Background: I purchased a screen protector for an iphone on 12/13/2009. There was a problem with the sellers checkout and I notified them. I paid via paypal as instructed on 12/15/2009 and THEN received this FINAL NOTICE a mere FIVE days after the close of the sale. I have highlighted a few areas that I thought were, uh, overboard. I have also removed any identifying information for the time being.
Now I am fairly aware and when someone pushes I tend to push back rather than cave but if they are doing this on a regular basis (and they say they have hundreds of sales a day) then I bet somebody's mother or grandmother, upon getting this message might click the paypal button just to get them off their back. Isn't it worth $19.99 to keep your credit clean?
AND, how many powersellers may be doing this to buyers. I hate fraud. I contacted ebay via phone to find out where to send the info. They asked me to explain the situation but seemed they did not understand. I did forward the email though after googling I do not expect much help from ebay.
Suggestions, thoughts, rants? Or maybe I am the unreasonable one and this is perfectly fine.
FINAL NOTICE. 5 DAY NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT REQUIRED.
THIS IS NOT A SPOOF EMAIL.
iPhone 3G/3Gs Crystal Clear Screen Protector~HOT DEAL!
Price: $ 0.35
Ebay Non Paying Bidder Dispute Filed:
If this invoice has been paid for and you have received your item(s), we apologize. Please contact us so we can update your account.
As an Ebay Shopper, you may have a misunderstanding of the manner in which winning auctions that have become seriously past due are handled. We are a High Ranking Ebay Power Seller and list 100's of auctions a day. Non Paying Bidders are a serious problem for us and cost us a tremendous amount of money in lost revenue and ebay fee's. Because of this, we handle Non Paying Bidders in a different way than other smaller sellers.
We have contracted the services of XXXXXX and the Collection Agency of XXXXXXX to try and recoup these losses.
These are real companies and you can verify them at their websites.
I am not going to attempt to think of some clever phrase to get your attention. Neither do I wish to embarrass, intimidate or do any of the nasty things that are often done to encourage payment.
I am merely informing you that your account has reached a point where it must be turned over for Aggressive Collection.
You can read for yourself on the XXXXX website the process of collections and I will summarize it for you. Once it is turned over to the collection agency of XXXXXXX you will be treated as a Non Paying Customer of our business as if you walked into our store, purchased that item on credit and didn't pay your outstanding bill. Your acquired information from Ebay will be placed in a National Skip Trace Database were more personal information will be obtained. At that point XXXXXXX can and will place this non payment of your delinquent account on your Personal Credit Report. This may effect your credit score and may cause your interest rates to rise on your credit cards and loans and may even prevent you from getting new ones.
XXXXXXX will give you an option to avoid this drastic and final step by making a full payment or a final payment of 20% of the winning bid + $10.00.
We do not want to see this happen. We are offering you a way to avoid all this mess and make a flat rate payment of $19.99 to cover our losses and close your delinquent account before it goes to collections.
We want to make this as easy as possible.
How to Submit Payment:
Please go to paypal.com . Log into your paypal account. Click the Send Money Option and send $19.99 to XXXXXXXXX
Please copy and past your auction information from the top of this email into the Note Section of the paypal payment so we have your correct account information.
Your name will be removed from the collections list and your account will be closed.
If you do not understand how to send a payment and have a paypal account, please reply to this email asking us to send you a paypal request and the email address to send it to.
If you do not have a paypal account or have problems making payment, please reply to this email and request another form of payment.
If we do not receive a reply to this email we can only assume that you are not willing to settle your account and we will have no other choice but to turn it over to collections.
Once again, if this invoice has been paid for and you have received your item(s), we apologize. Please contact us so we can update your account.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
Billing Dept.
FINAL NOTICE. 5 DAY NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT REQUIRED.
THIS IS NOT A SPOOF EMAIL.
CC: XXXXXXX
CC: XXXXXXX
