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Purchased items, Company is now BANKRUPT

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OrlandoGT

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

Ok, here's the deal. Plese help if you can:
I purchased a turbo kit from my car from a company called Xtech Engineering from Ames, Iowa (I live in Orlando by the way). The owner, Chris Clough received my payment on July 7th as a Cashiers check linked to my Bank of America account. He never sent an invoice as it was supposed to be sent with the final product as in many online purchases. I sent payment, expecting to receive my kit and several other items after a month, or two at most. After several months of waiting, the company went out of business. Chris said through message boards and private messages that he still had intentions to send out a kit to everyone who paid.

The last time that I heard from Mr. Clough was on October 27 through an e-mail after the company was seized. He said that he had the parts and had to work on the piping before he sent it out. It is now December 15th, and I have no turbo kit, and Chris is not answering e-mails, and the business phone is out of order. Basically I've been waiting for a turbo kit for over 5 months now.

I have the copy of the cashiers kit, e-mails, private messages, and threads from internet message boards. In several of these messages, Chris says that he is going to send out my kit in "two weeks" or "by the end of the month" etc. I have no problem waiting, but the fact is that there is not way to contact Chris and he is obviously not trying to be contacted.

The website was www.xtecheng.com

What can be done? I purchased the items expecting to receive them well before I knew of the impending bankruptcy. The total payment came out to be $2735.

Thanks in advance
 


A

advicesucks

Guest
got really bad news for ya - you may get nothing.

If he really filed for BK (instead of just "saying" he's BK and closing shop) then assets are frozen - that means hes not going to be shipping you anything. You would have to register with the BK court as a claimant and hope to receive something...chances are hes not going to list any assets and there are larger creditors than you, so youll end up with a few cents on the dollar, if anything...

now we dont know if he's really filed BK or the real story with anything...all you know is the storied hes posted in email and on the internet. He may actually still be working on the item and may be sending it out, but you need to be realistic and know in all likelihood, nothing is coming
 
A

advicesucks

Guest
the website doesnt say they went bankrupt, it says the company was dissolved...that could be BS...they are still listed as active with the state of Iowa

http://www.sos.state.ia.us/corp/corp_summary.asp?corpno=390C576CECF9D6F1832D30640B29E27BDA09363596D97CE0EC6C9FF5FDBE837C08EEFB1650D8366A59F4C68967D933C402551CBE3766C5A2355ADED10E950C9D&corp=xtech

Get a copy of the check. I did a WHOIS.COM search on his website and looks like this is a one man shop...he is/used to be an Iowa State student from his email address. Also has another address.

You may want to call the university police and explain a student is using Iowa State email/computer systems to defraud people - if hes a current student they will probably speak to him and scare him into paying you...theres usually school rules that you arent supposed to run a business from school. Depending on jow you phrase your complaint , and if you submit enough evidence to support your claim the school police will likely investigate it. There are many other tips to collecting Ill leave for others
 

OrlandoGT

Junior Member
Hey man, are you a lawyer or something? I will be willing to pay you to help me ;)
The only email address I have from him is [email protected] or [email protected]

I believe he graduated school already. I wish there is a way for me to contact him. I was giving the benefit of the doubt by assuming that the e-mail addresses were erased.

Anyways, please e-mail me at [email protected]

Thanks,
Richard
 
A

advicesucks

Guest
yes I am a lawyer, but not licensed in FL or IA, so I cant work for you. You can find his university email address and the mailing addresses by doing a WHOIS.COM search on his website. Thats a pretty uncommon name and I bet you can find his home phone # with a little online searching.

I dont think its clear if he graduated or not, but the University Police may be interested to learn he is using university email after graduation to defraud people on the internet. University cops LOVE to get the chance to play "real" cops.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
advicesucks said:
yes I am a lawyer, but not licensed in FL so I cant work for you. You can find his university email address and the mailing addresses by doing a WHOIS.COM search on his website. Thats a pretty uncommon name and I bet you can find his home phone # with a little online searching.

I dont think its clear if he graduated or not, but the University Police may be interested to learn he is using university email after graduation to defraud people on the internet. University cops LOVE to get the chance to play "real" cops.
 

OrlandoGT

Junior Member
There are actually three or four Chris Clough's in IA. I was also told by a friend who met him about 4 months ago that says his phone number may be under his girl friend's name. And I don't know her name. Do you have any advice on what kind of lawyer I should talk to? Is there a special type that specializes on internet purchases?

Thanks
 
A

advicesucks

Guest
Well this is Iowa, so I dont know how many internet -savvy lawyers are out there...call the Bar Association in the largest county in Iowa for a referral.

You may find this would cost a lot more to fight than its worth, and theres a lot of facts which are unknown. Good luck and report back if you are successful! Interstate transactions are always difficult to resolve when a problem crops up.
 

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