No Item, No Money - Where do I stand?

Aylesbury_Duck

Bradden said:

I'm still confused. After you found out about the prank and closed the paypal dispute why would the seller come over to collect the watch which presumably you wanted to keep?

Because he's an ex-colleague and police inspector who quite reasonably wanted to intervene and bully his friend into handing over a watch so he could...er, issue a refund.  Keep up! 

Manxman_in_exile

jazam95 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I'm sorry, but this whole story sounds completely implausible.  The alleged prank sounds like a ruse to get a Paypal refund.  You made a one-off indulgent purchase of a watch that just happened to be extremely similar to a damaged one your son owned?  That was switched into the box - a classic tactic someone might use to defraud a retailer - and you tried to get a refund.

How did this former colleague who now, entirely coincidentally, happens to work at the exact retailer from which you purchased the watch, know about the situation, given that you couldn't contact the jeweller's?

You then managed to get in touch with the jewellers, and this friend and former colleague was now in your house and intimidating you?  And now, in his official capacity as a staff member of the retailer, only communicated via Whatsapp?  Why haven't you been in touch with the jeweller to speak to a manager about the actions of their staff member?

You just happened to have thrown away the one piece of evidence that might be helpful - the broken watch?

Where's the bullying, intimidation and extortion?  If you believe you have been the victim of bullying, intimidation and extortion, call the police.  If your story is anything like as odd as you've typed it here, they'll be very interested.  Perhaps not in they way you'd like them to be, though.

I would refute the 'classic tactic to defraud' as this is extremely insulting and defamatory, I work for the NHS and would never even cross my mind to attempt such an awful thing!

Please don't play the NHS card and devalue it.

I worked as a manager in the NHS for 25 years.  In that time I assisted the NHS Counter-fraud team in several investigations into NHS staff.  Just like in every other walk of life, there are dishonest NHS staff just as there are honest ones.

And it's not defamatory as nobody knows who you are...

Manxman_in_exile

Aylesbury_Duck said:

jazam95 said:

Spoken to jewellers and they're escalating to the director - Hopefully gets resolved 

And the police?  Or have you decided not to report the bullying, intimidation and extortion?

What do you think?  The "former colleague" still has mates in the police... !

tightauldgit

What a weird tale! I don't understand why you gave them the watch back for a refund when you presumably wanted to keep it and I don't really understand why you gave it to someone who turned up at your door rather than return it properly if you wanted to return it. 

There only seems to be a few plausible outcomes here:

1. The guy was actually honestly but inappropriately working on behalf of the shop - in which case complain to the shop and insist on your refund immediately. If they refuse, contact the police.

2. The guy was not acting on behalf of the shop but has conned you. In which case, contact the police. 

3. There is something about the story that we aren't getting the full picture of, in which case we can't help you.

At this stage all the backstory about the son's prank and Paypal and fraud etc is irrelevant. The shop sold you a watch and you paid for it, then you handed it to someone purporting to be from the shop and never saw it again. Sounds like you've been conned tbh.  

pulliptears

It's a tale so tall the Empire State is dwarfed by it.

mattyprice4004

No, just no. 

turnitround

Ooooh people are sceptical on here

Aylesbury_Duck

tightauldgit said:

What a weird tale! I don't understand why you gave them the watch back for a refund when you presumably wanted to keep it and I don't really understand why you gave it to someone who turned up at your door rather than return it properly if you wanted to return it. 

There only seems to be a few plausible outcomes here:

1. The guy was actually honestly but inappropriately working on behalf of the shop - in which case complain to the shop and insist on your refund immediately. If they refuse, contact the police.

2. The guy was not acting on behalf of the shop but has conned you. In which case, contact the police. 

3. There is something about the story that we aren't getting the full picture of, in which case we can't help you.

At this stage all the backstory about the son's prank and Paypal and fraud etc is irrelevant. The shop sold you a watch and you paid for it, then you handed it to someone purporting to be from the shop and never saw it again. Sounds like you've been conned tbh.  

I'll go for this one, given OP's refusal to consider calling the police.

It could look like a clumsy attempt to defraud a retailer, that's gone wrong.  How might I go about getting hold of a free Rolex, plus the cash value of a Rolex, if I was so inclined?

1. Obtain a fake Rolex that's an imitation of a model I can buy from a genuine retailer where a friend works.  Damage it.
2. Buy the genuine article, using Paypal(!)
3. When the real Rolex arrives, swap it with the fake one and open a dispute with Paypal, claiming the watch is damaged.
4. Have my accomplice from the jewellers on hand to help, making sure s/he can accept the known fake as the real watch and justify the refund.

The trouble is, if I got cold feet and tried to back out, my accomplice from the shop might not be too happy, and might come to collect the watch so they can get the money they were expecting.

It could of course be that OP is the innocent victim of an attempted fraud by their son and the accomplice, trying to carry out a swap for their personal gain and using OP's genuine purchase of the watch as the vehicle.  When OP contacted Paypal they panicked, which explains the strange "off the record" appearance of the shop employee and his shady dealings all conducted away from the shop and on whatsapp.

Or something like that.

turnitround

Or something like that.

Something exactly like that.

eskbanker

jazam95 said:

No Item, No Money - Where do I stand?

Don't worry, they'll tell you where to stand....