meridius

Hello, I recently decided to buy a new torque converter for my car since Im about to swap in another trans. I found one in the classifieds so I went for it. I sent him the money and he said he would send it out come that monday. Its been two weeks and I havent heard anything from him and Im starting to get worried that I just got ripped off 200 bucks here.His name is Christopher Ciccarelli and is from Bluffton SC, his Email is tunedportterror@hotmail.com . I was just wondering if anyone knows him or has a way to get ahold of him since all i have is the Emal and his street adress. I either want mymoney back or the converter soon since I plan on swapping very soon.

meridius

ok heres kind of an update. I havent heard anyhting from this guy since the 11th of last month and I am debating on trying to take legal action since I have the stub and everything for the cashiers check I sent and every email he sent me. I dont want to cause problems for a fellow thirdgen owner but I really need this part or at least the money back to go get another one. Id also appriciate if anyone knows this guy to either let me know or to tell him I need to talk to him ASAP.

juggernaut_69

Take legal action!! trust me dude. I got nabbed for a 1000 !!!!!! on a 700-r4 so sue his *** asap!!

meridius

Im gonna send him one final email and then Im gonna do just that. How exactly do I go about it? Do I contact his local police or would mine be able to do anything about it?

juggernaut_69

go to small claims court in your county and fill out the paperwork. I hope you have his home address because without that you can not get a process server to serve him court papers. The hardest thing is finding him and serving him the papers. I never found the guy who got me for a 1000.00 Good luck!!! you will need it

meridius

well I figured Id update everyone here. I contacted his local police and they told me theyd look into it but the officer will be on vacation for a week and then hed go talk to the judge and press charges for me for internet fraud. The officer was really nice about it and told me he would even swear in for me since I cant drive the 700+ miles to appear in court. Ill let you all know whats going on as soon as I hear back from the officer.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

What Happened? I just bought wheels off of him!

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

No you didn't, you donated money.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

You serious? Why the **** do the admins let him to stay?!! HEs been here for 3 or 4****in years wow Hes not gettin away with it he'll get whats coming to him

djtricia

iTrader: (4)

Go to the FBI website. They have a place to file for internet fraud. It worked for me. They contacted the local police who leaned on him and I got my money. It was only $50.00 but I had to wait almost 3 months before it all got sorted out.

meridius

Goodluck with getting your money back. The last I heard from the officer in charge of the case they wanted me to go down there to court and I cant. I live too far away and would end up loosing too much money and time over it so I dont even realy what happened with the case. I sure would like to get my cash back from the deal but itss been awhile since it happened so Im not counting on anything.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Ill try the FBI thing, I just dont get why hes still on the site?? Hes screwed over atleast 2 people but lets let him do it again!

djtricia

iTrader: (4)

Mods, it's time to ban this guy. He's lucky no one has gone and paid him a personel visit. I understand baseball bats can be very convincing.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Hell ya bro, if only i lived closer! Anyone have any connections in SC? Theres gotta be someone from this board

RITTER

iTrader: (5)

If you have his street address, call information and get his phone number and call that bastard non-stop!

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

He was on just an hour ago.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ortterror.html

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Someone message him and if anyone wants his address just shoot me a PM!

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

I called information His name wasnt registered to the address but I got three different Phone numbers to his address. IF you want them PM me, but just ask for chris Im trying to find the real number.

Randy82WS7

he is registered on a million different forums out there, do a google on his username

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Here is a good start, warn others on all the other boards. Maybe someone will give you his address and #.

http://auto.search.msn.com/response....prov=yaho&utf8

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Here you go, you can find him from this guy.

http://www.theformulasource.com/foru...showtopic=8085

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Did you read the whole thing? It said something about his brother in law, and that it was all worked out, now i dont know what to think!

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

I wonder, he is one here everyday and still won't answer you, something is wrong.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Could you shoot him a message for me? I messaged him a few times kinda sayin i knew it was a scam but nothing to harsh just in case something happened and is legit, but i just dont know, i registed to the south carolina forum we'll see whats up

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

I really don't want to get personally involved, you need to send the MODS a PM and let them handle it.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Ok, i understand, mayb they will JT didnt really want to seem to get involved before but ill ask a diff mod.

meridius

Shoot me a PM with his adress and stuff, its been so long and Ive since moved I dont know where it got to anymore.

Thanks

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Sent it bro.

30AnvZ28

I live on Hilton Head Island, and you have to drive through Bluffton to get to the Island. I am working with celticsfan to resolve this.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Yeah, JT is more of a com admin, you need to PM the big dog MODS!!!

rebel1222

Contact the Postal inspectors office. They will send you a complaint formt to fill out. Fill it out and type up a seperate page with your complaint. He can be charged with mail fraud. Did you send him a postal money order? I had to do the same thing with uncle frank/forward540. He stole money for a set of headers and a y-pipe.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Yeah It was a postal money order, what was the outcome?
Thanks

rebel1222

Well, I just mailed everything off last week, so it is still in process. I'm sure unless he decides to send me my funds back it will be an ongoing thing. But, I'm not going to let him get away with it, even if I have to drive to his home town to press criminal charges with his local police station.

I'm also begining to wonder about the folks I just bought some black seat belts from. I sent them payment via paypal two weeks ago and still no seat belts. I emailed him Friday and he has not reponded yet. Begining to look like I'm twice burned.

Any experience in getting your $ back thru paypal?

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Not me personally But I heard its very possible what form did you fill out? Ill give him until Friday to respond them I'm filing a bunch of complaints, internet fraud, mail fraud and ill call his police see whats up

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

I dealt with him. He is a scammer. Scammed me out of $130.00. I am working on it as we speak though.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

I don't get it, why are these people still members and still allowed to sell when they rip people off

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

I am working on getting him banned/kicked off of tgo.org as well as ls1 tech.com

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Here is my thread where I basically donated money to him:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exte...-245-40-a.html

JT

iTrader: (1)

A couple of quick things to mention. First, TGO is not involved with transactions. We basically provide a forum that brings buyers and sellers together (in the sense for the Classifieds forum).

Just as members can post "technical" help outside of the Classifieds section, members can post items for sale. Just because a member is allowed to post outside the Classifieds section with their "technical" help, does that mean they are creditable and correct with their information? Do members automatically take the advise as 100% truth and correct? It's the member's responsibility to use common sense and take the help as is. The same goes for buying and selling. It is the buyer's responsibility to do their homework to know if the seller is creditable, and to see if the member has a positive or negative history on these forum, as well as other forums. I believe this applies global, not just on TGO.

When a member has had a negative experience with a seller, that does not automatically mean we should take action, nor does that automatically mean the seller is at fault. You deal with all types of people. Some are hard to please, some are dishonest, etc. BTW, I understand that it particular case appears that this is more than just a few people.

Because we are not involved with transactions, it is not easy for us to be aware of the problems, or even know who really is at fault when a problem does arise.

If a member has a history of scamming people, and it's brought to our attention with good notes and proof, I do feel that we should take steps to put a stop to it, or prevent it. Just because people post "he scammed me for $xxx", without further proof, does not really help. It's important, if you want to have a believable, and creditable case, to provide some proof other than some text words. This seems even more important because I've noticed a few times where some members (sellers) "battle" back and forth about their items for sale, their price, their inventory, etc. So it's not unreasonable for me to think that creating some false claims about being scammed is possible, too. I'm not saying that's the case here, or the majority.

In the end, it's the buyer's responsibility to do their own homework. I've been made aware of same cases where the buyer, unfortunately, did not do their homework, but waited until after a problem appeared before they did some research. This does not apply to only transactions on TGO.

It was brought to my attention that we should work on a faq for some buying and selling tips. I think that would be a good idea.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Well JT heres proof i have pics of my reciepts and stuff and in this topic:
http://www.scfyb.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20620, im sure others will be able to get pics also, even if you are not involved he should still be removed after more proof is provided.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Here is the thread with my uploaded delivery confirmations and postal money order reciept.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exte...ml#post3293566

30AnvZ28

JT... im a moderator on www.scfyb.com.

I am going to have to side with both of these guys on tunedportterror. He is a thief... plain and simple.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Do you have a member with the name forward540 or unclefrank540 or something similiar, he is a crook also.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

It looks like its going to work out now, should be getting my money back looks like a case of poor communication in MY case, not sure about everyone else.

meridius

Good to hear things worked out for you. I wish my case ended up the same way, its been a couple years now and still dont have my money back. This is the sole reason I no longer deal with hardley anyone online anymore.

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

You could always shoot a Pm and refresh his memory its worth a shot

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

As an update. I did recieve two tires from him. One of the tires though is in horrible shape. I will post pics in the next post. It has either major curb damage or this guy cut out pieces of the sidewall with a knife.

The story goes like this. I contacted TunedPortTerror and sent him a money order with delivery confirmation to his place of employment, which was Jaguar Hilton Head in South Carolina. He replied back saying he would ship the tires. That was the last conversation I had with him. for three weeks I PM'd him daily, emailed him at work, called him at work, called his personal phone. Lack of communication was not the problem.

I did research on him and found out he had scammed many others. (see this: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cl...-delt-guy.html (has anyone delt with this guy?) )

I got in close contact with some other members who had been scammed by him or were in the area of SC and willing to help. I along with another member collected all of the copies of money orders, delivery confirmations, emails and classifieds about tunedport terror scamming people. I spoke with the Illinois attorney generals office, South Carolina attorney generals office, ftc, internet fraud center, FBI, Beaufort county sherrif's office. I was told to contact his place of business and inform them off all of this before making formal complaints/charges about tunedportterror and the dealership.

I then contacted his place of employment and spoke with his supervisor. I told her everything that he was doing. "selling" things and having the money sent to the dealership. He was fired that day. The termination of employment was confirmed by a member who went to "pay him a visit."

Chris then after getting fired Sent me a PM saying "i'll be sending your tires tomm. i'm sorry for jerking you around." I recieved the tires, with the large gashes in them. I had ben told by him that "tires are in awesome shape, they held air just as a tire should, and they are a pair, right and left." This was far fromthe truth. I am unsure of the ability to hold air or weight. See pics.
----------
pics of tires seen in following thread:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exte...=1#post3311152

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Thanks for the CONCRETE EVIDENCE, maybe now he will be banned like many others should be! If I was a mod I would ban all those loosers, I see people banned for lesser reasons such as cussing, but when members are crooks they actually are not bothered. Go figure

TunedPortTerror

Tires are fine, and are in good shape, hold air and will perform as they should. there will be no refund, this the end of this saga!!! Move on TIBO. I also find it hard to beleive knowing how you are that you did not inspect these tires immed when you rec'vd them over a week ago, and you're just complaining about them now. The tires were fine when I shipped them to you. End of story!!!

Celticsfan

iTrader: (1)

Update: I did receive my refund from TPT took a while but i did. Definitly lack of communication. And I end up with a negative...K?