I Got Burned Buying From Eric Matzen

[Sam Baker]

I've bought a lot of things through screamandfly.com and have always had great success and never a problem. However, after trying to work through a few issues with a guy I bought a 2.5 powerhead from and getting burned by him, I just wanted to share his name so nobody else gets burned.

Eric Matzen (was living in Babylon, NY but has moved out of his Mom's house I guess) sold me a motor that was in "great shape" other than the damage from a minor blow up. After speaking with him over the phone, I e-mailed him an agreement that we went over line by line. We both agreed that I would pay him for the motor as well as for shipping the item. He was to have it boxed up by a professional facility (i.e. UPS Store, UPS facility, etc.) and have it insured for $2500. He agreed so I sent him the money.

I should have sensed there was going to be a problem when I called and spoke to his Mom. She said he just took the motor up to be shipped after he had been "walking around the house looking for packing materials." He shouldn't have had to worry about packing materials if somebody else was doing the packaging. Anyway, the box showed up with the block broken. It's fixable, but the machinist says it's going to be about $1000 worth of time and then it'll be obvious that it's been broken. I called UPS to file a claim...guess what? No insurance and after their review, it had been packed improperly. I called Eric to review that with him. He said he was going to the shipper to find out what happened. I never heard from him. I called him again and his mom said he'd moved out and "she didn't have his number." I called today and his Mom's phone number's no longer in service.

DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH HIM. He had a 24' Predator and a 24' Skater for sale and he was using the screen name Mike K (again, I should have known something was up when somebody named Eric is using the screen name Mike K).

I'll eat this motor and the price for getting it fixed...then I'll have to eat it again when I go to resell it. It's sad because this is the only place a lot of us can find stuff that we need and a few people ruin it.

Eric, if you want to take care of this finally, call me or e-mail me and I'll delete this post. I hate calling people out, but I've tried and tried to work this out amicably and I can see that you have no interest in that so I don't want anybody else getting burned by you.

[Raceman]

Sam, just for the record, UPS almost ALWAYS tries the no insurance because of improper packaging BS. If you get rough with em, even threatening them with your state's insurance commissioner, sometimes they'll come around. If you've got an attorney buddy that'll write em a letter that'll sometimes loosen em up also. If he didn't buy insurance at all, then you don't have a leg to stand on over their 100 dollar minimum, but if he did insure it for value then you might have some recourse if you want to hassle em some.

I think it's utterly ridiculous how UPS destroys stuff that is well packaged and uses the excuse of improper packaging when they break it.

[The Big Al]

What did it break on the block that would cost 1000.00 to repair?

And it seems it a UPS problem not a direct problem with seller.

AL

[K-Dawg]

Sounds from what I read he packaged it himself improperly and it may have already been broken.

[Tom Foley]

I used to know some people on Long Island that can package HIM up for you ! Sorry to hear of your bad dealings with this jerk .

[Forkin' Crazy]

Sam, I am sorry that happened. And Norris is right. Claiming insufficient packing is an easy out.

A drop-on or. …. even a block really needs to be in a wooden crate, IMO.

[Trikki1010]

I think it's utterly ridiculous how UPS destroys stuff that is well packaged and uses the excuse of improper packaging when they break it.

two years ago, I bought a mark 20 on ebay

I'm in my shop, hear UPS truck, hear boom,,,,,,,,boom,,,,,,

Walk outside to see UPS guy flipping crate end over end:mad:

Got mine back for improper material handling, only because he didn't use the handtruck like he was supposed to or read the "FRAGILE" and "THIS SIDE UP:rolleyes:

Good luck Sam

[delawarerick]

Ups threw literally a cowl at the door. Unfortunately is was not packed very well and I did not pay that much for it. They have changed for worst over the years but what hasnt. Rick

[Tony Montana]

raceman, read his post again, it said that their agreement was that a professional shipper would do the packing- if they pack it and break it they are responsible and cannot claim poor packing; the seller packed it himself according to his mom which is now screwing sam by allowing ups to blame the packaging for the damage. Sam also paid him to have it professionally packed.anybody know this guy?

[Hot Shot Merc]

These people make me sick.I bought a Sea Star Pro steering system from a scream and flyer last year and it came ina box that was about 2' 1/2" x 2' 1/2".Itw as not wrapped in anything at all and the system was just loosely flopping around in the box.The box had a hole in one corner and the steering was sticking out of the box about to fall on the ground.When I recieved the package I called this person to let them know and I made sure and express my dissatisfaction with his packaging.No reply.Go figure.:rolleyes:

[Fish]

That sux sam. You mentioned an agreement, did both of you guys sign something that says what he is supposed to do in this deal?

fish

[msethsmile]

Eric turned me into a NEWT!

[msethsmile]

I got better.

[sho305]

I worked at a place that made big industrial machines. They went by truck mostly, sometimes we made parts or assemblies that went truck or UPS. We always crated stuff. We made a base of 2x6 and bolted the item to it, then air nailed the snot out of 1x6 or 1x8 or ply to make a box and lock everything down. However UPS is great up here and never seems to break stuff....like RPS used to. Years ago I worked at a distributor place and we called them Round Package Service because the boxes were always round when they got there, and the driver always drove in the door he was not supposed to and kicked the stuff out on the floor and took off. I still ship small parts for a place UPS and never had a return yet, but most are under 16" square and not real heavy...but the parts are not very breakable either.

[Bruster]

If this deal was done with a Paypal payment you may have had some leverage, especially if you used your credit card to fund the purchase. I passed on a S&F power head for this same potential reasons you are fighting when the seller would not take Paypal.

[Mastercraft241]

my brother shipped his $3,000 apple computer to cali and he gets it back with a HUGE dent in it. Ups says he has to send them computer and will get it approved or dissapproved within 3 weeks. He told ups, thats fine but ur gonna pay for me to have a computer here or pay for me to buy a new one. Within 10 minutes they said "ok, just take a picture and send it in, we'll pay for it or hopfully we'll get a tech. guy to you and he'll approve it." They are horrible these days