A deal gone bad, questions on how to go about dealing with it. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Kurant · 11-26-2003, 12:34 PM

About 7 months ago, a car club I'm apart of found a guy in NYC that would allow a group of members to purchase auto-starts in bulk, as a group buy. So those indivuals got wonderful prices.

The club got the people together who were intrested, sent off just over $3,000 to purchase a designated number of units. It's been 7 months now, this guy has been giving us the run around, ducking phone calls, etc.. etc...

Now, were are currently setting up a donation system, to have 2 people fly to NYC, go to this guys shop, and demand the money or the units. People are going to go there because NYPD didn't want to deal with the situation.. I think if people show up there with indisputable evidence of what happend, they will change decide to go, however, some questions I have...

So, here is my question, if we send 2 members to NYC, will the NYPD accompany us to the shop that lied to us? Is it somthing we can press criminal charges for? We have receipts, endless emails, phone numbers, 100% proof this person had every intention on selling us these units, now it's quite obvious he lied, and never had the units to begin with. Should we get an attorney involved, or a letter threatning legal action against them, signed by an attorney?

Any other advice you have would be helpful.

rogue49 · 11-26-2003, 12:48 PM

Get in touch with the BBB, the local consumer protection agency,
or any other business monitoring entity.
maybe even the news. (they have investigative consumer units and you might not be the only one)

You might want to do this both in NYC and your own are,
but definitely in NYC...this is where they work.

Also if they are conducting fraud over state lines,
then you can also get various federal & interstate entities involved.

And even if you don't actually want to do all this,
at least get some info on them, so you can use this to threaten the business.

It's one thing to ignore the local authorites,
is a whole other thing to provoke the attention of the state & federal authorities.

Journeyman · 11-26-2003, 01:52 PM

I agree with Rogue's third point and emphasize it: If the scam is over state lines, Federal authorities should be involved. I can't say for sure why the NYPD didn't concern themselves too much, but that *might* be it right there.

Also, with all the emails and receipts and correspondance that you have built up, if anything violent happens resulting from the two representatives you're planning to send out there, a very slight chance exists that you'll be brought up on conspiracy charges. Very slight.

sillygirl · 11-26-2003, 01:58 PM

You'd have to call the NYPD to see if they'd send anyone with you. I've done that here in Arizona. If you call them and tell them you'd just like an officer there and that you suspect that things might get out of hand and you don't want them to, they'll probably be willing to send someone. I think they'd rather PREVENT something from happening than get a phone call later that something already DID happen. Best of luck!

11-26-2003, 12:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Kurant Junkie Location: Don't worry about it.	A deal gone bad, questions on how to go about dealing with it. About 7 months ago, a car club I'm apart of found a guy in NYC that would allow a group of members to purchase auto-starts in bulk, as a group buy. So those indivuals got wonderful prices. The club got the people together who were intrested, sent off just over $3,000 to purchase a designated number of units. It's been 7 months now, this guy has been giving us the run around, ducking phone calls, etc.. etc... Now, were are currently setting up a donation system, to have 2 people fly to NYC, go to this guys shop, and demand the money or the units. People are going to go there because NYPD didn't want to deal with the situation.. I think if people show up there with indisputable evidence of what happend, they will change decide to go, however, some questions I have... So, here is my question, if we send 2 members to NYC, will the NYPD accompany us to the shop that lied to us? Is it somthing we can press criminal charges for? We have receipts, endless emails, phone numbers, 100% proof this person had every intention on selling us these units, now it's quite obvious he lied, and never had the units to begin with. Should we get an attorney involved, or a letter threatning legal action against them, signed by an attorney? Any other advice you have would be helpful.

11-26-2003, 01:58 PM	#4 (permalink)
sillygirl Newlywed Location: at home	You'd have to call the NYPD to see if they'd send anyone with you. I've done that here in Arizona. If you call them and tell them you'd just like an officer there and that you suspect that things might get out of hand and you don't want them to, they'll probably be willing to send someone. I think they'd rather PREVENT something from happening than get a phone call later that something already DID happen. Best of luck! __________________ Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly-Rose Franken ....absence makes me miss him more...

11-26-2003, 12:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
rogue49 Loser	Get in touch with the BBB, the local consumer protection agency, or any other business monitoring entity. maybe even the news. (they have investigative consumer units and you might not be the only one) You might want to do this both in NYC and your own are, but definitely in NYC...this is where they work. Also if they are conducting fraud over state lines, then you can also get various federal & interstate entities involved. And even if you don't actually want to do all this, at least get some info on them, so you can use this to threaten the business. It's one thing to ignore the local authorites, is a whole other thing to provoke the attention of the state & federal authorities.

11-26-2003, 01:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
Journeyman Like John Goodman, but not. Location: SFBA, California	I agree with Rogue's third point and emphasize it: If the scam is over state lines, Federal authorities should be involved. I can't say for sure why the NYPD didn't concern themselves too much, but that might be it right there. Also, with all the emails and receipts and correspondance that you have built up, if anything violent happens resulting from the two representatives you're planning to send out there, a very slight chance exists that you'll be brought up on conspiracy charges. Very slight.