Another craigslist story for you . . .
I'm a platinum member of a hotel brand rewards club. I was rewarded with three free nights at any of their properties in the U.S., Canada, or the Caribbean. Having forgotten about the nights, and with the expiration date of the stay just a week away, I posted an ad on craigslist for somebody to buy the nights.
One guy took the offer. He only wanted two of the three nights, which was fine with me . . . losing the third night wasn't a big deal. He wanted to stay at a particular hotel outside of San francisco. his stay would cost him over $1200 if purchased on his own, so we agreed that chopping off $500 of that (leaving me with $700) was fair.
I explained to him that once booked, there was no canceling. In multiple texts/emails, I reiterated that. He agreed. I told him to be sure he wanted those nights, because I wouldn't be able to use them again if he backed out. Usually, I would insist on the payment being upfront after proving my identity (and assuring them that PayPal, my method of payment, is very good with fraud disputes). But, I did a little research in this guy and saw his background, so I was comfortable with his reluctance to send money until he was in the room. "You have my word that I'll send the payment once I get the room key tomorrow." I emailed him the confirmation of his reservation.
Of course, that never happened. He was supposed to send me payment the afternoon he arrived. I texted him the next day with no response. After a few more texts, a voicemail, and two other calls which he didn't answer over the next 24 hours, I stepped my game up. I first obtained his mother's cell number to call and make sure the guy was alright . . . English wasn't her first language, so she thought I was just a long-time friend calling trying to find her son. I explained who I was and that her son scammed me. She really wasn't much help. I then texted the buyer letting him know that if I didn't receive payment within 24 hours, I would start calling his neighbors (I knew his address) to let them know what a piece of shit he was, followed by his employer. He still didn't respond.
Finally, three days after he was supposed to have paid me, I called his cell number making it appear that the call was coming from his mother's number. He immediately answered and was thrown for a surprise when I told him who I was, as he was expecting his mother to be on the other end of the call. I told him he was a piece of shit, stated I was going to call everyone on XXXX Street, and let his employer know what type of guy he was. He told me to go ahead and do it. He then tried arguing that he didn't even stay at the hotel, so he shouldn't pay. I laughed and told him that it was agreed upon many times in both text and email the day before his stay, that if he canceled or didn't use the nights, I would lose them, so he still had to pay. He agreed to that less than 24 hours before his stay was to start. I asked him if he thought that was a legitimate excuse, why would he have ignored my friendly texts for two days asking about the payment and not responded to any other attempts to reach him. He knew he was being a scamming bastard. After I mentioned his boss' name, he said "what's your PayPal address and how much do you want me to send." Within 45 seconds, before we got off the phone, I already had payment.
Now, people scamming or not keeping their word on craigslist is nothing new. But, this is what surprises me:
This guy has two degrees from Stanford. He is a software engineer for a well known company with many international offices. He lives in a multi-million dollar house. Yet, he was still trying to scam me.
Dirtballs come in all shapes and sizes.
I'm a platinum member of a hotel brand rewards club. I was rewarded with three free nights at any of their properties in the U.S., Canada, or the Caribbean. Having forgotten about the nights, and with the expiration date of the stay just a week away, I posted an ad on craigslist for somebody to buy the nights.
One guy took the offer. He only wanted two of the three nights, which was fine with me . . . losing the third night wasn't a big deal. He wanted to stay at a particular hotel outside of San francisco. his stay would cost him over $1200 if purchased on his own, so we agreed that chopping off $500 of that (leaving me with $700) was fair.
I explained to him that once booked, there was no canceling. In multiple texts/emails, I reiterated that. He agreed. I told him to be sure he wanted those nights, because I wouldn't be able to use them again if he backed out. Usually, I would insist on the payment being upfront after proving my identity (and assuring them that PayPal, my method of payment, is very good with fraud disputes). But, I did a little research in this guy and saw his background, so I was comfortable with his reluctance to send money until he was in the room. "You have my word that I'll send the payment once I get the room key tomorrow." I emailed him the confirmation of his reservation.
Of course, that never happened. He was supposed to send me payment the afternoon he arrived. I texted him the next day with no response. After a few more texts, a voicemail, and two other calls which he didn't answer over the next 24 hours, I stepped my game up. I first obtained his mother's cell number to call and make sure the guy was alright . . . English wasn't her first language, so she thought I was just a long-time friend calling trying to find her son. I explained who I was and that her son scammed me. She really wasn't much help. I then texted the buyer letting him know that if I didn't receive payment within 24 hours, I would start calling his neighbors (I knew his address) to let them know what a piece of shit he was, followed by his employer. He still didn't respond.
Finally, three days after he was supposed to have paid me, I called his cell number making it appear that the call was coming from his mother's number. He immediately answered and was thrown for a surprise when I told him who I was, as he was expecting his mother to be on the other end of the call. I told him he was a piece of shit, stated I was going to call everyone on XXXX Street, and let his employer know what type of guy he was. He told me to go ahead and do it. He then tried arguing that he didn't even stay at the hotel, so he shouldn't pay. I laughed and told him that it was agreed upon many times in both text and email the day before his stay, that if he canceled or didn't use the nights, I would lose them, so he still had to pay. He agreed to that less than 24 hours before his stay was to start. I asked him if he thought that was a legitimate excuse, why would he have ignored my friendly texts for two days asking about the payment and not responded to any other attempts to reach him. He knew he was being a scamming bastard. After I mentioned his boss' name, he said "what's your PayPal address and how much do you want me to send." Within 45 seconds, before we got off the phone, I already had payment.
Now, people scamming or not keeping their word on craigslist is nothing new. But, this is what surprises me:
This guy has two degrees from Stanford. He is a software engineer for a well known company with many international offices. He lives in a multi-million dollar house. Yet, he was still trying to scam me.
Dirtballs come in all shapes and sizes.
