I’ve been a member for about five months now, mostly buying and selling bits on the classifieds, and I have to say it’s been great. Up until now….

I and several others bought some parts from Tony Wray (ewrayzor), paid for over three weeks ago, and despite repeated requests, emails and texts, none of us have had either the bits, a tracking number or a refund. Tony has supplied a series of excuses, some of which are plausible, but given the time that has elapsed and the number of people of unsatisfied customers things are not looking good.

As a last ditch attempt to salvage faith in human nature, does anyone on STW know Tony Wray or have any means of contacting him? He lives in the Liverpool area, used to be a teacher in Warrington and into basketball and biking. Possibly used to ride and Orange Subzero. I’d really like to find out what the story is before calling the police.

Any help or advice much appreciated!

Paul

I realise threads of this type are no surprise to longtime STW members, and I’m not the first (or the last) to have been ripped off trying to pick up some bits on the classifieds.

However, I suppose my point is that this is not really a classic scam. It’s not a Nigerian pretending to be the executor of my billionaire uncle’s will; not even someone skimming my credit card. It’s a real person, who rides the trails near you, who was in Fort William this weekend, who for some reason has taken money from other bikers and not given them the items they paid for.

The online ‘community’ of STW relies of a certain level of trust, to sustain and promote a shared interest in bikes. Sure, this is no guarantee of financial soundness, but can anything be done to ‘self regulate’ the classifieds? A ratings system is a little commercial, but its very existence could be a useful reminder to relative newcomers such as myself that care should be exercised…

Having said that, I am very grateful to the bona fida sellers out there, who have bought and sold some excellent parts over the last few months, which would have not been possible without a level of mutual trust.

Paul

I can’t help I’m afraid but…oh dear, not again 🙁

Finally got the saddle this morning, posted yesterday, a full four weeks after paying. Why wait so long but say you’ve posted it? If life gets in the way (and it can), then say so. We’ve all got other responsibilities and heck, even things we’d rather be doing than going to the post office, but don’t say you’ve done something if you haven’t. Basic courtesy. Cheers for the comment pedalhead and others on similar threads…

I have known and dealt with tony before, i have paid for something off him and now he has vanished again. he keeps doing this, tony if your reading this i have one pretty pee’d off girlfriend who is £70 lighter. please txt or mail me.

my fork arrived also 4 weeks after payment. had various and sundry excuses including that it was returned by Royal Mail, mailed again on June 3, away for the weekend, etc. why say you’ve posted something if you obviously haven’t? surely that only adds to the consternation of your buyers.

yep that’d be me, picking up new frame tonight and the only thing holding back my completion of it will be these shifters, so im without bike until the goods turn up.

Our parts turned up today, but no contact with tony… [:(]

Sounds like he is taking your money upfront then trying to source the parts for less, hence the delay.

So he has surfaced again and is ripping people off again is he?
I had an unpleasant experience with a Tony Wray back in March ’08: he took money from me for a seatpost and stem and never sent them. Three other forum users were ripped off by the same man at that time. We involved the police but they were blocked from proceeding against him by HSBC bank (which handled Tony Wray’s account). Despite clear evidence of money being obtained by deception from four separate individuals, HSBC would not cooperate with the police. So much for their much vaunted anti money laundering stance…..

My advice to STW forum users is don’t send Tony Wray any money under any circumstances.

not being able to search the old forum for problem sellers is a real problem. it would be good to compile a master list of sellers to avoid.

some sort of feedback system is the best way otherwise its easy to get ripped off.

I don’t get it. If he wants to pull a scam, why do it in a relatively well connected community like STW? Why offer bits for sale, take the money, keep in contact (to a certain degree), but never send the bits (or only send them when police action is threatened?) It doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps he wants the money but still wants to ride the kits until he replaces it, or likes the idea of someone already having paid for the bits he’s still using. Weird. Dishonest.

I agree though, we need some kind of ratings system (or blacklist, which should include ‘account numbers ending in ….” in case individuals simply change logon details).

I have mobile number and others have postal address if those who have been ripped off want them.

Seriusoly, I have never ripped anyone off so someone istaken. I have sold over 15 pieces of kit since joining and all but two items got there within 5 working days. True, a couple of items went missing in the mail and I personally worked my ass off to get them back this despite at one of the missing items delivery address a card was left! I am a biker too but I’m not CRC so I can’t get things out to you the next day. I also get frustrated when things don’t turn up as soon as I’d like but 13/15 aint bad in my book!

unless you’re the 2/15…….

i agree completely but the post is out of my hands

Four weeks? Did it take four weeks for the post to arrive or four weeks to be posted? If the latter, it is definitely in your hands.

they went out and there was an attempted postage and returned to me. they were then resent by me at my own cost. I have two reciepts for this but I giess the guy was so frustrated he forgot to mention this.

Anyway what’s done is what’s done but I figured that as I’m back (I was at fort bill at the weekend – still buzzing) I’d attempt to clear this up especially as in my mind a scammer doesn’t actually send anything out at all.

ewrayzor take a photo of the receipts and bung them up here, that way you can clear your name and get an apology if its due.

I’ve tried that but not sure how to post up a pic on the forum. Might out it on flickr though. Not really fussed to be honest just wanted to put the pic straight.

register to photobucket or flickr, and after you upload the pic’s they normally have a link/code you can cut and paste into the forum

I had similar problems with tony on uk-mtb (when he was known as thelastdon) … I don’t think he is trying to rip people off … he’s just a bit useless. His communication is terrible too – never answers his phone and takes days to reply to emails