scammed! by! s4cr! out of thousands of $$$!

[twastheglow]

twastheglow:
yes, he offered to paint the wheels after I had sent the money. he had said that when taking them off of his car they didn't seem as good as his description in the listing & felt bad sending them for what I had paid. he removed the tires & explained further that there was some scratching from dismount. he was very apologetic & said just give him some time/ that he'd get back to me on how to make this transaction even better, which was the repaint & lip seal & whatever else.

twastheglow:
I understand over seas shipping can take a while. I had custom works made & they took just under 4 months with build time. however, I was sent a scanned receipt from them as well as my receipt from paypal, etc. I've also bought 3 sets of wheels on here, stanceworks; 2 of them from overseas - Poland to be exact on both sets, yet I had tracking numbers almost immediately! with GREAT & CONSTANT CONTACT from the seller the whole way through. both of these sets did take a couple of months of just waiting as well like you yourself had said, but the situation I am describing here is vastly different.

I PAID FOR THESE WHEELS BACK IN AUGUST!
IT IS NOW A COUPLE OF DAYS SHY OF JANUARY!

twastheglow:
add to this, I have not received contact since the magical 45 days after sending payment, yet was easy to contact before so. [this is the time frame paypal gives to dispute a claim & do not after this time limit]. seems rather ironic to me!

waiting would be fine. I explained this in my original story & I also have purchased over seas a handful of times; this situation has never been the case.

let me also ask, did you not see the dozen links to other fraudulant sales I posted in this thread?

twastheglow:
please do not think I am jumping on you here. I appreciate any & all considerations posted in this thread & I appreciate you reading all that I had wrote. truly!

I don't think you're jumping on me here at all. I also certainly wasn't on you either. I was just pointing out what I found odd in your first post. I obviously didn't know the whole story since it wasn't posted the first time around.

Like I said before I'm certainly not implying you have no reason to be upset or that you're jumping to conclusions etc. You actually seem to be WAY more patient than I am in general, and for that I give you props.

I didn't necessarily mean to compare my wheel purchase with your situation. I just mentioned it because I personally couldn't believe the tracking I received through USPS was so worthless. I was just chiming in with my own personal experience with buying wheels internationally from an individual.

I whole heartedly wish you the best of luck. Keep us updated on your findings as I know we're all interested to hear about the outcome.

[FABEL]

As a rule of thumb, If I ever start having problems with someone I bought something from and they start asking for more and more time, I will make sure to open a claim on paypal before I can't, I don't care what the other person tells me is the hold up, because if you don't, then you are screwed in the end.

I understand what you are saying, but I'm a lot more low key than that. I just foolishly felt I could trust the guy. you should see how genuine & concerned sounding he can be.

also, I didn't want to jump the gun & cause the guy issues. I just wanted my wheels like I always had & deserved.

now I just want one or the other, but not contacting me & avoiding me on 3 forum websites as well as his email address just strengthens teh extreme pain I feel.

the final straw was when I found all of those links to false sales & became too overwhelming to bare when speaking with the transaction resolution center through paypal.

[FABEL]

We are actively looking into this..


We HIGHLY encourage members to buy wheels from either our sponsors or reputable / proven companies. When it comes to buying from another member (especially one who has not been authorized to sell as a company on the forums) you are definitely purchasing at you're own risk.

WIth that said, we want to see this resolved and will be working actively to help however we can.

Ben
StanceWorks

thanks Ben. I had met you before ever registering on the site here & you seemed just as much of a stand up guy as I often see in your posts. I guess I just wanted to say that & appreciate your willingness to help.

let me say most of all - I do not care to cause controversy or drum up DRAMA on the site, but after debating over making such a thread, I just felt it was absolutely necessary to protect others & do what I can to stop! Antonis Palekis from continuing to do this in our community.

I am doing all that I can to get myself squared away, but cannot post all of it as it may jeopardize getting back all that I have lost.

[FABEL]

twastheglow:
yes, he offered to paint the wheels after I had sent the money. he had said that when taking them off of his car they didn't seem as good as his description in the listing & felt bad sending them for what I had paid. he removed the tires & explained further that there was some scratching from dismount. he was very apologetic & said just give him some time/ that he'd get back to me on how to make this transaction even better, which was the repaint & lip seal & whatever else.

twastheglow:
I understand over seas shipping can take a while. I had custom works made & they took just under 4 months with build time. however, I was sent a scanned receipt from them as well as my receipt from paypal, etc. I've also bought 3 sets of wheels on here, stanceworks; 2 of them from overseas - Poland to be exact on both sets, yet I had tracking numbers almost immediately! with GREAT & CONSTANT CONTACT from the seller the whole way through. both of these sets did take a couple of months of just waiting as well like you yourself had said, but the situation I am describing here is vastly different.

I PAID FOR THESE WHEELS BACK IN AUGUST!
IT IS NOW A COUPLE OF DAYS SHY OF JANUARY!

twastheglow:
add to this, I have not received contact since the magical 45 days after sending payment, yet was easy to contact before so. [this is the time frame paypal gives to dispute a claim & do not after this time limit]. seems rather ironic to me!

waiting would be fine. I explained this in my original story & I also have purchased over seas a handful of times; this situation has never been the case.

let me also ask, did you not see the dozen links to other fraudulant sales I posted in this thread?

twastheglow:
please do not think I am jumping on you here. I appreciate any & all considerations posted in this thread & I appreciate you reading all that I had wrote. truly!

[360jeepboy]

As a rule of thumb, If I ever start having problems with someone I bought something from and they start asking for more and more time, I will make sure to open a claim on paypal before I can't, I don't care what the other person tells me is the hold up, because if you don't, then you are screwed in the end.

[twastheglow]

USPS typically doesnt update their tracking info on international shipments. I ship internationally on a daily basis, and Id say that happens about 80% of the time. they get scanned when the package reaches the international dispatch, then never again.

Yeah, that's basically what I found out...after the fact. Completely useless.

[Average_Jerk]

I guess what I find confusing is he offers to paint the wheels whatever color you want...you claim you asked him to paint the wheels yet also expected them to be shipped within 24 hours. How would that be feasible? It's one or the other. Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying you ARE or ARE NOT being "scammed". I was just pointing that out.

With that being said, I WILL say that when I purchased some wheels from Poland it took a hair over 2 months from when they were first shipped. It seemed to take forever!!! It's very nerve racking. I was given tracking numbers through the USPS and they were only scanned in ONCE...when they were leaving Poland! So for 2 months after I sat and waited and checked the tracking numbers every couple hours and nothing. Eventually they showed up on my doorstep. 2 wheels the first day, 2 wheels the next day.

USPS typically doesnt update their tracking info on international shipments. I ship internationally on a daily basis, and Id say that happens about 80% of the time. they get scanned when the package reaches the international dispatch, then never again.

[Jedidiah]

We are actively looking into this..


We HIGHLY encourage members to buy wheels from either our sponsors or reputable / proven companies. When it comes to buying from another member (especially one who has not been authorized to sell as a company on the forums) you are definitely purchasing at you're own risk.

WIth that said, we want to see this resolved and will be working actively to help however we can.

Ben
StanceWorks

[twastheglow]

I really **** to do this, but I've been PM'd here & on bimmerforums regarding a fellow member on here that has scammed me out of a set of wheels.

I don't know the best way to go about this story, but s4cr has stolen a very! very! large chunk of money from me. This situation is beyond sad & has left me close to vomit on an almost daily basis for almost 2 months now.

DO NOT BUY FROM S4CR!

S4CR is a SCAMMER!

S4CR will take your money & promise you wheels that he does not even own!
please please be careful; again, DO NOT BUY FROM S4CR!

I've been asked to please post this thread warning forum members. I feel horrible doing so, but at the same time, I feel it's an obligation to fellow wheel whores to be careful.

his name on StanceWorks, MaxBimmer, Bimmerforums, VWVortex, & Stanced.lt is s4cr. His real name is Antonis Palekis from Lietuva, Telsini. it's in Lithuania.

basically, he lures you in with a set of wheels that he says he owns, are rare, & in mint condition. he says he'll paint the wheels whichever way you want, freshly polish the lip, zoop seal it, send with a brand new key locking device . . . the whole shabang. basically he tells you everything you want to hear.

Antonis, s4cr, told me to just send the money & he'll get you a tracking number sent directly to my email within 24hrs. of receiving the cash. once he had gotten my money, he seemed to stall on sending the tracking numbers & said he couldn't make it out to the shipper that same day & would try the next. didn't happen, so he says our time zones are completely different so he will do it first thing tomorrow, but it'll seem like a couple of days because of our differences in time zones again.

okay, no problem I'm thinking. I mean, the guy's on a bunch of forums, seems really into fitment & bimmers, etc. nothing was fishy & besides, the dude's so genuine sounding in his emails that I had nothing to question.

so, almost two weeks go by & I start to think something seems a bit off here. I've purchased plenty of wheels before from overseas & never remember having a similair dealing. I want to PM s4cr, but I feel silly asking him to prove they've been sent, so I stall on my own end figuring he'll just copy/ paste them to me sometime soon.

it became about 5 weeks since I had paid closer to $2,000 than it was $1,000 & my subconcious keeps telling me to just PM the dude & ask for the tracking numbers. it's not checking up on the guy, it's just something that should be understood when purchasing anything online. it's the same as getting a receipt at a store, so I do PM him.

Antonis is all cool with me, he says he's sorry he hasn't gotten back to me. He says it's because he wanted to make sure the wheels were in perfectly restored condition & that the polish on the lips were even, etc. I had them painted by him as well - at least supposidely, & he tells me in a PM how the guy was dragging & he didn't want to rush him in fear he'd do a bad job, etc.

I think s4cr is literally my best friend & looking out for me here, so I believe these stories & lay back thinking that s4cr is treating my wheel purchase like gold, so don't stress him out as he is already doing that to himself over my set of wheels. He says don't worry, I answer your every reply fabel & emphasizes how it's very important to keep in good contact with me so I feel safe as to where my wheels are at every given moment. Remind you here that he has not sent ouf this set of wheels 5 weeks past the date I had paid him what I will refer to as 'thousands'.

I think this is stupid & should not be the case, so I tell him if you cannot get my wheels done by the end of the week, just refund some of the cash I gave you & ship them out already. He says no man, I want you to be proud when you open the boxes & help create an epic build for you so please just hold tight. he says I can ask a couple of people of his business dealings here & vortex as to create some trust, but I say it's all good, just send them out by the end of this week because I'm starting to get scared. He says, yep; promise.

well, the end of the week goes by & nothing. I get pissed, but don't contact him because again, I try to be very respectful & think highly of Antonis Palekis of Lithuania. foolish of me! I start thinking of how many people I know that will only buy wheels in person for similair reasons etc. my dumb ass though was only concentrated on gettin' some rare shoes mounted up & so my judgement became easily clouded. this furthered in my head as clouded judgement when I asked why he would do this; it would only come back to haunt him. I also told myself to stay cool, because this guy is like the nicest you've ever met.

so wrong of me! s4cr surely scammed me. I kept having thoughts at this point on how I'm dealin' with a dude overseas that has had my money now for close to 2 months & still hasn't sent my wheels out. I get all crazy in the head when I realize some dude over seas has my money & my wheels & the true story of what's going on here while I just sit back & say, naw, the dude is straight as hell.

this fades right before the actual two month mark & I PM his saying I need proof of some sort that these wheels have been sent out. he says in his country they do not provide such without paying an extra fee. I say I don't care, pay it & contact me before weeks end because I don't like thinking about this everyday; I literally can't handle how strong some of the fears are on my mind.

Antonis tells me to relax & that he's sorry. s4cr continues to go on saying he will pay out of pocket for these tracking numbers, but if I could be so kind as to let him cash his work check on friday first so that he'll have the cash to do so. I say okay . . . however, this now brings us to the following week which was more like two weeks later since I had inquired over this early in the previous week.

I guess what I find confusing is he offers to paint the wheels whatever color you want...you claim you asked him to paint the wheels yet also expected them to be shipped within 24 hours. How would that be feasible? It's one or the other. Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying you ARE or ARE NOT being "scammed". I was just pointing that out.

With that being said, I WILL say that when I purchased some wheels from Poland it took a hair over 2 months from when they were first shipped. It seemed to take forever!!! It's very nerve racking. I was given tracking numbers through the USPS and they were only scanned in ONCE...when they were leaving Poland! So for 2 months after I sat and waited and checked the tracking numbers every couple hours and nothing. Eventually they showed up on my doorstep. 2 wheels the first day, 2 wheels the next day.

[BADwayz]

GL getting your wheels/money man !

I have been PM'ing him about different sets of wheels for my w126 for weeks now, he sounded like a perfect trusty worthy person, until i read this !

I bet he has made a good 15k scamming people.

Fuck him..

How many people have you been PMing for rims in the last 6 months? You made a deal with me and more than a few other people here then punked out, and I still see you making plans with people....you might not be stealing from people, but stop leading people on with your false intents yourself.

[maverick]

When i ship wheels from the uk ,i get tracking details from the moment it leaves my workshop ,
these are usually delivered to usa within a week, (if they get raped by customs it holds up the delivery but its not happened yet)
I hope that everything gets sorted out , as there are too many threads like this at the moment ,

[Evolve]

I am sorry - this is of course, self implied. If you want to continue with a good rep and the business (and for this guy it is the business) you need to follow through and have the customer updated.

That was not the question. I am asking what is the best way to keep everybody happy DURING the shipment.

[Topazkd]

So what is the best way to sell a set of rims then so everybody is happy and secure? Use an escrow company? Or do an ebay auction so the buyer has the ebay buyer protection?

How about...if you are selling a set of wheels....after recieving a payment, SEND out the rims to the buyer?

[Evolve]

So what is the best way to sell a set of rims then so everybody is happy and secure? Use an escrow company? Or do an ebay auction so the buyer has the ebay buyer protection?

[MrFukengruven]

still, at least he should reply back saying what the status is... since he really hasn't done that, NO MERCY! Somebody who is an undercover police officer should 'buy' a set of his wheels and set him up for the 6' x 8' "room" with bars