Excellent news and very pleased to hear that not only has this been resolved but also that the BiBs have been so helpful.

For info, byebyegti has been banned from the forum, obviously!

Well, the money arrived today but only half of it.

You are joking!!

What are you going to do now?

Jesus, he dosn't seem the to be the quickest of the cats.

He sounds like an oppertunist, your more likely to get away taking lot's of small amounts from many people, than going for the kill on one person.

Get back in contact with the local plod i say.

I'm going through the small claims court now. For the sake of £20, he'll end up paying £400 for court costs. I know he won't win because he has already confessed to fraud and the police have cautioned him.

I think you should let this go. I understand the point your making and no one will say different but If his motives were highlighted in the manner you said about his daughter then just down tools and consider him a loser.

He has his caution and If he does it again he's screwed as it's on his record and been noted down. Plus everyone here know's who he is and have his details. I doubt he will be in a rush to try again

On this basis I should forgive the person who stole a birthday present left for me by my son in the porch at home?

No chance of finding him or her anyway.

It is still theft, no matter the motive.

I'm not arguing what is right or wrong as we all know the score but sometimes there is kicking a donkey and then there is kicking a donkey when it's down.

My point was the police now have him and his cards are well and truly marked so if he is stupid enough to do it again then they have him. If this was £200 I'd argee more but maybe I see £20 differently to others.

Don't get me wrong though I don't dissargee with what Goonv8 will do but it's just my 2p when reading it all.

If it was me I would go to the small claims court as well.

It is the principle as much as anything else.

I'm inclined to agree. If everyone who was happy to have £20 stolen would please forward it to me, I'll see that the Surrey Air Ambulance gets it...

(And big thanks to all who supported me/them for the hill climb!)

Let it go Imo,i have been ripped of by various people for years by the odd small amount.unfortunatley its part of life when being in a small business.
Now that we all buy and sell through the internet,its going to happen to someone somewhere every day.

I'd take him to the small claims court.

Where do you draw the line? Its theft. End of story.

So is stealing bags of cement and plaster from my site.
Try taking that to the small claims or police.
Its just not worth it in this instance and the cirumstances given by Goonv8 in the recent posts imo.

Yes but this man is obviously a dishonest geezer, so who's to say he's telling the truth about his circumstances?

You should definitly definitly take him to court in my opinion, don't go soft.

Tut tut! So cynical! Welcome to my world Matt

Yes Matt i have to admit it did cross my mind also,but life is short bla bla etc etc.

Of course, the other point here is that I too have two small children. That money was taken from me forcing me to but another complete cambelt kit so instead of £120, its cost me £160. £ 40 that I could well have spent on my two children. I am, myself officially unemployed until September, when my new contract starts. (Although, in fact the wheel business is taking off to the point that we are going to register it on August 1st). What gets me is the lies. I did feel guilty but then I received emails asking me to confirm that the money had arrived and how did he know that I wasn't going to rip him off. I fortunately opened it in front of a witness but I have no doubt that he will claim he sent £40. This is what gets me. If the guy said to me, "Sorry mate, I shouldn't have done it. Times are really hard at the moment and I'm going to struggle to pay you back." I'd have told him to pay what he could and leave it at that. The fact that he has constantly and consistently lied through his teeth about this pisses me off. I know for a fact that there is at least one other forum member who bought the item in question but has decided not to go further. In my mind, he should pay for what he has done. I have ONLY asked for what he took. No compensation, nothing other than what was taken. I didn't even ask for the special delivery fee that I had to pay to send the money to him in the first place. I'm sorry but I don't think that's unreasonable.

I was borderline on this issue before, but that for me is the reason you should take him to court.
Completely dishonest. If he was really concerned, he'd send a cheque, so that he had a bank statement as a receipt !

However, would your witness be seen to be impartial, and can they be bothered with the hassle themselves? It seems that this rogue has played the system for all it's worth, and is prepared to take it all the way. Be sure you can be bothered before taking the next step !

Witness was the post office counter operator. Its even on film.

I'd say you have him bang to rights then, there's no excuse for dishonesty, we've all been scratching and scraping for cash at one time or another, I for one have never taken something that does not belong to me, for any reason, so why should he? What a way to bring a child up anyway, does he tell his daughter that he's Robin Hood or something?

I'm really glad that you've got at least something back, but in my opinion take it all the way... I completely detest the way our current society thinks is perfectly acceptable to steal.

The bloke is a complete tool. He has set himself up because when he does come before the court he wont have any proof that he has paid the money only your honesty in saying that he sent the cash.

Personally I would take him to court because he is bound to have done the above to lots of other people, and all those £10-20 will soon add up to a nice little pay day.

Good work Mr Goonv8. No need to feel any guilt either because its HIS responsibility to look after his children not yours.

No one will think it is unreasonable as your in the right and it's your money. If you feel you got to do something about it then do it.

I was going to write a comment on this thread the other day, but was finding it hard to express my feelings - CoupeNewbie has it spot on!

Dishonest, dishonest and even when caught dishonest - you've only asked for your money back, nothing more. I think its reached the stage when some sort of punishment is deserved

Good work. Completely waterproof case, and you've got him bang to rights

It's just a question of whether you can be bothered with the hassle. He's clearly betting £20 at ~20-1 that you won't.

There are too many dishonest people around that are willing to abuse the trust that exists on car forums like this.

I think you should take it as far as it will go - if a court fines him, then its his problem.

I'm pleased that its gone as far as it has, especially with the Police involvement. If you continue, it will send out the message that forums aren't easy pickings any more

Totally agree - there is a lot of trusting people on this fourm who are willing to help others for little or nothing in return

It only takes a couple of instances of people being ripped off and that trust and camaraderie could easily be lost forever

Yeah good on you for taking it all the way to the bitter end, this should be an example to others.

All the way, make this an example for the next chump which hides behind the keyboard.

agreed

im the first person to give some one a break, but this guy took the

there is a lot of trust on this forum, and it only takes 1 git like this to destroy it

He's running one as
ticket-frenzy.uk
would like his phone number