$8000 lost to fraudulent ebayer HELP!

[ss98camaross]

What is the name of your state? illinois
This story is a mess I bought a 2002 accord from Neil in florida off ebay, the listing stated the car was immaculate. it wasn't when i went to pick it up it was a disaster, check engine lights, huge body defects, ran like garbage, you get the point. So me and neil agreed i leave it at the airport and he would pick it up and refund me. Then he said he will only refund me when it sells. So he says he fixed it so it ran right and sold it on ebay again. then he wanted me to ship him the title before he put the 8000 back in my bank i said no way i want the money firs,t then he said fine **** you im putting a mechanics lein on the car and ill drag this out for months, i dont care," and to top it off he said that he is friends with a towing company and he will keep it in thier storage for a cost of 40 dollars a day. So if i do win the case the car will have accrued 4800 in storage fees this has been a nighmare from the start, Oh yea and i said i'll just have it shiped to my house in illinois and ill pay for it. he said no he wants me to pay for the car again for the work he did on it, to make it the way it should have been for me when i picked it up. i feel sick to my stomach thinking about this. It does not help that i am 1200 miles away from him and the car if anyone has any advice or names of good lawyers ill be grateful

 

[divgradcurl]

See if the seller would be willing to work with an escrow company. You could give the signed title to the escrow company, they would hold it until they received the $8000 or whatever from the seller, then they release the title to the seller and the money to you. Yeah, it may cost a few hundred bucks, but it would be way cheaper than hiring a lawyer. Of course, it requires both sides to agree to this, but it's a way of trading the $$$ for the title in such a way that neither party has BOTH the money and the title at the same time...