Bear with me this is quite lengthy but worth the read.

I generally participate in discussions in the 3rd Gen Forum. I have a white 1990 SE I bought November 2000. I immediately began restoring some of the factory equipment, one of the items I began looking for were Nissan original floor mats in black to match my black interior. I called every Nissan dealership I could find and nobody had them available any longer. Well later on a Maxima.org member named 1FasMax posted a thread in the 3rd Gen Forum and said he was selling some used parts including black floor mats. I immediately called him at the number he posted and told him I was interested in the floor mats. The guy's name is Matt Lauritsen, he was nice as can be, we made arrangements for me to purchase the floor mats for $35 including shipping since I live in Texas. We agreed I would send him a check and once he receive the check he would send the mats. On March 1, 2001 I overnighted Matt a personal check for $35. Needless to say I have yet to receive the floor mats that he has promised twice to ship to me immediately. My check was paid on March 5th, so I figured I should have received the mats within a few days, we had agreed on ground shipping, I attempted to call him several times to find out the status, well by March 15th I still hadn't received the floor mats. Here is the email I send on March 15th.

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----Original Message Follows----
From: "hotmail 1" <cbrowneyes@hotmail.com>
To: <NissMaxSE@aol.com>
Subject: Floor mats
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:13:28 -0600

I have called you several times, I need to know when you are going to ship the floor mats. You have received and cash my check. Please call me at work or home, my work number is 800-624-0503 x7976 and home number is 972-664-0687. Or email me....
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I then finally reached him late on March 15th. He stated he had been out of town, I told him no problem when can you ship the mats, he said Saturday on the phone and then he emailed on March 16th. Here is his email.

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----Original Message Follows----
From: NissMaxSE@aol.com
To: cbrowneyes@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Floor mats
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 14:30:48 EST

Just a reply, this e mail was probably from before we spoke last night.....I will be working today until 5 pm. I know I said that I would send them today, however, if I cant make it, 100% for sure absolutely Sat., its my day off, so they will get shipped, they are in my trunk boxed, and ready to go.......if you need to please call me at 805-340-7959

Thanks Matthew Lauristen
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Again, I patiently waited and never received the mats. I called again and again he never was responded, so finally he sends me an email on March 28th.

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----Original Message Follows----
From: NissMaxSE@aol.com
To: cbrowneyes@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Floor mats
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 21:00:00 EST

I just havent been home, I will get them out ASAP.

Thanks Matthew Lauritsen
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Again I waited patiently, thinking okay the mats should arrive shortly. Finally getting frustrated, and I believe rightfully so, I sent him another email on April 5th more than a week later after still having not received the mats

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----Original Message Follows----
From: "hotmail 1" <cbrowneyes@hotmail.com>
To: <NissMaxSE@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Floor mats
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 09:06:45 -0500

Okay, it has now been another week and I have yet to see the floor mats. HAVE THEY BEEN SHIPPED OR NOT?? I think I have been very patient and I am really trying not to come across as rude, but I think anyone else would have been calling and screaming, I know your busy but you promised to shipped the mats almost 4 weeks ago, almost a month ago. You don't cash people's check and then not give them their merchandise. If you have not shipped them, then just forget about it and just send me back the $35. No questions asked. I'll get them from somewhere else.
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Well now not only will he not return any phone calls and when he does answer the phone he just hangs up. He won't even have the courtesy to email me or anything. I have asked him to just return my money no questions asked. He hasn't done that either. I hate to vent this on the forum but I believe members should know and take precautions. I felt like being a member of the organization, people with a common interest, helping each other, we should be able to trust others in this forum when trading or giving information and advice. I value the opinion of all the members here and I know that others do too, or else many of us would not be here. Maybe that's not a reality, but I learned my lesson and I know others have good experiences and I know that is the case more often than not, but its something to keep in mind.

Now, I again I still need black floor mats, anybody know any dealerships I could check?

 

looks like it's a good time to drag his name in the mud. let everyone know of this. it's just not cool to do that. people give me the trust of sending me the money i will in turn send the package out ASAP. that's just poor excuse that's he's been out of town BS. yeah i'm always out of town going to work..what's his point!??
good luck getting the $ back. next time try doing paypal or something. it's sometimes easier. or even a COD.

 

ya, thats really not cool, he should at least give you your money back. well at least now we all know...... its a sad thing that people like that can ruin the name of the max.... i m just glad that most of you guys arent like that.everyone keep up the good work and dont let one bad person spoil it for all of us who enjoy maxes

 

i suggest putting this in the dealershoip/shope expirences if you have not already done so

 

That bites that we would have a scammer on this board. I have dealt with several people on this board and have done great business with them. Perhaps since we often do business with people on this board, maybe the administrators could have a way to post feedback that is linked to each member like ebay. I know of 4-5 people on this board that I can leave positive feedback for and say that they did good business. Some people were more than generous, like shipping their item to me the same day I told them that I would purchase it before ever receiving my payment. I don't expect that normally. I would hope that 1fastmax would respond to this posting and clear this situation. Also does anyone know 1fastmax and knows approximitely where he lives? Another option would be to post his phone number on this board if he is unwilling to resolve this situation and let all of us harass him until he either corrects this situation or changes his phone number, which would be more of a hassle for him than the $35.

If this isn't true please post, 1fastmax, and explain. We have somebody who has a case to be made that you wronged him.

 

I seriously hope that there is a good reason for this, come on, 35$!?!? Why would anybody try to screw someone for 35$? Just out of interest, I looked through this guy's other posts and he doesn't seem like an A-hole, he was a regular member, has like 170+ posts, so it's not just some lurker or newbie trying to scam someone else...
Him hanging up and stuff is totally unjustifiable (sp?)
At least explain the situation and appologize, damn.

 

Yea... I'd love to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but the only side I'm hearing says he's a bad apple. If there's another side of the story I'd love to hear it to try to clear this mess up and save some face.

 

Hmmm, I wonder whats going on? He hasn't logged into the .org in a while, he may have some kind of excuse if he hasn't been by his computer for some reason, but the fact that he is not taking calls is bad.

 

If you all will look in the original post, 1fastmax's phone # is in it...I don't condon harrassing this guy but what he has done is so wrong!! I feel for ya! It's too bad that someone on here would screw over another max bro.

----Original Message Follows----
From: NissMaxSE@aol.com
To: cbrowneyes@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Floor mats
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 14:30:48 EST

Just a reply, this e mail was probably from before we spoke last night.....I will be working today until 5 pm. I know I said that I would send them today, however, if I cant make it, 100% for sure absolutely Sat., its my day off, so they will get shipped, they are in my trunk boxed, and ready to go.......if you need to please call me at 805-340-7959

Thanks Matthew Lauristen

 

By the way, this IS considered mail fraud, since you sent him a check by US mail and he basically stole it.

this is a FELONY offense. you've obviously got documentation on it and he admits to not sending you the stuff for several weeks.

tell ya what.. give him a call and just remind him of what can happen to people who commit mail fraud.. if your floormats or check don't come within a week, turn his *** in. usually they won't mess with a small $35 amount, but they DID say something to a guy that stiffed me out of $110 on some computer parts a while back... I got the money back in 3 days after they sent him a letter.



good luck man..

 

there is many laws to consumer fraud and your local atty generals office can help you on this and they will send you pampletes with all the bells and wistles but you have to write a 30 day demand leter, what this is, is a statement of what happened like the one you showed us in the post is perfect. you put that there and then demand what you want( which would be the floor mats) then you state the penalty s and laws that you are demanding your mats under(this will be given to you in the booklet your state will send you. what you do is read it all the consumer laws and write all the ones that apply for exampl: it will say "expressed and implyed warranty" and then it will give a discription and say" this is when you purchase something from someone like a mufler from a shop and the guy says to you if it rusts bring it back ill get you a new one and then you bring it back and he tells you to bend your mother over" you will be protected under this law. The good thing about this is that when you send this demand letter to him he has 30 days to reply and if he doesnt reply to it he under law has to pay you tripple damages (35x 3) plus expenses and attorney fees and even work if you miss it, if he does reply and doesnt give you your money you take him to court and all you have to do is go in and show the paper and you get tripple damages plus fileing fees and any expenses and he will also be fined! this is a very simple letter and if you are interested in this i can send you the info you need to give it to this perpetrator

 

Well good news. 1FasMax is definitely on the way to redeeming himself. He finally responded, he had left a message when I arrived home from work Thursday night. He was on a cell phone and his message was partially cut off I guess he was going through some dead spots or something, but I did catch the end of his message, he stated he had been extremely busy and that he would send me a money order out immediately and he apologized. I called him back and got his voicemail, and I told him, I appreciated him calling back and I just really wanted to know if he had sent the mats or not. I told him I still really wanted to have the mats and much rather preferred to have them than the money. I didn't hear anything back from him until I read my email this morning and he stated that he has a newborn who has been very sick, which I understand completely, my first was very sick when he was born too and I missed alot work during those first few months, but he went on to say he has shipped the mats and he even included a UPS tracking number. Another update to come hopefully when I have the mats in my hand.

To 1FaxMax:

Matt, I think you will agree that everything I have stated in the post is true and factual. I want you to know that I meant in no way to demean you, embrass you or anything like that and if I have said something here that is not true please correct me. I want you to know that I understand that we all have things that happen in our lives good and bad. The thing I want you to take from this is, if just communicate with a person, especially when they are trying to communicate with you, people will understand. I am sorry to here about your newborn, I completely understand, I think when I went through it, it was the hardest and scariest thing I have every had to face. God bless you and your family...

 

Well I have noticed Brian (purchaser of floor mats) has been understanding in the situation, and kept a mature attitude, and simply did what he should have done, Sorry for not keeping in contact, you'll see the mats in the mail this week, Not sending those mats in a timely matter was nothing financial related, I want everyone to know I wasnt trying to get ahead by $35.00.....In the end I spent almost $13.00 to ship them, so I made $22.00, enof money to get 2/3 tank of fuel here in California, and to compensate for this my offer is as follows: I have many misc. spare parts for a 92 SE (VE) My motor blew last summer, so I Am sitting on many left over things, sensors, misc engine things, Brian if you happen to need anything I may have, feel free to let me know...I know you have a VG, so not sure If Id even have anything you mite need in the future, but if so They will be yours at no cost, feel free to contact me anytime.

Thanks Matthew T. Lauritsen

 

Its too bad that this had to be poseted everywhere before the situation was settled, seems like an honest mistake and you are more then willing to compensate for the time it took for the matts to be delivered