Bummer Lost Money and Gun

[roscoesheater]

Thought I would pass this info along so another would not fall to the red tape we encounter in our life w/Big Brother! I won a pistol from GunDealer, contacted the fella and as he requested, sent a Postal Money Order, Certified Mail. BIG MISTAKE guys, 1st Certified only is accounted for when it is accepted @ Post Office and @ the other end when they receive @ the delivering Post Office. The number is not a tracking number and yes, Certified mail can and does get lost w/in the fabulous US Postal System!!!!!!! This was the help I received when I brought to the local Post Office Clerk's attention where the item was shipped: I did my job, pointed finger to another hub and said they dropped the ball???????? Wait how about: Can I be of some assistance, or can I help, no I got the finger. Now the Certified letter w/MO has went into limbo and as stated by the Customer Service Rep I talked too today, oh well, file a claim and here is the great part, $403.00 will get to work f/my Government f/the next 60 days free of charge. Wonder if I could get that same rate too!!!! And they want to run our Health Needs????? Anyhow, know that you can get royally burned thru the trusted mail service and here is the icing on the cake, to file a claim f/the return of my funds, I will have to pay $5.10 to do this. Never, never, never again will I trust the boys in shorts again to deliver anything f/me. Think about this before you mail a certified money order to purchase a pistol/rifle on line. I suggest, a cashiers check, and if the seller balks at this, pass up the purchase, you will not have to tie up your hard earned cash f/2 months w/no return!!!!RH

 

[35Rem]

your problem wasn't with the USPS Money Order, right? Just the delivery?
A different delivery is fine. I still will request a USPS Money order because they can be cashed right there. Certified checks aren't worth crap, as they are too easily copied and still take days to clear the banks.

Certified Mail is basically for someone to say "Yeah, I mailed it."

 

[Andy Griffith]

The most secured way of mailing anything is Registered mail.
Everyone that comes in contact with it has to sign for it. The catch is that is much more expensive.

 

[roscoesheater]

your problem wasn't with the USPS Money Order, right? Just the delivery?
A different delivery is fine. I still will request a USPS Money order because they can be cashed right there. Certified checks aren't worth crap, as they are too easily copied and still take days to clear the banks.

Certified Mail is basically for someone to say "Yeah, I mailed it."

No sir no problem w/the MO, but the idea that my funds are in limbo for 60-90 days is a bummer. I disagree about the cashiers checks, have done over 300 deals on eBay with them and Pay-pal, if there was a problem, settled in a few days, not months?????? And so you know, Postal Money Orders have been counterfeited too! I worked for many years as a APO clerk and I guess certified does not have the protection it once did. I do agree with you, I mailed it!. And you sir do have the right to require MO's, but I also have the right to pass on a sell from now on that feels you must pay by that method just because of what I pointed out, if it is lost, I DON"T GET MY MONEY RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!RH

 

[roscoesheater]

The most secured way of mailing anything is Registered mail.
Everyone that comes in contact with it has to sign for it. The catch is that is much more expensive.

After this little deal w/USPS, I don't trust any method they offer. No matter how or what, if some guy's mind is not on what he is doing, well. I have come to the firm conclusion, buy locally and when you hand them the green, you walk out the door with the goods!!!!! Hey guys, I did nothing wrong but believe in a system that let me down and has left me to dry until they are ready to settle. So for those who read, take note, this could be youRH

 

[Denver Dick]

I request USPS money orders. However, if someone wants to send a certified check, bank check or bank money order, that's okay if it's drawn on a national bank with branches near me like Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase. That way I can take the check directly over to the local branch of that bank and cash it, even if I don't have an account there.

If someone insists on sending me a cashier's or bank check drawn on some small local or state bank in Missouri, Indiana, Virginia, or wherever, then I will hold it for 10 days to clear. Heck, if they ain't in a hurry (and I ain't in immediate need of the funds), I'll even take a personal check . . . if they're willing to wait two weeks for it to clear.

 

[roscoesheater]

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. I would have gladly waited 2 weeks and then received the goods, far better than the option I now have. I also understand the National Branch Bank Check, have never had a issue one time using that method of payment. I assure you of this, no matter how good the deal, no MO's from this ole man again f/anything! Thanks for your kind words.RH

 

[Farmer17]

We just tried to sell some jewelry on Craigs List and the first three people tried to scam us. We said local FTF transactions only and they still called asking if we would ship it, and we said we would only send out the item after the money was removed from our Paypal account and deposited in our bank. They said O.K. but they immediately started trying to access and manipulate our Paypal account. The scammers are getting smarter and there are more and more of them all the time, do some research on it and it will get pretty scary, and I don't need to buy or sell anything that bad.

 

[peyton]

I had a similiar problem in January. I bought an item from one of our forum members and the mail got lost. I took my receipt and put the tracer on it. The post office sent me a postal check which I cashed at the post office.
In the meantime, the seller was patient and I bought another money order to send him priority mail (from Iraq) and he got it two weeks later.
Communicate with the seller, you have proof your trying to keep up with your end of the deal.

 

[perpster]

The most secured way of mailing anything is Registered mail.
Everyone that comes in contact with it has to sign for it. The catch is that is much more expensive.

The other catch is that registered mail usually takes a long time to arrive, since it has to be caged/signed for every step of the way.

 

[Bullet Bob]

I don't work for the postal service, or any other delivery service. I always find it amazing that folks never even consider that they addressed packages/mail incorrectly. We rail against big companies, but are never willing to consider that maybe we made an error. Just a possibility.

 

[labworm]

I don't work for the postal service, or any other delivery service. I always find it amazing that folks never even consider that they addressed packages/mail incorrectly. We rail against big companies, but are never willing to consider that maybe we made an error. Just a possibility.

How could you say that. Received my natural gas bill a few years back, two sides of the bill, one with address to make payment, the other side my address. Mailed it out and received it back 3 days later. I screwed up, imagine.

 

[cowboy117]

I don't work for the postal service, or any other delivery service. I always find it amazing that folks never even consider that they addressed packages/mail incorrectly. We rail against big companies, but are never willing to consider that maybe we made an error. Just a possibility.

Bingo!!!I have used the Postal Service for 65 years and have never lost anything.

 

[Lenshappy]

I'm a small business owner, and send out insured packages every week...UPS or FED EX. The one time I sent out a package USPS insured at $900, it got lost, and, the rules are that we had to wait 90 days before filing a claim.

I send out USPS Money Orders all the time, by Fed Ex letter @ $7.00...not one problem...ever.

 

[ldausmc1369]

USPS

There is no service is US Postal Service. Over paid, underworked bunch of do nothings because they can't be fired. Average salary, with benefits, $81K! The new Obama plan will give them a 20% increase in pay, as no one will lose their jobs and they will have one less day to work. What a deal! USPS is the most inefficent and money sucking organization ever created by man. Abolish the PO and let FedEx, UPS or someone else in it for a profit take over!

Just my thoughts!

 

[moosedog]

For the amount of mail that the PO handles, it's a wonder that these things don't happen more.
It is a bummer, but rather rare, knock on wood.

 

[roscoesheater]

I don't work for the postal service, or any other delivery service. I always find it amazing that folks never even consider that they addressed packages/mail incorrectly. We rail against big companies, but are never willing to consider that maybe we made an error. Just a possibility.

Sorry but the item was addressed as given. Not even!RH

 

[roscoesheater]

I am a 54 year old christian, I can read and write in the language as prescribed for our country. I am always double checking to insure I have done it right, anal about this! The item was not lost because of me, fact. Item was lost w/in the Postal System. Now I am old enough to know things happen, ok, we do not live in a perfect by human standards world! I can accept that the certified letter was mishandled and has now went into the Bermuda Triangle. But after what I found out today,about the Postal Money Order Claim, has chapped my hind end. It is bad enough I have to PAY $5.10 to submit the request for refund because of a lost money order, but now I have been informed I must wait 30 days before I can file a claim, then another 60 days for refund to happen, now that means I will now wait 3 months to get the money back, yea, the next fella to say a Postal Money Order only so they get their funds faster can forget it!!!!!!!!!!! This will never happen to me again, other wise if it did, that would mean I am a fool.RH

 

[roscoesheater]

OK, round three: What would you do about this? Today @ work I get a phone call from the guy had mailed the MO to f/the purchase of a S&W .38 from Gunbroker. Now have been told he did not receive. Post Office can not account f/certified letter other than it was accepted. Can not file a claim until 30 days after purchase, and then it will take another 60 days f/refund. So I have just accepted the fact the MO is lost, the certified letter was a waste of time/money, out of the gun funds f/90 days and to top it all off, I did not get what I had wanted from the start of this little ordeal, the NYPD 1 .38! So now, again the guy that the purchase is being made with lets me know today he has the money, sent to him from a Bill Collector, that's right from a credit card collection agency f/BOA???????? Said a letter had accompanied it saying it could not be accepted f/payment, he begins to question me as if. Then he proceeds to inform me he just sold the gun today and will need to return the MO. I asked could he also return the letter and the envelope he had received it in, line was quite f/a few seconds and then he replied he had already sent the MO, but the rest he would send out Monday. I have already contacted the individual that was investigating this loss thru the USPS and he was very confused by the young mans story as I am too! He said to bring everything to him when I receive it and he would decide if a Postal Fraud had been committed, he also could not figure out how this got out of the certified channels as it had been mailed, because to this very day, the certified letter had not been logged into the receiving Post Office, nor has the thing been signed f/to the individual addressed too. This is what the inspector said he believes what happened: some how this guy received this letter as regular post and not as a certified letter, the certified tag might have got ripped off thru the sorting machine. For what ever reason, did not want to complete the deal and then tried to run the MO through a different channel f/payment of a debt so it could not be confirmed w/his signature on the back of the MO. Bank of America was too smart and would not accept w/o a signature on the back of the MO! Was returned and decided better to contact and tell me he had received the MO after trying to run thru an account in his name. The Postal agent will contact BOA and see who's account this was run against if he provides the rest of the puzzle, of which I do not believe he will. I believe someone offered more money for the gun, he accepted and when he received the MO, he thought he would get both forms of payment f/the single sale. If this can be proved, the USPS will come down like a ton of brinks on his head. He confirmed with the USPS in his home town that he did not receive the certified letter and or MO? But must wait and see if this pans out to be true, I am just glad that it has been located and I do not have to wait 90 days to get my money back. Will post when I hear what is going to happen. Again, I will never buy another MO nor use certified as the way the get it signed for!!!!!! Guess I addressed right after allRH

 

[roscoesheater]

Just another tidbit: I WILL NEVER PURCHASE A GUN OFF OF THE WEB AGIN OTHER THAN IF FROM SOMEONE HERE>RH