" Ripped OFF"

Hi

after a lengthy email discussion sold my surf ski to a guy Named Dan Homan in Germantown WI.

Arrainged for boat transport and delevery for him. Asked him to send me check. he said Ok but do not cash until i Inspect the boat. he got the boat and loved and said “check Was in the mail” i understand my mistakes. Any body live out that way who would like to help me out or give me some advice on how to get my money or boat back.

he already raced it in a triathalon in wisconsin.

Advice would be appreciated.

1000 bucks is a lot of money to me.

Dan

Suggestion

– Last Updated: Sep-18-07 10:38 AM EST –

Get the contact info for the race organizer and let the check-is-in-the-mail guy know that either you get a money order within 72 hours (forget the check now) or you'll complain that he was in that race using a boat that he had not legally purchased from you. If you haven't been paid, I think that is a correct summary. I bet he pays up.
Racap - bad idea. Police report is first step, the rest are right.

Sounds like a road trip
I think I would go after it - - or him


    • steal it back

???
Where did you find this guy?

Just do an OJ…

– Last Updated: Sep-18-07 9:48 AM EST –

Find a few friends with a few guns....

I wouldn't get the race organizer involved, not his business and he's got enough problems.

You violated the first rule of trade. Maybe a small claims case or Judge Judy.
Or pull up in a black Hummer with NRA stickers all over it, they have to be good for something.

Posting here is a good start.
Good luck.

I’m no lawyer …
… (don’t even play one on TV), but simply because you were foolish enough to conduct this deal the way you did doesn’t change the fact that he has now stolen the boat from you, which seems to me no different than if he’d hauled it out of your garage in the night. I think his local police should be contacted.



Here’s the contact info for the Milwaukee Sea Kayak club; perhaps they know the culprit, can help in locating your boat, or can hold/ship it for you if it’s ever recovered.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilwaukeeSeaKayak/



Or at least they could break his kneecaps with a couple of Wal*Mart aluminum paddle shafts …


First Thing

– Last Updated: Sep-18-07 10:23 AM EST –

File a police report, if you have not already. A theft of $1000 or over is a felony in most states. If you shipped the boat via a common carrier, he had to have signed for it when it was delivered/picked up. That would be very helpful too. Since the sale was conducted via email, it also my be a Federal crime.

Yup
Filing a police report is the VERY first thing you should do, on your way to documenting everything that happened. You might even shoot this knucklehead an e-mail TELLING him that that’s what you plan to do if you don’t see a cashier’s check inside of 48 hours.



You already know who he is…and he knows it…so he might not be that stupid.

suggestion
I like the advice from the person who said contact the police. Get your documentation in hand and ready to share with the police when you contact them. Include all emails and correspondence.



Good luck and I hope it works out for you. That is a lot of money for many people.

Sorry that happened to you . . . .
Not to rub it in, but I just sold a canoe off a pnet classified. She contacted me via e-mail, I sent pics, she agreed to buy, I agreed to meet half-way for delivery. BUT, I’m paranoid, so I asked for a paypal deposit, because I didn’t want to drive two hours and get stood up. I asked for and received the remaining cash at the meeting place. She was very nice to deal with, at no point took offense to my requests, and I actually took $50 off the price at delivery without being asked because she and her husband were great to deal with.



I may have got lucky with the buyers I drew, but safeguards were there if I didn’t. If she had argued about cash or been difficult to deal with at any point, the transaction would have been over. Just not worth the risk. Keep that in mind next time.



That’s not to say this is a learning experience only. Follow the other posts’ advice to get your money. All good suggestions (even those involving weapons ;-).



BTW, $1000 is a lot of money to nearly everyone, as even if one has plenty more $$$, they usually hold it in high regard or they wouldn’t have accumulated it in the first place (just my little theory after years of consumers sales jobs - Rich people are the biggest tightwads - THAT’S why they’re rich!).



Last suggestion: Post the schmuck’s e-mail here and we can all send him a nasty letter that we know where he lives, what he paddles, and we’re all out to get him. I’d be glad to offer that assistance . . . .



:wink:

Just doing a white pages search

– Last Updated: Sep-18-07 11:59 AM EST –

on the net, there are "Daniel Homans" (no "Dans") in Evansville, Janesville, and Verona, WI. Whichever is geographically closest to Germantown is probably your guy (he probably used the closest recognizable city).

If you have a phone number already - or even just an e-mail address - that's more than enough for any officer to track this guy, and since $1,000 is very likely a felony, I doubt most municipal police departments would want to blow this off.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

Warning letter first.
I’d like to second and emphasize the idea of a warning letter first, with a very specific deadline. If you have a friend who’s a lawyer, see if they will do it for free, on their letterhead. Otherwise, check out the numerous model legal notices that you can get online.



If you contact the police, they’ll probably ask you anyway what efforts you have made to collect. So the warning letter comes first. The only other thing to do while that is in process, I’d say, is to get your documentation together (on paper – disk crashes are expensive enough without adding $1000).



IANAL either.



–David.

let me see
I’ll post this on the MIPP site (WI paddlers) and see if anyone knows of this person.



Andrew

Yep…
Would technically probably qualify as mail fraud…nail his butt for anything and everything you can!

A Victory in Small Claims Court
If you win in small claims court and the guy still doesn’t pay you can put a lien on his house. At least you can in this state.

SE Wisconsin
Germantown is in the Milwaukee, WI area. Here’s the link to the Southern WI Paddlers group, which is active in that part of the state. Perhaps somebody reading the forums may be able to help.



http://www.wi-paddlers.net/



Hopefully this will all be resolved without a bunch of complications… Good Luck!



cYa, Jim

Lien would be great.

– Last Updated: Sep-18-07 11:53 PM EST –

If you can get a good address or (bonus) his social security number, try to access public record databases such as Lexis and Accurint. These databases are tightly controlled but maybe you can get in. If you do not know someone who has a password than it will cost. The database should give you a background of this guy including any past court proceedings. You may see that he does this for kicks and has plenty of liens against him. It should give his work address and you can "encourage" him while he is at work. "Hello can I speak to Dan Homan? I need to get my surf ski back because he allegedly did not pay me for it". Post his work number and maybe some volunteers can call his work address. This may however cause him to trash the surf ski if he is loco.

Not sure but too bad you can't go to a repo man and try to have him take it for a small fee. That may be a headache so the best thing is to take it back yourself with local authority approval. What a %!$#@.

Be careful with defamation or libel or whatever. Do not want him to bite you on the arse twice.

Hunt him down like a dog and
use your imagination on what I would do.

Write to attorney general of WI for help

Hi Dan
Live and learn. Good luck. Maybe post this on the Yahoo surfski group too http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surfski/