Ok, I will try to make a long story short, but bare with me, it's not easy.
Also, I didn't organize yet all the "case".. I have so many material (emails, personal notes, scans, etc..)
At end of June 2005, I ordered:
- 1 Order of Friendship (230$)
- 1 Order of Mother Heroine (125$)
From that dealer. Because my favorite dealer was away for the summer and sold-out anyway.
I took care not to buy from E! or "un-reputed" seller, so I choose this person.
I never received the items. Seller asked me to wait and wait because items "could be delayed by Canadian customs".. I waited as he recommended. I am saving you the details about all the emails that were sent...
Around mid-September, seller finally admitted that "items got lost in mail" and accepted to exchange the items to me or reimburse me.
Since I paid with Money Order in US dollar which is complex to get and expensive and since I didn't want to be reimbursed in US dollars because I would need again to lose money to exchange it back and also because I still wanted to get those awards, I asked for an exchange.
He sent me a USPS declaration form where I had to declare I never received the items and to sign. I did so and sent back to him.
In the mean time, he told me he didn't have other order of Friendship available. So, I had to choose something else or to be reimbursed the 230$. Again, I was not interested in reimbursement (though I should have).
Therefore, I chose to get (for same value on his site):
- Order of Mother Heroine (125$)
- Bravery T1V3 (195$)
- Combat Service (17$)
- Capture of Berlin (18$)
In October, I received the package with those medals, but as soon as I opened it, I saw that the gold star on the Mother Hero was not legit.
I posted on the forum in this thread.
Apparence of the medal at that date can be seen here:
http://www.soviet-awards.com/forum/attac...1129308005
I was very frustrated and disappointed to see this. Buying from an "Expert", I thought I shouldn't have to worry about authenticity of my items. So, the next day, I went to my local jeweller for gold test. I had already been to him to test an Order of Lenin (testing the gold and the platinum) and was very satisfied by the service.
Even though I never had problem with testing gold, I asked the jeweller whether the award will be broken or altered in any way if it is not made of gold. He told me that we won't see anything or trace from the test. The jeweller did the test and confirmed my doubt. He told me it was made of gold-plated silver. He gave me back the award and the next day, I decided to ship back the Mother Hero as well as the Bravery Medal (which I never really wanted, but ordered because of the previous problem).
I did the packaging myself and I can ensure everybody that the Order of Mother Hero was in the exact same condition as when received by me 2 days earlier. There was no big scratch on it.
Package was well wrapped to protect the awards and I decided to send by registered mail because I was starting to lose confidence in that seller.
Few days later, seller received package and signed for it.
He then emailed me telling me that he won't be able to reimburse me because I had barbarously destroyed the item. He even included scans of the gold star which you can see in attachment here. See the two huge scratches on the bottom rays.
I emailed him back telling him I was not going to play that game. I had been honest and of good faith from the beginning until now and he had not. I tried few times to repeat to him that order was not shipped to him in the state shown on the picture. But he didn't want to hear anything. I even called him by phone trying to resolve this. He was not cooperative at all and he was just telling me that if it had not been done by me, it had been done by my jeweller. He told me that there was "no other way to determine if it was gold than to make those huge scratches and that it was what has happened."
I tried to repeat it was not this, but it was a one way conversation.
I gave him many deadlines which he always refused. He started to be slightly more cooperative when I was speaking about how much it can hurt his business compares to what I have to lose in this. I already lost my money. I know he is not going to pay me back, so what can I lose?
Recently, he emailed me again (but I already told him I was not going to reply to any of his emails. I have been more patient than anybody could be) and was asking that I do like he did. He wanted me to file a claim at my postal service stating that the items "was destroyed in transit."
This is totally false and I am not going to do so. It would be a false declaration, a criminal act. My father is a Police detective and I know about this.
His story is always changing and he is always proposing something different to "resolve" this. But in fact, he just hopes to get more time and that I will get tired of this and will give up. But I am not. I am very very hard-headed. If the Russians are hard-headed, they haven't heard of the Quebecois.
I know that legally, it would be extremely difficult to force him to pay me back because he is in the US and I am in Canada. Also, it would cost much more than the money that was lost.
Still, I am preparing something... I will only stop the day I feel justice was obtained.
NOTE: The attached picture was sent by the seller and he claims this is the state in which he received it from me.
