Am I the only one shaking my head at this?

June 19, 2003 5:33 PM

So there's that Hello Kitty vibrator ad by nyxxxx, and now there's an ad saying he ripped Dean King off. I'd post the link to the page that the ad links to, but it apparently sends an email to nyxxxx every single time the page is reloaded. Am I the only one shaking my head at this? [more inside]
posted by angry modem to Etiquette/Policy at 5:33 PM (39 comments total)

"On April 14, 2003 I ordered, as a gift, a set of Lovecraft Tarot Cards from Wayne's WeirdCo website. The price was $46 and the order was processed through Pay Pal on April 15. I never got a confirmation email or any info regarding shipping from Wayne, so I sent him emails on April 25, 28, and May 2. I got no response to these emails, and I got no response to numerous phone calls.
On May 7, 2003 I filed a fraud complaint through Pay Pal. Wayne did not respond to their investigation and there were insufficient funds in his account to refund me.

I have filed complaints with Alabama Attorney General's Office; the Florence, Alabama Police Department; ConsumerAffairs.com; and the Northern Alabama Better Business Bureau. I have notified Wayne that I have taken these actions, yet he still does not respond to me.

Thanks very much for your support.
Bonnie Alber

This page has been viewed 158 times"

Does this mean I can take out an ad pointing to a site saying that salisbury steak I bought from Aldi's once gave me food poisoning?
posted by angry modem at 5:35 PM on June 19, 2003

Money talks, and you can use it to say whatever you want.
posted by Hackworth at 5:51 PM on June 19, 2003

If she had the Tarot Cards beforehand she would have seen this coming.


Oh the bitter irony.
posted by Stan Chin at 5:54 PM on June 19, 2003

Irony, shmirony. If Cass Elliott had given Karen Carpenter half her sandwich, they'd BOTH still be alive. Now, that's irony.
posted by yhbc at 7:13 PM on June 19, 2003

no one can top stan , threads over people .
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:27 PM on June 19, 2003

Zippo Got Me Banned From Ebay

I was selling Zippos on ebay. These were official zippos and were engraved very nicely. They had Superman, Spiderman, Captain Kirk, many others.
Zippo complained to ebay and ended my auction. Here is the email I recieved.

Dear Sir,

Unauthorized alterations to genuine ZIPPO brand lighters and all other Zippo Manufacturing Company (Zippo) products by, among other things, the
application of artwork or emblems constitutes a serious violation of the legal rights of Zippo, which it is entitled to enforce in the courts. Although some of these alterations may be tastefully done, many that we have seen are not and, regardless of the quality of the alterations, sale of the
altered product under the ZIPPO name is an infringement of Zippo's trademarks. The ZIPPOâ trademark is registered on the Principal Register in the United States and in the vast majority of foreign countries.

Many laws protect Zippo's rights including, but not limited to, the Federal Lanham Act which protects against false designation of origin and misleading descriptions or representations of fact which are likely to cause confusion
concerning the connection or origin or sponsorship of certain goods and services. Zippo will be damaged by the sale, under the ZIPPOâ name, of lighters and all other Zippo products that have been subject to unauthorized
alterations.

Karen Snow, Legal Assistant
Office of General Counsel
Zippo Manufacturing Company
33 Barbour Street
Bradford, PA 16701

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

How is zippo damaged by this? How do they know they weren't authourized by the trademark holder?

How can they just cancel my ebay account, which was my primary source on income, without letting me defend myself?

Thanks very much for your support.
H. Wayne Nix

This page has been viewed 2459 times

2459 for H. Wayne vs. 1402 for Bonnie

He's not only the President of the Hair Club For Men but a customer, too...


Thanks very much for your support. H. Wayne Nix.
posted by y2karl at 8:39 PM on June 19, 2003

He's not only the President of the Hair Club For Men but a customer, too...

No, seriously!
posted by y2karl at 8:46 PM on June 19, 2003

The fucking noise to signal ratio has gotten so bad here lately I'm not even sure what this thread is about.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:34 PM on June 19, 2003

It was ever about anything? Wow, could have fooled me (not that that is hard).
posted by dg at 12:19 AM on June 20, 2003

i cant even remember what my name is.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:35 AM on June 20, 2003

It's about a text ad melodrama. I noticed the "Nyxxxx is a thief" ad myself the other day and considered going to the gray with it, then considered writing matt about it. Then I actually went back to work.

I figured it'd make it's way over here eventually and provide some theater. Don't know if it's worth much more than that, though.
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:10 AM on June 20, 2003

I'm lost.
nyxxx placed an ad for an adult toy, is this a problem?
Dean King placed an ad that nyxxx ripped him off?
y2karl was banned from e-bay, wait H Nix was, yet who is he, not nyxx. There's a lot of puns to be said in my comment above but what is this all about again?
posted by thomcatspike at 7:12 AM on June 20, 2003

Unlike MetaFilter posts, text ads are approved by the host before they show up on the site. If you want to throw some monetary love Matt's way to document your bad experience with Aldi's salisbury steak, go for it.
posted by rcade at 7:18 AM on June 20, 2003

Unlike MetaFilter posts, text ads are approved by the host before they show up on the site.

Which explains this.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:21 AM on June 20, 2003

i cant even remember what my name is.

Bilko
posted by y2karl at 8:21 AM on June 20, 2003

I'm beginning to think that y2k thinks he is Dave Eggers. "Ironic" chatty style? Check. Purposefully obscure cultural references? Check. "Found object" fetish involving crazy people who write incoherent letters and websites? Check. Intentionally baffling non-sequiturs? Check. . . .

Then again, Dave . . . is that you? McSwys. is way cool!
posted by Mid at 8:52 AM on June 20, 2003

I'm the one the cards were meant for, and I placed this ad for a few reasons. The first, obviously, is anger. Bonnie got ripped off, and $46 is a lot of money to her. To add insult to injury, it was by a member of this community. Second, I consider the ad a public notice. It was a Metafilter text ad for the cards, placed by nyxxxx, that made me aware of them in the first place. That ad doesn't run anymore, but nyxxxx does continue to advertise WeirdCo here, and just recently placed a new ad. I've been part of an (attempted) business transaction with him and it turned out badly. I think people have a right to know that. Caveat emptor and
all -- I don't know how many people are in the market for what he has to offer (other than the cards, it's not my thing), but potential customers should be aware they may be giving their money to a con artist.

I also want nyxxxx to communicate. For almost two months, it has been absolutely impossible to get any word from him. A friend who lives in his city once got him on the phone, but he just hung up. However, he is active on Metafilter, and if it takes a negative ad -- and now a Metatalk thread -- in order to get a response, so much the worse.

The funny thing (the bitterly ironic thing) is that I only learned of the thesqueakywheel.com by finding the complaint which nyxxxx himself placed (and which y2karl posted). Somehow that's fitting.

I was either going to place an ad or post a Metatalk thread. I decided I didn't want to drag it through here (I agree with Stavros about the s/n ratio), I wanted to reach more people, and I wanted it cleared by Matt, so I opted for the ad. Now, thanks to angry modem, we have both. Who knows, nyxxxx, maybe with all this attention you'll pick up some orders. No such thing as bad publicity, right?

(btw, the page counter when this thread began was 158, and it's now 2591. So thanks again, angry modem!)
posted by Dean King at 9:10 AM on June 20, 2003

So, nyxxx: do you want to put your side of this?

[BTW, my innate sarcasm sensors found this quite funny: "There are no other MetaFilter members nearby, sorry."]
posted by dash_slot- at 9:21 AM on June 20, 2003

No offense, but paying $46 American for a copy of the Lovecraft tarot is nuts. I bought mine for $35 Canuck-bucks plus tax.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 9:42 AM on June 20, 2003

The funny thing (the bitterly ironic thing) is that I only learned of the thesqueakywheel.com by finding the complaint which nyxxxx himself placed (and which y2karl posted).

This was my conclusion. Hoisted by his own petard on the squeaky wheel.

I don't believe I have read anything by Eggers. Heraclitus, yes, but not Eggers. "Found object" fetish involving crazy people who write incoherent letters and websites? Well, it was our boy Nyxx's incoherence linked. And Sgt. Bilko is not an obscure reference, at least not in a just world.
posted by y2karl at 11:02 AM on June 20, 2003

y2karl -- Foster Wallace, then? Especially your stuff in the other thread thatallrantogether.
posted by Mid at 11:21 AM on June 20, 2003

Nope, not him either. We all must be stepping in the same river.
posted by y2karl at 11:25 AM on June 20, 2003

nyxxx: So I'm sort of starting to wonder what the point is and if I can ask for a refund for my membership.

So rather than demand a refund, maybe he decided to rip off some Mefites? I knew that $5 queue-jump bribe was a bad idea!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:44 PM on June 20, 2003

you know, I think I forgot where I was going with the post halfway through it.
posted by angry modem at 8:48 PM on June 20, 2003

So did Dean ever get his Tarot cards/Money - has Nyxxx gotten banned/had ad taken down? Or did they kiss and make up? (that would make for a nice change of pace around here...)
posted by dabitch at 10:51 AM on June 23, 2003

Nopo. Still there.
posted by dash_slot- at 11:38 AM on June 23, 2003

No cards, no money, no contact. No kiss, no make up. (Found the cards elsewhere, though.)
posted by Dean King at 12:06 PM on June 23, 2003

:(

now thats not right, no kiss no makeup. Good that you got cards though.

I thought paypal were right swift at settling disputes if one complains? At least I heard they're quick at freezing peoples accounts for the strangest reasons.
posted by dabitch at 2:11 AM on June 24, 2003

Wow, I had no idea I was the source of so much controversy.

Bonnie Alber got her money back, twice. Once from paypal and once from a chargeback. She's a psycho, a cyber stalker. She's even had local people calling me on the phone to harrass me and make threats.

Whatever. There's not much I can do about it. I am considering a restraining order.
posted by nyxxxx at 12:53 PM on June 24, 2003

nyxxxx, none of that is true. Her Paypal history from April 1 until today shows only one transaction: $46 to you on April 14th. Her credit card company lists no chargebacks to her account during that time, but they've now begun an investigation of their own.

If her money really has been refunded, why haven't we heard from you? If it's all a misunderstanding, a quick email on your part would help clear things up. For instance, can you let us know the dates the Paypal refund and the chargeback took place?
posted by Dean King at 1:34 PM on June 24, 2003

Not to put too fine a point on it...
posted by y2karl at 3:01 PM on June 24, 2003

Email to her bounces. I've tried several times. I've been informed by both paypal and the credit card company that there was a chargeback. But still she bothers me.

And it is all true. She had a guy named Blasingame call me to make threats about how the police were his buddies and they would show up at my door any minute. Still hasn't happened.

I think she's scamming you and everyone else.
posted by nyxxxx at 3:30 PM on June 24, 2003

At last count, there have been 4037 emails sent to you from the complaint page, all with a working return address, yet there's not been one word from you until now. I'm highly skeptical when you say your emails to her bounce; she's been using that address for over two years with no problems. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt: if you want to take this off Metatalk, use my address. It's listed on my web site, one click away from my user page. Send me copies of the emails that have bounced, and include the full headers. Give me some actual facts about the Paypal refund and the credit card chargeback. Forward copies of the email notices you've received from those companies. Provide some real information -- names, dates, transaction numbers -- that I can verify with Paypal or the credit card company, because nobody's informed us of any chargeback, and her account balance doesn't reflect one. Like I said, if this is a misunderstanding, let's get it cleared up and move on. Otherwise, you're a thief and a liar, and you still owe her 46 bucks.

I know a guy named Blasingame called you; I don't dispute that. He's a friend of the family, and his son is a Florence police officer. I can't speak for whatever that agency may be doing or what their timeframe might be, but that wasn't an empty threat.

I've known Bonnie for five years, and the thought of her as a "psycho cyber stalker" is laughable. She's not scamming me or anyone else. She's trying to get her money back from a failed transaction with you.

I look forward to hearing from you.
posted by Dean King at 5:19 PM on June 24, 2003

I'm supposed to do all this for you, why? This isn't a court of law and I really don't see the reason to do all this work.

I know she got two refunds. Paypal said so.

Why don't you email me scans of all her bank records for the past 4 and an apology for the threats from that used car salesman, Blasingame, and I'll see about doing what you have asked.
posted by nyxxxx at 7:47 PM on June 24, 2003

I'm supposed to do all this for you, why?

Well if you're trying to run some kind of online business here, it might be a good idea to do the utmost to keep customers happy and prove that you're legit.
posted by Jimbob at 8:02 PM on June 24, 2003

Or I can just ignore the cranks and idiots. That's why bouncers exist.

I've been doing this long enough to realize some people aren't going to be happy if you hang them with a new rope.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:17 PM on June 24, 2003

Well, everyone around here believed the supposed "cranks and idiots", simply because you did (and continue to do) nothing to convince people otherwise.
posted by Jimbob at 10:37 PM on June 24, 2003

Then don't buy anything from me.
posted by nyxxxx at 1:13 AM on June 25, 2003

Anyone who'll tell you not to buy anything from them definitely needs to be listened to.
posted by kindall at 8:44 AM on June 25, 2003