Have you ever been ripped off?

[Indylady]

Yes—and two recent ‘attempted’ jewelry rip offs come to mind:

1) I popped into a small jewelry repair shop that I had no experience with to ask if they could set a pair of diamonds that were about .60ctw ...the jewelry store offered to TAKE my diamonds as a trade so I could pay an additional $150 to BUY 2 pairs of .20ctw—and then pressed me to accept this offer. I think the two pairs of studs were upper mall quality, but still crummy. So why would I give you my 30pt diamonds for the opportunity to pay $150 for a .10 diamond stud?

2) A diamond ‘broker’/semi retired jeweler tried to buy a loose 1ct diamond off me by saying, ‘that’s a garbage diamond, why do you want it anyway?’ I had no need to sell so I was pretty surprised he made me an offer + and added an insult at the same time, lol!

 

[Rockdiamond]

Yesterday as I was cruising eBay, I found an amazing bargain! It was this ring which we made some years back. Now, I could buy it for less than $300!! We sold it a while ago for around $10k, so wow, what a steal, right?

Guess what else! The seller has at least 20 more of our rings for sale - none for over $1000!!
Of course, they don't actually have any of our items......it's just so easy to steal pictures.
I sooooo hate it when slimeballs steal my pictures and use them to rip off innocent people. My pics are dear to me.....
So let's stop these goniffs!
eBay will surely help, right?
The "report item" button on eBay is so very satisfying. There's no place to enter text, so you don't actually get to say what happened- but the preset options really cover so many different possibilities ( 3)
Tongue out of cheek, eBay does NOTHING about this- they don't even provide a platform to properly report it.
Anyway, this sort of theft really bugs me- thanks for making a thread where I could vent about it ipaperunicorn

 

[Wewechew]

One time I started yoga classes at a Dahn yoga center. It was a bit weird in that they required this karate type uniform and really pressured you to participate in tea after the classes. But I enjoyed the yoga so I joined and paid upfront $1000 joining fee. Well, I found out I was pregnant a few weeks later and stopped going because of morning sickness. They called me about 3 times daily to ask why I wasn't there. It was so creepy. Now, I admit I am a bit naive and very trusting and should have gone with my gut instinct that this place was weird. After a quick Google search, Dahn yoga is kind of like a cult and has had multiple lawsuits against them. The hardest part was telling my husband that I think I joined a cult for a grand! Oops!

This made me chuckle

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

These stories are so entertaining (and sometimes heart-wrenching). So glad we have a place on PS to share things like this!

 

[smitcompton]

HI,

I was ripped off on Ebay several times. The one that sticks with me is a so-called original painting in the style of Dali. They had a wonderful selection of these odd ball paintings that I loved. They were from between 200-300 dollars. I contemplated buying several, but I decided to try one. I was so taken with them I was sure they would sell out.

It arrived and of course it was only a copy. I called police-they said Its very nice-you should keep it. I then went to ebay to complain and they made me get an art opinion stating that this was not an original work of art. There is an good art school around me and I went there. They wrote me a letter and I went to turn it in, but I missed a deadline of 4 hrs, so my complaint was rejected. My work of art sits in a package in my garage. Its been there for about 6-7 yrs. Oh, how I wanted that to be original.

Ebay has not been kind to me in most things. At least 10% of items are not as described. I don't buy much anymore.

Annette

 

[winnietucker]

I mean, this one is partially my fault too, but here's my story.

My husband and I had this terrible idea (we didn't know better at the time) to buy a fixer and completely gut it. We were living in elsewhere and over Christmas weekend one year we were like, "lets redo it all!" So over the course of 3 days we gutted the house to the studs by ourselves.

Well then we had a hard time getting a contractor in do so all the work. We went with the one guy that both showed up on time and said he'd do everything. He presented himself as capable and professional and he had good reviews online. He messed up our house. He messed up really simple things too. I had a plumber come out and he basically called the old GC a moron and doubts he used an actual plumber do to the job.

So far the GC messed up:
1. Drywall
2. Removed and damaged our wood stove
3. Random electrical wiring?
4. Plumbing was a mess
5. My cabinets have random holes in them...
6. The grout in our shower cracked multiple times after they were long done and out of my house. I called them out to fix it multiple times. At one point I told their guy I didn't think they used the right stuff and their guy said, "yeah we're starting to think so too."

During the project it got to the point where we'd start yelling at each other because he didn't like to be called out and wouldn't fix his mistakes. He'd then try and call my husband and my husband wasn't having any of it.

Once everyone fulfilled the initial contract he inquired about being hired for our additional projects and i told him no.

I've hired multiple people to fix his mistakes at my own expense. He's since filed bankruptcy. I tell everyone how awful he is. I know he works somewhere in some trade in our area. I hope someone remembers my story about what a terrible job he did on my house and declines to work for whatever new company he's opened/works for/whatever he's doing.

In hindsight I should have done more research before I gutted my house. This is our first home and I'm glad we did it/ bought it. We were able to learn a lot of good lessons without losing a lot of money. We have plans to buy a larger home closer to my husband's job within the next few years. The area we're looking to get into is way more expensive + we want a large house since my family likes to stay with us often... So if we waited and tried this in that situation it would be disastrous vs just irritating.