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SCAMMED - from Iceland

Walrus
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Uniqez Uniqez
Sorry to hear that mate.
What a chance that post office worker would source Indian special titus with over sized NATO, just to swap it? He or She would've put something for weight and would've been done with it.
P.S. Every online watch related purchase I've made above $500 - I would film while I'm opening the package. Doesn't take much effort, but if things would go south - you would have a video prove of you receiving box of rocks or titus watch.
The postal worker could have been wearing that Titus and figured anything had to be better
 
pIoNeErOfThEnILe
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a lot of shipping companies are scummy.

since many of these types of things are insured packages, sometimes they don't make it to the destination or are tampered with as they know what exactly is in them.

there are many hubs these packages stop at. the temptation for foul play is everywhere if it's written what exactly is in the package
 
dsio
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Can you PM me some details please including username
 
jsducote
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If I worked in a postal depot and was inclined to raid packages, I would definitely replace a watch with another watch instead of a rock of similar weight. That way, if the package were x-rayed and looks like it still contained a watch, I wouldn't be the first suspect. Also, filming the opening only works if the package is sealed with tamper-proof tape.

* Disclaimer: I often think like an evil person. Fortunately, I rarely act on it.
 
larryganz
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True Story - after I received my NOMOS Timeless Luxury Watches LE watch it was running pretty fast, and Dan Broadfoot sent me a FedEx shipping label to send it to service in NY. I had the watch professionally packed in a generic box and double boxed in a larger generic box, and covered all 6 sides of the box with fragile stickers. Security video shows my box being loaded onto the FedEX truck.

What arrived at NOMOS service center was a FedEx branded box, with my abused and reused shipping label, full of potato chips! It was clearly stolen by someone at FedEx and exchanged for something of a similar weight. insurance covered the loss, but LE #5/75 was irreplaceable - I was offered #75/75 but it wasn't the same, and I took the refund. Wishing I had taken #75 to give to my son (he loved it).

Theft en route does occur.
 
pIoNeErOfThEnILe
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larryganz larryganz
True Story - after I received my NOMOS Timeless Luxury Watches LE watch it was running pretty fast, and Dan Broadfoot sent me a FedEx shipping label to send it to service in NY. I had the watch professionally packed in a generic box and double boxed in a larger generic box, and covered all 6 sides of the box with fragile stickers. Security video shows my box being loaded onto the FedEX truck.

What arrived at NOMOS service center was a FedEx branded box, with my abused and reused shipping label, full of potato chips! It was clearly stolen by someone at FedEx and exchanged for something of a similar weight. insurance covered the loss, but LE #5/75 was irreplaceable - I was offered #75/75 but it wasn't the same, and I took the refund. Wishing I had taken #75 to give to my son (he loved it).

Theft en route does occur.

there are many small shipping companies in the nyc / airport vicinity that have their own deals with air and other freight costs. shipping A takes to shipping B.....shipping B may take to nearby airplane or it may take another stop to do so.

quite a few of these people involved in the shipping biness are usually less educated and are stereotypical of generalizing people in the nyc boroughs. sorry to generalize, but the sketch level is high.

to make a very long story short. i've seen first hand how they do it. in fact i was even offered in on the deal to take one of the very watches that i was shipping for somebody else (4 pateks!) obv to be a fall guy.

needless to say none of the watches made their final european destination, and i was questioned.
Edited:
 
Evitzee
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I've only had one near miss in many transactions. A pretty expensive watch from a CA authorized dealer, paid in full via wire transfer. He said he would send the watch overnight via Registered USPS and send the box and papers via FedEx. Tracked the USPS shipment but it wasn't delivered the next day, 'diverted' in USPS parlance. Uh, oh.....that doesn't sound good. It came the following day and it was obviously tampered with, someone had crudely tried to get into the box but it was well taped and double boxed and the inner box held the watch. Evidently he didn't have enough time to fully get the box open to extract the inner box. Took pics and complained to the USPS but what could they do......I got the watch. Obviously the AD wasn't too thrilled with almost losing an expensive watch. I suspect it happened soon after he consigned it to the local post office in CA, before it entered the tracking system.

Another time I bought another expensive watch from a dealer in Aruba, he gave me the box and papers and I would wire the money to him and he would arrange delivery of the watch. He didn't trust the Aruban system for an expensive piece so when his father came to Miami he brought the watch with him and they had arranged for the Ulysse Nardin office in Miami to forward the watch to me even though it wasn't a UN. Everyone knows everybody in the industry so they were doing it as a favor. But their insurance carrier would not allow delivery to a home address so I had to travel down to the FedEx depot 25 miles away to retrieve it. No problem.

Bottom line, unless you are handing a watch over personally there is always risk in sending it via a carrier, we can minimize the risk but never eliminate it. Other than two oddities I've sent and received dozens of watches to dealers, buyers and service facilities with zero problems. As always buy the seller, if it doesn't sound absolutely kosher and comfortable to you just don't do it.
 
sgrossma
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Uniqez Uniqez
Sorry to hear that mate.
What a chance that post office worker would source Indian special titus with over sized NATO, just to swap it? He or She would've put something for weight and would've been done with it.
P.S. Every online watch related purchase I've made above $500 - I would film while I'm opening the package. Doesn't take much effort, but if things would go south - you would have a video prove of you receiving box of rocks or titus watch.
I do this too on anything valuable to make myself feel better. But in the end in proves nothing unless you are filming from the point that the mailman hands you the package, zoom in on the label, and never lose site of the package from the camera. That still said, limited application for the video.
 
Vagante
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Hey pretty sure I almost bought a watch from that guy. He had a steinhart for sale in the private sale thread. His usernamefor the private sale was Dabbispade. I could only find one review on him and it was not good. I started searching the internet and found that he had several scams in the past and I reported it. He was banned from the Forum. I then got another message from him under another username and reported that one and that was also banned. Do a Google search online you will find much about him particularly on another forum.... as I remember some of those scammed had similar stories about delayed shipments and all of that.
 
guaranteed.rohu
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Vagante Vagante
Hey pretty sure I almost bought a watch from that guy. He had a steinhart for sale in the private sale thread. His usernamefor the private sale was Dabbispade. I could only find one review on him and it was not good. I started searching the internet and found that he had several scams in the past and I reported it. He was banned from the Forum. I then got another message from him under another username and reported that one and that was also banned. Do a Google search online you will find much about him particularly on another forum.... as I remember some of those scammed had similar stories about delayed shipments and all of that.


Very helpful thanks!
 
KeithS
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larryganz larryganz
True Story - after I received my NOMOS Timeless Luxury Watches LE watch it was running pretty fast, and Dan Broadfoot sent me a FedEx shipping label to send it to service in NY. I had the watch professionally packed in a generic box and double boxed in a larger generic box, and covered all 6 sides of the box with fragile stickers. Security video shows my box being loaded onto the FedEX truck.

What arrived at NOMOS service center was a FedEx branded box, with my abused and reused shipping label, full of potato chips! It was clearly stolen by someone at FedEx and exchanged for something of a similar weight. insurance covered the loss, but LE #5/75 was irreplaceable - I was offered #75/75 but it wasn't the same, and I took the refund. Wishing I had taken #75 to give to my son (he loved it).

Theft en route does occur.

What did you have to do in order to prove to the insurance company that you had in fact shipped the watch and not said potato chips?
 
Vagante
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The other user name he used was Magnussig. ........ that was also banned
 
guaranteed.rohu
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Thanks everyone for their opinions, advice, and feedback.

A few icelandic connections have also come up which may be very helpful.

I'll be following up local police with this matter soon, and OF mods are able to help with IP addresses. This plus DHL details for the package release are very strong leads on his end (import taxes in Iceland).
 
budgewink
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Good luck with this mate, I know too well the feeling of being done over through internet dealings and it's not nice. With any luck you can trace the speedys whereabouts or get some other beneficial results that make the situation better.
 
guaranteed.rohu
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budgewink budgewink
Good luck with this mate, I know too well the feeling of being done over through internet dealings and it's not nice. With any luck you can trace the speedys whereabouts or get some other beneficial results that make the situation better.
Yeah unfortunately there's just an inherent risk that's hard to combat 100% with internet forum dealings with watches...

At the very least thank God it wasn't a more valuable watch.

Thanks for the well wishes!
 
A
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So sorry, I know the experience, hope you can found this guy and do something like give him some vacation on jail.
 
Walrus
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It looks like this guy is a serial scammer. Even in the replica watch place. I wonder how many watches/monies he has scammed over time. It’s a shame he brought unhappiness to a lot of people. Things catch up with you eventually in some form. You live dirty you get dirty
 
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