Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Gil. Congrats on the bass!

Jeff-Can you believe how much effort those frauds put into attempting to rip someone off?

I think you can survive just fine with only three of the four pins - as long as all the other three are swaged firmly into place. You would be in trouble with two missing, though.

How about it Mike.

Thieves really bug me. I wonder how often this sort of thing works, and how much money this type of ebay thief makes?

Jeff, this ruse works good enough that we continue to see second chance offers like yours all the time.

Jeff: 100% fake, This is not even the seller's email, not to mention that he was at home as I picked it up myself (after driving 9 hours both ways on a single day...)

As for talking about ripping off and frauds, this would have been funny if it wasn't so annoying: 4 hours after I paid the money for the guitar through paypal, I received an email from paypal telling me they believe my account has been hijacked as someone just transferred a large amount of money to a new paypal account.
Needless to say - this was the money for the guitar, I was abroad trying to prove I am the actual account owner while they held the money right after they charged my credit card ~$5K...
I got really ****** and after a day (and ~3 hours of phone calls with an Israeli phone, from Vienna to the US) they finally agreed to end this saga and to let go of the money...
This is annoying - but it also tells you how hard it is to rip off someone using paypal.

Elys - Thanks. I'll check it out.

Gil, I've been collecting close-backed Grovers for my '72. So far I have one, for a D or G. I'm tired of looking, so if you would rather replace yours, drop me an email.

Regards and Congrats,
Lyle

Interesting story, Gil.

About a month ago when I was in San Fran I picked up my bass that Paul W was restoring for me. I paid him with Paypal, but after a few hours Paypal voided the transaction because it was made from a laptop, and not from my hometown, and not connected to an ebay auction. It was too much of a pain to get my account re-instated, so I paid Paul with a check. About 3 days after I got back home, Paypal decided that everything was okay with the transaction and released the payment to Paul! Then Paul had to refund me back as I had already paid him with a check.

Silly Paypal!

But at least they're trying to prevent fraud.

Mark: I just emailed you.

Jeff - Well, in order to win yourself account lock you need to raise their suspicion:

1. Money transfer from a "new" IP, they track your IPs, I live in Israel and most my paypal logins were made from either home or work, when they saw the big transfer initiated from a foreign country using my laptop it raised a flag.
2. Money transfer to a new, unverified account will raise a flag (The seller had just opened the account so I could transfer him the money)
3. More than $2500 over the weekend or $5000 during normal days will raise a flag (This was very close to $5K and on a weekend...)
4. A non ebay deal will raise a flag (mine was ebay, however - I had my cards close to their credit limit and had to pay with 2 different payments, so I couldn't link it to the ebay auction).

Basically - Their system is fine, however- they should provide a "simple" way to have the owner identify himself in order to end this fiasco within timely manner.
I was willing to divulge the full number of my main credit card, if the pizza delivery man can have it - I don't mind to tell it to a paypal employee, a Hijacker would never have it as it shows only the last 4 digits... It didn't convince them much.

The only way I managed to finish it in time was when I asked the supervisor at the resolution center: "Listen, you charged my credit cards, maxing their credit, I need to use MY money while you are holding it to prove I am not a thief. You know what? I am, give poor Gil his money back so he could withdrawal the money using other, conventional methods..." Why would a hijacker ask to refund the credit card?

She then agreed to transfer the money despite the fact my account was locked.

It is very hard for me to describe the feeling I had when I found out they locked my account and held my money. I can only say that the last time I felt like that was when I had a car-crash 3 years ago with my 1 month old, brand new Audi - Like the whole world is turning on you;
1. I am abroad, just transfer a LOT of money to buy my dream guitar.
2. They took my money, I won't have a guitar.
3. At first I was told I couldn't get a refund, that means I will have to trust a man I never met to return the money, basically I could get screwed
4. they wanted utility bills, all my utility bills are in Hebrew, what good would that made? and how on earth could I fax/scan a utility bill in Israel while still in Vienna? I talked to the rep in resolutions and she agreed and said that they would lift the lock without it after I did the other things they wanted. 4 hours later (at 4am, I couldn't really sleep) I received an email that asks for the utility bills, the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing... I started to think that this will not be over within the time I am still there and got more depressed...

What a nightmare, Gil. I'm glad it all worked out in the end. Yes, they don't make it easy for you once they freeze your account. Good thing I had the option of paying with a personal check.

On a related note, I sent an email to the thief that sent me the bogus "second chance offer" on your bass. Here's his original email again:

"Second Chance Offer from keyboardsvint ([email protected])


Item: Rickenbacker 4001 Stereo, Mapleglo, November 1972 !! - 330139131311


The winner had some problems and could not continue, if you are still interested let me know.


I will send you a legal second chance offer through eBay once I have your agreement.


Reply me directly at : [email protected]

PS: I will be away for the next two days and I will be checking my e-mail only. Use my address above instead of using eBay messaging system, if you want a prompt response."

Here's my response:

Hi there Genital Wart-

I'm interested in your second chance offer on the Rick 4001. Please tell me more details.

Thanks,

Jeff

Here's his reply:

Sorry, what's your eBay pseudo?

Apparently not noticing how I addressed him. Feel free to write harassing emails to him!

Here's a pic of the '72 MG with new owner Gil and fellow Forumites Marc (right) and Ilan (left) yesterday at Marc's house in Tel Aviv.

That's a beauty. A bookend to my lefty '72..

Sweet

Up close it's very impressive. The checkerboard binding, the lovely full width crushed pearl inlays, the split tailpiece, the nicely ambered maple, the wavy Grovers, the tug bar... and it's in such a good condition it's almost hard to believe. And the body is a bit narrower across compared to a '92 4003 (thick horn era). Gil says it still has the cap...

Looks a great bass.

Ditch that cap....

Wow, what a sweet bass! Gil got a real beauty! How does it play, Ilan? Really wished RIC still made them like that - shedua stripe, FWMOP, CB, etc. While dreaming, how about a magnetic shoe horsey too?!

One thing I've never read here, why the split in the tailpiece? What was the purpose?