An open question to moderators/members Re: manualuniverse

Cliffystones · Joined: 21 Jan 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Colorado

I ordered a manual from "Manualuniverse.com" on Sunday morning. As of tonight (Tuesday) I have not received it. E-mails to their address are returned as undeliverable, and inquiries to their web site message page have gone unanswered.

Has anybody else had any contact with these people lately? Are they just having technical difficulty, or am I out my $18.99 that they promptly withdrew from my Pal Pal account?

A "whois" lookup shows the site originates from Peru. I guess I really slipped this time, as I will normally avoid doing business with companies that don't list a physical address and/or phone number on their web site. I normally associate this type of behavior with more "grey area" types of businesses, not a service manual company. Live and learn I suppose.

Any comments or suggestione you all can provide would be appreciated.
_________________
Cliff
Castle Rock, Colorado

Justmanuals · Joined: 21 Aug 2004 Posts: 1949

Even though digital downloads are NOT covered by Paypal's buyer protection policies, you will be able to get your money back. File a claim with Paypal.
Next time deal with someone more reputable, like justmanuals.com . A highly visible presense on this board and others.

[email protected]
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http://www.manuals4you.com

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jts1957 · Joined: 24 Nov 2008 Posts: 2476 Location: Far, Far Away

http://forum.eserviceinfo.com/viewtopic.php?t=23942&highlight=manualuniverse
http://forum.eserviceinfo.com/viewtopic.php?t=23940&highlight=manualuniverse
Signs up in '07 ... problem in '08 ... problem in '09 Wink

Cliffystones · Joined: 21 Jan 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Colorado

Second try here (forgot to log int the first time Sad

.

Paul, thanks for the info on justmanuals. Too bad I didn't see your site first. Hopefully you'll have a manual for my Viewsonic N4000w.

Too bad that scam, rip-off artists like manualuniverse make it to the top of a Google search. Maybe I need to re-think my choice of search engines. I filed a complaint with Pay Pal last night, we'll see. To add insult to injury my wife got a call from Citibank this morning that someone attempted an unauthorized charge to her Visa for over $7000! Fortunately they caught it but what a hassle.

People who do this deserve to go to that same "special hell" reserved for child molesters and people who talk in movie theaters!

In an effort to "pay it forward" I'm offering the following tip.

The Glendale Central Library in Glendale California used to have an extensive collection of old Sams manuals and even older Rider manuals. I copied quite a few schematics there back in the early 1990's when I was restoring some antique radios. You folks who are looking for vintage manuals and schematics might want to give them a call. I'm sure that they probably also have a web site.

Again, many thanks!

Cliff,
Castle Rock, Colorado
_________________
Cliff
Castle Rock, Colorado

vtech · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 1264 Location: USA

Cliff,
Although I have not dealt with this "Joe/Mike etc" guy, he is NOT to be trusted whatsoever. Certainly hope you can recover your loss. I purposely flagged his postings back on 07 as a warning for everyone. (obviously he thought no one will see his IP address). He started peddling as 'repairman', and when there was a complaint (similar to yours), he came back with a different name saying that "customer is happy"....he was also fishing for passwords.--A true Scam Artist.

Cliffystones · Joined: 21 Jan 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Colorado

Vtech,

Thanks for your reply (and to the others who replied). I'm in the process of a Pay Pal "dispute", let you know how that goes.

I'm also subscribed to a service called "Web of trust" which has a Firefox plug in. I went to their site and reported "manualuniverse". Now it is listed as a dangerous "scam" "phising" site. Maybe this will help others from finding out one click too late.

Since my expertise is in PC hardware, I have to ask a web-challenged question of you. "whois" lists the following info for the "manualuniverse" web site:

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599

Would it do any good to give these people a call? Or would I be blowing smoke rings in a hurricane? There ought to be some way that somebody, somewhere can pull the plug on this thief!

Take care,
Cliff
_________________
Cliff
Castle Rock, Colorado

Justmanuals · Joined: 21 Aug 2004 Posts: 1949

Domains by Proxy holds all the domains that are registered through Godaddy.com that are listed as private. It's doubtful you'll be able to get any information from them unless you're an attorney or in law enforcement. But you can always try.

HtH
[email protected]
_________________
Want To Fix Something?
http://www.manuals4you.com

Need a manual now? Instant Download
http://www.justmanuals.com

vtech · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 1264 Location: USA

Cliff,
Paul is correct. You can try reporting it but it is not going to do much--if any. Privacy laws alone pretty much negates any action by the domain holder unless it was some major libel issue. You would think that someone would care, but unfortunately not. Now, if you were a lawyer or a prosecutor, you might be able to put some teeth in it with a formal letter but still not worth the hassle.
Either way, it is always best to take precaution and worse come to worst, chalk it up to inexperience.

gjoois · Joined: 25 Nov 2019 Posts: 6

Even though digital downloads are NOT covered by Paypal's buyer protection policies, you will be able to get your money back. File a claim with Paypal.
Next time deal with someone more reputable, like justmanuals.com . A highly visible presense on this board and others.