PaulTech- do not deal with him

A

adg1034

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2005
Messages
370
At the beginning of April, I attempted to purchase a Saitek joystick from PaulTech via this thread: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1172774

I still have not received my purchase.

There's a long and convoluted story to go along with this, involving someone else's PayPal account, rejected phone calls, and tracking numbers that never updated (and a package, that, according to FedEx, was never sent- http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?language=english&cntry_code=us&tracknumbers=798167659146), but someone involved with this transaction (whether it was Paul or the friend of his whose PayPal account I sent the money) did end up refunding me what I'd paid, though only a month later. I do know that there is another PaulTech around the internet, one who runs a hardware review site- this is not him. This PaulTech is Paul Fleming, who works for a webhosting company, HostDime, in Florida. I just want to make sure that I don't say something bad about someone who isn't involved.

To be perfectly honest, with only ~50 posts here and 1 Heat (before he put the joystick up for sale), I don't think Paul has any reason to come back and use that username again, but I'm writing this on the off chance he does.

On another note, does anyone have a Saitek X52 they're looking to sell?
 
arcanetripwire said:
The number of posts the user has means nothing when it comes to FS/T.
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Believe me, I am well aware of that. My point was that he really has nothing to lose (except bad feedback) by completely starting over.


Oh, fine. The whole convoluted story:

So, I was in the market for a joystick (still am). I started scouring the FS/FT forum for something that would fill that need, and, lo and behold, I found that Mr. PaulTech was offering a Saitek X52 for only $50 shipped. This is a great deal, as the X52 is a joystick and throttle set, both extremely professional quality, and it retails for ~$100. "Great!" I thought. "When this gets here, I'll finally have a reason to start playing the old Lucasarts space sims and the Freespace games again, and maybe even make an attempt at learning IL-2." A couple days went by and he hadn't responded to either my PMs or an email I sent him.

I went back to his thread and found that his AIM name was on there, too, so I waited until I saw him come online, and we got the details worked out- I'd send him $50 immediately, and he'd put the joystick in the mail. He also provided a link to a webcam where I could see him and the joystick (I was stupid and didn't save the text of the IM session). Finally, he even gave me his cell number, so I called him, said hello, and told him that I was just getting ready to send the money over. He gave me the email address of a friend and co-worker of his at HostDime (though I didn't know that at the time), and I sent off the money.

A few days went by and I hadn't seen any correspondence from him or anything to do with shipping the package, so I tried IMing him when I saw him online. No response. I tried to contact him this way at least four times. Finally, he wrote back. "Oh, I'm so sorry, it completely slipped my mind. I'll go and send it right now, overnight. Be back with the tracking number." I left that window up for 3 hours after he said that, and nothing. I tried numerous times after that to call him, but he never picked up.

Anyway... searches for this other guy who I sent PayPal monies to seemed to overlap at this company HostDime, so with a little more searching, I was able to get his email address. I emailed him, saying that I wasn't sure if he was the right guy, but that I had sent someone with his name $50 for a joystick I hadn't yet received, that I thought I might have been the victim of something, and that I'd love to talk. He sent me an email right back saying that, in fact, I had not been the victim of anything, and that here was his cell phone number; give him a call. I did, and found out that Paul was a coworker of his. The reason that I'd sent him the money instead of Paul was that, due to a mix-up, Paul's PayPal account was temporarily suspended, and that I sent the money to him, which he then got to Paul. Fair enough- I'd do the same thing were I in Mr. Fleming's position. He also told me that Paul was extraordinarily absent-minded, and that it really was possible that he'd just forgotten all about it. "I'll talk to him at work tomorrow, and we'll get this sorted out." A high note before I went to bed, as I was reassured that everything was fine and that I would definitely be sent my joystick.

:D

Being as patient of a guy as I am, I waited a few more days, then started calling Paul again, trying to get ahold of him to figure out what was going on. I called all throughout the day, and many times, the call would go to voicemail after only two or three rings, suggesting to me that he was mindfully declining my calls. I left message after message, but got no response. He finally did call back one day, and said that not only was he so, so sorry he'd neglected to send my joystick up to this point, he would even refund half of what I'd paid for it. A few more days went by, and I still hadn't been sent the money, so I sent a request for $25 to Mr. PayPal guy, which was filled the next day.

More time went by, with more calls, more messages, and no return correspondence. Finally, I decided to do what I probably should have done a while previous- file a PayPal claim. I said everything I've said so far, and said that I either wanted the rest of my money back in an extremely short timeframe, or I wanted the joystick shipped NOW. The next day, I got a tracking number. Now, this was (slightly) strange, as I received the number on May 5, but it said that on May 7 at 1:08 PM, the package data had been transmitted to FedEx. That remained (and still remains) the only item listed under that tracking number, even though the weight seemed to be right (4 lbs) and it was being sent to the right place (St. Paul, MN).

Mid-last week, I sent another message, saying that I'd called FedEx (which I had), and I was told that they still did not have that package in their system, so I wanted answers. "Sorry for the inconvenience- the package was shipped. Here is your additional $25 for your trouble." I decided to cut my losses, as I had the opportunity to receive all my money back, and so I closed the claim.

Thus ends the epic tale.
 
Whew......Thats quite a tale..:)
Glad you got a refund.....take it and run....
 
I agree that we should all not do business with this guy, but you did get your money back again. More than what could have happened.

Glad it all worked out for you..
 
Hello,

Figured I would reply as I just saw this.


The paypal account was used temp by me due to me losing my actual paypal debit card.

It was me that did infact refund all the money, I had some issues with personal life that prevented and I do feel very bad that this was put off so much.

But you are dragging my name thru the mud a little, What phone calls I did get from you were returned or answered, I never rejected a single call of you.


I am sorry this worked out as it did and you did get your money back - Just sorry it took >1 month to do so.

I do feel bad and once again I do apologize.

I have sold multiple items on here, never had a issue like this.

Thanks
 
Well, Paul, I don't have my cell phone bill in front of me at the moment, but over the month it took to bring this transaction to an end, I called your number at least 20 times. For more than half of those times, the call went to your voicemail after no more than three rings, but most went there after two. The impression I came away with, especially considering the number of calls that were involved, was that you were purposefully rejecting my calls. Obviously, I can't say for sure one way or another, and you did call me back once or twice, but this is what I experienced.

Also, was there any reason why you couldn't explain to me about the "issues in your personal life" that prevented you from sending me the joystick? This could have saved us both a lot of time and trouble.
 
PaulTech said:
But you are dragging my name thru the mud a little.
Click to expand...

And we are glad he put the info out there...

PaulTech said:
I am sorry this worked out as it did and you did get your money back - Just sorry it took >1 month to do so.
Click to expand...

Unacceptable, and again, we are glad for the info.
PaulTech said:
I do feel bad and once again I do apologize.



Thanks
Click to expand...

Thats shows you care...hopefully you learned from this experience and can move forward in a positive way.

Communication is one of the most important things in a deal..... no one gets to meet you when doing online trading..your reputation and the way you comunicate is all you have,.

Things come up, everyone knows that, but your buyer deserves to be kept up to date on the status of the trade...
if that were done in this case, none of us except you and adg1034 would know what had gone on.

Its all good..:)
 
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