Issues with VBCore.com

[Deimos]

Bleh

I've been looking for someone to do me a design for my forum for sometime then came across Vbcore.com

After viewing an impressive portfolio, I decided to contact them, but got no response for a month
So I then posted a request for a custom skin on vbulletin.org (I believe) or on here and he sent me a PM offering his services

To cut a long story short, he agreed to do a skin and said it'd cost $1000 ($1031 total)
I paid him via paypal and couldn't get back in touch with him, im's to his MSN identity went unanswered and emails to his msn and vbcore address went unanswered to

I then found out he's apparently scammed other people and there's posts about it on vbulletin.org and another forum
There's also a vbcorewarning.us site setup FOR people who've been scammed
Not only that, the portfolio apparently isn't even work he's done, it's stuff he's bought to REsell?
This sent alarm bells ringing and I proceeded to reverse the transaction via Paypal
As soon as I did that, he emails me saying the skin is being designed and he asked why I Reversed the transaction
After various emails going back and forth, he said this

Well to be honest and strait forward with you I am TRUELY trying to help you out here bro. This is what is going to end up happening if you do not cancel it.

If you do not cancel:

1. Paypal is not going to give you your money back because they do not dispute / handle with a "Virtual Item", a Webdesign falls under the category of a Virtual Item.
2. When Paypal does close the case, our contract / agreement is considered VOID since you did not cancel the dispute and you will end up not getting a new skin.
3. You will end up losing $1,000.00, and I honestly do not want that to happen to you, because I want you to get a new skin for UOForums.com

If you do cancel, What we can do is this:

1. You cancel the dispute, because to be honest your going to lose it because of the Virtual Item rule that Paypal has.
2. Once you cancel the dispute I continue work on your skin and you will have an amazing high quality skin.
3. I HIGHLY recommend you cancel the dispute so that you don't end up losing $1,000, and so that you get a new kickass skin, as I know you have been saving up for this and the hard work you have put into UOForums.com.

I am pretty much telling you what is going to happen either way, if you do not cancel the payment you WILL lose the money. If you do cancel it you will have a kickass skin for UOForums.com! Please understand that I am a genuine person and you will be very happy with the outcome of the skin!

Thanks,
Kolby

Any comments?
I never signed any contract or agreed to one, so I dunno where I stand?
If paypal DONT reverse it, I assume I can reverse the credit card transaction TO paypal, no?

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Had a longish conversation with him tonight, he won't issue a refund, he's adamant that I trust him and because I wont, i will lose 1k, according to him

http://www.uoforums.com/vbcore.rtf

Our convo

He claimed he'd not started the skin, yet later on said he had
He also claimed to Paypal the following

"Buyer should be ok with cancelling this, we have discussed it "

Which isn't true, we hadn't discussed it because he never replied to any of my emails OR Im's and the only time he contacted me, was AFTER i put in the dispute and after he submitted that reply, so how have we discussed it?

What annoys me is he claims we had an agreement and a contract, which we did not
The only agreement we had, was that he'd to a skin for 1k and it'd be ready by January 2006
Now he's claiming because I voided it, he's going to keep the 1k and I know why, check out the section in that conversation where he says he needs it for christmas :/

Dammit, i've tried SO hard to find someone to do me a skin, now I may lose $1000.