March 2005 - Caution Message Board

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Thanks!

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Subject: Tammy Smith
User ID: treasuresfromtammy

Back in Aug 23, 2004 I won an auction from treasuresfromtammy other wise know as Tammy Smith, for the Discover Beanie Baby. I paid via paypal, she gave me the run around about how she could not deliver the beanie because of hurricanes. Then it was because her so called helpers in Canada were unable to find Discover. Then it was she was only able to get a few and she was going to ship mine out as soon as she got others in. I have still yet to receive. If anyone has any questions please e mail. I'm hoping that she will soon be in serious trouble soon.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/TammySmith.html

I am writing with the hope that I can recover my expenses from this company. I ordered a customized T-shirt from Americana Couture and was charged $70.54. I received a receipt from the company via e-mail and was advised that it would take at least 30 days for my order to process. After about 3 weeks, I tried contacting the company via their many e-mail addresses to ask the status of my order. No response. I called their customer service number at least 5 times, only to receive a recorded message each time that all their operators were busy, for me to leave my name and number and someone would return my call. Obviously, that never happened. This piqued my curiosity and I have been trying to contact them via e-mail and telephone once or twice a day for the past few weeks with no luck.

I really don't know what to do about this situation. It seems I'm not the only one who's been duped!!!! I hope this information falls into the right hands and I can recoup my losses.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Clearly Americana Couture is still in (bad) business. Any chances of getting a refund?

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Nearly the same address that was used in his 2002 scams that show up in this site. It's like he took some time off to let things cool off and then got back into the swing of things. This time the address was: 6411 Sherbrooke west #24509 Montreal, Canada.

Now this may be a different individual under a real or false name or it could be a member of Eddy's group. The name is Jennifer Hutchinson with an email: jenateficom@yahoo.ca . The mailing address is so close to the original Eddy Harcourt scams, I'd be suprised if it wasn't related.

I have to admit I played along pretty stupid regarding my transaction. The packer that I bid on was currently being bid on with just a couple days left and I proceed to check into the seller a bit. 4 positives feedback from good sellers but all under $200. I emailed to get a quote on shipping and although the price was a bit cheap it seemed she new a bit about shipping an item like this. The item stated payment by postal money order only, which should have been a red flag but I figured the seller is fairly new and may not have a paypal account.

I won the item and proceed to confirm shipping and sent out payment using a 2 day service. That night I received an email from Ebay stating the seller had been suspended and I was advised not to send money. To late for me, Canada post money orders are no better than sending cash, kiss it goodbye if the seller is a fraud.

Sure enough, as I inquired about her receiving payment and shipping the item, my emails were soon ignored like other victims from Eddy's list. What a tough lesson this was to learn, why couldn't it be a $100 item. I pretty much ignored all the safe trader rules out there in buying this item, I think I had become a bit cocky with my good success with ebay. From this prospective, Ebay leaves you pretty much high and dry regarding options. I'm filing a dispute to get back $175 which may take months considering Ebay's molasses approach to claims.

One other tid bit of info on the sellers mailing address, is that it matches a Montreal based online "weight loss pill" business called www.weightalert.com I looked at there site and it looks like a complete hoax. No telephone numbers to reach them, phony looking picture of their establishment, you can only email and use your credit card to purchase pills.

It's likely the #24509 is simply a box number that these crooks use to collect their illegal paychecks and Jennifer Hutchinson is a stolen identity that's used to cash money orders etc.

It seems like a hopeless cause but hopefully others will see this info and stop payment to these sellers at this address. Please follow up if you have other information.

~Gerald

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/EddyHarcourt.html

I ordered 2 t-shirts soon thereafter and after waiting for a very long time I received a notice from them saying their company was having problems with a computer hacker who got into their system and messed up their orders, tracking, etc. They apologized and said they would be back on track shortly and the items ordered would be shipped as soon as possible. They offered a free t-shirt in exchange for my troubles.

Though I never ordered another t-shirt I waited patiently and corresponded with them several more times. They stated in their e-mail to me that the original package evidently got lost in the mail and a replacement would be sent out immediately. Maryanne asked me to update her if the original products were to arrive. Neither the original or replacement package arrived. She sent me an information e-mail regarding tracking with the USPS, but did not include a tracking number. When I asked her about the tracking number, she said priority doesn't offer a live tracking system and that they filed a lost package form

Well, since this has been going on for over a year, I finally sent them an e-mail again telling them the package didn't arrive and I wasn't surprised. I told them it didn't seem feasible to me that a package could get lost twice. This was about a week ago and I have not since heard back from them.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

I bought an expensive movie soundtrack cd ($280) from him called "The Boys From Brazil". He was selling numerous expensive movie soundtracks, but his feedback was 100% so I wasn't nervous buying from him.

Well, two weeks after I paid him I asked where the cd was, cause I never got an email mentioning that he got my payment and was shipping it out, and he told me that it went out on 2/22 and that I should have it any day now. I live in NJ, he lives in OK. So it shouldn't take a long time to ship.

Two weeks later, when I didn't get it, I asked again where it was and I got no answer. Several emails later, still no responses. I filed a complaint form with eBay and Paypal. Hopefully I'll get my money back.

I just wanted to pass this info along to you.

Thanks,
John

the January order was short 9 beanies out of 15 and the Feb order was short 3. I emailed him and he blamed me for not contacting him sooner. blamed me for making the purchase auction list too hard to read when sent by paypal. though he admitted that he printed the list out both times for his wife to use in packing

He said that he would either refund or send me the beanies. 10 days later I asked for an update, and he said that I could just take it up with ebay. my 45 days had elapsed by that time. and he knew it. he had strung me along until it was too late.

I did force a refund from him for the second order, by filing a paypal dispute. and then I left negs. of course he retaliated but it does not bother me.

He needs to be reported and reported and reported to ebay when he fails in his capacity to ship what is paid for and negs need to be left so that other buyers can see and that ebay will pull his PS status. a concerted effort will do this.

I am not advocating any auction interference or anything closely resembling that. I am advising that if anyone hears or sees more negs appear, to approach the buyer and tell them to file with ebay and with paypal even if it is too late. Both will keep it on file...

Mary Lou

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/ArthurSchiavo.html

Next, the e mails and phone call merry go round started. Like many others I was offered the free t shirt for my trouble. I feel quite stupid that I actually chose a new shirt and was excited about getting the order again. I can’t believe I have waited over a year, strung along by Mark and Maryanne’s e mails and promises that the shipment “should go out this week.” I received ANOTHER message from Mark just now that said the same thing!

Unfortunately, because I used PayPal I am far over my statute of limitations for a dispute to be resolved. I never received any refunds or merchandise from this order. Luckily I am only out $29.99.

Please let me know if I can be of further service.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Kristin Osborn

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

They set up Lisa Keil to take the fall for Americana Couture even though Mary is the brains behind the scam.

Here's how it works.

You place your order and then you wait and wait. It never comes, but when you ask you get excuse after excuse. When you ask for a refund they tell you they have and that your bank must have messed up. You call you credit card company and they issue you a credit and attempt a charge back to Americana Couture.

Once chargebacks on an account get to $3000 (estimate), they shut it down and open up a new one somewhere else. If your willing to accept high rates, you can sign up anywhere.

The voices that rise above the rest are first threatened with harrasment and in rare cases ultimately refunded by these two crooks.

Maryann is the brains behind the operation. She was also the President and defendent in the large Safari Media criminal and civial trial in May.

Mike

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Every item he has listed is a stolen auction description and picture from another current or recently completed auction. How can he have Billionaire 6 #65 when it was sold Friday by another seller to another buyer? The 5 authenticated Beanies he is showing all belong to other sellers and the rest of the expensive toys he has listed can all be found in auctions from other sellers. He steals descriptions and pictures and I'd bet the farm he's out to steal the money too.

(http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhaikuotiankongzs)

I placed our order and our credit card was immediately charged. However the run-around begins. The first problem that we encountered was that they did not have the color crystal we requested and it was on order- this took about a month. We were then told that are order was being shipped but got a bogus tracking number. Then Maryann told us our order was shipped but that it was damaged in transit and sent back to them. She claims that "Industrial Glue" was spilled all over it and it was shredded. My husband even asked her to take a picture of the box and email it to him- this of course did not happen. The next lie was that we were told they were being re-manufactured and we will get a 200.00 credit on our next order. This whole process has been a Four month fiasco. The last lie we were told is that we were supposed to have received our items yesterday. Guess what- No shirts!

During this time we had asked for our credit card to be refunded until actual shipment. Maryann had told us that she would indeed do this for us which was another LIE. After further research we discovered that not only did we NOT receive our refund but we were OVER charged by 300.00.

After doing further research I discovered that they are NOT an authorized Swarovski crystal dealer and are being told constantly to remove any of that information from their site. I also discovered the truth regarding the other pending court cases against Americana Couture and the fact that they fraud practically everyone who is NOT a Celebrity and receiving a shirt for FREE!

It's kinda funny how in the beginning MaryAnn called all of the time while we were in the order planning process. However, once Americana Couture got their money from us we NEVER can get in contact with a human being other than random email responses.

I guess the thing that that gets me the most about the whole ordeal is how cold these people are. One of the shirts we commisioned Americana Couture to make for our store was a Childhood Cancer Awareness Tee. This tee was to help raise awareness and funds for Leukemia research. It just goes to show how heartless these people are at Americana Couture. It's bad enough to steal money in the first place but to steal money from our Childhood Cancer Fundraiser is despicable.

Stay away from this company- I sincerely hope they get everything they deserve!

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

I bought and paid for 2 30 day presale Ty (I love Hawaii and I Love Seattle) beanie babie bears for ajs. He get real rude if u try to contact him before the 30 days, so I waited until 45 days and got nothing but an run around and mass/blanket e-mail replies. I purchased the bears 12-12-04, and to date I have rec'd nothing from him.

I have been in contact with other Ebay buyers, and we are all in the same boat. He wants to cancel the presale, becaiuse he cannot honor the low price, he sold them for. He know most Ebay buyers are afraid to leave negative feedback, because he will leave regative & retalitory fb's.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/ArthurSchiavo.html

As a result of this transaction, I posted 9 neutral feedbacks and 1 negative. He reciprocated by leaving 2 negatives about how hard he had tried to fulfill his obligations. In checking his overall feedback, I found that any time someone posted a negative or neutral feedback for him, he slammed them and they were horrendous buyers who he would never deal with again. Yet, as in my case, when things went his way and you waited patiently for a couple months for your order, you were an excellent buyer. Since his volume of business is so great, negative feedback will not harm his overall feedback rating. However, it does harm those of us who are average buyers/sellers, and he is well aware of that, in addition to stalling buyers until the time for Paypal/eBay refunds have elapsed, and he is taking advantage of it in an attempt to make himself look good. I do not know if this situation can be corrected, but I certainly urge you to investigate Mr. Schiavo and his unfair trade practices, and, hopefully, prevent the grief that he has put many of us through.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/ArthurSchiavo.html

OK...I said I"d wait. I sent emails back and forth between us all during the month of November. I have copies of all the correspondence. The entire time he assuring me he can get these beanies for me. I finally say...NO MORE...just refund the money...and he emails me and says..."that's too bad, I just got you two!" I say, "OH!! Well..OK...if you have them there, just send them! As long as they were in hand and I would have them in a few days, I'd STILL accept them. He agreed.

To this day, I have never received them. He insists that he sent them. He has never given me any proof that he shipped them, only to say, I cannot give him any proof that I did not receive them!!

Not wanting to be difficult, I said I would accept other beanies of the same value just to cover my losses...but he refuses to deal with me anymore. I attempted to file for a claim on ebay, but the two auctions together do not total $50...so I cannot recover there. I just cannot believe we cannot resolve this!! He is a HUGE beanie dealer!!!!!!! Why can't he just make good for me on the money I am out...I'm not even calling him a LIAR, maybe he DID send the second two beanies out...but I DID NOT RECEIVE THOSE BEANIES, Pat!

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/ArthurSchiavo.html

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

Glad I did a search and found your site, thanks very much, keep up the
good work.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AdrianTudose.html

I ordered these shirts after reading about them in PEOPLE magazine in December. Perhaps, PEOPLE should reimburse us since it was their good name that passed on the info without checking out the vendor!

Good Luck with the suit.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

I found his offer on Amazon
He had this email :Wswvideos@aol.com

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AdrianTudose.html

I was recently on amazon.co.uk and was very interested in purchasing a digital camera. After attempting to buy it i contacted the seller who gave me some details on himself and how we were to proceed with the transaction. I put his address into a search engine and found links to your website where i see this scamster has tried this sort of thing before.
Here is a copy of the email he sent me: (please note the change in christian name, although surname is the same as your website)

"I called amazon to ask them about the error they gave it to my oldest buyers when they tried to purchase my camera and they told me that i cannot accept their payment because they dont cover my country (Romania) in their payment teritory.
In this case we shall proceed this way:
Regarding shippment and payment here are the details : 1. SHIPPMENT : There are 3 options of delivery services that are very fast : - UPS 2 days air insured - FedEx 2 days air insured - DHL insured Any of those services are good, but I personaly prefere UPS 2 days air, if you have other preference, there is no problem. 2. PAYMENT : For payment, the fastest way to send money worldwide is Western Union wire transfer. To arrange the transfer, you must go in person to an Western Union Office please visit www.westernunion.com to find the nearest agent and hours of operation. From Western Union, you will receive a number (MTCN - Money Transfer Control Number), you must send me that number as soon as you have arranged the payment so I can go to www.westernunion.com to see if the transaction is arranged. As soon as I have verifyed the transaction, I will ship you the package with all the accesories with the delivery service selected by you. For the reason that you will pay some money for the Western Union wire transfer fee, I will cover shipping and insurance. 3. INSURANCE : The package will be insured at the delivery service for the amount of 350£. If something happends on the road, you will receive the insurance from the delivery service. 4. RETURN POLICY : As soon as the package arrives, you will test the product and if it does not matches 100% to your expectations, you will return it in max. 5 days sience the arrival date. In this case I will send you the full amount back and you will send me the product in the original box and you will pay the return shipping and insurance. The shipping will be with UPS 2 days air or FedEx 2 days air and I will pay shipping and insurance charges. Choose a shipping service you want me to use and give me your full name and address. At the Western Union office you`ll need my full name and address which is:

Name: CRISTIAN TUDOSE
Address: Street Name: 1 Tei , Apartament 20C, Bloc 5, Sector 6
City: Bucharest
Country: Romania
Zip Code: 7000
Phone number: 00 40 723 001 036

Looking forword to hear from you.
Best Regards
Sincerely
Cristian"

Thanks for the warning your site gave me.
Simon.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AdrianTudose.html

Initially the seller emailed me to let me know that 3 of the items I had purchased was holding up the rest of the shipment. When I asked if she would just send me what she had and forward the rest later, she stopped responding. That was on Jan. 21, 2005. Numerous other emails were sent asking for some type of resolution and all have been ignored. They have not come back, so I know she's getting them. I also requested contact info from eBay and found that the phone number provided was no longer in service. I checked into this person's eBay rating and found that I am not the only person experiencing problems with this seller recently. Some negative replies were posted as recently as yesterday. I paid $91.88 for everything via PayPal but cannot get any help from PayPal or eBay because the statute of limitation has run out. I did write her a letter and sent it with return receipt and got the receipt with her signature on it, so I know she got it, but I have not gotten a response to it either. I would appreciate assistance in filing a complaint with the Ocala, Florida authorities so that this person doesn't rip anyone else off.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Grace Amann-Viola

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/TammySmith.html or Barbs Collectibles

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/BarbaraPinto.html

I haven't said anything further to to the seller, but I;ll be leaving negative feedback tomorrow. In the meantime, I contacted Becky at TBB and told her to nullify the COA numbers (Old-face Zip #20370 and 7-line no shell Tank #13935. I've set the beanies free, but I saved the plastic shards from their cases with the numbers etched.

When Latrishasbeans finally responded to me, the e-mail came from Jays3000gtvr4@yahoo.com, who is Jay Vinci. Becky also knew him by the name of Jamie Vinci, and the moderator over on the TBB Beanie discussion board said that Jay/Jamie Vinci is also know as valchika@aol.com.

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/JamieorDianeVinci.html

Subject: Tammy Smith or Barb's Collectibles
Email: treasuresfromtammy@yahoo.com

I have been had by Tammy Smith, and here is my "POST"! I won a PIPPO on Dec. 2,'04 @ 11:29:27 PST! I won with a Winning Bid of 12.94 plus shipping of $5.95, a total of $18.89 via personal check and the number of the check is #2619. she emailed me end of Jan. or so, and I sent 2 emails then requesting a refund for the amount I sent! never heard from her again, and just emailed her several nites ago to pay up or she will lose "her name" which she already has! she had mentioned that she was shipping them out as fast as she could, and mentioned in one email to me that she had arnd. 750 to ship, then next time it was arnd.630 or so! I emailed her back and said, it's ok as long as I get my PIPPO, if she is really that busy, I understand, but to also keep me informed at how things are going, and never heard from her again! With this happening, and sending money in good Faith, and looking at her Feedback score, everything looked ok, and I never had any problems with any other sellers! THIS ONE IS BAD!!! Thankyou for reading my complaint, and giving us a chance to "soundoff"!!

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/TammySmith.html

I live in Ireland so I thought that perhaps it was the fact that I was an international customer that was causing the problem...but I see from your website that it is a common problem with Americana Couture. I am not willing to let the matter rest so I would be very interested in hearing if there is any actions that I can take to proceed with this matter.

Thank you.
Best Regards,
Donal Ryan

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/AmericanaCouture.html

On Dec. 8th, I won an auction for Pippo the Beanie Baby from Tammy. I sent payment through PayPal that same day and waited for my purchase to arrive. After 3 weeks, I e-mailed her to see if there was a problem. Tammy replied that all was well and that she had already supplied this Beanie to many buyers. She thanked me for my patience and that satisfied me at the time. About 2 weeks before the 60 day limit for an Ebay listing expired, I tried to contact her again, but this time was very different. Five e-mails requesting a refund, sent one every other day, were unanswered but not returned as undeliverable. When I got her phone number from Ebay, I found that her phone was programed to not accept incoming calls. Tammy has literally cut herself off from contact with any of her customers and has not delivered purchased items nor offered refunds. Clearly a case fraudulent business practice.

Sharon Steffey

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/TammySmith.html

Now I get another e-mail from Ebay for another Security Check. I checked out the problem and found information about Ricky Manning. I notified Ebay and they say I have a fixation about this Ricky Manning. They suspended my Ebay account while they investigate the problem. This guy has stolen my Ebay ID, password, my e-mail address and my home address and phone number.

I had several successful trades with a woman named Susan Bright at lexbright@aol.com. She lives in the UK. The last trade was for my New Face and Old Face Magenta Teddy. We agreed upon a trade for those, as we had agreed on others in the past, but this time, I never received anything. A month later, her daughter emailed me to say she had been in and out of the hospital and would get to sending her trade items as soon as she was able to do so. Being that I had positive transactions before, I was not concerned except for her health at that time. After many months, I still did not receive anything and she never responded to her emails.

She continues not to respond to any emails. Her phone number seems to be permanently attached to a fax machine. She is still at the same location in the UK as I have had several other traders look her up in the directory.

acsokker

--This person's Bad Trader Page--
http://www.traderlist.com/TammySmith.html

thanks

Lori Gordon
Senior Field Producer
CNBC
lori.gordon@nbc.com

Subject: Adekunle Rean, Tammy Phillips
Email: olabwale@fadmail.com

I need to let someone know to be VERY careful who you are dealing with. In my case it was almost a disaster. I had a laptop computer for sale on Ebay. I was contacted by a person using the name of Adekunle Rean (Tammy Phillips?). They wanted to buy the computer for $1,900.00 to be paid for by BidPay a Western Union service. I informed them they would have to bid and win the auction before I could send the computer to them. They joined Ebay (they were not registered when they first contacted me) they bid and won the auction. They live in Lagos, Nigeria. I began to received some suspicious looking emails from Western Union Bidpay saying that $1,900.00 had been given to them by the person but I would not receive the money until I provided a shipping/tracking number meaning that I was expected to ship before I received any money. In checking with Western Union I found that the emails had not been sent by Western Union and they do not handle amounts larger than $1,000.00.

Thanks For Being There For Us!
Rory