To Whom it May Concern, I went through a scam incident with Vestiaire Collective company. I can share with you the email thread I have, but for now I will provide an overview of the case. All actions I made, required loading American Express prepaid gift card (which I will refer to as Amex) with funds, and being told I will get my funds back once I go through their process. All I wanted is to sell my wedding dress that I won't be able to use, and have someone else enjoying it.
1) It started when in order to activate my account I needed to load an Amex of between $200-$500. (They offered an incentive if you put $500.) | so far the accumulated cost is $500.
2) Then once the account was approved, they decided that since I was texting with the buyer outside the app, we both are suspected with fraud and should add another new Amex with $450. So, mistakenly I loaded $500 (which the company withdrew anyways) and then they said I need pay exactly $450, and it can only be done through buying a new Amex with the exact cost they need. | Accumulated cost is $1000
3) Then, I bought a new one and loaded with $450. | Accumulated cost is $1450
4) Then in order to pay me they needed another $500 because they, don't work with my bank, even though earlier they said they work with banks, venmo, and paypal. | Accumulated cost is $1950
5) Then, the representative claimed he made a mistake and said that they loaded my Amex with excess funds at the amount of $750. So to resolve this, he said that I need to pay them the additional $750 if I'd like to have them pay me the all accumulated amount. This was the last straw, as I couldn't believe they demanded so much money for me to sell my dress, and worse, for this time it was their mistake I needed to take on my shoulders.
I have lost $1950 in gift cards, and lost $900 of the sell (that was never completed, and the buyer didn't get back their money), and lost the incentives they claimed to provide in bullet point 1 ($750), and my human sanity (I was immensely stressed of whether I should keep investing or get out of it, I lost my appetite too). The representative was lied (about payment methods), and expected me to clean up his mess (pay more for his mistake). I feel abused and I'm still crying as I write this. I lost trust in their ability to have minimal integrity and decency towards the sellers and buyers they interact with.
Explanation of the attached screenshots.
Evidence 1 contradicts evidence 6 regarding payment methods.
Evidence 2 is a punishment for texting outside their app where also earlier admitted it deletes messages.
Evidence 5 the company rep pressures me to add additional $750 (due to their mistake), within the next 10 minutes.
Evidence 3 happens before 5, where I am informed they transferred excess funds. And then I should be paying them first for this mistake.
I can also send the entire email thread.
I appreciate your help!
Desired outcome: I'd appreciate if I can complete my sell, without adding additional money, or at least get the money I put in back. Ideally, they can pay me through Venmo, where they can avoid paying me excess funds.
Exactly the same thing happened to me today when trying to sell a purse! I am at a complete lose. I feel very ashamed that I would even fall for it.
Hi Nicole,
I am sorry it happened to you too! Don't let it get you. We have nothing to be ashamed of. It was hard for me as well, but know that we have experienced an abusive relationship with them and faced a very challenging situation. After all they make a living out of stealing people's money. At the very least we are lucky to be able to stop it and recognized it.
100% agree! I wish there was a way to report them and stop them. They even used the same Names: Donald Craig as the buyer and Karl Pace as the one from Vestiarie.
Yea, while I didn't indicate it, Donald Craig and Karl Pace were the "buyer" and "VC rep".. I didn't know Donald was a scammer too, but now I know. I thought both Donald and me fell into this scam. I was sure Vestaire had nothing to do with Donald. Well there's always something new to learn. It made me distrust these apps altogether.
Omg yes... my scammer used Karl Pace too.
Hello. Im sorry this happened to you. It happened to me too. But you havent realized that you weren't communicating with a vestiaire representative. You were communicating with a fraudster who gave you a 'vestiaire email address' but actually it wasnt. It was an email through which you were communing with the 'buyer' who was actually a scammer.