha I am getting the freakin run around there too... LOL .... I got tired of clicking....

I already gave my rebuttal to the negative feedback and then he typed in that tried blackmailing him or some **** like that.....

If you want to know what company it was, just PM me so that it is private and between person to person.. that way I am not PUBLICLY anouncing it.. I just want to be on the safe side......

Thanks Again guys,

Bulldog

 

[DTNODYA]

A question: How did this go from a simple 'you sent me the wrong product, would you please send me the correct one' to the stupid e-threats? Did you piss him off or vice versa for a reason besides the transaction? If you write the name of the business, share your honest story, there is nothing they can do to you.

Think of it like this ... if you had a problem with a Co. like Ford, would you not just tell us what happened? Slander or Def of Char.would be if you were writing stuff like 'never shop with these people, the are retarted and deserve to be shot'. You see what I mean?

 

[jcint]

post his ebay seller ID we can look up his items and ask the seller a question. I would ask him " WHY DO THEY SEND OUT WRONG ITEMS THEN LEAVE NEG FEEDBACK" Just asking!

 

[Mustang225]

Just for future reference, I never leave feedback as a buyer unless the seller has done it first.

I look at it that he received my money first, therefore he should leave positive feedback first.

Unfort, I've lost some feedback doing this, but feel it's worth the loss than take the chance of a negative feedback.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Seems like there's more to this story than we're being made aware of.

...and why does it bother you so much that they gave you negative feedback? Are you one of those eBay freaks who buy and sell a lot of stuff as a 2nd source of income and this negative feedback is causing you to lose business?

Move on dude, there's more important things in life than crying over a single instance of negative feedback....

You're wasting a lot of your personal time and effort crying over what is essentially "spilled milk".

U.M.

 

[alsyr44]

Seems like there's more to this story than we're being made aware of.

...and why does it bother you so much that they gave you negative feedback? Are you one of those eBay freaks who buy and sell a lot of stuff as a 2nd source of income and this negative feedback is causing you to lose business?

Move on dude, there's more important things in life than crying over a single instance of negative feedback....

You're wasting a lot of your personal time and effort crying over what is essentially "spilled milk".

U.M.

Thats what I was thinking.

 

[COramprat]

I think the pisser is the threat from the company, not so much the negative feedback.

They can't sue for slander if you are telling the truth. But if you will PM the name of the company to me I'll post the MFers up and dare them to come after me.

 

[dustang50]

Sue them for causing you emotional trauma.

 

[bill302]

hey Bulldog Stang i sent you an e-mail but you can disregard.there are approx. (4 sellers) on e-bay selling Steeda Clutch Quadrant and i always check feedback comments before i buy...do ya'll know what i mean...ya'll do the same thing too don't you.

 

[Crzyhrse]

I think the pisser is the threat from the company, not so much the negative feedback.

THEY CAN"T SUE FOR SLANDER IF YOUR TELLING THE TRUTH. But if you will PM the name of the company to me I'll post the MFers up and dare them to come after me.

^ Exactly. Take a picture of yourself doing this: "Sue Me".