Hello,
This is a VERY long e-mail but it is EXTREMELY important that you read all of it.
This
guitar BODY was stolen from me a while back, (Feb 6th to be exact), I have reason to believe it is in Canada right now, but theres no telling where it could end up. If you ever, EVER see this guitar ANYWHERE in real life, on e-bay, or on ANY guitar site besides mine (
www.simscustomshop.com) let me know ASAP, or have ANY clues, tips or any knowledge on where it may be that results in me getting it back or getting closer to finding it and there will be a very generous award.
I'm trying to followup on every lead I can get regarding a guy named Steve Brand who trades on e-bay under the name gtrdr777.
The reason I would like to ask your help, is b/c Steve Brand basically stole a guitar from us, and $430. We sold a Blue & Yellowish Green Swirled Ibanez RG 470 BODY to Mr. Brand on e-bay on Feb. 6th 2006, in which he bought it under his user ID gtrdr777. Steve paid in a very timely manner the $430, no complaints there. However, I had some health problems and was in the hospital for 3 weeks and was unable to ship his guitar or respond to his e-mails. Once I got out of the hospital I contacted him and let him know the situation. He asked for a refund, and I refused, and that made him very upset. I told him I would send him his body THAT DAY and I would even Next Day Air it to him to make up for the long delay. I told him he could expect it the Very Next Day at 10:30 am or earlier. Mr Brand wanted his money back......and he then asked me to do something that I thought was very suspicious, actually he was trying to set me up.......Mr Brand asked me to NOT ship it to his Canadian address, but rather a USA address. He claimed that the reason was he didn't want to pay Duty on the body........I believe he had another motive. See, Mr Brand wanted his money back, but I wouldn't give it back, I was rather gonna ship it to him Next Day Air, so what I believe is he asked me to ship to a USA address b/c it was an unconfirmed address with PayPal. Steve payed us with a credit card through paypal. Paypal CLEARLY states that sellers MUST SHIP to their CONFIRMED paypal address, otherwise you are NOT covered if ANYTHING happens to it.
See, theres a scam thats going on and heres how it works.......
People get on e-bay and they win something, in this situation Steve one our swirled Ibanez body. They pay you promptly. But before you ship it the ask you to send the item to another address, an address other than the one they have listed with e-bay, this is called an "Unconfirmed Address" So lets say you agree, and you ship it to this unconfirmed address......then when they get it they contact e-bay and state that they never got the item, so e-bay contacts the seller (Me) and asks me to provide proof that it was shipped to a CONFIRMED address......if you cannot as far as e-bay is concerned you shipped it to the wrong address, and they reward the buyer their money back. Then, basically, the buyer gets the item and their money. This is EXACTLY what Mr. Brand asked me to do, ship to an unconfirmed address. When I refused it made him even madder (B/c he was wanting to get the body then file an unreceived item claim with e-bay)
So at any rate I shipped the body through DHL Express to his confirmed address and I also paid extra for Signature Delivery, basically meaning he had to sign for it. Well, the body was delivered the very next day and he wasn't home. So DHL left a note on his door stating they attempted to deliver a Next Day Air item with Signture Delivery but nobody was at home. They left the DHL phone # and said please call the local DHL terminal to arrange another shipping date that you will be there. So, Steve Brand scheduled to have the guitar body re-delievered 5 days later.....so they came on the 5th day, the body was delivered and he signed for it. End of story right? No, just the beginninng.....
A purchaser can only file a claim with Paypal for up to 45 days after the end date of the auction. Mr Brand got his guitar on the 21st day afther the auction......I NEVER heard from him again after the body was delivered and it was signed for, I thought all was well. Well, on the 44th day after the auction, 1 hr before Midnight, the ABSOLUTE LAST HOUR you can file a claim I got an e-mail from paypal stating that Mr Brand had just filed a Reversal/Chargeback claim with his credit card company, stating that he had NOT received the body. This was TOTAL BULL. It was shipped to his address, and I also had a copy of where it was signed for by "Steve Brand" Paypal asked me for proof that I had shipped it to his confirmed address, which I did. Paypal decided in my favor, and I got to keep the $430. But its not over. Mr Brand THEN contacted his credit card company and stated that the signature on the delivery slip did say Steve Brand, but stated that it was NOT HIS signature. This is total BULL. Basically what Steve has done is this. He has tried EVERY WAY POSSIBLE to get his money back. #1 he tried to get me to give him a refund, # 2 he tried to get me to ship to an unconfirmed address, then #3 when the guitar DID come he signed his name different, then contacted the credit card compay and told them that he had not received it. When they submitted to him the tracking information that I supllied them with, along with a signature, he claimed it was not his signature......so, the credit card company then gave him his $430 back, and took it from me. Basically he knew all he had to do was sign his name differently than he normally signs it then tell the credit card company that somebody forged his name and then get his money back, just like he's wanted all along. Whats really messed up is this.......Ok, how could somebody else been at his address, the DAY he scheduled for the guitar to be shipped, just happen to be there, and he not be there, and just HAPPEN to have a Fake ID with his name on it (B/c they do ID you) and then fake his signature, leave his house, and he never know about it. Also, I find it very very suspicious that he NEVER ONCE E-mailed me and told me hae hadn't gotten it. Instead, he waited until the VERY LAST DAY, and the VERY LAST HOUR he could to do a reversal on his credit card. So this basically just proves to me he got the guitar, then just waited as long as he could before he did a reversal, hoping that I would lose that tracking information, which I didn't.
Steve Brand got not only our Swirled Ibanez body, but he also got his $430 back from his credit card company leaving us HIGH AND DRY. He knew when we shipped it, he knew it would be there the next day, he had the schedule date RESCHEDULED, then trys to play off that he wasn't there when it was sent, ON THE DAY HE SCHEDULED, but rather somebody else, who then posed as him, faked his signature, and stole the body. I do not believe this for ONE SECOND, b/c liek I said, prior to us shipping it he did EVERYTHING he could do to get his money back.....and he never stopped until he finally did get it back, only this way he got not only the mnoney back, but also the guitar.
So, the reason I'm posting this is to ask you, have you seen this guitar? The guitar he CLAIMS he's never got, althought it was shipped to him, to his confirmed address, and signed for by him.
Now, we sold him the BODY ONLY, so it may not have green
Dimarzio pickups in it, or even that neck. I have no clue what kind of pickups or neck it may have it in now. I'm wanting to collect all the information I need so I can contact the police in Canada. B/c he has NOT paid for the body, he got his credit card company to give him his money back and I'm stuck here with $430 basically snatched right out of my hands, and I lose a guitar that I did a TON OF WORK ON. Its not right, he scammed me, he abused the system, he pulled every string he could, and exhausted every avenue, and lied to me, paypal, e-bay and his credit card company and got his money back AND THE GUITAR and its not right. PLEASE help me find SOMETHING out on this guitar.
If he's smart he would have already sanded it down and repainted it, b/c swirls are one of a kind, and if that guitar was EVER found in his possession it would be BAD NEWS for him. I'm hoping however that he is NOT SMART, and that he likes the swirl so much that he's NOT stripped it down and repainted it, but rather left it like it was, swirled.
I have been fighting with this with his credit card company since MARCH. They just made their final decision to side with their customer yesterday based on the signature being diffferent. So now, there is nothing else I can do unless I can confirm he ACTUALLY still has it in his possession. He CAN'T list it on e-bay, b/c he knows I would bust him. He would be stupid to put pictures of it on the internet b/c I have listed it as a stolen guitar on TONS of websites, like JEMSITE and others. He only has 3 options on that guitar. Sell it locally, keep it for himself, or strip it and repaint it.
Also, so you know I'm not just giving you a line of crap, heres the shipping information where you can view the proof that we shipped the guitar from us to:
Steve Brand
Abbotsford, BC Canada
You can view all the proof of this shipment at
http://www.dhl-usa.com/
tracking # is 9002424583
This to me has gotten personal. Its not about money anymore, its about priniciple. What he has done is not right, it is illegal, it is theft, it is credit card fraud, it is against e-bay policy, and against paypal policy. The only problem is he's slick, he's not dumb, and he knows I live over 30 hours away in Tennessee and I'm NOT going to drive up there and get it myself.
