1. saichick04's Avatar
    A few weeks ago I put my Blackberry Storm up in the marketplace to sell, after like 3 days I didn't have any interest so I started asking friends of mine with Verizon. I had one "friend" say his was interested but could pay me in installments. Now I've known this guy for a few years, had class and worked with him seemed like a nice guy. So I say sure..you can give me half now and I'll give you the phone and you give me the other half when you get paid again..he got paid wednesday and told me he would let me know Friday when we could meet so he can pay me the rest. Friday came, nothing..he didn't answer my calls or texts or bbm.. I have a new phone now so I can't bbm him any more but he still won't answer my calls or texts. I even went to his house because I had to go down there to visit a friend for the weekend, she's moving away. I've never been hosed so bad in my life. I've had better luck with people on Craigslist then my own classmates! I don't know what to do. I live an hour and a half away from him. I'm a recent grad who couldn't find a job right out of college so I had to move home. I really need that money so I figured it would be good to get half now pay what I could and get the other half so I could work on some more bills. I even got rid of my blackberry to cut back on expenses.
    Do you guys know if there is ANYTHING I can do? Or am I just screwed and have learned a valuable lesson? I remember the pin and I may have the ESN of the phone written down somewhere..I don't want to do anything mean I just want him to man up and pay me what is due. That's not too much to ask for...
    07-25-09 12:18 PM
  2. savioAMG's Avatar
    Call Verizon and Assurion and report it lost/stolen.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    07-25-09 12:32 PM
  3. tylavin's Avatar
    Let that be a lesson for your ***; NEVER sell anything to anyone without getting ALL of the money upfront!!! Report the phone lost/stolen to whoever your carrier is, and if necessary you may have to file a police report. Likely you are out the rest of the money for your phone, especially if you made a verbal contract, and you didn't write anything down
    07-25-09 12:51 PM
  4. eve6er69's Avatar
    never trust ppl with money.
    it ruins friendships and families.
    07-25-09 01:43 PM
  5. Heresy's Avatar
    Let that be a lesson for your ***;
    Little uncalled for, dont you think? The OP made a mistake. No point in bashing. There are young users that use this site also so atleast try to post with respect.
    To the OP, a deal is a deal. Yes its kinda wrong to report the device lost or stolen since you willingly gave the device up, but unfortunately it seems all you can do now is complain about it. If the device pin was successfully swapped to his service you are going to have a hard time proving it was lost or stolen. Send a male friend to pay him a visit....
    07-25-09 02:08 PM
  6. blueyestm's Avatar
    Family screws you too. I helped my brother in law get a boat and he let it go to repo so now I have the worst credit score of all time.
    07-25-09 02:33 PM
  7. cherryjuice's Avatar
    The cops are going to tell you its a civil matter and to take him to court. Lost/stolen is ur best bet but not very honost.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    07-25-09 03:31 PM
  8. Username00089's Avatar
    And blocking the ESN isn't "mean." When he can't activate the phone (if he
    hasn't already) I'm sure he'll give you a call. Then when he pays you you
    can report it back as found and have the ESN activated again.
    07-25-09 03:41 PM
  9. Bajanbastard's Avatar
    Dude. My own cousin screwed me. I imported a 8300 for him paying for the phone, shipping and duties. Told him ok i'll sell you it for 250 USD (they go for 400-500 USD locally) guess what? He's had the phone for over 2 months now and i've gotten 50 USD in payment........yeah.....to make it worse he works and has a pretty decent job...while i'm unemployed at the moment.

    I wish you the best of luck man personally i would call/text him
    warning him to pay me.....if no reply blacklist the phone.
    07-25-09 04:07 PM
  10. NIKSTORM's Avatar
    SHUT THAY SH*T DOWN!
    Call vzw and report the phone lost.
    F HIM!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    07-25-09 04:20 PM
  11. thejgeffect's Avatar
    Do you have any guy friends? Handle business...
    07-25-09 04:23 PM
  12. fabuloso's Avatar
    Lmao. Lesson learned. Paypal that sh*t next time. Lmao, never trust by taking someones word.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    07-25-09 04:23 PM
  13. camarojones's Avatar
    I agree with the ESN/PIN block. Call V and tell them it was stolen.

    As soon as she call you..."Sorry "friend"...pay me and I'll unblock it for you."
    07-25-09 04:50 PM
  14. boomhower1820's Avatar
    Do not call and report that phone lost or stolen. That would be a false report and depending on where you live a crime. What your "friend" did was wrong but not illegal. Now don't go and get yourself in a mess because of what he did. Just chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.
    07-25-09 06:04 PM
  15. geek2009's Avatar
    In most states a verbal contract is still legal, up to a certain dollar amount. It would depend on your state, but would be worth looking up. It just depends how bad you want your money. Take him to small claims court or at least threaten him with it.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    07-25-09 08:46 PM
  16. saichick04's Avatar
    Thanks for all the advice guys! The first thing I thought of was blocking it so he wouldn't be able to use the internet. I do have some guy friends but they have all moved. We kinda all moved away around the same time this summer!

    I should have known better...I'm a pretty nice girl and all I wanted to do was help a guy get a phone he's been waiting for a while and making some money to pay some bills. I even tried calling him from another phone. I went to his house but noone answered the door. How sad is that. Looks like I'm going to have to blow his phone up. And "diss him on the internet"

    Money can really ruin a friendship, it's paper but it's some pretty nice paper to have...
    07-25-09 08:48 PM
  17. saichick04's Avatar
    In most states a verbal contract is still legal, up to a certain dollar amount. It would depend on your state, but would be worth looking up. It just depends how bad you want your money. Take him to small claims court or at least threaten him with it.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    A real friend mentioned this to me earlier today. I just don't know if the court costs would be worth getting the remainder that he owes me..you know? Ugh...
    07-25-09 08:50 PM
  18. xliderider's Avatar
    A real friend mentioned this to me earlier today. I just don't know if the court costs would be worth getting the remainder that he owes me..you know? Ugh...
    When you take him to small claims court, ask that the court fees be included in the settlement. If he had been an honest guy, then you wouldn't need to take him to court, so no need to play nice.
    07-25-09 08:55 PM
  19. saichick04's Avatar
    You're right...I could just take him to court and never see him again. I'm joining the military soon so I'll be off to basic anyways. Hmm, I've got some serious thinking to do. Again I appreciate everyones ideas and advice. Good to know I come to CB even when I don't use one anymore!
    07-25-09 09:01 PM
  20. boomhower1820's Avatar
    In most states a verbal contract is still legal, up to a certain dollar amount. It would depend on your state, but would be worth looking up. It just depends how bad you want your money. Take him to small claims court or at least threaten him with it.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    In civil court yes. Pretty much everywhere a verbal contact is binding. You just have to figure what your time is worth to see if its worth the trouble of taking him to court. Good part is if they find him and serve him he must show up. If he doesn't then he goes to jail for contempt of court.
    07-25-09 09:46 PM
  21. Xopher's Avatar
    In civil court yes. Pretty much everywhere a verbal contact is binding. You just have to figure what your time is worth to see if its worth the trouble of taking him to court. Good part is if they find him and serve him he must show up. If he doesn't then he goes to jail for contempt of court.
    Witha civil/small claims court, not showing up won't get him arrested, but the judgement will be in your favor since he was aware of the court date and decided not to dispute it with the judge. It may not mean he will pay you, even if you win the judgement, but if you do have the judgement, you can have the court put a lein on any property he owns (house, car....) which he won't be able to sell until he pays you. You can also have his credit report noted with the court judgement.

    It sounds like you have tried several times to contact him. Small claims court soulds like the way to go. He might just get the summons and pay you!
    07-26-09 09:38 AM
  22. boomhower1820's Avatar
    Witha civil/small claims court, not showing up won't get him arrested, but the judgement will be in your favor since he was aware of the court date and decided not to dispute it with the judge. It may not mean he will pay you, even if you win the judgement, but if you do have the judgement, you can have the court put a lein on any property he owns (house, car....) which he won't be able to sell until he pays you. You can also have his credit report noted with the court judgement.

    It sounds like you have tried several times to contact him. Small claims court soulds like the way to go. He might just get the summons and pay you!
    The judge sure can issue and order for arrest. It isn't common but certainly within his power.
    07-26-09 09:42 AM
  23. franked's Avatar
    Do not call and report that phone lost or stolen. That would be a false report and depending on where you live a crime. What your "friend" did was wrong but not illegal. Now don't go and get yourself in a mess because of what he did. Just chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.
    Agreed. Even if you took it to civil court, how much money would you have left after court fees?

    Tough lesson to swallow, but a vaulable one nonetheless.
    07-26-09 09:53 AM
  24. saichick04's Avatar
    I think I'm going to make him think I'm sending him to court or reporting the phone stolen. I'm going to call him again on Monday and leave that in a voicemail. I've already tried calling today with no luck.
    07-26-09 11:00 AM
  25. saichick04's Avatar
    UPDATE!! So he finally texted me back today. Said he left his phone at the bar in town and didn't get it back til late last night. He wasn't home when I came by because he went out of town with his sister. He is meeting me Tuesday Crazy what a little scare will do.
    07-26-09 07:31 PM
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