This is the story, and I'll try to be quick, of a gun auction that ended with the buyer paying for, but never receiving, a Bersa Thunder .380 Conceal Carry handgun. I'm that buyer, and I've received neither my money back, nor an email or phone call from the seller since the gun was lost or mis-delivered by the US Postal Service.
Auction site: gunbroker.com
Seller: walther22 (Michael Grasso of Pennsyvania)
Buyer: squidink (yours, truly)
Price: $250 + $25 for shipping + insurance
Below is the timeline of events including correspondence between myself and the seller. I will break the messages up with any related information not mentioned in the emails.
6/18/08 Item won. I contact the seller shortly thereafter.
6/20/08 FFL carrier has made contact with seller. I'm waiting on a Paypal bank transfer.
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:53:05 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:6/24/08 Seller receives payment.
Mike -- Shawn sent me a message stating that he has emailed you his FFL. Now we're just waiting for Paypal to finish processing the bank transfer. It has Monday listed as the estimated time of completion.
Terrence
On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:19:31 EDT, walther22 (seller address removed) said:6/26/08 Two days later, I've received no tracking info or notification of shipment.
Great thank you for your payment I will get the Bersa shipped, I will email you in the next day or so with tracking info.
Mike
On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:41:49 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:
Any update on this?
Thanks,
Terrence
On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:31:43 EDT, walther22 (seller address removed) said:
Shipped 2 day Priority on 6/25. Your FFL should have it tomorrow.
On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:01:35 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:6/30/08 4 days later, I had to ask again for a tracking number:
Great -- if there's a tracking number, please send.
I'll be sure to leave positive feedback on gunbroker.com once I get the package.
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:59:32 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:
Mike -- This hasn't showed up yet. Do you have any kind of tracking info? Thanks
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:44:28 EDT, walther22 (seller address removed) said:Notice his response doesn't include the info I asked for, but contains superfluous things I don't need to know. Learn from that. So, again I have to ask:
I do, i have about 20 tracking #'s I have to label. I know it was shipped on the 25th. All the tracking #'s are at work, I will take a look tomorrow. It should have the insurance label on the box. Also the box has your name on it as well.
On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:42:15 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:7/3/08 A few days later I ask again:
Mike - send that tracking # if you have it. Thanks
On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:52:51 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:7/7/08 Four days later, I sent this along with a phone call basically saying the same thing:
Hey Mike -- it's been over a week since the package went out. I'd feel a lot better about waiting if I had a tracking number.
You said in a previous email that you had one, but that it was at work and you'd get it. That was the day before yesterday.
If you've got one, please send it. If you don't have one, let me know. I'm currently out $275 with nothing to show for it.
Thanks,
Terrence
On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:28:29 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:He responds!
Mike -- if you're reading this at work, please find the tracking number and get that to me, as the Bersa has not arrived yet.
Also, my FFL carrier wants to know which address of his the package was sent to (mailing or home address.)
Thanks,
Terrence
On Mon, 7 Jul 2008 16:19:47 EDT, walther22 (seller address removed) said:
Hi, It was shipped to the (address removed) address on 6/25/2008.
I have 4 tracking #'s but I am not sure which is yours. For some reason
USPS will not let me track these.
VG 555 952 849 US
VV 629 589 735 US
VV 629 589 721 US
VI 002 630 769 US
All shipped Priority mail with Insurance up to $300. Between 6/24 and 7/1
On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:56:23 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:So... It took the seller, walther22, about 11 or 12 days to send my tracking info, and when he finally did, there were four of them, he didn't know which was mine, and none of the numbers worked online.
Thanks for the reply -- please hold on to the insurance info. If we don't see the package by the end of the week, we'll need it.
At this point, I was getting very annoyed and distracted by this affair, and my wife did some investigatory work to find #1 whether or not these were even valid tracking numbers, #2 which one was mine, #3 what the status of the package was. It took her over an hour, but she finally found out which was the correct tracking number. Wanting to verify the information she'd been given, I went to the post office of the FFL carrier to check it out.
7/11/08 Here's my message to Mike the seller after my postal visit:
On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:09:26 -0500, "terrence (last name removed)" said:7/22/08 I've received no response. I sent another message a week and a half later:
Mike,
I spoke this week with a postal worker at the Hermitage, TN USPS branch and found out that the tracking number VI 002 630 769 US shows delivery on June 28th, which was the Saturday after mailing.
Unfortunately, FFL carrier, Shawn (last name removed), did not receive the package, nor did anyone at his residence. The postal worker claimed that they don't have it at the post office either.
The postal worker claims that anything insured for over $200 requires a signature on delivery. You've stated it was insured for up to $300, so we pretty much have to assume that some fraud occurred at the point of delivery -- either by a postal worker or by someone pretending to be the proper recipient.
Due to this, the postal employee told me that you should still have a valid insurance claim even if the tracking number shows the package was delivered and (possibly) signed for.
I hope that, in the meantime, we can come to an amicable arrangement about the payment. Understanding that USPS insurance claims can take some time to process, I would appreciate receiving half of my payment back, via PayPal, immediately (that's $137.50), and the other half when the claim is fully processed.
Had you sent the tracking number when you promised in an email on June 24th (or, indeed, known which tracking number belonged to which package when you finally sent that information on July 7th), this entire situation could have been ironed-out when the trail of the missing gun was a little warmer, so to speak. Had I known it was supposedly delivered on June 28, I could have begun my inquiries much sooner, and probably had a better chance of finding out what really happened to my purchase.
If you feel it would help you, I would be glad to provide you with all correspondence between myself and the FFL carrier.
Sincerely,
Terrence (last name removed)
From: Terrence (last name removed)No response from Mike, walther22. I hope you're reading this, Mike. Lots of other people are. I've asked nothing more from you than you would ask of me if our roles were reversed. Try to imagine that. It's called empathy, and it makes for good business.
Date: July 22, 2008 3:35:28 PM CDT
Mike -- are you going to file a claim with the USPS for the lost firearm? If you've lost the insurance information, please be professional enough to tell me.
If you have a serial number for that particular Bersa, that would be helpful, as I could (and should) report it stolen. Tell me if you don't have one.
VI 002 630 769 US was the proper tracking number. You have a valid claim that only you can file -- for my lost or stolen property.
_______________________
Terrence (last name removed)
All Mike the seller has to do is file an insurance claim with the USPS (and give me a verifiable claim number) or admit that he was unorganized and lost the insurance info... and apologize. Otherwise, this blog stays here forever. He could also arrange to send me a handgun of the same make and model -- then I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not he's filing an insurance claim. (That would get him an A instead of a D). For all I know, he has filed a claim and will keep the money for himself.
