watch out sellers for Andrew J Martin from LA!!!

[HKperf]

hey members~
please watch out for this buyer named Andrew Martin in Socal LA area.
not sure if its his real name or not, but he uses 310-936-6280 as his contact number.
I was contacted by this person wanting to buy a M serial GMT pepsi with several request wanting to do a face to face deal. I was making a road trip from seattle this week and he had asked me to bring the watch down with me cos he was a buyer 100%. as i trust TRF members, i brought the watch down and met with him in downtown LA.
he liked the watch and had asked me for my full name and he said he was going to get me a cashiers check from his bank. originally agreed to pay cash.
then i disagreed to accept a check and he told me he was going to get cash from his bank down the street. sure enough no show or no call. stuck in down town didn't even know the way out and got stuck in notorious LA downtown traffic.
I've received so many fake checks with legitimate account numbers printed on the check before.
folks be careful who you give out your account info to and do not take checks even for face to face deals~!!!
references check even for buyers would be a good idea.
maybe i'm just too trusting sometimes..haha
good luck members~

[chriseskew24]

Thanks

[hienpham04]

John, I glad you didn't accept his cashier's check. Bad experience, but you still have the watch

[onkyo]

Hi John, thanks for the heads up!

Pav

[ajmarton]

Here's the real story. I only do local deals so this purchase looked promising. I was willing to walk with him to a Bank of America located a block away and have the teller hand HIM a cashiers' check for the purchase price. What is the scam there? I just did that earlier in the week with a well known and respected watch dealer in the LA market - Mr. Tarek S. for a similarly priced Rolex. This out of state guy shows up in a pick-up truck with a buddy and wants me to walk to the bank while he waits and for me to return with a large sum of cash in downtown LA. Why do I have to risk walking around with thousands of dollars in downtown LA. I was also worried about a switch and bait on the watch while I was gone - granted that may have just been my imagination. But I am not going to take ANY chances when we are talking thousands of dollars - I needed a record of the sale in case something went south. I thought about the situation on the way to the bank and decided to back out of the deal. I also do not know this guy at all and he has a buddy with him. So I was a little intimidated by the situation and probably could have dealed with it better. But I trusted my gut reaction and the deal was queered. I am not going to apologize for being overly cautious when thousands of dollars are at stake and I am dealing with an out of state stranger. I am sorry the deal did not happen and he had to make a slight detour to see me but that is the world of sales. It has happened to us all.

[Troy]

Sounds fair to me always go with your gut feelings

[HKperf]

Interesting how all of a sudden I was the potential bad seller when this member checked up on all my references. This isn't the first time I deal on TRF and if this was really the case then this member should have never agreed to pay cash and had me bring down an expensive piece. Being cautious is good but need some trust to be able do transaction in this community with good references
I think my past dealings would prove I certainly wasn't going run with cash. I have emails and text from this guy to prove how strange things sound. Saying "funds not cleared so no cash" and "need to run for an appointment so meet again on the weekend"
These are the most common excuses for buyers with bad intensions. Members certainly have right to know who's who's.

[ajmarton]

No intention to paint you as the bad guy. I want to make it clear to all that it was just my own (perhaps crazy) subjective feelings that caused me to back out. I am sure you are a great guy. But you decided to make this public and to accuse me of trying to scam you out of a watch. And that is not what happened. This is really just sour grapes. Sure your pissed off at me because you wasted your time and went to some trouble to show the watch but that is just part of sales. So end of story.

[louie]

Glad you didnt accept that check!John,be very careful with this ppl.Pls check buyers reference before you even make trip to meet them.

[ajmarton]

Yeah, there is nothing more riskier than getting a cashiers check directly from the teller while you're in the bank!

[Felly Jr.]

I wouldn't have bailed with no explanation. That looks fishy IMO. Man up and talk straight, and I'm not buying your "that's just part of sales" BS.

[HKperf]

have 0 comments on what ajmarton is trying to say but i found his own posting about a cashier's check that was posted a few days ago.
"I worry more about physical checks as they can be fabricated based upon the routing and account numbers and your personal information."
maybe ajmarton is just a super cautious buyer but going out side of what we have agreed for knowing i just got done driving 20 hrs from seattle, parked in 5 min zone with my trailer, with excuses like "deposit made didn't clear or waiting on some funds" and now saying didn't feel comfortable cos i had a friend and was driving a pick up truck?? twisting this around so i would look bad? throws whole lot of suspicion after his own statement about taking cashiers checks.
now we know why we do ref. check on buyers as well. i'm just glad i didn't take a check from this buyers.
the end.

P.S: a new tundra 4-dr full size truck is now in pick-up truck category?

[ajmarton]

Yeah it could have been handled better on my end. I'll admit that. I'm only human. FYI - there is no personal information on a cashiers check other than the payee and that can be made out to "cash". It is issued directly by the bank.

[WatchTimes]

Lets see...
You contacted a VERY well known member of this forum about a watch he
had for sale here. You saw his stellar feedback and told him you wanted to buy his watch and then you just flaked out and vanished??? Hmm sounds to me like you are the flake.

Bait and switch? Please, look at his feedback here... Look at the pics of Johns personal collection he doesn't need to try to screw someone over a SS GMT II.

You made a deal and then changed your deal, the seller was still willing to wait to follow through with the deal and you vanish.

You could have easily handled this like a normal person and had the decency to call and say Im sorry Im not comfortable with the deal and will have to pass. But no, you leave someone waiting for you in downtown LA. You have burned yourself with one of the nicest and best sellers on here and I am sure many others will have second thoughts about dealing with you as well after this so I hope Mr. Tarek S is able to get you everything you want.

[ajmarton]

Like I said it could have been handled better on my part. I get it. But it would have ended up the same way - I would have backed out. You are in no position to second guess me - it's not your money and you weren't there. Everyone has different tolerances of risk and mine may be too low for this type of transaction. I got spooked okay. And the bottom line is that I don't care what's in cyberspace (and I didn't even know he was on this forum until this post). If I have reservations then I am going to back out. AGAIN I am sure John is a good guy and I mean him no ill will. The purpose of all of this was just to clear the air on the initial inference that I was trying to scam him out of a watch. That was not the case. Lastly, I understand that this is a losing battle for me because John has a lot of friends on this board.

[Felly Jr.]

Originally Posted by ajmarton

Like I said it could have been handled better on my part. I get it. But it would have ended up the same way - I would have backed out. You are in no position to second guess me - it's not your money and you weren't there. Everyone has different tolerances of risk and mine may be too low for this type of transaction. I got spooked okay. And the bottom line is that I don't care what's in cyberspace (and I didn't even know he was on this forum until this post). If I have reservations then I am going to back out. AGAIN I am sure John is a good guy and I mean him no ill will. The purpose of all of this was just to clear the air on the initial inference that I was trying to scam him out of a watch. That was not the case. Lastly, I understand that this is a losing battle for me because John has a lot of friends on this board.

IMO, you should stick to buying watches from an AD.

And yes, John does have many friends that trust him implicitly on this Forum.

[astcell]

It's all about communication. Seems there was a lack of it here.

[toph]

objectively speaking- you should have just told him that you were not comfortable, but as you said you realise that now. I have, like many others, heard many good references about John, but you did not know. An annoying situation but thats life sometimes. And i can understand why both of you might have felt uncomfortable as the events transpired. Learn from it and move on, IMHO

[ajmarton]

Well put.

Originally Posted by toph

objectively speaking- you should have just told him that you were not comfortable, but as you said you realise that now. I have, like many others, heard many good references about John, but you did not know. An annoying situation but thats life sometimes. And i can understand why both of you might have felt uncomfortable as the events transpired. Learn from it and move on, IMHO

[onkyo]

I think the best thing to do at this point is to admit to your mistake (which I think you have done) and apologize to John. It will be a lesson learned and then move on to the next deal.

[TempoKing]

Originally Posted by ajmarton

Here's the real story. I only do local deals so this purchase looked promising. I was willing to walk with him to a Bank of America located a block away and have the teller hand HIM a cashiers' check for the purchase price. What is the scam there? I just did that earlier in the week with a well known and respected watch dealer in the LA market - Mr. Tarek S. for a similarly priced Rolex. This out of state guy shows up in a pick-up truck with a buddy and wants me to walk to the bank while he waits and for me to return with a large sum of cash in downtown LA. Why do I have to risk walking around with thousands of dollars in downtown LA. I was also worried about a switch and bait on the watch while I was gone - granted that may have just been my imagination. But I am not going to take ANY chances when we are talking thousands of dollars - I needed a record of the sale in case something went south. I thought about the situation on the way to the bank and decided to back out of the deal. I also do not know this guy at all and he has a buddy with him. So I was a little intimidated by the situation and probably could have dealed with it better. But I trusted my gut reaction and the deal was queered. I am not going to apologize for being overly cautious when thousands of dollars are at stake and I am dealing with an out of state stranger. I am sorry the deal did not happen and he had to make a slight detour to see me but that is the world of sales. It has happened to us all.

His cell phone is (253) 312-0081. I am sure you have it..so call him
the moment you thought about the situation and decided to back out of the deal.
It is your right to back out of any deal....just show courtesy and let him know of your sentiments...simple really..unfortunately John was waiting for you to show up...trusting your word... longer than was "cosher" for him to wait.

As I have done many many deals with him all 100% perfect I would say make a move restore trust and correct the misundertanding between TRFers...send him the money...or go there yourself just half an hours drive south of you and DO THE DEAL.
I for one, vouch for him 1.000%

[ajmarton]

It is being taken care of behind the scenes via text messages at this moment.

Originally Posted by onkyo

I think the best thing to do at this point is to admit to your mistake (which I think you have done) and apologize to John. It will be a lesson learned and then move on to the next deal.

[toph]

Originally Posted by ajmarton

It is being taken care of behind the scenes via text messages at this moment.

good

[astcell]

Originally Posted by TempoKing

[B]...
I for one, vouch for him 1.000%

What about the other 99%?

[toph]

Originally Posted by astcell

What about the other 99%?

I was thinking that but i think we know what he meant

[2careless]

Originally Posted by astcell

What about the other 99%?

that's the euro way of saying 1,000%
In Europe they write 9.999,99 instead of 9,999.99

[hienpham04]

Well, John is a great guy and I'm sure you are too AJMartin. So, it could have been easier with better communication. Both go to the bank with a "bill of sales", and wire transfer the fund for exchanging of the watch. Everyone is happy~ Simple and done. Man, 20hrs is a long drive! Not to say anything negative, but cashier's check does takes 2-3 days to clear and could be cancelled by the purchaser. Wire transfer is safe for both parties.

[TempoKing]

Originally Posted by ajmarton

It is being taken care of behind the scenes via text messages at this moment.

AJMARTON...if you close the deal.....you are a champion...

[TempoKing]

Originally Posted by astcell

What about the other 99%?

...Robert YOU are sooooo bad.

[VDENTALS]

Thanks john