Buyer beware

I don't know if you guys have a deal on here that if you have a problem when you buy parts from a member you let others know so the same thing doesn't happen. Well i had a problem with a well known and respected member of this board and wanted to let others know to be cautious.

I contacted Moppie in july of '02 about some rear seats for my 91 civic hatch. He said he had it and told me a price. I let some people know about it since my birthday was around the corner and my friend bobby decided it would be a good present. I told bobby how to get ahold of moppie and all the info he needed to send moppie the money thru paypal. My friend sent the money in mid july and moppie told us the package would arrive in 3 weeks. I waited for 3 weeks and then no package. I contacted moppie and he let me know that sometimes its slow with customs. I believed him and waited 2 more weeks. When nothing showed up again i contacted moppie again. He assured me he sent the package and that customs could just be taking awhile. I continued to believe this and just kept waiting. I got sick and tired of waiting after 3 months and no package. I asked him for proof that he shipped it, tracking number or anything. His reply to me was that the tracking numbers they get are ONLY good up until it passes thru customs, after that the package cannot be tracked. He said that it had made it to customs so it was no longer trackable. I asked for the name of the company he sent it thru and any contact info but he avoided the questions. i was given nothing,no number or name to contact the people that he shipped it thru. I just wanted to see if they indeed got my package. I believe that if he really sent it then they would be the people to help me. I was again told to wait because customs takes a long time. I had already been waiting 4 months total now and still nothing.I finally contacted moppie and let him know that my friend wanted his money back. I let him know that it had been too long and we had recieved nothing and would just like the money returned. Moppie said he could return it but being the fact that he had a new job and place it was gonna be hard, also the fact that he had to convert his money to american dollars.So i sympathized with that and said waiting would be fine. With the waiting I couldn't check in with moppie since he was hardly online. So it was by chance if i caught him online. I sent an email asking him what the progress was and he assured me that he almost had enough money. I was pleased because i knew that my friend would be getting his money back for a present that he bought for me and never got. I contacted my friend many times to check and see if the money was sent back and it never was. I finally had enough and tried to contact moppie thru PM on here but no avail. I contacted the local police department who then gave us a number to report him for fraud and theft. The only update we got was that they were talking to customs.

I didn't want it to come to this and nor did i wanna go to the authorities but i felt like i had no other option. Moppie-all i wanted was what my friend had paid for or his money returned to him. I just wanted you to be upfront and tell us the truth.


This isn't a post to bash moppies character or to flame him or anything else. I don't want it to turn into that either.I just want to give people a heads up. Be careful who you deal with.


~ megan

I am not taking sides here, but since the person being named is a moderator, I will say this now. This thread is not to be deleted, or locked, unless normal AF policies are violated.

regardless of who it is, its good that meg brought it up, cuz if moppie does turn out to be some dead beat, she could have saved the rest of us some money.

i have a similiar situation with sparq, as far as i know he sent my bumper money to a texas company, but ive recieved nothing, its been over a year now. i currently have the BBB and the Texas Attorney General looking into it.


hope good things come out of it megan.

if you would like i can talk to sparq. he is on a board that i moderate on and i will talk to him. I am sorry for you loss and i will do what i can or what you would like me to do.


about moppie - i just want people to be careful. you really don't know who your buying from on the internet i don'twant to see other people lose money. i know that my friend worked hard for it just like the rest of us when we buy parts and i don't think it should be lost like that.

Originally posted by Trinity
if you would like i can talk to sparq. he is on a board that i moderate on and i will talk to him. I am sorry for you loss and i will do what i can or what you would like me to do.


Meg, whats talking to me on a board "you moderate" going to do? Theres no need for this - he knows everything thats gone on upto this point. See its funny Scott because you make this sound like ive done shit to help you. When you know damn well that isnt the case. Ive been dealing with this stupid fools from day 1

hey thanks for the heads up, it sucks when as just people we cant trust eachother to stick by our words, especially here on AF because i feel the peeps that have been around a while feel we could do business with eachother and when thats violated, its insulting like a stab in the back. :(

sparq- i will talk to you about that on aim.

i would like to bring this back up one last time

im sorry if it sounded like you werent helping me, i didnt mean for that.


sparq has helped me loads from the beginning of this mess, but i still have recieved nothing. if i could get in touch with this guy i would talk to him personally.

i have again contacted the BBB to help with my situtation in hopes to resolve this matter.

While not the best way to sort out a problem, I dont really have a problem with this thread.



Yes everything that Trin said is pretty accurate.
I did indeed sell bobby and her some seats, and they did pay me for them, and according to them they have yet to arriave.
I believe them, I see no reason why they would want to claim they didnt.

Unforunatly for Trin I have no reason to lie to her and not send the seats. I sent them when I said I did, useing as I said I would New Zealand Post.
They provided me with a tracking number that allowed me to track them as far as the US. According to them the parcel made it that far.
From there Im afraid I have no idea what happened to them, they have been stolen or lost or something, unforunatly it happens, and its a risk you take when shipping things over seas.
And there is nothing I can do about it.
I have offered to try and refund some of the money, as I hate the thought that someone who I was doing a favour for has suffered a loss. But I currently earn NZ$234 a week, thats just over US$100. Its not a lot of money to have to live off, and leaves me nothing to put into savings to pay bobby back. This dosnt mean I wont pay him back, but it wont be with in the next 6 months.


Iv lost out on this as well, I have not sent anything else over seas since (except some small mail) as I woud to hate to think that despite the improbablity of it happening twice it would also get lost. Iv paid for parts and there are ppl who want to buy them but I dont want anything like this to happen again.



Megan and Bobby I really am sorry for what has happened, but like I said I sent it when I said I did and have no control over what happens from there on.

Now since you seem its nessacry to place blame directly on me and attempt to take legal action agaisnt me I feel I can not say anymore on this.

Why you always use insurance:flash:

I did a deal with Sparq on a motor and it was just as he said it was and it runs great. I would trust what he says, he's a good guy.

yeah i got my motor from sparq without a problem as well and it was in damn good shape and runs strong

me and my friends have gotten tons of things from sparq probly totalling over 3k in costs ad nothings gone wrong and he's always helpful even if i do message him at like 3am in the morning.