Minichopper Rip Off

Hawaii

I placed an order to purchase a Minichopper motorcycle for my 10 yr. old son from Anthony Newton of Minimaxmachine in Eugene Oregon. I saw the listing on Ebay, however when contacted the owner via e-mail & phone, he informed me that the bike pictured on Ebay was that certain color only for sale. I had to place my oder with him and send a check for payment. I insisted on paying through Paypal and did so making 3 seperate payments of $985.00 totaling $2955.00, one payment on 7/21/04, and the other two payments on 8/23/04.

The amount of $2556.00 was for the actual bike and $399 was for the shipping cost to Hawaii. The owner told me that the bike would be completed within 3-4 weeks and shipped in plenty of time for my sons B-Day Party 10/10/04.
As of today, I have not rec'd the bike. 4 weeks ago was the last contact that I had with the owner, who now does not answer his home phone at all, nor replies back to my e-mails sent to his personal address and his web site address. His cell phone message box is full so it will not accept anymore mesages, and of course he does not answer it.

I filed a complaint with Paypal and they were only able to recover $232.58 from his Paypal account. He has since stopped his listings on Ebay, and within the past couple of days, his web site has been shut down by the host. Through research on Ebay, I have located 3 other consumers that have paid Anthony Newton in full and have not rec'd items as agreed upon. A couple of them even sent some parts to be put on the bike he was suppose to build. He told all of us 4 weeks ago that he would send my completed bike, and refund the others money and send back their parts.

Nothing has been received, refunded or shipped to any of us. What recourse do we have legally to get our money back from him and press charges? Thanks! Kim

Any replies????

Hilo Hawaii

Need to file a complaint in small claims court? I was told I need to file in the sellers home town which is Eugene, Oregon. Anyone know how I would go about doing that? Thanks!

You can try here to see if they have the forms on line:
http://www.ojd.state.or.us/LAN/home.nsf/Small_Claims_small_claims.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1
If you can't find them, call the courts. They MIGHT mail or fax you a copy, could be a fee involved. You MIGHT be able to mail them in w/court costs. You MIGHT be able to appear by phone (written request to the judge, it will be his/her decision) however I would start searching for cheap airfare. Winning in court doesn't meant that you will be paid...ever. You have to decide if it's worth it.
I believe there is also a Dept. of Justice, they might take your complaint but they don't assist with small claims filings.
Another poster suggested contacting the local police department? Have you done this????????????????
Good Luck!
KAT

Kat~Thanks for the Information!

Thanks for the information. Yes, all 4 of us have been in contact with a Deputy from the Oregon police and have sent him our information, just waiting his response. We have filed complaints with the both the BBB's (Better & Bad), IFCC (Internet Fraud), Paypal, Ebay, but I will definitely see what my options are with the Dept. of Justice you suggested.

I will try the small claims court in Oregon first, and see what the procedures are and if they would allow special accomodations for me being from Hawaii. If they cannot or will not grant me that, you are right about deciding if it is worth it or not, for $3000 I really dont think that it would be.

Unfortunately nothing, including plane tickets are cheap from Hawaii. The only place that we can go from here, for a decent airline ticket price is Vegas. That is due to the volume of people that go to Vegas from Hawaii. They are able to keep the costs down with chartered groups. However even that is rising in prices, a year or two ago, we could get tickets between $300 - $400, now the cheapest is almost $800.

I can just imagine what it would be for one person to Oregon. It would be at least half of the $3000, so it would not be worth pursuig money wise if it were to go that route. In any case, I would just offer my assistance to the other 4 victims that live in the states that could travel for a reasonable price. BTW, 8 more people contacted us with the same situation with this seller! What a A*@ he is! Hate to be him on his judgment day! He will get what is coming to him sooner or later. Do you know if there is anything that we could file as a group, like a class action or something since there is so many of us and climbing?????? Just the money amount with only the four of us totals over $9,705.00 in just cash alone, not to mention the bike parts that he probably hocked by now

Anyhow, thanks for replying and sure do appreciate the information! Kim