Well, it was only a matter of time before this happened to me (long)
 

Since I started building RVs my wife always asked me why I was so trusting of people. I kept telling her that the aviation community was somewhat different than the general population and that the love for aviation kept the majority of people from doing shady things. She experienced time after time the kindness and fairness of the aviation community. Well until now?..

About 6 months ago my dad called me and asked me if I was ready to do my interior. I was not ready but he told me that this lady he knows does a very good job and she was starting her own business. My dad has helped her out a few times due to work (she was in his region). I gave her a call and we discussed what I wanted to do with my interior. We agreed that we would use my RV as her ?show model? and she would come out to CA from OK to install all the interior parts. We agreed that I would show progress of the interior on my website and would help her break into the RV world.

We would talk daily, sometimes twice a day. I put away what I was doing and started concentrating on the interior. I spent a long time figuring out how to do all these thing that I really did not need (or want) because she wanted to do a good job with her ?show model?. The total for the work would be right under $2,500. She asked me to send her half of the money upfront so she could buy the materials. So I did that via a Money Pak (per her request). Then the calls were fewer. So I figured that she was working on stuff. I would ask for pictures of the progress and I would get excuses like? my computer is down?, or ?I don?t know how to download them from the camera I need to wait on the computer tect to help me?.

She then asked me if I could send her the rest of the money so she could buy a machine that would allow her to make better/faster stitches. I talked to my wife and she was not ok with it but we agreed to send the rest of the money because this was going on for too long. After she received the money, the calls stopped. The day before she was supposed to come to CA to install the seats, she ?fell down and broke her hip?. Then ?she was not allowed to have a phone at the hospital?, ?her computer had a virus and could not answer the emails?, and the last one was ?she was in the hospital again having a hysterectomy?. Throughout this process I was very nice to her. I felt bad, after all, she was my dad?s friend and he personally recommended her. She could not be lying to me or worst yet taking advantage of me.

I finally had enough and told her if my stuff was not at home by 2 weeks ago I would take legal action. She begged me not to do that and sent me a box. After returning from a family funeral I decided to open the box. What an expected surprise. 1 piece of leather and 2 pieces of aluminum. I called her and of course she did not answer. She sent me an email telling me that her helper sent out 3 boxes on the same day and he messed it up. She would take care of it and she was working hard to make everyone happy. She asked me to send the box to the rightful owner. So I did that at my own expense ($50, she would pay me later). I gave her another deadline and she missed it.

I was out all my money, time invested and the parts I made. I was upset about the money but furious that she would take my airplane parts and plans and not return them. Yesterday I received my parts. Nothing else. So now I am only out $2,500. Lesson learned for me and my wife.

I am not going to release any info on this lady yet. I need to analyze my legal options and don?t want to ruin my chances of getting my money back. Oh by the way. The person that I sent the box back to was one of her family members or boyfriend. She has 7 aliases with UPS and ships from many different addresses. That means that I am not the first person she has done this to.

Is anyone out there savvy about things like this? I would like to teach this person a lesson so this does not happen to anyone else, even if it cost me more money than the money I lost already.

I'm sorry Axel. Is there something your dad can do?

Sounds like she is" general population" and not part of the aviation community.


Mail fraud comes to mind.................

Time for the Oklahoma RV posse to swing into action. A knock on the door might help, or at least diminish the feeling of anonymity and safety of distance.

brand your calves...
 

Most folks are honest & worthy of trust.

I've learned the hard way some are not.

Like the old rancher sez "trust everybody but brand your calves...":D

Dave
-9A out of Ph 1

first you must remember she is not your friend, she is not even your dad's friend. Friends do not treat other friends this way. She is a parasite business and preys on others.

One method of recovery, which doesn't sting to bad financially:

Send her a ceritified letter, requesting a complete refund within 30 days. In this letter also state you WILL be taking legal action in the event of non compliance. Accept no excuses! While you are waiting for the 30 days to expire, organize your paperwork and get the appropriate juristiction paperwork for fiiling a small claims action.

You were burnt, but now you owe to others to spread the word. Good luck!

My advice...small claims court. Many times just the service of the court papers can jar someone into cleaning up their mess. Sometimes not.

Small claims means no lawyers, so if you have all of your paperwork in order (emails, letters, cancelled checks, photos, etc.), and it sounds like you do, then you're pretty much assured of winning if it gets that far.

Of course, the court will encourage you to reach a settlement, and that's fine, too.

And lastly, you'll still have to collect your money...and that can be hard, but there's a process for *that*, too, and you can drag their butt back into court for that, at which point it becomes much more serious (you can garnish wages and bank accounts, it gets reported to credit agencies, etc.).

You may be able to file in your local jurisdiction, as well, forcing them to come here (which of course, she won't do, so you win by default).

Good luck, and let us know what happens. AND...publish the name so other people can avoid getting ripped off, as well.

My dad has called her and obtained the same answers dhe gave me. I asked my dad to stay out of it. I don't want to take any chances in case this gets ugly.

That was one of my first thoughts but I don't want to involve anyone else. I need to figure out a way to do this the right way.

In due time I will. For now my advice is to stick with advertisers on this forum for interior needs.

Looking into small claims. As soon as this is resolved you bet your backside that everyone on VAF will know all her particulars.

Postal Inspector Service
 

You are correct about the aviation community. It is made up, for the most part, of honest, enthusiastic people, who generally display much integrity. In 46 years of flying I have had only two experiences that made me temporarily lose faith in fellow aviators. That said, if the woman interacted with you in any way through the US postal system you might consider notifying your local office of the US Postal Inspector Service. Their mission is to investigate all fraud that involves use of the US Postal Service. They are quite efficient and handle daily the type of fraud that you unfortunately experienced. Don't lose faith in the aviation community because of this incident.

Allen
RV4 343AS

Sorry to hear it, Axel. It's infuriating that there are people like this around, aviation community or not. I would suggest that you attack this on two fronts:

1) Fight to get your money back, and possibly additional compensation for the wasted time and trouble she's caused you. As others have said, small claims court is probably the best avenue for this.

2) Brand her as the criminal that she is, to punish and hopefully prevent her from defrauding others in the future. Exposing her publicly within the RV community may keep her from doing it again within the RV community, but it'll do nothing to prevent her from running other scams outside the RV community. So aside from the civil claim, I would also file a criminal complaint. I'm not sure what would be the appropriate charge or jurisdiction (hopefully someone with more legal background can chime in), but clearly there was deliberate fraud here, so I have to imagine that criminal laws were broken. And perhaps federal laws kick in, since this occurred across state lines? Bottom line, this woman should not get out of this without a criminal record.

Good luck, Axel.