Tim appears to have dropped off the face of the earth, but before doing so, he emptied his Paypal account down to a little over $2. I now have that $2 and change in return for my $75 I sent him for a Camelback Transalp. I'm a little disappointed in Paypal, as their privacy policy prevents them from sharing his contact information, so all I have is his email address (tcastillo33@cox.net) as a point of contact. I don't want to hunt him down and kill him, I just want my money back, or better yet to have the camelback. Paypal seems to be "aiding and abeding" scammers like Tim. I'm not going to get a lawyer to get my $75 back, as I'd spend that much on the first phone call.

So I guess I'll just come here and bash Tim whenever I'm feeling disgruntled... Thanks Tim, now I have a place to vent. Hopefully after about the 100th bash I send out, I'll feel like I got my $75 worth.

I wonder if anybody else got stiffed by my buddy Tim. He had a number of items for sale when I contacted him regarding the transalp, and the only feedback I could find on him was on Ebay and was positive. Maybe he had a stroke of bad luck or something, said something about changing jobs when I contacted him (laid off?). Anyway, I haven't heard back from him in a couple months, nor have I seen any ads on mtbr.com with his name on them. If anybody else has had any interaction with Tim, do share.

A few days ago I contacted CarbonLord about a new crank for my road bike. (Sabin is one of the best sellers ever.) My crank will not be available for a couple of weeks but I offered to pay him either with a check or PayPal. His reply was that he had a run in with Paypal where they debited his account for a lot of money 6 months after the deal was done. This has led to legal problems. Since I have trusted his judgment on other issues, and Paypal has access to my checking account, I decided that it is better to be safe than sorry, and cancelled my PayPal account. Obviously if you only buy this is not a problem, but I do sell, sometimes for big bucks, and would rather trade on my reputation as a seller and take MOs only.

Bruce