To pursue the purchase of a used Pontoon boat I found online, I was directed to uBuyStoreHouse.com to make the transaction.
We exchanged some emails (they did not provide me any phone number to call direct) to inquire and confirm the condition of the boat and the terms of the sale.
Their claim was the boats condition was as stated on the advertisment. I was also advised I would have opportunity to inspect the boat upon delivery and have up to 10 days to accept or reject the boat. Upon acceptance, the final payment would be due, upon rejection, my down payment would be immediately returned. Their price of $4,185.00 was to be inclusive of all shipping costs and fees.
I checked out uBuyStoreHouse.com the best I could using online resources and could find nothing derogatory to make them suspect. In fact, I found what appeared to be favorable comments.
Being comfortable that uBuy was a legitimate operation, I decided to make the purchase and accept the terms.
uBuy immediately sent me an invoice for the 50% down payment which had specific instructions to make the payment via Money Gram. It was to go to Brett Durkin, a uBuy StoreHouse agent in Dallas, TX. NOTE: In retrospect I should have backed out on the deal but all other indications leaned toward uBuy being a legitimate vendor.
Per uBuy's instructions, when I made the Money Gram payment, I was to fax them the receipts and their completed payment form. When they got the fax they in turn emailed me confirming their receipt and advised that delivery arrangements were being made and to expect delivery in three days or so.
A day or so later I received an email from uBuy stating that their "Board of Directors" decided they wanted full payment from all customers before shipping. Their claim was they had too many collection problems. I refused to pay the full amount until I could inspect the boat.
They insisted full payment had to be made before shipping and offered no other solution. I even offered to drive to Jersey City to inspect the boat, and if favorable, pay them the balance and tow the boat back home myself. They would not acknowledge my offer so I decided to cancel the order because of their unreasonable "mid-stream" change in terms and the unwillingness to accept alternate solutions.
uBuy acknowledged the cancellation & confirmed to me that the refund of $2,092.00 was be received within 10 days. I have not heard from them since and they continue to avoid / refuse any correspondence.
7grogan
Port St. Joe,#2Consumer Comment
Tue, June 04, 2013
My story is just like yours! They stole $3,127 from me. I am a Disabled Veteran and they stole all my savings. Now I will never own a motorcycle.
4721 Timber Lane
79707,#3Consumer Comment
Sun, June 02, 2013
I was about to make a similiar purchase. A Polaris Ranger. It was way cheap. Although those things can happen in a repo deal that the bank is dumping etc... The purchase amount was $4125 & deposit $2062. I called my AMEX to see if they had any suggestion on whether or not they had rec'd any complaints. The operator suggested that I go to www.ripoffreport.com to verify. WOW! I got online and tried to 'chat' w/ an operator from Ubuy and they tried to put the hard sale on me telling me that i had to make a decision NOW. Yes or NO. Do I want the Ranger... b/c they have another buyer. That was a lie, b/c their email stated i had 24 hrs to pay. Then today, Sunday (I contacted them on Friday afternoon), I rec'd a VM from California from a man that was wondering if i was going to pay. When the deal looks too good to be true... It usually is. THANK YOU!