Member ripped me off

**biblemonkey** · 19th December 11, 05:33 AM

Earlier this year I decided to order an X-kilt from one of our members (DRipper). He seemed like a young man new to kilts and eager to make his own and his samples looked good. So I placed an order for myself and a friend and wired him the money (my first mistake) and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally I got a hold of him and he told me there had been a problem with his material supplier and he just now got it straightened out. This was another red flag as he had not told me any of this in a month of waiting. Finally he claimed to have the material and he would be getting started. Then no contact…ever again…no matter how much I tried to contact him. Finally I contacted PayPal and tried to get my money back. Turns out DRipper kept me on the hook long enough for PayPal’s buyer transaction protection to expire and I would never see my money again. Beware this member. He is a “ripper” alright…of me and my friend’s money. He was supposedly making kilts for other members and if any of you have been similarly ripped off, please post here as a warning to others. From now on I will only be wiring half up front and even then only to reputable members. Remember to use PayPal’s buyer protection and get your money back within 30 days if there is no contact. You can always resend money but if the seller takes it and runs you will never see it again after 30 days. If anyone doubts this experience of mine I have numerous emails to back it up and more. Trust me, DRipper is not to be given your money or any benefit of the doubt when it comes to your money.

All the best,
Hugh

**LitTrog** · 19th December 11, 05:57 AM

I'm sorry to hear that, Hugh. I know that you've been struggling with this for a long time, posting your initial fears and frustrations months ago. Operating within the confines of the forum, I think we get lulled by the assumption (99.7245% correct!) that you're dealing with honorable folks who take their reputations and obligations seriously. I don't know the legal aspects of this, but is there a small-claims avenue you can take? You have proof of payment and nothing in your hands...maybe a X-marker who's an attorney can give some advice.

Good luck to you.
Tyler

**artificer** · 19th December 11, 06:25 AM

Ouch! I sorry to hear that Hugh.

I don't want to blast the guy without hearing his side of the story (or more reports similar to yours), but he hasn't been on the forum since 10/31.

Situations like these hurt all honest members.

Assuming he doesn't have a good reason for this there are some potential serious consequences for him, as it would appear he's guilty of wire fraud (a federal crime).

One other potential avenue for you to pursue... I know you sent him Paypal, but did the Paypal payment come from a credit card instead of a bank/paypal balance? If so you can take it up with the credit card company.

I always keep my paypal balance low and have the payments charged to a credit card for exactly this type of reason, double protection. Especially for purchases that might take longer than the Paypal window of protection.

I hope your situation can be resolved quickly and painlessly.

ith:

**cryerelizabeth** · 19th December 11, 06:31 AM

THat sucks! I hope it all gets sorted out for you.

**KWD** · 19th December 11, 06:36 AM

call the police in his local town, and file a complaint. if you sent him money through paypal, you can get his information from them.

**Ripcode** · 19th December 11, 06:49 AM

If you funded the PayPal payment with a credit card, you can dispute the PayPal payment via your credit card company. And with this way, you have longer than the dispute time frame PayPal allows. I know this as I have used this method to get my money back. I only use credit card funded PayPal payments now.

**Riverkilt** · 19th December 11, 07:17 AM

Ahhhhhh dang...that is so sad. And, even sadder - its not the first time something like this has happened.

Looks like its time for a kilt night on his front porch in Central Mass.....

Drop the case in his handle and he's "dripper."

Not good....but don't get your hopes up....unless something changed there are a couple guys still waiting on kilts for over five years from a "reputable" kiltmaker that used to frequent this board. While those guys were screwed over he made a resurgance and solicited even more suckers.

He could do that because the screwed over guys didn't make much of an issue about it so who knew - so thank you for sharing the bad experiences to warn us away too.

Even if you use common sense you can still be swindled if that's what someone is out to do.

Admire your support for an up and coming kiltmaker - but that's what he counted on to swindle you.

We can hope it will work out somehow...

**biblemonkey** · 19th December 11, 08:02 AM

Thanks guys,

Yeah I asked the moderators about posting this here and they felt it would be good to warn everyone in a very public way so that others would beware his offers if he comes back on. At this point it's been so long I'm just going to move on. I can get a utility kilt from someone more reputible and have that for the rest of my life and he's probably already spent his ill-gotten booty and has nothing to show for it but (hopefully) a dented conscience.

Let that be a lesson to the other Xmarkers. Unless the seller has a solid rep on here DON'T DO IT!

**seanachie** · 19th December 11, 08:36 AM

I do not know the answer to this, but rather am just asking. Most of the merchants I have dealt with here have merchant accounts with PayPal and when I go to pay them they have the registered merchant or some such language listed when I remit payment. May be one of the merchants knows the answer to this, but I always thought you were afforded a better sense of protection with a registered merchant as PayPal had a way to collect funds from them. Is this information incorrect?

**biblemonkey** · 19th December 11, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by seanachie

I do not know the answer to this, but rather am just asking. Most of the merchants I have dealt with here have merchant accounts with PayPal and when I go to pay them they have the registered merchant or some such language listed when I remit payment. May be one of the merchants knows the answer to this, but I always thought you were afforded a better sense of protection with a registered merchant as PayPal had a way to collect funds from them. Is this information incorrect?

The typical PayPal protection is a limited number of weeks to bring a complaint and have your money returned in case of a problem. This was not a registered merchant and I do not know if there is better protection in those cases, but my experience has always been that after that limit you're screwed no matter who sold it to you.