Helpful Tip of The Day... Avoid Getting Ripped off
 

Seems like 1/3 of the posts are about people getting scammed, ripped off, or paying for work to get done that never does.

Dealing with this type of nonsense for years, here is a helpful tip :thumbsup

Unless you know the person IRL or they live within a few miles of your residence (and they are not bigger than you), then ONLY pay with a credit card (i.e. Visa/MC or Amex) preferably Amex. Don't transfer money from your bank account or pay with epass... ONLY a credit card.

Why? Because if you pay for a design, some programming or advertising and they do not deliver within 60 days (90 days with Amex) then you call your credit card company and dispute the charge. If the project will take longer, then require that you get updates every 30 days and they fit your needs. Never pay for anything in full upfront unless you are looking to donate the money.

IMPORTANT: Even if you have paid with paypal, call your credit card company, NOT paypal, they will do nothing for you.

At the same time, if the person you hired did a shitty job on something and refuses to fix it, then you can call and dispute the charge, but you don't have to do the whole amount. Say your script is 75% working and you paid $1,000, then you can dispute $250.

The secret is when calling to dispute the charge with the credit card company, do NOT say its an unknown/unauthorized charge, this is just shady and will through up red flags. There are about a dozen or so reasons, such as "service not provided" or "service/goods not received" and even "service/goods provided are different than ordered." Just tell the rep on the phone what happened and they will make the proper choice for you in most cases.

Finally, keep it professional and make sure to give the person/company who you hired a fair chance to resolve the issue, but make sure to keep it within your 60 day window. Most companies and shady individuals know this and will stretch it out for more than 60 days. Inform them "if you do not resolve to satisfactory within x days, I am calling my credit card company and disputing the charge."

Unfortunately some people are just slackers or wont finish a job so you have to be able to protect yourself. I've even worked with many mainstream people who require 100% up front then you dont hear from them for over a month... I guess there is a business model to ripping people off.

:thumbsup

The pains of working online, good read!

nice post man.

au contraire mon frere

I did this very thing against a content provider who refused to send me my signed license I asked for. The content was paid in full. I was lied to for the better part of two months with this, 'it's in the mail', 'sending it out today', and so on.

When I finally had enough of being bold face lied to for the better part of two months, and with the deadline approaching, I had to file a dispute to force his hand. Which resulted in me getting my signed license as repeatedly requested. You know what happened? That idiot called it 'scamming' and made a bunch of drama about it. Something anyone else in same situation would have done.

So while I agree with your O.P. on protecting yourself, just as I did in my circumstance. You also have to consider the flip side of the GFY mob if you opt to do that chargeback. Frankly, I do not care. I asked for something, was lied to a dozen times, and forced the hand resulting in me getting what was promised me.

But it's something you need to consider if you plan to play that way. Good luck.

Very good information.

some good tips that most people should be well aware of.

At the end of the day its your money. Ive had the same thing happen to me on a mainstream board, but within a few days everyone forgets.

If its only a few dollars I'll let it slide, but anything after that their bitching and crying is not going to pay my bills :2 cents:

Of course when you take money back from someone they are going to cause a scene. Ive been on both sides of the fence where I had some scamming asshat try to dispute a charge with me for media claiming it was an unauthorized charge. this is why I have contracts with clients and after I proved it was authorized, he apologized and said he forgot... then got pissed because I wouldn't do business with him anymore :1orglaugh

Nice info, thanks! :thumbsup

Most companies don't take credit cards and especially Amex.

Another suggestion I have used since I was much younger.... what I would do is a friend or acquaintance said "Hey can I borrow five bucks to get pizza for lunch or whatever, I would say sure!" Sometimes I would charge interest and sometimes not....

So one time I lent this kid 5 bucks, I remember it like it was yesterday when I was in ninth grade.... he didn't pay it back... I ran into him here and there throughout high school and he would admit he owed it but always refused to pay.... so he figured he got off with 5 bucks lol....

well now I am 21 and he is 23 or 24 at the time and guess where I run into him...? Walking on the side of the road in the middle of bumfuck fields and woods where like no cars drive, its 4am and about to rain HAHAHA I stopped and said "too bad you didnt pay back my 5 bucks cuz i would have given you a ride" hahahahaha i wish I had a camera with me - awesome fucking moment for sure and not quite sure how he ended up there lol but fucking awesome.

Try to start off with smaller transactions and if they don't deliver, look at it as paying that much money to keep that scumbag out of your shit for the rest of your life. I seen something like that in A Bronx tale I want to say.... or some other movie like that too.

but still you pay with cc via paypal in most cases

I think everyone gets ripped off sooner or later. Best to try to protect yourself anyway possible. Good post.

Thanks for the tip :thumbsup

how is your life going? Did you get out of that house deal ok?

Funny you bring that up. Right before I was about to just give up and loose the $$ I already put up the broker calls me and admits they fucked up on the mortgage application. They apologized and said they were able to re-run the app as FHA and I even got a much lower interest rate than before (5%)

The whole time, the underwriter denied the loan because she was comparing the wrong tax transcripts (not looking at an amended return), but after someone higher up saw it, they gave it another look.

The sellers really needed to get out of the house badly and could not afford to list it back up for sale and knew it wouldn't sell... there are 3 others in the neighborhood for sale as well (all a bit smaller with smaller price tags). So turns out they are shelling out more $$ for closing costs.

Ironic how I thought I was screwed on this deal but ended up coming back to where it turned out to cost me very little to close on this house... which takes place tomorrow :thumbsup

good luck! glad it sounded like it turned out ok.

Are you paying PMI? how much does that cost?

Most of the time you find out the seller is bluffing, but you can't find out unless you willing to call them on it. And sometimes they aren't bluffing, so it's always a risk but usually worth the shot to turn the tables on them and tell them you going to walk if they don't come down on price or be more accommodating to you.

Another tip: Never leave your poker chips in plain sight...

Yes, with an FHA loan I have to pay PMI until 16.5% of the loan is paid off and its something like $40 or $60/mo or so, not to bad.

We are friends with our agent and the sellers are friends with theirs... and both agents know each other, but they came forward with paperwork even showing their situation. They came back to us offering more $$ if we would still be able to close, so its not a bad deal at the end of the day.

Luckily the sellers have been really cool with us from day 1, so I can't complain at all. Left the place in perfect condition... now its just time to start paying the mortgage lol

what about when you have someone do menial work and dont pay them a small amount john?

Ask many previous customers of same company how their product was delivered before dealing with the company yourself.

im just curious about that john can you explain it?

funny no explaination for that...

and don't get drunk and hand out $500 chips :(