screwed over again by a vbulletin.org member?

[roester]

once again, for the second time in as many tries i have deposited money in a paypal account for a "hacker" on this website that said he would do work. of course, now he doesn't respond to emails. it would be nice if you would set up something on this website for feedback for members or a place where "known" hackers can do work for vbulletin customers. we are vbulletin customers and you are allowing "hackers" to screw around with your customers. any suggestions?

[Erwin]

We cannot stop you from depositing money into another person's Paypal account. There is no way we can supervise what you do with your money. You have to be careful with paying someone over the internet without doing checks and things. Remember, you can always reverse the charge via Paypal's chargeback, if it's fraud.

It's best to do business with members who are established, well-known, with a known portfolio, and a site. I would get them to fax you a signed contract as well with phone, address etc. details, and I would speak to them in person FIRST, before paying them money.

It is important to be cautious with your money.

[Gavin B.]

How a lot of "online" transactions work is that they complete the work, give you a demo (screen shots etc) and then you pay, and the code is sent.

If you need a hacker possibly someone more trustworthy can help (like me ) but you may wish to protect yourself just as much as the coder wants to protect themselves.

There are two sides unfortunatly, either the buyer gets ripped off or the seller does, so by providing, say a 25% downpayment with the rest on completion works quite well

[Brad]

Yea, Gavin is spot on.

Ive been screwed many times before, I do not have a pay-pal acount so when I do paid work I have to request a money order be mailed to me.

For now, im only doing work for people I can trust. That might change once I finnaly get a pay-pal acount tho.

roester, I really hate to hear about this. I asure you that most of us around here are trustworthy people, willing to help at all times. But there is always a bad apple or two hanging around any community. In the future do as Erwin said, check out the backround of the 'hacker' before you pay anything.

[Lesane]

I think it's good to post the name so he cannot screw other people again!

[Brad]

I agree with Lesane, let it be known!

[Rose]

*edited* I've changed my post. Apparently the guy I referred to contacted me today. Wheee!

But I agree with AnimeLoo and Lesane, the name should be public so that other vBulletin.org members won't use the same person.

:glasses:

[Talisman]

I totally disagree with publishing the names. That would just invite abuse.

It's too easy for one person (and maybe a few of his/her buddies) to blast the reputation of someone for less-than-honourable reasons. Then we'd hear opinions back and forth from both sides.... and (even worse) from uninvolved bystanders here who have no first-hand knowledge about that particular case.

Such business is a private matter between individuals and to allow everyone to air accusations nobody can prove or verify in an open forum is asking for trouble. This is and will always amount to nothing more than one person's word against another.

I certainly would not like to see these personal fights erupt here.

Cheers all,

Talis.

[Tony G]

Preventing other people from falling into this trap will give you a better feeling about the situation.

*EDIT* Talisman - I do see your point, but I don't think the fight would erupt here. If the person who supposedly did this came to vBulletin.org I don't think they'd fight, because this person has not responded to this persons e-mails or various tries to contact. So, if the person who took the money came here, would either be wanting to give the money back because he/she could not do it or finally respond to the attempts on contact. Not saying things like "Ahahaha I'm not giving your money back" I think that would be shut down quite quickly by a mod or admin.

Hope that made sense...

[Talisman]

Sure, Tony..... in that situation, it wouldn't be a problem and the dishonest person would be drummed out.

But that's not how it goes most of the time. There really are two equally-valid-sounding sides to a story. One person complains that the guy he hired didn't do the work...... then that person complains that the guy who hired him wanted 320 hours worth of work for 4 hours worth of pay. Or he didn't know enough about the technical side of the job in the first place to explain what he wanted up front, etc...

Or the reason the deal falls apart is because one person gets mad at the other for who-know-what reason. There's no way we can know who's being fair/unfair or who's being honest vs. who's lying to protect their reputation with everyone here.

Just because a reputable person does great work for a dozen other vb.org-ers doesn't mean they might not get ticked off at the next person who hires them (for a "good reason") and blow them off. Or they know they have a good reputation established, so they can afford to let a few people down if they get too busy or they don't feel like finishing what they started...... or they get started on a job only to discover they don't know how to do it.

So when well-meaning friends speak up to defend their accused friend..... that public support is nice, but it's not valid, verifiable, etc.

(PS ~ roester ...... please understand that, by this comment, I don't mean to suggest that you're the problem in the case you're dealing with. Don't want you or anyone else to think I'm siding with the person who didn't do the work you paid for.)