GolfGTIforum.co.uk

General => General discussion => Topic started by: Xanthic on 20 June 2011, 16:57

Title: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 20 June 2011, 16:57
It pains me to have to write this as I see this as affecting somebodies income and almost making it difficult to put food on their table but since Mike Coulthard has pretty much completely taken the p*ss out of my life and made me lose faith in the human race – I’ve pretty much got no choice but to ‘review’ what he has to offer.

Which is nothing.

On Wednesday 16 June, a good friend of mine sent me a link to an Eibech Anti Roll Bar Kit that Mike was selling on Club GTI (http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=173543.0;wap2). Some of you may know that I’ve been looking for a set for a while but I refuse to pay £300 for a brand new set so when I saw these I emailed Mike, negotiated a good price for them and was told they’d be delivered on Thursday or Friday. Brilliant. Or so I thought.

I’d been warned about this buyer from the same friend who told me about the ARBs as he’d previously been flagged up on various forums as a ‘seller to avoid’ for either not sending something out or none communication but after an issue was resolved – I thought best to give him the benefit of the doubt as you always hear of more bad things as you do good.

The threads are here: http://www.clubgti.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-229851.html
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=183455.20

The first thing that set off alarm bells was how he asked for the payment to be made via PayPal as a ‘gift’ payment. Any experienced eBayer/Paypal’er will know that a gift payment leaves you no leg to stand on as a buyer if you decide to raise a refund request with PayPal should your purchase fall through, as the payment was made as a ‘gift’ which is pretty much like giving cash in an envelope to a masked man stood behind you with a knife. The bonus for the seller (if they’re legit) is that they won’t be faced with fees or charges when they come to withdraw the money.

The second thing was the PayPal email address/account didn’t match his name and was instead paid into the name of Michelle Laverick under the email address v9005252@live.tees.ac.uk . His name is Mike Coulthard, the email address to his original advertisement was mikecoulthard@googlemail.com and upon further investigation, he also uses mike.c1979@hotmail.co.uk . He also has 3 separate Facebook accounts linked to those email addresses.

The third thing was when I asked for a tracking number and was told his friend ‘Rob’ was going to deliver them as he was a courier for an undisclosed company and would be dropping it off on the side so no tracking number could be given. “Fair enough” I thought, “everybody wants to save money and if he has a friend willing to do it – great… it saves me money too”. This prompted me to advise that I’d rather pay the money as a purchase for goods/services rather than a gift ‘just in case’, which he agreed to.

Via email he told me the ARBs would be with me on Thursday or Friday (depending on when they’d be picked up) which was great – within 48 hours! At this point I’d asked him to send me pictures so at least I knew he had a set of ARBs to sell, the pictures arrived late and I pretty much had to pester him to send them.

Thursday arrives and I receive nothing. I tried calling and texting only to be told he’d text his mate and was waiting for a reply. I chased him again a few hours later but was told the same thing. It was at this point I gave him another address (the gym) as I was going to be there until 8pm – just in case his friend was swamped with work and could deliver them but later on but I got no reply.

I received a text later that night telling me it would be mid morning the day after when I would get them – Friday. Mid morning rolls around and nothing. Same with the afternoon and mid afternoon and late afternoon and… you get the idea. Once again I chased it up with Mike only to be told he’d text his friend to tell him to ring me to which I replied “If you send me his number I can arrange it with him?” and it was from that moment onwards where Mike decided not to return any of my calls, texts or emails.

I have called him approximately 35 times. None of my calls have been answered and now Mike has my number on auto divert (the phone rings once then diverts to voicemail – I have tried calling from a private number and it rings out). I have sent him countless texts and left him a voicemail as well as sent emails chasing him up. I know for a fact all of these have been picked up, read and received.

My final email, text and voicemail message was today at about 12pm to let Mike know that if I didn’t hear back from him by 5pm, I’d be disputing the money with PayPal to get a refund put in place. As you can probably tell, no response.

A message to Mike, if you’d have told me from the beginning that it was going to be a week or 2 or even 3 weeks until you could get them to me – I’d have been fine about it. But you promised Friday and didn’t keep to your word. Then you ignored all my calls, texts and emails like a child instead of growing a pair and telling me straight up. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and you completely took the p*ss.

I hope everything you try and sell now comes back to this thread, my website and various other places I’ve posted this so nobody ever purchases anything off you ever again. Even if you promise to deliver it yourself sat on a unicorn with harps playing. I work in an industry where you have to be patient with people and my patience has worn thin. A 48 hour turnaround for anybody is a great feat, never mind on a private sale but if you’re to lead me on, I’m going to run you down looking for what you promised to deliver.

The worst thing is how you feigned empathy when I told you I’d been had over before by somebody promising to deliver something and it never showed. For you to tell me it’s happened to you before and it’d be OK then go back on your word shows how two faced you actually are. I could threaten to turn up on your doorstep in Durham should I ever find out where you live and beat the money out of you as well as a few extra quid for texts, phone calls and time wasted but there’s really no point as in the long run – this will prove more damaging should anyone do any research on you.

You are a complete and utter joke, waste of space, time and money.


(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x313/xanthicflex/ScreenShotCoulthard.jpg)
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Adam on 20 June 2011, 17:01
Why does that name and email address look familiar :huh
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 20 June 2011, 17:06
so you were advised he was dodgy and when asked as gift you didnt STOP.

Sorry but I have said it before and will say it again,

1, if its too good to be true, it normally is

2, a few checks can save a LOT of hassle,

 if you had done this research before hand, as you knew he was a tad iffy then problem solved.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: dom on 20 June 2011, 18:36
At least you should be able to get your money back as you didn't pay by gift but even so I don't have a lot of sympathy as you already knew his reputation :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: trog_nfs on 20 June 2011, 18:37
Any relation to David?  :tongue:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Khare on 20 June 2011, 18:39
At least you should be able to get your money back as you didn't pay by gift but even so I don't have a lot of sympathy as you already knew his reputation :rolleyes:

+1  :undecided:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: brett on 20 June 2011, 20:21
i just so happen to have purchased a few things off of mike recently nothing major couple of t shirts and a watch and have received all the items i have bought off of him and he has always got back to me asap,sorry to hear your havin ball ache sorting out your purchase
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: brett on 20 June 2011, 20:28
also just to add the paypal is his mrs paypal account ,and when i first bought something off him and  mentioned about not paying for it as a gift he said it was fine to pay for as 'goods' as it was safer ,like i said never had no problems dealing with him on the 4/5 occassions i have bought bits off of him
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: bricey on 20 June 2011, 20:34
bit lost to be honest
you say" Some of you may know that " but this is your first post on here.
nearly all of my tranactions threw paypal have been by gift-to cover the cost of the fee's
you should of just saved the £300 for new arb's
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: SoundillusioN on 20 June 2011, 20:50
bit lost to be honest
you say" Some of you may know that " but this is your first post on here.
nearly all of my tranactions threw paypal have been by gift-to cover the cost of the fee's
you should of just saved the £300 for new arb's

Copy and paste from a forum he is a regular on.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 20 June 2011, 23:26
Hi guys,

Just to answer a couple of questions.

As SoundillusioN says, it was copied and pasted from another forum and my blog so apologies for the confusion.

As for WHY I still went ahead and bought the ARBs, it was mainly due to me giving him the benefit of the doubt. As someone previously said, in the few occasions they have dealt with him - there hadnt been any issues and as I say in my post, you tend to hear more of the negative than you do the positive and since he seems like he sells things quite often, I went ahead albeit with doubt still in my mind.

I dont like to start off on a negative note and definitely didnt want to end up posting the above essay on here but if Mike would have just picked up the phone when I called, texted back or even called me earlier today and explained the situation (whatever his excuse may be), I wouldnt have posted it and waited for the ARBs.

As for why I'm posting this, it's not as a way to b*tch and moan and look for sympathy but more so to warn others who come across this to NOT give him the benefit of the doubt and NOT to trust him like I did. I admit it's not like he's murdered a busload of schoolchildren or run into Battersea Dogs Home with a shotgun and let loose but to say you have something that somebody wants, take their money and ignore their phone calls, texts and emails - that's pretty f*cking low.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: DOA on 21 June 2011, 05:07
On Wednesday 16 June,

Bit soon to be suicidal about the whole thing isnt it? You might want to get the date sorted too? Yes he's got a reputation (Im guessing you have now found out about it and think you are being robbed) but surely this is a bit too fast and you are covered by paypal anyway so whats the biggie?
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 21 June 2011, 08:58
On Wednesday 16 June,

Bit soon to be suicidal about the whole thing isnt it? You might want to get the date sorted too? Yes he's got a reputation (Im guessing you have now found out about it and think you are being robbed) but surely this is a bit too fast and you are covered by paypal anyway so whats the biggie?

Sorry, Wednesday 15th.

Hardly suicidal, more annoyed than anything else. Especially since he promised me Thursday/Friday, assured me it was with his courier on both of those days, couldnt give me a tracking number and now wont answer my phone calls or respond to my emails, texts and voicemails.

I admit, a couple of days out normally isnt a big deal and like I said before - if he'd have just called and said "It's not going to be there until next week due to *whatever reason*", I'd have been fine about it but he's taken the cowardly route and not picked up his phone to address the situation.

If you'd have bought something for a lesser amount of £50 from a normal Limited company and they tell you it'll be delivered within 48 hours but are unable to provide you with a tracking number, then go and ignore all correspondence when you chase the item (when before the purchase they'd reply to your emails/queries pretty much within the hour) - would you or would you not be peeved?

The point is - if people take the time to post about people like this, it warns potential buyers. You can choose to ignore warnings and come out completely unscathed with your item in your hand within 2 days. Or ignore the posts (like I did) and you could be waiting, staying patient for weeks and weeks before he starts ignoring your calls, then 2 months down the line dispute it when it's possibly too late. But this is serving as a 'dont give him the benfit of the doubt like I did' message.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: dantheman6554 on 21 June 2011, 16:37
I know exactly where your coming from mate, people like him are a waste of space,  i had a similar thing few months ago, forked out £300 for a cyclinder head that was duff, was ignored etc etc etc,

I wrote an essay on here about it, and yes you do get some positive replies, but such is life you still get people like above who seem to take the other side just to be different!

My advice to you,   not saying its what id do , i had alot of evidence , bank transfer, abusive emails, texts the item itself! so court was the only way forward,   the other way is a full tank of fuel, a couple of friends and an address! 

Dan
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Diamond Hell on 21 June 2011, 23:27
Best thing to do is go round and register on a few forums and mouth off, rather than trying to sort it out using the mechanism you used to pay him.  Oh, hang on...

Why not crawl back to Club GTI (where presumably this has happened) and whine at the admins on there some, instead of cluttering up this forum?

As per Chuff, really and why would anyone believe your version of the story of the other side's?  You've just registered on here to whine.  Why not go to the WI hall for that instead?
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 22 June 2011, 10:47
Best thing to do is go round and register on a few forums and mouth off, rather than trying to sort it out using the mechanism you used to pay him.  Oh, hang on...

Why not crawl back to Club GTI (where presumably this has happened) and whine at the admins on there some, instead of cluttering up this forum?

As per Chuff, really and why would anyone believe your version of the story of the other side's?  You've just registered on here to whine.  Why not go to the WI hall for that instead?

I see there are trolls on here too.

I explained all above in regards to why I'm doing this. And yes, it's been taken up with PayPal.

Thanks for the support too, when innocent people like yourself get ripped off - it'll be yourself who will be kicking yourself wondering why nobody advised you to STEER COMPLETELY CLEAR OF PEOPLE LIKE THIS AND TO NOT EVEN BOTHER GIVING HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.

Mike Coulthard has pretty much proved why people should believe me over him - he's not sent me what he agreed to send me and he's ignoring everything I send him, emails, texts etc but please tell me - out of everything you've read so far - what reasons could you give for believing him over me? That I didnt pay him? That I didnt provide 2 addresses for him to send the item? Or that I didnt attempt to get the number for his mate to arrange delivery at a more suitable time?

And I registered on here because he's sold things on here in the past.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 22 June 2011, 10:53
I know exactly where your coming from mate, people like him are a waste of space,  i had a similar thing few months ago, forked out £300 for a cyclinder head that was duff, was ignored etc etc etc,

I wrote an essay on here about it, and yes you do get some positive replies, but such is life you still get people like above who seem to take the other side just to be different!

My advice to you,   not saying its what id do , i had alot of evidence , bank transfer, abusive emails, texts the item itself! so court was the only way forward,   the other way is a full tank of fuel, a couple of friends and an address! 

Dan

Thanks for the empathy Dan.

I've got a load of emails and texts chasing him as well as my bank statement and PayPal proving that the money was sent.

I'm just waiting on PayPal now.

 :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: mellow yellow on 22 June 2011, 11:00
welcome to the forum  :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: SoundillusioN on 22 June 2011, 11:20
welcome to the forum  :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 :grin:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Agreeable Slick on 22 June 2011, 12:58
Ultimately it's a heads up for us for someone going by these alias's.

Fortunately you were sensible enough to go through Paypal the proper way, so you will be covered. Many others are not.
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 26 June 2011, 17:35
Agree with Slick, its better to know who these people are.
Ignore the some of morons on here, most people don't listen to their opinions anyway...
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: vaughn on 26 June 2011, 18:14
I concur totally agree with slick and a8, just hope paypal re-invitee you
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Diamond Hell on 28 June 2011, 19:41
Just what we need - an open invitation for those ripped off on CGTI to come over here and whine about those ripping them off.

What's wrong with whining about it on CGTI?  Suddenly not good enough for you?
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: F17BAD on 28 June 2011, 19:57
Just what we need - an open invitation for those ripped off on CGTI to come over here and whine about those ripping them off.

What's wrong with whining about it on CGTI?  Suddenly not good enough for you?

I dont understand why you are not banned from on here like you was CGTI... which is obviously the reason why you have issues with that site.
They were just not stupid enough to let you try take over the forum with your bad attitude and bullsh!t and spoil it for everyone else like you do on here

its always good to be informed of scammers, so whats the harm in him coming on here to let others know?.

Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Wayne on 28 June 2011, 19:59
Just what we need - an open invitation for those ripped off on CGTI to come over here and whine about those ripping them off.

What's wrong with whining about it on CGTI?  Suddenly not good enough for you?

I dont understand why you are not banned from on here like you was CGTI... which is obviously the reason why you have issues with that site.
They were just not stupid enough to let you try take over the forum with your bad attitude and bullsh!t and spoil it for everyone else like you do on here

its always good to be informed of scammers, so whats the harm in him coming on here to let others know?.



Nothing, it is always good to know about these things :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 28 June 2011, 20:37


people that go onto other forums and bad mouth placesin threads about from where they came, never  :shocked: :rolleyes:

then come back  :grin: :laugh:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 28 June 2011, 20:39
and to be fair, we all knew about this guy on here anyway  :laugh: :grin:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: F17BAD on 28 June 2011, 20:42
Nowt wrong with bad mouthing were its due chuff, but DH has serious attitude issues, iv seen it first hand, so have many others, and thats not just those on this forum.. iv read countless threads bad mouthing this forum because of him

its not good -  iknow you are fond of him but i just dont get it any more  :undecided:  somebody needs to grow a pair and say bye bye to him but thats just the opinion of certain people and i guess it will never happen

agree we might have already known about him but i dont see a peoblem in more warnings  :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 28 June 2011, 20:44
funny how u turn it to DH,   :grin: point missed well and truely  :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: F17BAD on 28 June 2011, 20:55
dont play games man, say what you are thinking.... f**k the cloak and daggers.. :grin:

Dont see how you can not turn stuff towards him TBH..  :undecided: :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 28 June 2011, 21:29
funny how u turn it to DH,   :grin: point missed well and truely  :lipsrsealed:

Brad has got a point. DH is seriously rude and provocative.
I would also like to know why he has not been banned?
Lets face it, if it was anyone else they would of gone by now.
Admins/mods?
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 28 June 2011, 22:09
Surprise, surprise no comment  :grin:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 28 June 2011, 22:12
from me  :huh:

 cant comment as only mod the off topic section  :smiley:

Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 28 June 2011, 22:15
I try not to comment, but sometimes feel i have to say when others don't feel able to speak up.
I used to be a complete bastard, but i've mended my ways  :laugh:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: JC on 28 June 2011, 22:16
or not,  :grin:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: F17BAD on 28 June 2011, 22:19
Many of us are guilty of been a tw4t in past, me included, its no secret, but DH takes it to another level and gets away with it, which only bigs up his ego thus making him even worse of a .......

needs to get gone IMO
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 28 June 2011, 22:23
or not,  :grin:

What do you mean?
I've been good for years, well by my standards  :laugh:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: lemski on 28 June 2011, 22:39
I agree with kell, yeh I have done the same possible. I can't remember.
On subject though, I sold mike some speakers and he said they were broke and wanted a refund. I asked for pictures and he never sent them, but kept pestering me for another set. Then when I kept asking him for pictures to prove they were broke he stopped repltin to my texts or emails. So I don't know what to make if he wanted his money back or if he wanted to try getting another set of speakers for a fiver... But if I knew this then I wouldn't have sold them to him
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: jamrock on 30 June 2011, 12:39
this "mike" fella seems to be real bad news.

only way he would stop is when an angry victim gets a hold of him.  :wink:

seriously the police have better things to do like random stop and searches....  :evil:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: tg1 on 30 June 2011, 14:42
ban ban ban  :grin:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Mr Blue on 30 June 2011, 22:19
cheeky f**k*r to say his mate 'Rob' was going to handle the goods.

Rob'bed alrite  :rolleyes:

tbh i only visit the mk2 section, detailing section and thats about it. I never knew about this guy  :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: LowlifeDubber on 02 July 2011, 09:27
funny how u turn it to DH,   :grin: point missed well and truely  :lipsrsealed:

Brad has got a point. DH is seriously rude and provocative.
I would also like to know why he has not been banned?
Lets face it, if it was anyone else they would of gone by now.
Admins/mods?

I also agree,some of the posts I've seen off him have been very arrogant and he comes across as a tosser with a p1ss poor attitude.
I've lost count of the amount of times people on other forums have mentioned that they don't come here purely because of this arsehole.
I can only think he is in some elitist clique which protects him, which can only boost his god complex.

and dont get me started on that AudiA8Quattro....... :grin:


On topic.thanks for the heads up :wink:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 08 July 2011, 08:48
Just an update.

A dispute was submitted to PayPal on 20th June, then escalated to a claim after no contact on 26th June and today PayPal has decided in my favour after no contact was received by Mike Coulthard in 2 and a half weeks so after all the messing around, I'm going to be refunded.

But this needn't have happened if Mike would have just been honest from day one.

In regards to Diamond Hell... shut up mate. If you have such a problem, stop posting and bumping the threads - then you wouldnt need to see them. And in regards to CGTI, they've made the thread a sticky, all mouth no identity.

Thanks for the support guys

http://apopandagumshield.wordpress.com

Ste
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: F17BAD on 08 July 2011, 10:23
Good result mate, nice one  :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: AudiA8Quattro on 08 July 2011, 12:16
Glad you got it sorted mate  :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: SoundillusioN on 08 July 2011, 12:51
Glad you got it sorted mate  :smiley:

This.

Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 08 July 2011, 13:41
Cheers fellas  :smiley:
Title: Re: Mike Coulhard - Scammer
Post by: Xanthic on 08 July 2011, 13:59
this "mike" fella seems to be real bad news.

only way he would stop is when an angry victim gets a hold of him.  :wink:

I've just seen this so sorry for the late reply.

I've seriously contemplated this. I have his full address as well as landline telephone numbers and I'm actually due to go up to the North East. I know a few lads up there who used to frequent the gym I train at so it's not an issue to go to house either alone or with a few friends for the money but I thought dead against it due to the fact he's simply not worth it.

I've done many a bad thing in my life so turning up at his house and beating a couple of hundred quid out of him wouldnt be the worst thing I've ever done.

On a more positive note, as soon as you Google his email addresses - information about this incident comes up within the first few results. That's all I need/want right now. For others not to fall into the same 'give him the benefit of the doubt' trap and for him to find it difficult to sell anything or get any information/help about his car.