[bimmette]

Any cops on here? Here is the long version in this crazy thread. http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1075521

Short version:
1. A fairly new vendor Modmyeuro contacts two established members of our board and together they collaborate and offer a group buy on a 1M bumper for E90s/E92s/E93s. (The two members later claim they received no compensation for helping).
2. Dozens of members who trust the two established members sign up and send money via paypal to "Andrey" of Modmyeuro.
3. After stalling many months, one batch of bumpers finally arrived and a few members received them. The fitment and quality was terrible and I discovered that these bumpers were bought off Alibaba in China despite "Andrey"'s denial of this. These were not the bumpers that he supposedly designed and guaranteed 100% perfect fitment.
4. So after many months, members have tried to get their money back when they realized it was a scam or because they want a bumper that fits. However, it was past Paypal's 45 day policy and they are screwed.
5. I also discovered that "Andrey" is in fact Ilir Pilaj or Eli who has done some other scam involving selling bumpers in the past.
6. "Andrey" has rarely been in contact with members throughout this whole case. He was constantly making excuses why he couldn't post on the board and the last we heard, he had to fly to Croatia for a funeral. He deleted the original group buy threads which contained evidence of his lies and is no longer an official vendor on this forum.

I am no expert in American law. Can someone advise if there is a possible fraud case here? He has at least $700 from many members.

[roastbeef]

Sounds like poor business practices and therefore a civil issue.

[kmarei]

If you are using PayPal
You should cancel payment before you hit that 45 day limit
Otherwise you might have well sent the vendor a cheque
Because PayPal won't cover you past that 45 day limit
So you are on your own

Normally after 2 or 3 delays, I would have cancelled the payment
Nothing should take that long, assuming the vendor is legit
And after 2-3 delays, you know the vendor is not legit

[bimmette]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Sounds like poor business practices and therefore a civil issue.

Hmmm. Not good.

Originally Posted by kmarei

If you are using PayPal
You should cancel payment before you hit that 45 day limit
Otherwise you might have well sent the vendor a cheque
Because PayPal won't cover you past that 45 day limit
So you are on your own

Normally after 2 or 3 delays, I would have cancelled the payment
Nothing should take that long, assuming the vendor is legit
And after 2-3 delays, you know the vendor is not legit

I didn't participate in this group buy. I would've looked into the vendor first, but our members were excited and assumed that a vendor on our board would be legit. Yeah, they were being trusting and kept giving the guy the benefit of the doubt until it was too late.

[954Stealth]

I wonder if there is any type of vendor vetting and if so how thorough is it? If so, admin would have the info need to file a civil suit

[bimmette]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

I wonder if there is any type of vendor vetting and if so how thorough is it? If so, admin would have the info need to file a civil suit

I think the vetting is: "Can you pay the vendor fee?" If yes, "Approved". Hehe

[Pierce330]

I think that unfortunately this would be a case where an officer/member reading the thread would have to decide to "choose his/her battle"...

[JcLusso]

Originally Posted by bimmette

I think the vetting is: "Can you pay the vendor fee?" If yes, "Approved". Hehe

I think at the end of the day we have to not consider a "vendor" to be trustworthy just because they are one. Kinda sucks, but what can you do...

[Cloud9blue]

anyone who pays their monthly vendor fee can be a vendor here...

as I said in the other thread, you are putting a lot of blind trust over the internet if you are willing to fork out hundreds for buying an unseen and unfinished item by a guy with no real business presence (no website, or prior business record) or proper contact info.

There are quite a few vendors that I have seen over the years that should have been banned; but they are still here as long as they pay their vendor fees.

[finaloption]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

anyone who pays their monthly vendor fee can be a vendor here...

as I said in the other thread, you are putting a lot of blind trust over the internet if you are willing to fork out hundreds for buying an unseen and unfinished item by a guy with no real business presence (no website, or prior business record) or proper contact info.

There are quite a few vendors that I have seen over the years that should have been banned; but they are still here as long as they pay their vendor fees.

+1 caveat emptor

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by bimmette

3. After stalling many months, one batch of bumpers finally arrived and a few members received them. The fitment and quality was terrible and I discovered that these bumpers were bought off Alibaba in China despite "Andrey"'s denial of this. These were not the bumpers that he supposedly designed and guaranteed 100% perfect fitment.

This what I find interest and would advise people to heed this warning.

I was looking to buy stuff for my house remodeling I was doing and found what I was looking for, both on Amazon and Ebay at a great prices. The original stuff was design in Germany and cost over a $1000 but the Ebayers were selling them for $100 and Amazon was closer to $200. I was curious how they were doing this and did more searching and found you could buy the exact same thing on Alibaba for $50 if you bough a 100 at a time or less if you 1000 at time. Knowing what I was getting into I went ahead and bought on Amazon (a little more protection). I got the items and they were not definitely the German quality as you would expect, but good enough for my purposes.

As it turned out, the German company actually manufacture their product in China, and their manufacturer most like copied the design and them sold them on Alibaba for a lot less. You now have a bunch of people in the US buying this stuff in large quantities and then trying to sell them as originals in most cases.

Look like they attempted to get a number of people here to front the cost to buy in large quantities to get the lower price. But as you saw it was a knockoff and of lower quality.

Op, I am not sure what can do at this point unless you know where this guy lives and provide local authority all the information and see if they would be interested in going after him.

[bimmette]

Originally Posted by Maestro

This what I find interest and would advise people to heed this warning.

I was looking to buy stuff for my house remodeling I was doing and found what I was looking for, both on Amazon and Ebay at a great prices. The original stuff was design in Germany and cost over a $1000 but the Ebayers were selling them for $100 and Amazon was closer to $200. I was curious how they were doing this and did more searching and found you could buy the exact same thing on Alibaba for $50 if you bough a 100 at a time or less if you 1000 at time. Knowing what I was getting into I went ahead and bought on Amazon (a little more protection). I got the items and they were not definitely the German quality as you would expect, but good enough for my purposes.

As it turned out, the German company actually manufacture their product in China, and their manufacturer most like copied the design and them sold them on Alibaba for a lot less. You now have a bunch of people in the US buying this stuff in large quantities and then trying to sell them as originals in most cases.

Look like they attempted to get a number of people here to front the cost to buy in large quantities to get the lower price. But as you saw it was a knockoff and of lower quality.

Op, I am not sure what can do at this point unless you know where this guy lives and provide local authority all the information and see if they would be interested in going after him.

Thanks, Maestro. Yeah I believe we have his address. If he had my money, I'd be at his door. Fortunately I didn't buy, I'm just trying to help the others.