VHFcontesting
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [VHFcontesting] KU4AB antennas

To: VHF Contesting Reflector <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] KU4AB antennas
From: Sebastian <w4as@bellsouth.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:03:58 -0400
List-post: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com">mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
On Jul 14, 2009, at 6:42 PM, Radioman wrote:

> Phil says he ships his antennas via the postal service without a  
> tracking
> number.

Not ever having ordered anything from them, I can say that is a poor  
business practice.  Anyone can order an antenna from them and claim  
they never received it; so what happens, does he refund the money,  
thus you have a free antenna, or does he send you another and then you  
have two for the price of one?

> I ordered a 6m antenna from him on June 6th for the June contest. He
> said he shipped it in time for the contest. It still did not arrive  
> by last
> week. Emails to his bellsouth account bounced and emails to his  
> hotmail acct
> were not answered. His voicemail was full and I could not leave a  
> message
> for him.

Sounds like trouble to me.

> I asked about similar problems on a reflector and got two replies
> from people who also had not received their antennas. I filed a  
> dispute with
> PayPal and received a refund from Phil a few days later.

Most people think that PayPal is 'safe' and it's on your side when you  
make a purchase.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The truth  
is, if you use PayPal to make a purchase on-line from a merchant OTHER  
than eBay, then PayPal will not refund your money due to a dispute;  
they will do nothing to help you.  It's clearly stated in their  
rules.  You probably received your money back because PayPal will  
close and seize your funding mechanism (usually your bank account), if  
they believe there are suspicious activities involved.

Again not ever dealing with him, or having anything against KU4AB or  
his site, but I have had 'issues' a couple of times when I bought  
something on-line.  One was an item I sold on eBay, I received a  
PayPal payment, and sent the item with delivery confirmation using the  
USPS and paid by PayPal.  After a couple of months, the buyer issued a  
complaint saying they had never received the item.  Because the buyer  
used a credit card as a funding mechanism for PayPal, PayPal did not  
return my money, because there was a third party involved.  I filed a  
complaint with the Internet Fraud Task Force, or something like that,  
and I had a police officer call me about the issue a month or so  
later.  This was only a $50 item, but it was the point that I knew the  
buyer received the item.  About 5 months later, I received the money  
back from PayPal.  I have no idea what went on behind the scenes but I  
got it back.

Buyer beware if you use PayPal.  I only use USPS money orders, simply  
because you can easily make a federal case out of a bad transaction,  
simply because the USPS is involved.

73 de W4AS
Sebastian
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>