The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Well,

What can be said. I made a stupid mistake by putting a little faith in someone outside this community and got burned. But hope to recover some of the loss from UPS.

This is how the story goes.

Put up my wife's two tone callistino on the local craigs list. Had a buyer by the name of adam bundy contact me wanting to buy it for his wife. As most people he acted a little nervous about sending me a check for 2000$ .
So stupidly I agreed to send the watch C.O.D threw UPS. I went to UPS to send it and informed them the ONLY payment I would accept is a USPS Money order. They are like our US currency with water marks and a bar on the inside of it you can read if held up to the light and printed on special paper.
Not that they cant be faked but are much much harder to do so and very hard to do.

So UPS put only my shipping label and my receipt USPS money order only.
Well come yesterday my payment comes in. Yep its some strange looking cashiers check. I tell the clerk this is not a USPS money order like stated that I would take as payment.
He tell's me sorry and it should be fine. So I take it to the bank and deposit it. Yep got the call this morning it's fake.

So I guess its now going to have to be some sort of legal battle since I feel USPS didn't hold up there end of our contract by taking the wrong form of payment guess we will see.
Oh and of course the buyers phone number no longer works today.
The watch was sent to a Adam Bundy in Gastonia NC.

Will post a couple pic's of the watch later.
People SUCK now days.

did you sign anything upon recipt of the other cashiers check? If so, then you probably signed a liability release unles you read the whole deal to make sure it wasn't.

Hindsight, I wouldn't have accepted the cashiers check and taken the issue up the chain of management.

Sorry to hear about the loss

I signed a paper stateing it was me. I did read qucikly over what i was signing and it was just stateing that i was who i say i am. . Nothing about it being fruadulent etc.

That sucks. I had a VERY similar situation a couple of months back with a buyer wanting me to ship via COD. At first he was acting like he was going to pay via bank wire and at the end he switched it up and started acting nervous about wiring the money and wanted to pay COD. (I think they tried to get you invested in the deal to the point that you dont want to cancel it when its almost complete so you cave in on the COD)
Anyway, I decided not to go through with it. Figured that if I just hung on to the watch I was guaranteed not to get scammed.

I think that if you have a receipt stating USPS MO only, you have a pretty good case. Good luck with it.

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-RJ

Where are you located, 814? The reason I ask, I'm from Mount Holly, NC: literally 10 minutes from Gastonia. I'm currently up in Raleigh at college, but I know the area well (I've lived there my whole life). I'll go home in a few weeks for spring break. Got an address?

Just FYI, the UPS website says:


My guess is they will tell you that they are not responsible. That they don't have an option to only take money orders, and that they aren't responsible for forgeries. I think COD is rife with scams, so I would never do it.

Craigslist has this warning when you post an item for sale:


Sorry you got scammed, but the warning signs are everywhere.

Look familiar?

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/jwl/1612184028.html

Call the Concord, NC police at 704-920-5000. PM me your phone number and we can talk. I live in Concord.

That would be a result if it's the same watch.

Strongly suggest that nothing further regarding this is discussed here until resolved.

Thanks alot tarhead!

In most cases i would agree. However i have it in writing from there computer it's self that they are to take USPS money order ONLY in capital letters as payment.

Any updates?


I too live in NC.

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SOH Black Dial on Ocean Racer Strap
Navitimer World White Dial on SS
BR03-92 Phantom

It should be easier to handle since its in the states. Police somewhat care a bit more.

_________________
Panerai PAM212 | Panerai Diver Strap
Panerai PAM111 | Black Croc Strap
Omega Planet Ocean | SS Bracelet
Rolex Submariner | SS Bracelet (Sold, Awaiting Funds)
Breitling Navitimer Olympus | Brown Croc Strap (Arriving)

Update: That wasnt my watch thanks for trying guys.

Update2: The UPS Store i used is making a insurance claim under there name for me under fradulent funds . The main ups station claims that the liabilty is with the UPS store i used since they promised it would be a USPS money order only. They state they dont claim what the payment will be other then a money order,check, or cashiers check.

The ups store says the problem lays with the main ups hub for taking the incorrect payment that they and i both asked for. Being i have it in writeing they are bending over backwards trying to help me without having to go to court houses etc.

So we will see.

Thanks again!

UPS is trashed. I still need to get around to suing them for scamming me with their complete bs/made up 'import/duty fees of 75%-150%'.

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Panerai PAM212 | Panerai Diver Strap
Panerai PAM111 | Black Croc Strap
Omega Planet Ocean | SS Bracelet
Rolex Submariner | SS Bracelet (Sold, Awaiting Funds)
Breitling Navitimer Olympus | Brown Croc Strap (Arriving)

I hate to quote the People's Court (and, no, I don't watch it, my wife watches it ...

However, my wife showed me an interesting case on there, once. A person in NYC had shipped a valuable watch to her father using FedEx. She did so by going to an all-in-one shipping place. It wasn't a chain, just a family-owned single store. The store happily let her insure her watch for something like $5000 and collected the insurance premium. Then the watch was damaged by FedEx, and FedEx refused to pay since they do not insure jewelry. They instructed the person to sue the store, as they (FedEx) are not responsible for mistakes committed by a shipping agent.

The shipping agent, of course, claimed that FedEx was responsible because the agent had used FedEx's software (on which they were officially trained) to construct the waybill for the shipment, and the software allowed watches and jewelry to be insured. Therefore, this was akin to FedEx telling the agent that they did allow watches to be insured, absolving the agent of responsibility.

In the trial of the person vs. the shipping agent, the judge awarded the full amount to the person. She said that the agent is solely responsible for providing the expected service guarantees to the customer. In other words, when you use a shipping agent, the contract for service is between you and that agent. Any subsequent failure by any party involved in the shipping process to carry out the contracted service is the liability of the agent. It is the agent's responsibility to subsequently sue the carrier if they believe that the carrier is ultimately responsible for the failure to provide the contracted service to the agent's customer.

The judge reiterated that the law is very clear on this chain of responsibility. There is very little variation between states. There is also no provision for whether agent's claim has been processed by the carrier. If the contract says that you will be reimbursed for your loss within 30 days, then that is what they have to do regardless of whether the carrier has reimbursed the agent.

It sounds like the UPS Store that you used is a franchise, hence the bickering between the UPS Store and UPS Main. Consequently, UPS Store is responsible to you even if it was UPS that made the mistake. The important point is that it is not your job to determine whose responsibility it was. No matter who screwed up, the UPS Store is responsible for fulfilling the terms of their contract with you. It is their responsibility to file a claim with UPS and get UPS to reimburse them. You are not required to wait until UPS reimburses them, however.

In practice, though, you say they are bending over backwards to accommodate you (as they should be because they know they are on the hook). If waiting for their claim with UPS to be resolved does get you your money in the end, it is still better than going to court. However, if UPS does not end up paying the UPS Store, remember that the UPS Store is still liable to you.

Good luck!!!! Keep us updated.

///M


P.S. I am not a lawyer, so please take everything I say here with a grain of salt.

P.P.S. If I was a lawyer, then you would have to take everything I say with a much larger grain of salt...

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." --Dave Barry