Did I get scammed for $3100? Vpment 12v 200ah batteries a scam? They only weigh 34lbs.

[oregonsun]

So just a bit of friendly advice .... I deal with China a lot ... for some reason because I am Chinese (although born and raised in LAX) my company has decided that I should help them out on some of the issues every now and then because i do speak Mandarin - sort of -- ... of course we have about 100 perfect Chinese speakers in the company but sometimes with me being out here with the actual equipment its easier to explain etc etc ...

SO - and its a little late for this advice - but you really want to sweet talk them until the divorce papers are signed and you got your money ...

right now you have basically called them scammers (which they may or may not be - they also may have got scammed by the people they bought the batteries from) and you leaving a PUBLIC message like that they now no longer have any reason to help you at all ...

You got a reverse charge temporarily -- its left up to THEM and your bank to decide if its permanent .. if they send the bank "proof" that you got what you said you didn't get (trust me - if they are scammers they have this made up proof already") then the charges will be re-reversed ...

I'm not understanding though how your BANK is helping you IF you used a DEBIT card ... I have never heard of this being done -- someone correct me if I am wrong ....

I also don't understand how you can't start an issue with PayPal ... something is not right because I know for a fact that PayPal screens time out after 15 minutes -- not 30 seconds ... so I would keep trying ...

I would also take down any negative public anger UNTIL you get the money firmly in your pocket -- remember - what was reversed and be re-reversed ... just curious -- is the money 100% available for you to withdraw -- because if it is I would draw it all out and leave the bare minimum in until this gets fully resolved ... i bet that they have an administrative hold on that 3K in your account ...

Finally - 99% of these companies are selling batteries bought from someone else from someone else thru someone else ...thats why 90% of all these batteries look the same when its cut open ... SOOOO the person you are speaking to does NOT understand 90% of the ENGLISH that you are using like "being jerked around" and things like that ... they are taking your English and running it through google translate and then reading it ... I ran your stuff through google Mandarin and I will tell you .. its pretty funny ... SAO I totally advice you to keep your posts to them very to the point -- the more point the less "scammy" you come across .. because right now - IF those guys did NOT scam you but the people they got the batteries from DID - then those sellers are thinking that YOU are the scammer ... PLUS you asking for 50% right off the top is a HUGE RED FLAG (no pun intended) to the Chinese manufacturers ... TONS of Americans do this all the time -- "hey you didn't send me what I asked for BUT I am willing to keep it for 50% off" -- so of course this seems suspicious ...

Hopefully you kept the original boxes - you will need that for proof and the tracking info -- trust me -- they are going to fight you tooth and nails on this one ... IF I were them i would say that the batteries do NOT seem defective but that they will replace them if you send them back to China -- remember - the US heavily subsidizes shipments FROM China to US but not the other way around - so you are EASILY looking at 1500 to send back those batteries -- and if you don't send them back - then they will close the case and you are stuck with what you have ...

SO strongly suggest that you take down the public slam until the outcome ... DON'T give them a reason to draw a line in the sand and drag this out ... because - Right or Wrong -- they will ...

"Hopefully you kept the original boxes"

I did.

"you will need that for proof and the tracking info -- trust me -- they are going to fight you tooth and nails on this one"

Oh I know.

"IF I were them i would say that the batteries do NOT seem defective but that they will replace them if you send them back to China --"

That is not an option for this seller, his ebay ad says seller pays return shipping so that is the end of that he has to pay the return shipping or I get to keep them, plus they did not ship from china they shipped from california.

"remember - the US heavily subsidizes shipments FROM China to US but not the other way around - so you are EASILY looking at 1500 to send back those batteries -- and if you don't send them back - then they will close the case and you are stuck with what you have ..."


That is not possible because the ebay listing says seller pays return shipping, he has no option but to either pay for return shipping or I keep them.

He can drag this out and then pay for return shipping at the last minute, that's the only trouble he can cause me, otherwise he loses this dispute completely. His batteries are falsely labeled on weight and capacity and I have proof three different ways including the weight listed on the shipping labels that prove they were falsely labeled on weight.

I do wish I had been more professional with conversations with him though and not lost my temper, I see how you are saying it doesn't make me look good you're right.

I disagree with you on not making this all public though, he's still scamming more people, he is still trying to sell more of these batteries and I want this thread to pop up when people google vpment 12v 200ah batteries so that more people don't get scammed.

When people google 12v 200ah vpment batteries this thread is now the second hit, so I am hoping this will directly save others from getting scammed and save them all the trouble and hassle I am going through, this has been quite time consuming and frustrating already.

 

[Tomthumb62]

It's hard not to get angry and call a scammer a scammer, but there is no way he's going to resolve this issue no matter how nice I may be to him, so I don't think any damage is done.

If you can learn to postpone your anger until later, you might get resolve. But if you get angry right off the bat, then scammer is going to get defensive and go out of their way to spite you.

I’m not saying it’s easy to do, but it can make the difference in getting temporary emotional relief and getting your money back.

 

[oregonsun]

If you can learn to postpone your anger until later, you might get resolve. But if you get angry right off the bat, then scammer is going to get defensive and go out of their way to spite you.

I’m not saying it’s easy to do, but it can make the difference in getting temporary emotional relief and getting your money back.

Agreed, like I said I regret losing my patience and should have done better, my blood just boiled and still does and I just lost it.

Had this person just shown any interest in not scamming people, had he asked for my evidence or believed me about the weight or stopped trying to sell more of them (he's sold over 20 since I informed him they are a complete scam) then I wouldn't have lost it. It makes me lose my shi_ knowing he is still scamming more people.

 

[oregonsun]

If you can learn to postpone your anger until later, you might get resolve. But if you get angry right off the bat, then scammer is going to get defensive and go out of their way to spite you.

I’m not saying it’s easy to do, but it can make the difference in getting temporary emotional relief and getting your money back.

I'm not the only one making the claims I am and getting scammed. they were pulled from walmart because others reported the same.
Here is a review from walmart:

"https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vpment-L...ing-Motor-Golf-Cart-Solar-Off-grid/1503276317

---

• 1 out of 5 stars review
  Verified Purchaser
  7/31/2023
  NOT 200 Ah!
  NOT 200 Ah! This weighs out to be only 33lbs (supposed to be 43.5lbs) so unless they magically found a way to increase LiFePo density at a reduced cost, they are only putting half the cells in (4 100Ah cells instead of 8). Which, yaknow, is pretty fraudulent.
  Stephen

They were also pulled from amazon but amazon deleted bad review and listings and just shows them unavailable.
Here is all that remains of their history of being sold on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Vpment-%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-LiFePO4-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%92/dp/B0C14B4VH9#customerReviews

(Notice the good reviews that remain on amazon are not for the 200ah version.)

 

[Tomthumb62]

I'm not the only one making the claims I am and getting scammed. they were pulled from walmart because others reported the same.
Here is a review from walmart:

"https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vpment-L...ing-Motor-Golf-Cart-Solar-Off-grid/1503276317

---

• 1 out of 5 stars review
  Verified Purchaser
  7/31/2023
  NOT 200 Ah!
  NOT 200 Ah! This weighs out to be only 33lbs (supposed to be 43.5lbs) so unless they magically found a way to increase LiFePo density at a reduced cost, they are only putting half the cells in (4 100Ah cells instead of 8). Which, yaknow, is pretty fraudulent.
  Stephen

They were also pulled from amazon but amazon deleted bad review and listings and just shows them unavailable.
Here is all that remains of their history of being sold on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Vpment-%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D-LiFePO4-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%92/dp/B0C14B4VH9#customerReviews

(Notice the good reviews that remain on amazon are not for the 200ah version.)

That might be true, but it doesn’t matter in the eyes of the scammer. The title of your post and much of the content of this thread is either questioning the integrity of the seller or directly accusing them of being a scammer.

I’m not doubting that they’rea scammer. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU WANT YOUR MONEY BACK.

If you want to find out from man who killed your best friend where he hid the body, questioning his moral code is just going to cause him to clam up. You have to befriend him, to get him to open up to you, to trust you. Once you have the info you want and have found your friend’s body, then you can call him all the nasty names you want. You use him to get what you want. But if he’s sly enough, he’ll catch on to your disingenuous intentions, so you’d actually have to become his friend. And then it might be much more difficult to trash him once you got what you wanted.

But that’s very quite difficult to do, for most of us. Not sure I could pull it off. But to get what you want, you sometimes have to set aside anger or getting even or even justice. You can have justice in the sense of calling him a scammer or you could play nice and kiss ass a bit to get your money back and that would be your justice. If then you want to call him a scammer, after you have cash in hand, then that’s your call.

If I were you, I’d save this thread, or at least your entries and then delete the whole thread. Because if he’s seen it, he sees it as you calling him a scammer. Just say you’re very dissatisfied with the order and REQUEST a refund. Don’t demand it. But every time he tries to deflect your request, REQUEST again. And as many times as necessary. Don’t raise your voice or switch to demanding or get impatient. Keep requesting. If he stops responding, then you’d have recourse to take it up with your bank or eBay or whatever and use the correspondence as part of your evidence.

What I just described is the best way to try to get your money back from him. Either directly from him or him cooperating with your bank or eBay. It’s not easy to not get knee jerk reactionary to getting a bum deal like this.

Getting righteous (even when you’re right) will get him to not give you want you want or make it as difficult as possible to do so. Playing smart instead of emotional will give you the best chances of getting your money back. It’s basic human nature to get defensive when someone calls you out, especially if you’re guilty of the accusations.

 

[oregonsun]

That might be true, but it doesn’t matter in the eyes of the scammer. The title of your post and much of the content of this thread is either questioning the integrity of the seller or directly accusing them of being a scammer.

I’m not doubting that they’rea scammer. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU WANT YOUR MONEY BACK.

If you want to find out from man who killed your best friend where he hid the body, questioning his moral code is just going to cause him to clam up. You have to befriend him, to get him to open up to you, to trust you. Once you have the info you want and have found your friend’s body, then you can call him all the nasty names you want. You use him to get what you want. But if he’s sly enough, he’ll catch on to your disingenuous intentions, so you’d actually have to become his friend. And then it might be much more difficult to trash him once you got what you wanted.

But that’s very quite difficult to do, for most of us. Not sure I could pull it off. But to get what you want, you sometimes have to set aside anger or getting even or even justice. You can have justice in the sense of calling him a scammer or you could play nice and kiss ass a bit to get your money back and that would be your justice. If then you want to call him a scammer, after you have cash in hand, then that’s your call.

If I were you, I’d save this thread, or at least your entries and then delete the whole thread. Because if he’s seen it, he sees it as you calling him a scammer. Just say you’re very dissatisfied with the order and REQUEST a refund. Don’t demand it. But every time he tries to deflect your request, REQUEST again. And as many times as necessary. Don’t raise your voice or switch to demanding or get impatient. Keep requesting. If he stops responding, then you’d have recourse to take it up with your bank or eBay or whatever and use the correspondence as part of your evidence.

What I just described is the best way to try to get your money back from him. Either directly from him or him cooperating with your bank or eBay. It’s not easy to not get knee jerk reactionary to getting a bum deal like this.

Getting righteous (even when you’re right) will get him to not give you want you want or make it as difficult as possible to do so. Playing smart instead of emotional will give you the best chances of getting your money back. It’s basic human nature to get defensive when someone calls you out, especially if you’re guilty of the accusations.

The scammer has no influence at all over whether I get my money back, it's out of his hands.
It doesn't matter how much I were to flatter him or beat him over the head, he would never be the one to resolve the dispute.

This will be decided by ebay and by my bank, and I have all the facts and evidence on my side.
The only thing the scammer has influence over is whether he will send me prepaid shipping labels so I can send the garbage batteries back or not, but either way I will get my money back, it's guaranteed by ebay and my bank card fraud protection even if the scammer has already lit the money on fire and ran away to the bahamas.

 

[oregonsun]

BTW I think this post is working to warn people away from buying them.

The scammer sold almost $21,000 worth of these batteries on ebay from Jul 1 to Aug 3rd, just in the span of his first month selling them, and all of the sudden after my posting he hasn't been able to sell any at all in the last 10 days not a single one.

This posting is doing what I had hoped it would (I think), it's preventing more victims from getting scammed on the same batteries I did.

 

[Tomthumb62]

The scammer has no influence at all over whether I get my money back, it's out of his hands.

Oh you’ll get your money back, but it might take way longer than if you appeared to be nice to him. I mean, if you disrespect him by (truthfully) calling him out as a scammer, he can make it as difficult as possible for your bank to retrieve that money. He can close his account, lie to the bank, take days or weeks to reply to their requests, etc. You may end up eventually getting your money back, but by the time you do, you’ll have a few gray hairs.

Good lawyers know that the law isn’t all it takes to win a case. You have to convince people, like a jury or a judge, that your case has merit and the law ought to be applied in a timely manner, or applied at all.

 

[oregonsun]

Oh you’ll get your money back, but it might take way longer than if you appeared to be nice to him. I mean, if you disrespect him by (truthfully) calling him out as a scammer, he can make it as difficult as possible for your bank to retrieve that money. He can close his account, lie to the bank, take days or weeks to reply to their requests, etc. You may end up eventually getting your money back, but by the time you do, you’ll have a few gray hairs.

Good lawyers know that the law isn’t all it takes to win a case. You have to convince people, like a jury or a judge, that your case has merit and the law ought to be applied in a timely manner, or applied at all.

The money is already refunded into my account, did you miss that part?

My bank refunded it the second day after I provided them all the irrefutable evidence I had, all that remains to be seen is whether ebay refunds the money to my bank to cover my banks loss protection.

Oh and whether the seller sends me prepaid labels to ship them back or whether I get to keep them. That's all that is up in the air now.

The money is in my account already and it no longer says pending, it's just there.

 

[Quattrohead]

You know I have problems keeping my shit about me if someone is !ucking me over, the OP aggravation level is appreciated by me at least. I hate being diddled.

 

[oregonsun]

You know I have problems keeping my shit about me if someone is !ucking me over, the OP aggravation level is appreciated by me at least. I hate being diddled.

Thank you Florida man!
We hear about you on the news all the time, we know all about your impulse control issues.
haha just kidding

 

[Tomthumb62]

The money is already refunded into my account, did you miss that part?

That’s awesome, yeah I missed that. Glad to hear your bank was quick about it. I suppose it doesn’t matter if you send the batteries back or not.

I’m not a lawyer, but I wonder if you send the scammer an email or eBay message something to the effect, “You have 14 days of storage grace period to send prepaid shipping labels for the batteries to be returned. After that, they will be disposed of.”

By “disposed” you could release them from “storage” to your possession.

I don’t know if that flys legally, but it would be a good start. Or go over to r/legaladvice on Reddit for some free advice.

 

[ghostwriter66]

The money is already refunded into my account, did you miss that part?

My bank refunded it the second day after I provided them all the irrefutable evidence I had, all that remains to be seen is whether ebay refunds the money to my bank to cover my banks loss protection.

Oh and whether the seller sends me prepaid labels to ship them back or whether I get to keep them. That's all that is up in the air now.

The money is in my account already and it no longer says pending, it's just there.

The money may be back in your account -- BUT - it can easily be taken back out -- what they probably told you was that they have CONDITIONALLY refunded your money based on an investigation that they are conducting and that if YOU are proven correct then you keep the money -- if NOT -- then they yank it ...

anyway -- with the proof that you have you will be OK ...

eBay normally sides on the side of the consumer about 95% of the time ...

ALIBABA about 99% for the SELLER (just thought i throw that out there) ...

 

[oregonsun]

The money may be back in your account -- BUT - it can easily be taken back out -- what they probably told you was that they have CONDITIONALLY refunded your money based on an investigation that they are conducting and that if YOU are proven correct then you keep the money -- if NOT -- then they yank it ...

anyway -- with the proof that you have you will be OK ...

eBay normally sides on the side of the consumer about 95% of the time ...

ALIBABA about 99% for the SELLER (just thought i throw that out there) ...

Yes I just received a letter from my bank saying the money is temporarily refunded until a final determination is reached. ugh!

The seller contacted ebay to get their help in resolving this before I had a chance to escalate a case with them.

His message to ebay is:

"
A case was opened
"Buyer mentioned that Ebay didn t print labels for the 8 large fedex boxes the batteries actually shipped in. So none of this battery return it. We received nothing of the battery. "

I see no place to explain to ebay what is going on, no way to contact them at all to tell them about how the batteries were pulled from walmart and amazon, to show them the other guy's negative review on walmart confirming what I said about them being way under stated capacity.

I'm guessing they won't care about any of that anyway, they will just tell the seller he has to send labels if he wants the batteries back.

I initiated the return and the auction says seller pays return shipping, and ebay printed no return labels for the batteries, and the seller never sent any return labels either, so that's where we are at.

Whoever it was that said this seller may not understand english or have a clue what is going on may be right, I'm starting to feel guilty for blowing up on him in frustration because it looks like it may just be a language barrier issue and a drop shipper who is just a victim of the battery manufacturer like the buyers are. From what he said here it really does look like he may have no idea what is going on.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Yes I just received a letter from my bank saying the money is temporarily refunded until a final determination is reached. ugh!

The seller contacted ebay to get their help in resolving this before I had a chance to escalate a case with them.

His message to ebay is:

"
A case was opened
"Buyer mentioned that Ebay didn t print labels for the 8 large fedex boxes the batteries actually shipped in. So none of this battery return it. We received nothing of the battery. "

I see no place to explain to ebay what is going on, no way to contact them at all to tell them about how the batteries were pulled from walmart and amazon, to show them the other guy's negative review on walmart confirming what I said about them being way under stated capacity.

I'm guessing they won't care about any of that anyway, they will just tell the seller he has to send labels if he wants the batteries back.

I initiated the return and the auction says seller pays return shipping, and ebay printed no return labels for the batteries, and the seller never sent any return labels either, so that's where we are at.

Whoever it was that said this seller may not understand english or have a clue what is going on may be right, I'm starting to feel guilty for blowing up on him in frustration because it looks like it may just be a language barrier issue and a drop shipper who is just a victim of the battery manufacturer like the buyers are. From what he said here it really does look like he may have no idea what is going on.

You open your own case. Explain the situation with your evidence and reference the case the seller opened. It’s unfortunate they don’t have a way to respond, but be proactive. You should have opened a case from the get go. Now you’re on the defensive, which is less ideal. But you have your evidence. Worst case scenario is you get your money back and seller pays for return shipping due to item not as advertised. And the hassle. That’s what you sometimes get buying something that’s too good to be true.

 

[oregonsun]

You open your own case. Explain the situation with your evidence and reference the case the seller opened. It’s unfortunate they don’t have a way to respond, but be proactive. You should have opened a case from the get go. Now you’re on the defensive, which is less ideal. But you have your evidence. Worst case scenario is you get your money back and seller pays for return shipping due to item not as advertised. And the hassle. That’s what you sometimes get buying something that’s too good to be true.

Ebay wouldn't allow me to open a case before because conditions have to be met first, Now that seller has opened a case I see no way for me to open a case either, it's still not an option and there is still no way for me to contact ebay.

Yes, too good to be true, I knew better but was really hoping for some luck because I need more batteries to run my mini split for heating what little I can this winter, to try to offset crazy high oil heating costs.

I haven't been able to work for years due to a string of health problems, but things are finally turning around after I've had a few surgeries, the last surgery is 20 days away now and then 4 weeks of healing and I'll finally be able to work again.

Sometimes circumstances force people to take more risks than they should.

 

[Tomthumb62]

there is still no way for me to contact ebay.

You can always contact eBay. There’sa form to do so.

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

 

[oregonsun]

You can always contact eBay. There’sa form to do so.

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

There was no link there that applies to me and my situation, and there is no link under my return to do anything,

When i look at the status of my return I only see:

The case is pending​

Hang on, we're still reviewing your case.Hang on, we're still reviewing your case.

We'll be in touch with you soon.We'll be in touch with you soon.

If you change your mind, you can close this case.

Can't do anything until they contact me I guess.

 

[oregonsun]

OK, so the seller has agreed to pay return shipping, but I think I am not authorized to ship hazardous materials and according to the pdf below lithium batteries of this size are hazardous materials:

https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/f...ipping-Lithium-Batteries-via-FedEx-Ground.pdf

Does anyone know if this is correct? Is a regular person like me without training and proper labels not supposed to ship these or not authorized to ship these?

He wants to send me the money to ship them via paypal and have me generate the labels to ship them on fedex, but I want him or the company that drop shipped them to create the labels and arrange for pickup so I am not liable in any way if there is an issue.

That pdf states that to ship these I would need hazardous materials shipping training and special hazardous materials labels which I do not have, and it says there can be safety issues with counterfeit lithium batteries and I think that's pretty obviously what we are dealing with here.

Am I risking my refund by insisting the seller send me labels and arrange the pickup? I just don't want any liability for this shipment falling onto me, I don't trust the safety of these batteries any further than I can throw them.

 

[Supervstech]

I wouldn't trust a PayPal payment to cover shipping... no way.
Insist they provide you shipping lables...