Hal MacLean

I was looking through the access logs on my blog here and I happened to notice more than one search for Jason Pitcock.

Yes, this low life scum bag managed to swindle me out of a tidy sum of money a couple of years ago which my grandfather had left to me in his will, by masquerading as a legitimate ebay seller with some good Apple computer kit to shift.

Needless to say the kit never arrived and I was one of about sixty folk who fell for his scam auctions. The FBI are now chasing his backside, and I seriously hope this evil piece of bottom dwelling pond scum gets his come-uppance.

There is a whole forum dedicated to chasing this man, and whilst it is a bit of a self-help group, it serves to warn the world that dealings with Jason Pitcock, from Texas, are likely to cause you grief.

It *was* here:
http://www.nails.ch/msgboard/

But now seems to have moved to btselectronics.com which was one of the original trading names that Pitcock used.

Feel free to join the group, and feel even more free to say that you know the man, and even better, know how to deliver some justice in his direction. He has got away with over $100,000 as far as I can tell, and looks set to just get clean away with it. This can’t be right - there needs to be some natural justice in this matter… I’d be happy to hear from anyone so disposed to deliver.

Edit - 21st march 2006 - I received a link swap request from what appears to be a legitimate fraud watch website. Oddly, the URL has a redirect:

http://www.stuartinteriors.ltd.uk/dir/redir.php?url=http://www.fraudwatchernetwork.com/

Now, if this site does indeed warn folks about potential ebay scams and fraudulent activity I’m all for it! Click http://www.fraudwatchernetwork.com/news/ebay-fraud-blog.html if you wish to visit that site.

Fraud - Ebay Fraud Blog
Fraud Prevention, Information and News about Fraud Online

I have been caught out once or twice with dodgy dealers who haunt places like eBay (check out any threads you can find on Jason Pitcock, who ripped me and about 60 other folk off for Apple kit and is now being put on trial by the FBI). So it is with a great deal of trepidation that I enter into any online deal that looks too good to be true.

However, I have to say that the Alpine sat nav gear which Kara got me for my recent birthday has made me think again - there *are* some decent people ‘out there’.

We bought the unit from http://www.caraudio-versand.de/ and throughout I was worried that I couldn’t speak German and didn’t want to appear too ignorant by ringing them and speaking in English. How wrong could I get… I *did* pluck up the courage to ring after I had exchanged several emails.

What a thoroughly nice lot of people to do business with!

I dealt with Marta (or rather, she dealt with me), who has answered all of my questions graciously and basically worked really hard to make me feel at ease with it all. The money for the unit was sent via a bank transfer and I received a UPS tracking number almost right away. The goods came, they are all fine and there was no hitch at all.

Well, perhaps one small one - the actual DVD with the navigation details on it didn’t arrive - no worry though, a quick email to Marta and I got a most polite and apologetic reply, with a UPS tracking number the next day.

Wow.

I am pretty easily pleased, but sceptical of online deals. This deal and this company have challenged my view - they are based in Memmingen, about 80 miles west of Munich. I think when the unit is installed I’ll use it to drive over to them and say thank you in person.

The unit is due to be fitted this coming week - I’ll write about how that all goes as soon as it happens.