Anyone know James Turner from Indianapolis?

[Taceas]

You too, eh?

I sent him a PM on Wednesday/Thursday saying either he PM's me by Monday 1/15 with a shipping date or I want a refund.

And if he does not contact me I am going to file mail fraud charges with the USPS (which I have already checked for if this falls under it or not) for "Failure to Provide Product/Service" and I am going to file a report with my local police department.

I am fed up with waiting. It's gone past pathetic. If you have good enough internet access to talk to people for days when you're getting money and once you get the money you suddenly have no internet service and can't find time to send the animals, something is seriously amiss.

 

[Varden]

Well, I no longer feel quite so helpless. I've got his phone number, so I'll try calling. When I get a hold of him, I'll update again.

 

[kitty_b]

i haven't heard from him either. and the only phone number i have is from last summer and has never been answered. :wall:

 

[cacoseraph]

i haven't got my stuff, for the record.

 

[Taceas]

To those that have a phone number, could you please PM it to me?

I would like to get in touch with James personally, rather than PM's or emails that never get answered.

 

[Taceas]

Well I guess I'm going to have to take this to the next level.

I finally got Mr. Turner's home phone number, thanks! And I proceeded to call him last week. On the first day I tried 1/18, I got an older sounding woman. She confirmed a "James Turner" lived there and she took down my name, number, and a brief message to have James call me back. He never returned my call.

I called back again three times, at various times of the day the next day 1/19, no one ever answered. There isn't an answering machine to leave a message, it just rings and rings and rings. Each time I let the phone ring around 2 minutes.

Things got busy for me the next couple of days and I waited to call until Sunday evening 1/21. This time I used my husband's cellphone with a radically different number, in case they were screening calls, sure enough on the first call an older man picks up. I ask to speak to James, and voila.

Now I will admit, I was gruff on the phone. I'm sick of waiting, I'm sick of being lied to, I'm sick of being jerked around, and all over sick of the entire situation. After a brief conversation, I told him I want the spider shipped on Monday 1/22 to my PO Box address and if it never arrives it's going to get ugly.

About 10 minutes later I get a PM from Jaden wanting written confirmation from me that I okay'd the shipping of the spider in cold weather, in case anything should happen that he'd be off the hook. I sent a PM back saying so long as shipping is going take place with an insulated box and a heat pack, I would okay it. No reply PM.

Which I thought the PM was funny at any rate. "I don't have access to the internet." is his excuse when people are trying for months to get a hold of him. Well it works when you want it to apparently.

Fast forward till today, no shipment has arrived and I am pretty convinced that he's not going to send anything. Indianapolis is 3 hours from here. If it was sent on Monday, it should have been here on Tuesday.

At this point on, all I want is my $150 back. If you don't send what I purchased its called stealing.

To all of those still currently waiting and still being screwed over, please contact me for further discussion and a potential escalation of legal actions.

 

[Beardo]

Man, I hate to hear of stuff like this, but I just wanted to add some insight for those thinking of taking action against Mr. Turner (note that I have no relationship with him whatsoever and this is a purely objectional viewpoint).

Unless the amount that James owes you is over $5,000 this is a civil matter. You could only take James to civil court (and I'm not even sure of the red tape if you live in a different state than he does). Lets say that a judge issues judgement against James and orders him to pay the money owed to you. The sad truth is that there is no way to MAKE someone pay a civil order....once its all said and done, all that you will have is some court costs for yourself and a piece of paper that says James owes you x amount of money. Unfortunately there is not much you can do in this type of situation except get the word out about the person.

 

[Taceas]

Thanks for the insight, David.

I did make a call to the Indianapolis Police Department's Internet Crimes Division and spoke with a detective today. He said that to get anything started with them, all of us have to file a police report with our local jurisdiction and they then contact the Indy PD and an investigation proceeds.

So tomorrow I do plan on speaking to my local police department and filling out a report. We'll see what it gets me for my time.

About all this really teaches me is to never do business with people who don't accept Paypal or credit cards, or some other way I can get my money back should situations like this arise.

 

[Beardo]

If the combined total that he owes everyone is over $5k then you can take criminal action against him. Otherwise, its a civil matter, about which the police can do absolutely nothing. I wish you the best of luck in getting retribution!

 

[kitty_b]

it's really sad, because he had such a good track record in the past. even his acquaintences on here are disgusted by his behavior.

 

[Taceas]

I PM'd him last week and gave him over the weekend to PM me the tracking number or to Paypal me the refund in full. As you can guess, he didn't contact me back.

All I can say is a complete lack of communication, a handful of lies, and several disgruntled customers is going to come back and burn him in the end.

 

[Varden]

Actually, in Oregon it's $500, not $5k, but maybe it's a state to state thing. I gave him three weeks to ship after he said he would, and on Friday I filed charges. Perhaps if police show up at his door, he'll change his attitude and decide to become responsible. At this point, all I want is a refund.

 

[Beardo]

I dunno Maren....I'm pretty sure the 5k rule is nation-wide. I'm no lawyer, but I just don't see criminal chargers being brought on someone over $500 (not that the amount makes it any more acceptable).

 

[becca81]

I dunno Maren....I'm pretty sure the 5k rule is nation-wide. I'm no lawyer, but I just don't see criminal chargers being brought on someone over $500 (not that the amount makes it any more acceptable).

If you write a check and it bounces at somewhere (for example) like Wal-Mart, then $500 is the limit at which it becomes a felony and not just a misdemeanor.

 

[cacoseraph]

yeah, i thought $5k was the limit between felony larceny and felony grand larceny

also, i think $5k is the upper limit civil courts can handle, and not a requirement to beat it before you can take legal action


also, i expect James has gypped more than $500 worth of stuff, total. if i am understanding what other people have said and the values of each persons case are added together then he might very well be facing felony theft and interstate wirefraud. that's prison time potentially.

 

[Taceas]

Personally the $5k is all good and well when its one or two people, but with as many people as have come forward about having sent money to him and received nothing in return.

When and where do you make the cut off concerning whether to file charges and what charges they are? Or where to cut off the definition of a civil matter or something punishable through the police?

To me this whole thing pretty much shows a malicious intent. Whether or not that is the case, I have no idea. If he did it to one person, "oops, it was an accident"...I can buy that to a degree. But 5 or 6 or more? He was selling tarantulas MONTHS after some people here had "bought" stuff from him and never received it. To me, that's malicious and just plain wrong.

He didn't steal my lunch money or gas money, a negligible amount. Personally I see it being no different than someone who stole a $150 radio out of my truck. It's theft pure and simple.

I don't just see how you can go from having splendid reviews to something so drastic people are filing police charges. If it were me, I'd be taking out a loan to pay the people off before I wound up in legal troubles. :?

 

[Taceas]

I went and filled out a police report today, quick and painless. I encourage those that haven't done so already, to file a theft report with their local law enforcement agency.

The officer who took down my information told me that the State of Indiana is one of the few states where there isn't a minimum amount set before theft is regarded as a felony. Rather, regardless of the amount its an automatic felony.

So maybe that's a little bit of good luck for me, being a resident of the same state the crime was committed in.

 

[Varden]

Sad though I am to admit it, my brother is currently serving the last few months of his sentence for theft. He got 2 years for stealing the equivalent of $600 of my parents' property, which was 1 count of felony theft. He got another 5 years for several counts of grand felony (I'm not sure what the actual count was called), when he cheated bank ATMs into forking over thousands of $$ in a single weekend. He was clever enough to figure out how to do it, but too stupid to realize ATMs have cameras attached to them. Yeah, that's my blood.

$500, according to the detective we talked to when my folks pressed charges, was the line between a misdemeanor and a felony.

The police report was quick and painless on my end, too. He got me for $200.

 

[kitty_b]

i'm going to call the number Taceas gave me and file a report. my bank had told me i was S.O.L. ...i mean, i only lost $60, but it was also from JUNE 2006. this is just screwed up.

and after the huge sob story he was passing around.

 

[edesign]

woe be to the person who ever tries to rip me off...even for $20. I love road trips...

Perhaps someone close to Indianapolis (close to me is within a 10 hour radius...so, interpret how you want) may want to contact this forum member who's last activity was today (dr_hemlock2):

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/member.php?u=6237

maybe he can give you directions to James' house:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?p=621783#post621783

unless he has moved since March of last year.

To those who don't follow up and file police reports and just throw your hands up in the air (not saying any of you ARE doing this)...you're not just screwing yourself further, you're weakening everyone else's legal actions by not adding to the number of reports. The more reports, the more likely the police are to respond...and maybe if someone in the area offers to ride along they might let them? Doubt it, but you never know...would be nice to see the look on his face when the police people show up on his doorstep.

I have no respect for thieves...maybe that's why they avoid me