Hacked player from powersellerturbo

[princessanne1026]

I purchased (what I thought was) a 1gb mp4 player from eBay seller powersellerturbo for $38.05
Here
I received it relatively fast, and even though the seller had some negative feedback about selling hacked players and there was a fraud report when I searched his username on google, I thought I was safe because it wasn't over 2gb. I was wrong. As soon as I received the player I began loading files on it to its supposed capacity - 997mb. I kept receiving format errors and restarts, so I began to get suspicious. Then I took the advice of taddad1 and used the mp3 disk player to reveal its true capacity - 474mb. I was furious. I promptly e-mailed the seller, demanding at least a partial refund of $15. Now I know that $38 for a 512mb player to begin with is good, but still! I paid for 1gb and I was supposed to receive a 1gb player, no matter what the price. Anyway, powersellerturbo, or "Mark Larson," replied that I could only send it back for an exchange. I was even more infuriated considering that it would be at my expense for a mistake that he made. Someone needs to stop this conman. Here is the extent of our communication so far:

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Hello, I received the mp4 player today, but when I went to load songs on it, it kept giving me errors. Then windows required me to format it and when I did, it showed only 474mb, NOT the 1gb advertised in the auction. I learned from a site dealing with these players that this means my player is hacked to show more capacity than it really has. I actually have a 512mb mp4 player, not the 1gb that I paid for. To be fair, I am requesting a partial refund of $15. I hope we can work this out. Thank you.

-Ruth Rose
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Send back and we'll exchange.

Our return address is:

Larz Inc
PO Box 266
Anoka, MN 55303

Please include your auction number and return address.

Thanks Mark L
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Mr. Larson,
I appreciate your fast response, but I don't think that it's fair to expect me to pay for shipping to return the item that was a result of your mistake. I don't think it's unreasonable to request a $15 partial refund, considering you sell hundreds of items daily through paypal. Please reconsider my request. Thank you.
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$15 is not reasonable. The price you paid was well below its cost to begin with, if you'd like an exchange send it back.

Mark L
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What should I do? I haven't left any feedback yet, and I'm afraid that if I open a dispute he'll leave me undeserved negative feedback. As you can see, while I have been polite, he has been brash and in the last response, even rude. I hope you can help. Thanks.

[admin]

princessanne1026,

If you get undeserved negative feedback, can you complain to eBay to have the feedback withdrawn? I'm sure they must have a system that protects you against a 'negative feedback war'?

How about work out the costs involved in this situation?

1. How much will it cost for shipping to get a replacement unit to be sent back to you? Add that cost to the price you originally paid. How much does that give you now?

2. USD$38 seems to be an average price to pay for a 512MB MPx player.


The problem I see is that the shipping charge will be a cost to you which, like you mentioned, is unfair as it was his mistake the first.

I think he's a conman too. He probably knows he's sending out 512MB player but advertising them as 1GB so others will see it's more 'cheaper' and buy it from him than from someone else. Then they discover that it's only 512MB. So he saids, send it back to me, at YOUR cost and I'll replace it.

I would say majority of the people wouldn't.

So basically he's made a sale by falsely advertising the product as "1GB" and so the price is more attractive for buyers. Once bought, he's got the profit he needs. If anyone complains, then they can send it back and I'll send them the right one. Majority of people wouldn't, so he's got away with the con.

:evil:

[lattesurf]

I guess even if you sent the player back (at your own cost), he'll still end up sending you another player with hacked memory. And by the time you receive the replacement and find out it is hacked again, you'll probably get tired of all these sending back and replacement stuff and make do with the 512MB instead.

I'll file an ebay & paypal dispute over item received not as significantly described. But likely they will end up asking you return the item for refund of purchase price only. Either way, you would have paid for shipping to you, and shipping back to him.

You'll need to work out the sums on whether it is better to replace it (see above for likely scenerio), or pursuit an item dispute. With regards to the negative feedback that you might receive, i think it is possible to ask ebay to remove it. But you have to state the reasons for the removal, in this case he selling half the advertised capacity and giving you negative feedback.

[Que]

And send Ebay the links to the topics here in which the seller is named. Make clear that the seller is aware of the problem for some time now, but keeps selling hacked players. So he/she is deliberatly claiming falls specifications of his hardware. Also put other links in to the items in his shop that are bad (4 gigabyte) The easyer you make it for ebay, the more likely they will respond in a manner that puts you above powersellerturdboy. Make Ebay work for their money!
The same with the guy who tried to trick me with the fake 4 gig, he changed his shop's name 3 or 4 times now, EBAY ARE YOU DUMB AND BLIND?

[princessanne1026]

Admin: If I post negative feedback and he retaliates, eBay won't intervene. They even have a policy where they spell this out, saying that feedback is a matter of opinion, and that they don't know enough about each individual situation to interfere for one particular party. This I can understand, because eBay can't possibly know who is telling the truth and who is lying in a situation like that. I don't blame them.

Anyway, my situation has improved somewhat. After that last rude e-mail he sent, I had had enough and quickly replied with a fiery one of my own. Basically, I told him off. Here's what I said:

You are being extremely rude. I paid for a 1gb player, and did NOT deserve to receive a 512mb one. I have been nothing but polite to you, even though I am the one who is supposed to be angry at being lied to, but my patience has run low. Yes, $38 is still a good deal for a 512mb mp4 player, but that is NOT the point. I paid for a 1gb mp4 player and I should have received one. I am NOT going to use any of my hard-earned money to send it back to you when you are the one who made the mistake. I want some form of compensation via paypal. If I receive another rude response like I did before, I am filing a dispute with paypal. OK, maybe $15 is a little high for a refund. That was just a suggestion. That is why we can negotiate. I am trying to be civil here, but you are making it difficult.

Also, judging from some of your feedback and google search of your username, it turns out that I am not the only one with this problem. You know full well that your players are not their advertised capacity, but you don't care. I don't know how you sleep at night knowing you've ripped hundreds of people off. I also don't know why no one has suspended your account yet, but I will not rest until I get compensated in some form. I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from you again and will make sure that everyone I know also knows that you are a conman and a fraud.

I was afraid that it wouldn't work and I would actually be forced to follow through with a dispute, but I think my threats sufficiently scared him and his next reply was a little more up my alley:

How about you send it back for exchange and we'll cover your return shipping ($4.05)? Is that fair enough? Or we'll refund you $10 for the mistake.

Mark L

Finally I got somewhere with that tyrant. I opted for the $10 refund, because as lattesurf said, who knows if he would just send me another hacked player if I chose to exchange (even if he was covering the
shipping)?

So basically, as long as I get my refund, I'm happy. I can live with a 512mb mp4 player, I just hated the fact that I was lied to and treated like dirt afterwards. I still haven't decided what kind of feedback to leave him, though.

The moral of the story is: DO NOT BUY FROM POWERSELLERTURBO. You WILL get ripped off. I know the prices look great, but they're too good to be true. That was how I got sucked in the first time. Still doubtful? Go to google and type in "powersellerturbo fraud" and you'll be convinced.

I'll keep you guys posted on what's going on. Thanks for the support.

[Que]

Well done, though a victory with a bitter aftertaste.
@ the moderaters:
Maybe an idea to put a message "do not believe sellers that offer 4 gigabyte players" above the Ebay advertisement on the mainpage of the forum? Right now we may lead people right into their hands!

[lattesurf]

princessanne1026 , good on ya!
At least you paid $28 for a 512MB player don't seem all too bad for it. Seriously I don't think you can buy a 512MB player for this price in your local shops?
I did a google search on his userid, how cool.. 126 search results on this guy alone! And all are negative results!

Regarding the feedback thing, it's totally upto you to leave +ve, -ve or neutral.
If i were in your shoes, i'll probably give him +ve (but maybe a neutral? somewhere in between). But the comments won't be that nice, at least he still offered a $10 refund. Most others in this forum and many others out there don't even get a reply (much less a partial refund) from their sellers.

[princessanne1026]

I thought that the refund would be the end of my problems with powersellerturbo, but not a chance...

It started after I discovered the hack, complained, exchanged strong words with the seller, and finally got my $10 refund. I thought that I could finally relax and be able to enjoy my player. No such luck. The player continued to randomly crash and restart, even though I had already removed the hack. I tried to extract and repair the firmware, but the crashing continued. It finally got so bad that whenever I would press the left arrow button, the player crashed. I finally decided to send it back for an exchange at my expense. Hopefully it won't cost me that much and I'll get back another player WITHOUT hacks and defects this time. At this point I'm tired of dealing with powersellerturbo. I really hope he gets kicked off eBay soon (after I get my exchange, of course :lol: ) Here's a picture of the player I bought about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, and the e-mail I sent regarding the issue.

I received the $10 refund and was going to be content with a 512mb player, but I can't enjoy even that! The player constantly freezes and crashes for absolutely no reason at all, then restarts just to do the same thing again. It has gotten so bad that whenever I press the left arrow button, the player crashes. This is ridiculous. This mp4 player has been a complete waste of my time and money. I am requesting permission to send it back (reluctantly) in the hopes that I will actually get back a genuine, WORKING player.

...And their reply:

Send back and we'll exchange.

Our return address is:

Larz Inc
PO Box 266
Anoka, MN 55303

Please include your auction number and return address.

Thank You

Heather

[avionik99]

I recieved 2 hacked players from Mark. I bought 2G players and both were only 512meg. I sent them back and got a full refund for both less the $8.75 postage.

I bought 2 players from Velectronics and both are true 2G players!!

Dave