EBAY SELLER POPEYE96321 "BRIAN BANKO" PAYPAL, SQUARETRADE NO HELP, SCAM FRAUD RIP OFF!!SOLD ME SOMETHING AND NEVER SENT MY ITEM,COUNTLESS EXCUSES WHY NEVER SHIPPED,SCAM ARTIST, NOBODY CARES!! San Bernardino California

On the date of March 1, 2007, in the amount of $200 US via paypal, I purchased a sony playstation2 from ebay through seller(ebay user id popeye96321.) I waited over a month to receive it. After not receiving it, I then opened a paypal AND ebay dispute to resolve the issue. A day or so later I received an email from him "Brian" stating that he'd been in a horrible motorcycle accident and that he was going to be stuck in the hospital for at least another month or so.

In the dispute I filed through paypal and ebay, he responded with the same story and said that he'd "make it up to me" when he was released from the hospital. Feeling sorry for him I agreed to wait longer for him to recuperate and return home to ship it to me.

About a month and a half later, I hadn't received any emails from him so I decided to email him and find out as to whether he returned home or not. He responded telling me he was finally home but unable to move or walk and that he was bed ridden. Now at this point in time after finally receiving his response, the time to receive a refund through paypal had expired which I was unaware of. I was no longer able to leave feedback on the seller's page to warn others before doing business with him. It's as if he gave me excuse after excuse in order to make me wait and wait to make time pass making me ineligible for a refund.

Another couple of weeks passed and I at that point became suspicious of his promises and decided to do my own little investigation on him. I decided to check out his ebay profile to see if he had either been purchasing or selling items on ebay. (Meaning that if he is able to buy and/or sell(ship) anything then he's completely capable of shipping my items or having someone else do it for him.)

To my finding he had purchased motorcycle parts and even sold and shipped out items rather recently. Now for a person to be in such a horrible motorcycle accident, get hospitalized and not be able to walk for at least a year, I'd assume they wouldn't buy MORE motorcycle parts for the very same bike they just crashed. I sent him another email asking how he was able to buy motorcycle parts yet not ship out my items. He responded that the motorcycle he crashed was rare and that parts were hard to come buy. He also stated that he was having his "brother" do the buying and shipping for him. He then apologized to me for putting me through this and promised to ship my items out right away and provide me with a delivery confirmation number.

I then waited a few more days and still hadn't received any confirmation number so I wrote him back. This is when he begun to ignore my emails, so I referred to his phone number given to me by ebay's contact request department and when I attempted to call him, a man answered the phone attempting to disguise his voice as if mocking me and then hung up.

About a half hour or so later I called back, this time a female answered the phone. When I asked to speak with "Brian" and tried to explain the situation, she responded rudely and began screaming, "WHO IS THIS?!?, DON'T EVER CALL HERE AGAIN OR I'LL REPORT YOU TO THE POLICE AND EBAY!!!" I at that point was shocked and realized I was scammed.

Throughout this entire ordeal he's sent me emails, photos of the crashed bike and injuries from the accident. He's given me countless promises that he'd ship me my items and said he'd email me with the delivery confirmation number. He even sent me a short video clip of the playstation2 and told me he was including a few extra items for me being so understanding with his situation. Every email, photo, lie he sent to me has been saved.

I tried ebay live help, safe harbor, customer support, trust and safety, but they keep throwing their 90 day policy in my face. I've tried going through paypal as well to get a refund, but they just keep throwing the 45 day policy in my face. I also attempted calling Brian's local police department located in San Bernardino and they said they couldn't help me as my issue was considered civil and that I'd have to settle it through ebay which didn't help me with either.

I then filed a report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and let them know the situation. I also contacted SquareTrade, asked for a mediator which cost me and extra $30 or so to help me and the seller scam artist scum come to an agreement, you know what happened?!?! SquareTrade responds to me a few days after I filed the complaint and said this:

eBay Item Number: 220086002136
SquareTrade Case ID: 769156563
Merchandise Description: Playstation 2 System New Laser "LOOK" SCPH-50001

Brian banko has contacted us asking us to close the case, for the following reason:

"I have resolved this with the other party."

Irrespective of whether you agree with closing the case at this time, we must now close it because our service is voluntary. If you would like to pursue further options, you may want to contact eBay by clicking here.

Sincerely,
SquareTrade Customer Support

I paid for a mediator to be told a lie!?!? This is ridiculous. SquareTrade attempts contacting the seller for free, but for $30 (which I chose) I am given a mediator to come between me and the seller to settle the dispute. I would only be charged the $30 if the other party responded, which he did, but to be charged the $30 for him to lie to the mediator by saying we came to a separate agreement?!? B.S.!! He won't answer my emails or phone calls, he continues to ship items to people and I'm still left with nothing and the fact that he's getting away with it makes me furious!!

Now also note the ebay item number. The purchase price was originally $94 including shipping, but here's where I went wrong. The seller had a "enhanced" ps2 for sale a little while earlier. I wanted a "enhanced" ps2 for my import games so I asked the seller if I could purchase the ps2 and have him "enhance" it for me as he does it all the time. The total price for his services came to $200. He was only going to charge me for the chip ($80) that needed to be installed and not for the installation. So as a thank you I gave him another $30 for helping me. I'm such a sucker!!

At that point I had come to find that selling modded ps2's on ebay was not allowed and was not covered so they often replace the word mod with "enhance" to make it ok. That's why I'm using the term enhance with quotation marks. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best but to no surprise I was scammed. REGARDLESS of whether buying modded ps2's on ebay is allowed or not I still did business with him and should get what I paid for. The seller knew he wasn't allowed to sell it to me, but did it anyway.

I thought I was doing everything right; checked the seller's feedback rating to see if there were any previous problems to convince me not to do business with him, retained all receipts and emails documenting the sale, reported the dispute within the 45 days for paypal and the 90 days for ebay but they did nothing. I don't know what to do anymore and I need help.

I looked at other reports filed on this site and I'm seeing many people get scammed from people like the one I dealt with and it hurts me, it's sad that these scam artists get away with it and nobody cares...Something has to be done about this. I'm not giving up. Thanks for the horrible service ebay, paypal, squaretrade, san bernardino police department, BRIAN FAKE-O!!

Diana
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

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