Magnepan MGCC1 & shysters

George you are most patent.

I am certain that Lawyers are held to as high a standard in Canada as in the USA. If they are called before their "professional review board" with proof of illegal activity, they may be barred from practicing law.

Hopefully Cornfed, who is an expert on law, will see this thread and advise you as to the proper routes and wording. I assume a certified or registered letter to the seller advising him of your intent to take this to the next level would be a start.

This seller must protect his reputation in order to continue practicing law. His honesty and reputation are judged by his actions both in public and private transaction.

Being Canadian I'm taking this personally! Its hard enough to get those of you who reside south of the 49th parallel to do business with us "Canucks"as it is!

Was this deal set-up through Audiogon and if so have you contacted them to assist in the resolution of this sale? Where abouts in Canada does this guy reside? I think you have examined a few paths to take and maybe there are more as Albert has alluded to (Kelly's contribution pending...).
I think this situation has drawn out far long enough for one to lose their patience and take it to the next level. I am not sure what the USPS can do after it leaves the country but as it was registered for his signature upon delivery, Canada Post is now involved and maybe they can help - www.canadapost.ca might provide some information that may assist you. Do not let this person go nameless to the members here. If he has done "business" here before then he is a member and others should be aware of his past practices. No slight to the legal community but I've never run into a lawyer yet who was in a position that he had to "steal" $600 from an audiophile...

If he/she claims to be an attorney, I know in the USA you can complain to the appropriate attorney disiciplinary board, i.e. the state bar where the attorney is registered. Attorneys are held to a higher standard when dealing with ordinary people and should not use their knowledge of the law to rip you off. I would suggest researching this and telling him/her you will be filing a complaint as he/she is committing fraud (meaning lying) and either larcenary and/or conversion (meaning theft of your money). I wish I knew about Canadian law but I don't. I know about US law but not this area.

Some of the advice you're being given is just silly. Grievance committees(lawyer licensing review boards) are not for recovering money on commercial transactions. Rather, they are for the purpose of censure and disbarment concerning illegal and improper professional behavior.
Such advice is a clear attempt to misuse a bigger club in order to gain an advantage, and will be perceived as such. Unless the "Attorney" was making the sale in the ordinary practice of law, acting as a lawyer, they will surely tell you to sue him or contact the proper police department, if you wish to charge him with theft and fraud, which is precisely what you should do.

I think you're screwed! International purchase doesn't look good for recovery of $600. Bad decision. I feel badly for you. You placed yourself in the position of no recourse and no fallback position.

As a landlord I try to always remember... better an empty apartment than a bad tenant. All I lose is the rent, not the legal fees to vacate and the property damage.

Now, if you have a verry big friend who lives nearby this neanderthal...

Best wishes,

Bill E.

I submitted a response here but it was rejected by Audiogon as I had mentioned the man's name and his address. Here is that message again with that info left off. For anyone interested in that information, please contact me.

------------------
Oh oh....I knew where this was going the minute I saw it.

I have dealt with this man.
I saw a similar post by somebody else who dealt with him and they too were getting the runaround...audio magic cables. This was earlier this year. Search for AudioMagic cables in the forum here and his posting should come up.

He claims to do website design for this cable company and CJ and even uses a CJ email address. And yes, he too told me he is a lawyer. I have seriously considered emailing CJ about this man but I guess it is not my style to be accusatory.

I bought a Counterpoint NPS 400 amp from him....and I sent him 3 $500 installments. I always thought it was strange that he wanted me to send the checks under his wife's name. Finally he shipped the amp to his buddy here in StPaul MN. Well, the amp was severely damaged due to his poor packaging. He claimed he paid Purolator to repack the amp but that was obviously never done. This was Feb 2001!!!! He went round and round with me that he had it insured but never got paid for this claim.."they would not pay since it crossed the US border". So after all this time, I have been super super patient. My wife has complained so much of this as it is in a crate sitting in our living room and no news from Guy except more of the same. So I feel for you here as I have pretty much written this off as one of those (hopefully) once in a lifetime unfortunate events. Oh well, I am out $1500 but it could have been much much worse. And perhaps with $1000 or so to repair the amp with Michael Elliot, I could end up with something nice, but still I was taken.

And I have talked on the phone with his StPaul buddy who I met and is a nice guy but I hate to bring him in the middle. But he needs to know what his friend is doing to all of us down here.

So everyone do yourself a huge favor....be very careful with this man. I feel the Audiogon staff needs to take action to disallow this user to do any further business here until he can prove to everyone that he is not taking us all to the cleaners.

By the way, I bought the amp through an ad he had placed on the Counterpoint website so I can not go through the audiogon "dispute" process. Looks like I am screwed here but I hope to prevent anyone else from going through the same.

John