Does fastmemoryman cheats?

Speak up!

2007-06-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

Leave a comment to this post if you wish to tell others your experience with fastmemoryman.

Massive negative feedback

2007-06-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

Before buying in eBay I use to explore the feedback of the seller, and I have always wished that eBay had an option to select only the negative/neutral feedback, because it really shows the class of problems that you can expect. Instead of that I look page after page looking for the red and grey buttons...

Well today I have found a fantastic place: Toolhaus.org

This place allows you, between other things, to look at all the negative feedback that an eBay user has received. So let's give a look at fastmemoryman's negative feedback

When you see all that negative feedback together you really understand that really this is not about scams: this is about organized crime, a screwing machine that is making a lot of money. We can't allow this to continue.

Note: I have noticed that toolhaus,org sometimes fails due to load. If the previous link does not work go here to see the feedback at the time of this post.

Update

2007-06-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

100% of the transactions are older than 20 days (89% are older than a month), so odds of new cards arriving are remote, and probably I will not update the statistics post any more.

By what I know by now, probably fastmemoryman found supply problems and could get only a part of the cards, and not until May 17. The information from the buyers shows that all the cards that arrived were shipped on May 17, in most cases 2 to 3 weeks later that what it said the false shipping notification email.

The final statistics show that 18 cards were delivered (40%). Another 15 cards (33%) have been refunded or have an open claim. I don't know nothing about 13 cards (28%), their buyers have not answered my emails nor they have left any feedback.

Of course sometimes people doesn't leave feedback, but most times this is because people that have problems is afraid of leaving negative feedback, because they know that the seller will retaliate, and he will do more harm to us that we can do to him.

When I will leave negative feedback for fastmemoryman it will be almost unnoticed and he will keep his 98.3% score. However his negative feedback will convert my 100% score to a 97.2%. For users with only a few positives, just one negative can have a devastating effect in his rating and impede any future sale.

After I finish this post I am going to elevate my Paypal dispute to a claim. I have been waiting for that second card to arrive just in case, but I think enough is enough.

Gotcha!

2007-05-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

As I commented in the first post, I have an open Paypal dispute with fastmemoryman. Last claim from him was:

We reshipped your missing item on 05/17/2007 2:27 PM 284740 ...shipping address deleted.... and you should be receiving it promptly. We apologize that you did not receive a shipping notice for the reship.

So I stopped any action to wait a reasonable time for that "second" card to arrive.

Today I have noticed a little detail: My first note to fastmemoryman about the missing card was sent on May 18, one day after he supposedly re-shipped the card

He sent me an initial shipping notice on April 24. So, why he decided to re-ship the card on May 17 if I didn't protested until May 18? How could he know that the "first" card had not arrived?

There are two explanations I can think of:

a) Fastmemoryman has paranormal powers
b) Fastmemoryman is a liar and he didn't shipped the card on April 24.

In my country there is a saying: "It is easier to catch a liar than a cripple"

How to get your money back

2007-05-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

For some on the buyer's list, this is one of their first eBay transactions, and for most this can be the first that goes wrong. So, let's review what you need to do to get a refund.

The following recommendations are extracted from eBay help

Most common issues can be resolved by communicating directly with the seller, even before using buyer protection programs. eBay recommends following these steps in this order:

Step	Details	Timeframe
1. Check the item listing.	Review the seller's terms of sale, item description, and shipping and payment terms. Have you allowed enough time for the seller to receive and confirm payment?	First 10 days after the listing ends
2. Email the seller.	If you are still concerned, email the seller with your questions. If you don't have the seller's email address, you can request it from eBay or use the "Ask seller a question" link on the item listing page.	First 10 days after the listing ends
3. Check your email spam filters for messages from the seller.	It's possible that the seller is trying to email you but your spam filters are blocking the messages.	First 10 days after the listing ends
4. Check your own contact information.	It's possible that the seller is trying to email you but your contact information is incorrect. Go to "My Account" in My eBay and click on "Personal Information." Make sure your email address is correct.	First 10 days after the listing ends
5. Call your seller.	Request the seller's contact information and give the seller a call.	Request the seller's contact information and give the seller a call. Any time after completing the first four steps
6. File a complaint with PayPal.	If you paid with PayPal, please visit the PayPal Resolution Center to file a complaint. Your item may have enhanced protection through PayPal Buyer Protection. You must have a PayPal account in order to file a PayPal Buyer Protection claim. If you paid for the item with PayPal and did not create a PayPal account, you will be asked to do so before filing a claim.	First 45 days after the listing ends
7. Use eBay's Item Not Received or Significantly Not as Described process.	eBay's Item Not Received or Significantly Not as Described process is designed to make communication between buyers and sellers easier.	10 to 60 days after the listing ends
8. Contact your credit card company.	Credit card companies typically provide some level of identity and purchase protection. Contact your credit card company to learn more. Note: If you paid with your credit card through PayPal, we encourage you to try PayPal’s complaint filing process first.	First 45 days after the listing ends

Credit card companies typically provide some level of identity and purchase protection. Contact your credit card company to learn more.
Note: If you paid with your credit card through PayPal, we encourage you to try PayPal’s complaint filing process first.

And these are my additional advices in this case:

If you think that the seller is not acting in good faith, is a waste of time to email him directly because some of the next steps will force you to contact him again with the same claims. There are a lot of sellers than will not bother to answer you unless you go the "official" way.

If you don't know how to contact another eBay member look here.

If you used Paypal to pay, notice that the timeframe above is incorrect: Really, you have 45 days from the payment date, not from the listing end. And beware, fastmemoryman will try to fool you to wait 45 business days, claiming that is required by his insurance to act: If you do wait, you will loose the right to claim through Paypal.

You can read the details about Paypal's protection program here.

To start the Paypal claim process, login to your Paypal account and in the Resolution Center open a dispute about the eBay transaction: you will need to send a message to the seller with your claims and wait for his answer. At this stage Paypal does not participate, but the seller is forced to go "official" mode, and many times, if they think that anyway they will loose the claim, they will refund you to avoid further pain and problems with Paypal.

But if you are unable to resolve the dispute with the seller, you can escalate it to a claim with PayPal within 20 calendar days of opening the dispute. Again be careful, because fastmemoryman could try to make you reach the deadline with some trick. By escalating to a claim, you ask PayPal to review the case and decide the outcome.

In this case you can use the information in this blog to support your position. You can see in the statistics post that there are more refunds and open claims that received cards. Even if we assume that all cards in unknown status have been received, a 35% of the cards have not arrived and have already been refunded or have open claims: This can't be a problem with USPS. This means that either 16 or more buyers are crooks trying to fool poor fastmemoryman, or that fastmemoryman is trying to screw them. After googling "fastmemoryman scam" I think there is no doubt which way is it.

What you can do if fastmemoryman gives you negative feedback

2007-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Many people doesn't know that they can reply (just once) to feedback left by others, and follow up (again just once) to feedback left by themselves.

This option is hidden in My eBay -> Feedback -> Go to Feedback Forum
or you can go directly to http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback.html

Once there, look for a box on the right tittled "Feedback tools". There you can Reply to feedback received or Follow up to Feedback Left.

Your reply or follow up will appear just below the original feedback comment. A sample:

Hint: You have only 80 characters to rebate his lies, and you can be tempted to address the reader to a web address instead. Be warned that eBay forbids letting urls in feedback comments. They could be erased if fastmemoryman request it. What it is completely correct is something like this:

"He is a liar. Google "fastmemoryman cheats" and see by yourself."

Buyer's Status and Statistics

2007-05-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

The value of merchandise that has not been refunded, and apparently has not arrived yet, including shipping charges, is:

$973

In this post I will update the status of each buyer, either through the feedback they left for fastmemoryman, or resuming what they tell me by email. Notice that eBay only let me contact five eBayers each day, so it will take some time until I am able to contact all of them.

user	Feedback left or * Status given by email
jacks555	Transaction cancelled by seller..
weltall_of_id	* Open Paypal Dispute. Finally received
cameradevices	* Paypal claim filed
frakcturedkckc	* Waiting but confident due to past buys
ecila2002	* Had problems but after emails card was re-shipped and received May 21th
mekong49	Cheer, prices and quality are with return, thank you and with soon
maxine39	* I never received my Sandisck Utra II micro. Told lost in the post - I believe it was never sent.
zepolcorp
raj185
kadir786	* Card received after 5 weeks
h8yall	* Card received
niqui7ladoo	* Card received
dgj2301	slowmemoryman. Never got Item, worst experience ever. waiste of time and money * was refunded after claim
pimt.06	No delivery. No such item. Given swift refund. Recommend others do the same.
cvanne2	Objet conforme, emballage soigné et très bonne réactivité. A recommander. Merci
huntingcatfishcatcher	Item not recieved, money refunded, thank you.
sopark112	Never received product, but was reimbursed funds, Poor communcation
sopark112	Never received product, but was reimbursed funds, Poor communcation
ppsaura	* Open Paypal Dispute. Waiting for a card that fmm has reshipped (ha!) on 17/05/2007
watkin6161	Received today
etaonri	AVOID! Paypal returned my money - doesfastmemorymancheats.blogspot.com
jenareljam	Very good communication! Shipped next day. Shipping delays, but helped me thru
francomo0
icemode*com	* Received card
abbott0222	Claimed the it was shipped. It wasn't until I filed a lost item claim w/ USPS. * Received card
colinj66
emre.ayman
conquero_r( *)
topdollars47( * )
kko5947( *)	Great product. Thank You
ohhdit( * )
bjdm1( * )
unitedwarehousing( * )	JUST AS DESCRIBED GREAT SELLER. WILL DO BUSINESS AGAIN WITH.
ziggy90127( *)	* Received
gregdoherty( *)	Great hard to find product
jdkovak( *)	* Received
tintinonline( * )	* Not received, starting claim
leverageleaders( *)	thank you for selling this rare item and for a smooth transaction
dpcchung( *)
daegunlee( *)
study2show( *)	Fast Shipping!! Great Ebayer!! Would Buy From Again!!

(*) The initial price of the card was $25 but the price was raised on April 25, and buyers marked with an asterisk paid $55 for the card. They also have received most of the cards

And this are the general statistics. Have in mind that 100% of the transactions are older than 20 days.

Status	Cards #	Percentage
Received	18	39%
Refunded	9	20%
Claim/Dispute	6	13%
Wait/Unknown	13	28%
TOTAL	46 (*)	100%

(*) Note: There are only 41 buyers, but five of them bought 2 cards.

I think this table speaks by itself.

Update 24/May: Good news, 4 more cards arrived today. Only 32 remain missing. I wonder which shipping company is he using...

Update 26/May: Whoah! 10 cards already given to their owners after a month. Rate of success: 22%

Update 29/May: 14 cards arrived. This has to be a world record! If I were USPS I would demand fastmemoryman for suggesting that only 30% of the mail reach their destiny.

Update 05/Jun: Some more buyers answered after a second try. 18 cards have arrived in total althought none was received from the last update. So it seems that shipping it is done, if you are yet waiting I suggest you don't waste your time longer.

I am afraid that YES, he cheats...2% of the times

2007-05-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

I decided to Google for fastmemoryman and the results confirm my worst suspicions.

fastmemoryman is Mr. Chetan Saraf and there are records of his scams all over the Internet:

http://www.ev4.org/wordpress/category/fastmemorymanscam/
http://fastmemorymansucks.com/
http://www.powerpos.com/CrapCo/ebay.htm
http://www.ev4.org/wordpress/category/fastmemorymanscam/
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=936638&page=35
http://alifeonthenet.com/?p=12
http://voxluna.org/sellers/fastmemoryman.html

After reading about him, my conclusion is that he lives in the edge. He is selling very cheap products that are ok 98% of the time and then he has big margins thanks to the remaining 2% buyers that suffers all kinds of scams: Unsent items, partial refunds that exclude inflated shipping expenses, broken items sent, lower quality items sent, ...

Paypal and EBay do not show any interest in getting notice of this evident situation, as they are receiving their percentage of this business. While fastmemoryman manage to keep his rating over 98% there is no problem.

The result is that 1300 buyers were probably cheated last year (negative feedback) and another 1300 had problems (neutral feedback).

My problems with fastmemoryman

2007-05-21T11:35:00.001-07:00

On April 23th I bough a microSD memory card in eBay from user fastmemoryman. He had a 98.3% rating that was a little worrying with a great number of problems shown. Anyway he was the only one offering the "Ultra II" model and I decided to take the optional insurance and go ahead.

Then on May 13th I received this note from one of the buyers of this item through the eBay internal messaging system:

Hi mate,

I hope you don't mind me asking a question about a product we both recently purchased off FastMemoryMan. Regarding the Sandisk Ultra II 2 GB we purchased, have you received it yet? I am yet to receive it, and I am doubting whether the product was even shipped. If you could please reply with some of your own feedback to this item and its shipping, it would really help. I believe nobody on the purchases list has actually received the item, and it seems even fishier as he has raised the price by 30 USD recently.

-B.L

I was already wondering if waiting so long it was normal, but I live in Spain and although normal mail usually takes 5-7 days, sometimes I have seen packages that took 3 weeks to arrive. So I decided to wait a little more until the maximum 15 business days that it could take according to fastmemoryman shipping note. I answer back my eBay pal:

Hello,
According to the vendor it was shipped on 24/April but I am still waiting for it. For Spain, where I live, is longer than normal, but sometimes has taken 1 month.

I doubt that FastMemoryMan wants to purpousely con us: with the number of sells he does it would make him more harm that benefit. Maybe we need to be a little more patient...

Anyway I will inform you of any development, please do the same with me. If this is a generalized problem maybe we can make more pressure with eBay or Paypal: You can contact me directly at xxx@xxx

But anyway this note had raised all the alarms and a few days later, once the maximum shipping date passed, I reviewed the list of buyers of this product looking at their received feedback: Nobody had feedback from fastmemoryman after the sale starting date. Then I patiently went through fastmemoryman's feedback looking for the microcard buyers. This are the results (it was May 20th)

jacks555( 470)	US $25.00	1	Apr-20-07 05:55:06 PDT	Transaction cancelled by seller..
weltall_of_id( 36)	US $25.00	1	Apr-20-07 23:47:19 PDT
cameradevices( 838)	US $25.00	2	Apr-21-07 10:49:15 PDT
frakcturedkckc( 28)	US $25.00	1	Apr-21-07 10:51:30 PDT
ecila2002( 100)	US $25.00	1	Apr-21-07 12:54:16 PDT
mekong49( 13)	US $25.00	1	Apr-21-07 13:55:42 PDT
maxine39( 529)	US $25.00	1	Apr-21-07 16:07:08 PDT
zepolcorp( 19)	US $25.00	1	Apr-21-07 22:06:56 PDT
raj185( 300)	US $25.00	1	Apr-22-07 05:26:57 PDT
kadir786( 42)	US $25.00	1	Apr-22-07 05:43:34 PDT
h8yall( 82)	US $25.00	1	Apr-22-07 15:53:26 PDT
niqui7ladoo( 49)	US $25.00	1	Apr-22-07 15:54:54 PDT
dgj2301( 74)	US $25.00	1	Apr-22-07 16:51:46 PDT	slowmemoryman. Never got Item, worst experience ever. waiste of time and money
pimt.06( 40)	US $25.00	2	Apr-22-07 17:26:24 PDT	No delivery. No such item. Given swift refund. Recommend others do the same.
cvanne2( 97)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 05:24:58 PDT
huntingcatfishcatcher( 37)	US $25.00	2	Apr-23-07 07:15:09 PDT	Item not recieved, money refunded, thank you.
sopark112( 35)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 11:14:21 PDT	Never received product, but was reimbursed funds, Poor communcation
sopark112( 35)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 11:15:20 PDT	Never received product, but was reimbursed funds, Poor communcation
ppsaura( 36)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 11:29:51 PDT
watkin6161( 34)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 12:30:30 PDT
etaonri( 124)	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 15:29:06 PDT
jenareljam( 5 )	US $25.00	1	Apr-23-07 19:25:34 PDT
francomo0( 18)	US $25.00	1	Apr-24-07 02:53:37 PDT
icemode*com( 317)	US $25.00	1	Apr-24-07 04:48:23 PDT
abbott0222( 17)	US $25.00	1	Apr-24-07 05:23:47 PDT
colinj66( 53)	US $25.00	1	Apr-24-07 15:32:16 PDT
emre.ayman( 30)	US $25.00	1	Apr-24-07 22:00:25 PDT
conquero_r( 50)	US $55.00	1	Apr-26-07 04:19:20 PDT
topdollars47( 4 )	US $55.00	2	Apr-27-07 06:05:14 PDT
kko5947( 633)	US $55.00	1	Apr-27-07 22:31:00 PDT
ohhdit( 1 )	US $55.00	2	May-01-07 13:54:02 PDT
bjdm1( 1 )	US $55.00	1	May-01-07 17:07:32 PDT
unitedwarehousing( 6 )	US $55.00	1	May-02-07 12:51:33 PDT
ziggy90127( 0 )	US $55.00	1	May-02-07 17:37:42 PDT
gregdoherty( 23)	US $55.00	1	May-04-07 19:37:35 PDT
jdkovak( 1 )	US $55.00	1	May-04-07 20:16:18 PDT
tintinonline( 7 )	US $55.00	1	May-07-07 08:19:18 PDT
leverageleaders( 58)	US $55.00	1	May-11-07 17:31:35 PDT
dpcchung( 4 )	US $55.00	1	May-13-07 00:54:33 PDT
daegunlee( 44)	US $55.00	1	May-13-07 17:14:49 PDT
study2show( 52)	US $55.00	1	May-15-07 16:39:08 PDT

What! 41 users and the only feedback left was for 6 failed transactions!

After this I immediately emailed fastmemoryman both directly and through eBay:

Hello,
I bought this item on 23/Apr/07 and you sent an email informing of shipment on 24/Apr/07. However I have not received the item yet, and I suspect that no other one in the list of buyers have (some of them have contacted me). I paid the insurance. Please give instructions urgently before I am forced to open complaints with eBay and Paypal.

He answered with a canned email explaining the shipping times and giving no solution but waiting. I raised a little the level:

Ok,

I live outside US, and the item was supposed to be shipped 19 business days ago (26 natural days).
I payed insurance so please I want my money back or that you send the product.

Either way I am completely sure that you have not sent this item to nobody in the list of buyers. I have searched all the feedback the buyers of this product have left and this is the result:

...here there was the fedback table shown upwards....

So, as you can see nobody has received it and you have already refunded some of them. So it is clear this is not a shipping problem and you know. You have 48 hours until I will raise this matter with eBay, Paypal and your bond company.

Regards,

His answer:

Hello,

please note that all packages are insured and a lost package claim can be filed if the package does not arrive in 45 business days from shipping.

THE FOLLOWING SHIPPING TIMES ARE ESTIMATES AND NOT GUARANTEED DELIVERY TIMES AS WE CAN NOT CONTROL POSTAL DELAYS.

If shipping from the US to a US address – 1-10 business days

If shipping from the US to an International address – 5-15 business days

If shipping from the UK to a NON US address – 3-7 business days

1. Items shipped from the US can be stuck in the border or be delayed due to American or English holidays.

2. If you still have not received your item within 45 business days from shipping, please contact us and we will take care of the issue.

We understand that this may seem like a long time to wait but this is the insurance guidelines, not our own.

Thank you

So he suggest that I wait 45 business days. This happens to be very convenient for fastmemoryman because Paypal claims have to be raised up to 45 natural days after sale. So if I were to follow his indications I could never raise a claim. Do anybody notice the same fish smell than me?

Time to go the official way. After a little investigation eBay sends me to Paypal Resolution Center where I describe my problem that is sent to fastmemoryman for him to answer back, as a first step of the process. To my surprise, instead of offering me a refund he answer immediately the following:

We reshipped your missing item on 05/17/2007 2:27 PM 284740 ...shipping address deleted.... and you should be receiving it promptly. We apologize that you did not receive a shipping notice for the reship.

Now I don't know what to think. Are they honest or just making time to try to fool me on reaching the claim deadline (Jun 10th)?

Meanwhile, I have decided to contact all buyers on the list and address them to this blog to have a place for sharing our experience and help each other. Please use the comments to participate.

Update: eBay only allows me to send messages to 5 users per day, so this is going to take some time. Any help would be useful.