RIPOFF ALERT: Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

This concerns a member on the board (rather past member) whose information is below –

Name: OLIVIER BRION
Paypal + Correspondence Email Address: zoliv_is_a_yes_man@hotmail.fr
UPDATED Paypal information - darker_than_hei@hotmail.fr
Alais: On the board he used to go by the name ‘Zoliv’
Residence Address: 52, rue d'Allonville, Résidence "L'ISARD", 44000 NANTES, FRANCE.

Here's a bit of the history around it -

Back in August last year, I showed interest on the board for the Berserker bust (Sold Out at the time), and made payment for the SK bust. Zoliv reached out to me indicating that he was selling both busts and asked if it would be ok if I bought them directly from him. James was kind enough to account my payment for the SK bust toward the Femto bust, and I went with what Zoliv had.

On December 07, 2010 - Zoliv and I struck a deal where he sold me the following:

Casca Hawk Soldier
Femto
Griffith Hawk Soldier
Griffith Millenium Falcon
Guts & Darka
Houma Locus
Troll

He confirmed that he shipped it to me on the 14th, which was fine. The packages were received safe and sound.

Between December and January he's also asked me to send him Euros as a favor, and he'd send the same amounts back to me. He indicated he had issues at his job or health and needed help with the money. He would pay me back the money at the end of the month when his Credit Card cycle would end, which was fine by me. I obliged and he did send the moneys back to me. (This does not relate directly to the matter at hand, but I’m mentioning it to account for any interaction with him.)

He had a few other statues he wished to sell and this is what we worked out on Jan 07, 2011 (prices included, I know they’re high >_<’):

Guts On Horse 1/10 (Bloody version) : 1500€
Guts 20th Anniversary (Europa version) : 1000€
Kiretsu (Europa version) : 700€
Armored Berserk & Fire Dragon : 550€
Guts Attack Form : 300€
Boscone Exclusive II : 200€
Skullknight On Horse 1/10 (Limited version) : 1750€

I sent him 1045.20€ on Jan 08 as a first installment.

On Jan 10 he added Zodd I (Bloody With Wings) : 350€ to his sale list and I included it as part of my purchase.

Pursuant to this, I sent him 4160€ on Jan 13 and I made my final payment of the pending balance of 1150€ on Jan 29. Total 6355€.

I’d like to add here that all moneys sent to him were sent as a GIFT. I contacted Paypal back in April and they said they were liable for nothing because the transaction was not classified under the appropriate section. When sending amounts as a GIFT, the person receiving the funds does not get hit with any charge. The downside is that it’s under the Personal tab and no claims of fraud can be made once the transaction’s complete on both sides. I sent him the moneys as a GIFT because I had dealt with him before in the same way, and there was no problem at the time. I also usually bear the expense of a few dollars at my end, for the benefit of the other individual.

I was supposed to leave for India mid-February and he suggested he would wait on shipping the statues to me because it was best if I was in town. This was fine by me. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go. I let him know on Feb 11 that my plans were cancelled and that he could ship them to me as soon as he got the chance to. On Feb 11 his email to me said "I will send them when I can during the two next weeks. I will do different packages and give you the tracking numbers when I can."

After that, I did not hear from him. Prior to this, he would get back to me within a day or two at most.

Then on Feb 23, he sent me some Euros that he wanted me to Paypal back to him with no mention of shipping my packages. He ended his email with “PS : for the packages, I'm sorry but I won't have the time before next week >_<”. I sent him the Euros back, as per his request and also asked him about whether he had shipped my packages on not. Email reminders were sent to him on Feb 23, March 11, March 22, March 27, April 06, April 10, and April 12 asking whether he shipped it or not.

He replied on April 13 indicating he was answering to all my emails, he wasn’t sure why I never received it, he was in the hospital and wasn’t able to send the packages.

His response surprised me because I knew he was going back and forth with a friend of mine and he never mentioned the hospital to that person. I confronted him about it. There was no reply for a week and I sent another reminder. He replied saying he was going to be in the hospital for a month and will send the packages out when he gets out. In my email reply, I gave him more than a month, up till May 31 to either refund all moneys or send the packages out with tracking information, by that date.

On May 27 he wrote to me saying “I am going to search some packages tomorrow I think so I may send them on saturday or at the beginning of next week (so, I won't have to move the statues with me XD)”. He indicated he was going to move into a new home and was in debt of 15,000 Euros as a result of being in the hospital. I replied asking for the tracking information or a confirmation on a possible ship date.
On June 06 he replied saying “Yes, I am in the middle of my move but I have been able to send half of the statues. I will give you the tracking numbers when I will find the papers which are in one of the packages XD”.

Consequently, emails were sent to him on June 13, June 15, June 22, June 23, June 24, June 29, July 01, July 08, July 10, July 13, July 15, July 17 and July 20 (today) with no response from him. I requested for the tracking information and a ship date.

Thanks to the awesome support and help of 3 individuals on the forum, I have 3 possible addresses for him at the moment. EDIT: The one address which Olivier himself admitted to be residing at is listed above.

Starting the end of the week I’m going to send out mails via courier to those addresses maybe twice a week or so for a month or so. I tried those numbers and unfortunately it kept ringing on me back in April. I’ll see if I can call em over the weekend. I just wanted to let everyone on the board know of this ordeal so you can stay away from any deals or dealings with this individual, or at least be aware of how he’s handled my transaction. I’m also hoping he realizes the topic exists (either by a Google search of his name or lurking the board or by my courier’d letters) and there is some positive outcome to it. There’s also the risk of the obvious negative outcome from this, but the damage has already been done at this point.

If anyone has suggestions that can help, please feel free to post about it or PM or email me, however you prefer. Again, I'd like to thank those 3 board members for all their help and patience. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I've removed his real name + Paypal address from the topic (on 08/15/2011).
EDIT 2: I've added his real name + Paypal address + Residence address back to the post (on 09/07/2011).
EDIT 3: I've added Olivier's new Paypal address (on 10/24/2014).
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Thanks for the heads up, but I would take down the addresses. That's confidential information and you could get into legal trouble for posting them without this person's permission, despite what he's done to you so far. Just a tip.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Understood, appreciate your advice, I'll take them off.

Just for my own understanding could you/ anyone PM me the disclaimer or legality over that? Do you also mean I should take down his Paypal/ Email Address from my post?

A lot of music forums post rip-off lists of record labels and addresses. I would imagine the whole 'invasion of privacy' thing, but listing a phone number (which is often found off the Yellow Pages) may not be illegal. I don't have enough resources right now since I'm on the road, but it's just a thought.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

IncantatioN said:
Understood, appreciate your advice, I'll take them off.

Just for my own understanding could you/ anyone PM me the disclaimer or legality over that? Do you also mean I should take down his Paypal/ Email Address from my post?

A lot of music forums post rip-off lists of record labels and addresses. I would imagine the whole 'invasion of privacy' thing, but listing a phone number (which is often found off the Yellow Pages) may not be illegal. I don't have enough resources right now since I'm on the road, but it's just a thought.

Here in Washington State, where I work in human resources and this type of thing comes up occasionally, addresses (personal and email) and phone numbers are considered confidential information and cannot be given out to other parties without the consent of the individual to which they belong. I'm not familiar with these types of laws in Europe or elsewhere, though. I could dig around for information on confidentiality in the United States, but that probably won't help you too much. My recommendation whenever you're dealing with information of this sort is "better to be safe than sorry," especially in an age where ridiculous lawsuits abound.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Appreciate your advice Rhombaad. For now I've left the email address that I used to correspond with him, which also apparently is his Paypal address, unless I'm advised not to (please confirm?). I don't know if it would be allowed if the situation were different. Posting addresses or phone numbers casually or for fun or for advertising gain versus posting for addressing an issue at hand such as mine may allow, MAY warrant it for transparency purposes.

Turkitage said:
:judo: i'm sorry to hear this dude.

:sad: *sob* thanks Turk. Learnt a few things the hard way.
 

nomad

"Bring the light of day"
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Ouch. Given the circumstances I do hope there's some sort of closure to this. I'll even entertain the idea that he did may in fact have a "reason" for a massive delay. There's always the possibility of that. And if not? May you at least receive a refund. I am familiar with what you are currently feeling, and sadly there's nothing anyone can say to make it better. I can only thank you for the warning, and update this thread as results may occur. I do hope you get what you originally intended.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Thanks Nomad, I'm sorry to hear you went through something similar. I'll be sure to update the thread with any developments that go on. At this point, I'm not at all hopeful but I'll try to be a pest and follow up with him!

With regard to his reasons, he did mention in April that he was in and out of the hospital (this would be his reason for not sending the packages between Feb - April). He also said he continued to write to me and was baffled why I did not get his emails. I was baffled too because I did not get anything from him (I go through my Junk folders whenever I log on too). I've never had a problem with his emails before, so why now all of a sudden and that's when I started to notice the lies. I did give him more than a month to ship the statues or refund all moneys, just before the end date he said he was moving and also confirmed shipping one package out. When asked, there's been no reply. I've tried to stay calm this whole while, but it'll be 6 months soon *sigh*
 

yesmilord

千年王国
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

This is both appalling and shameful. I'm sorry for what happened IncantatioN. I hope this is resolved quickly and peacefully.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

yesmilord said:
I hope this is resolved quickly and peacefully.
I'm actually hoping it will end violently. Guy sounds like a real turd.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Yeah me too Walter ^_^ and thanks Yesmilord.

I tried to do some digging online and this is what I came up with (ADMINS/ MODS - please delete the links if mentioning them is considered illegal for posting on the forums) -

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/financial_scams/financial_scams_3155.html

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

The US Dept of State website links to the ic3 site for reporting internet fraud/scams. I don't know if the amount of money involved is substantial enough for a fraud department in France to take it up; or for the concerned people at the site to forward it to the fraud department in France. The site indicates the odds of getting money back aren't that common, but its not 100% ruled out.

What do you guys think?

On another note - quick update - I've sent him 4 letters so far (confirmed delivery). Also sending him emails every 2/3 days, or whenever I can remember.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Update - Zoliv sent me an email upon receiving my FedEx'd letter (the 4th one). His financial situation has not improved per his email but he has agreed to send my statues as and when he can, with help from a friend of his. He indicates that he shall try to send them all out by the end of August and that refunding me the money wasn't an option at this point. He's asked that I delete this topic once I've received all statues, which I agreed to do in my email response. He also asked that I remove his real name and his Paypal/ email address from the topic, which I just did.

I don't know how to, but I request any MOD to help with removing his real name and his Paypal address from the consequent replies from the topic header on this thread, for example = Re: ___________________

Sorry for the inconvenience MODs, I appreciate your help!

I'm optimistic, positive start to a new week! Hopefully he keeps his word this time.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

Gobolatula said:
I'd say wait until you receive your statues before removing anything. What a creep.
I guess you're right on that one. I got an email from him a little over a week ago telling me, quote "Sorry for the late answer, I haven't been able to connect to Internet before. I have just given the skullknight statue to my friend, he should send it at the end of the week if he can. For the other statues, I'm sorry but I don't know when I will be able to send them since I can't manage to find enough money for the shipping. I hope I will be able to sell enough things. And another news, I have just lost my job because I have been ill (and so not working) for too much time.". I was in a good mood just before I got his email, enjoying the hurricane and it got squashed. I let him know that I removed his name, etc. as he requested but he wasn't holding up to his end of the bargain. Also told him that I needed concrete time~lines on when he would ship all statues to me. His last email said he'd send them all by the end of Aug and each time it comes close to a proposed date, something or the other would come up. So, yeah since my email there's been no response. Sent him reminders and will prolly mail the correspondence to his address for my own sanity.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

IncantatioN said:
I guess you're right on that one. I got an email from him a little over a week ago telling me, quote "Sorry for the late answer, I haven't been able to connect to Internet before. I have just given the skullknight statue to my friend, he should send it at the end of the week if he can. For the other statues, I'm sorry but I don't know when I will be able to send them since I can't manage to find enough money for the shipping. I hope I will be able to sell enough things. And another news, I have just lost my job because I have been ill (and so not working) for too much time.". I was in a good mood just before I got his email, enjoying the hurricane and it got squashed. I let him know that I removed his name, etc. as he requested but he wasn't holding up to his end of the bargain. Also told him that I needed concrete time~lines on when he would ship all statues to me. His last email said he'd send them all by the end of Aug and each time it comes close to a proposed date, something or the other would come up. So, yeah since my email there's been no response. Sent him reminders and will prolly mail the correspondence to his address for my own sanity.

I have no sympathy for Zoliv. He's being a douche.
 

turkitage

ターク
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv

IncantatioN said:
I guess you're right on that one. I got an email from him a little over a week ago telling me, quote "Sorry for the late answer, I haven't been able to connect to Internet before. I have just given the skullknight statue to my friend, he should send it at the end of the week if he can. For the other statues, I'm sorry but I don't know when I will be able to send them since I can't manage to find enough money for the shipping. I hope I will be able to sell enough things. And another news, I have just lost my job because I have been ill (and so not working) for too much time.". I was in a good mood just before I got his email, enjoying the hurricane and it got squashed. I let him know that I removed his name, etc. as he requested but he wasn't holding up to his end of the bargain. Also told him that I needed concrete time~lines on when he would ship all statues to me. His last email said he'd send them all by the end of Aug and each time it comes close to a proposed date, something or the other would come up. So, yeah since my email there's been no response. Sent him reminders and will prolly mail the correspondence to his address for my own sanity.

This whole situation really sucks Incantation. I'm really sorry to hear all this and the struggles of trying to get what you paid for. I know he's been ill.. and lost his job which is no good. However, the excuse is... he has no money for shipping??? Really? I'm pretty sure the BUYER pays for shipping... so how could you not have money? Because he already spent your money on other things? I would request for money back instead of the statues and not deal with this anymore, even though they both seem fruitless. It's real irresponsible to spend the money he earned from selling you the statues to not have enough for shipping... that's the biggest BS I've heard in a while. Even if he did spend it all.. he needs to put an effort into actually saving to pay you back as he wouldn't even have the money in his other issues if it wasn't for him. It's BEEN SINCE JANUARY... that's a long time.. to not be able to afford "shipping" which is like... $50 or whatever.

Either way, really sorry you have to deal with this Incantation.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Thanks Turkitage, Derek and someone special. I'm lucky to have such a good support system, with good advice on the situation. I've learnt my lesson and I definitely wouldn't want anyone else to go through this.

I edited my original post and put his name + address information back. I'll leave it there till I either have all my money back or receive all my statues in the condition (mint) as agreed upon.

Yeah Turkitage, it sucks because all the shipping costs were paid for, plus I paid a hefty premium per statue by itself which was a dumb of me >_<'. In any case, I can't trust him now, I did a few weeks ago and took off his information per his request but he keeps stepping 1 place back whenever there's some progress. Giving me back my money isn't going to happen (I wish it could be done!) ... per his email on Aug 06 "I'm really sorry for the delay but because of the hospital I lost all my money. And for my first try to send you the statues, the problem is that the customs opened the box and said they were not toys so I had to get them and after I wasn't able to afford to pay a second shipping cost. So, we are going to do this way because I can't do in another way (I can't refund you) : a friend of mine will send at least the skullknight statue for me so you will be sure I will send the statues at the moment I have some money. I'm already doing everything I can to have the money to send the statues to you.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

You're right not to remove any of his information. He may have made a promise to deliver the goods this time, but he's failed to deliver on his promises in the past. The burden of proof is on HIM to prove he's not a fraud. And so far he hasn't succeeded in convincing anyone on that end.

His money situation should be of no consequence, and his details of it reek of typical con-artist style emotional manipulation. You paid for goods, he should deliver them or give a full refund. End of story.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

I'm really sorry to hear how this has been going down, Canty! Ever since you started this thread I've been hoping that it might be a legitimate problem on his end, but the more I hear the less credible it sounds. I really hope that you'll at least be able to receive the statues that you ordered.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Considering the amount you spent on this, i'd have no second thought about my actions, hop on a plane (maybe get a friend to come with me) and resolve this the old fashioned way.
I've had similar but quite not as drastic issues, and nothing like a tangible threat right from the start to get things moving.
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Yeah, just show up at his doorstep...

"WHERE'S MY STATUE?"

"Uhh my friend has it."

"Come on. We're going to your friend's"

"Uhh he's on vacation."

"Where's he vacationing?"

"Uhh... Egypt?"

"Okay, we're going to Egypt then."

"Uhhhhhhh..."

This whole situation has me sick to my stomach and I would love to see that nobody ever buys from this dick again.
 

Viral Harvest

Every Knee Bent Too Shall Break
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Skullknight.net forum field trip/angry mobbing, destination - France. Pitchforks and torches will be provided upon landing!

In all seriousness though, this is miserable and unfortunate that a simple exchange turned into complete scumbaggery. Ugh.
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Thanks Walt, Grail, NightC, Gob and Viral! The last few posts cracked me up on the train this morning :serpico:. I agree with everything everyone's said and it also helps me when I'm in doubt about how I should react to the seller or whether I'm justified in my request(s) or not.

Quick update - after his last email on Aug 28, I sent him 3 email reminders and he emailed me yesterday morning. I didn't know how to respond to it because he mentions a couple of things ... but I responded to him with a clear mind an hour ago. I'm posting the info here because of the ridiculous comments he makes towards the end of his email and a dumb accusation -

Olivier said -
I hope you are good.

Sorry for the late answer, I have only been able to connect to Internet now. I have some good news for YOU.

I have gathered enough money to send you a second package (with the one my friend should send this week (I don't know why he hasn't done it yet)). I will try to put in it the maximum statues I can. I haven't eaten for a week so I can do it but as I told you YOU are the first priority.

I will give you the tracking numbers as soon as they are sent.

I have checked your posts on the forum and you can say what is happening and that I am horrible but please don't lie about me... I have seen many things which are not true about the transactions and I don't understand why you are doing this. You are already the "victim" so why putting other things which are not true ??

I have just seen that you have put again my real name, residence address and mail address on the forum. Do as you want even if it's illegal... (also if you thought about the situation a little, if I was lying, regarding my situation, I would have sold the statues to someone else... But sure I'm the worst person in the world and I have been punished for it with all the things happening to me even if it started before...)

From now, I will only send mails when I can for giving you the tracking numbers and what are in the packages. I don't want to try to describe my situation since it is too tough to understand for other people and for being hated by people I even don't know... Thanks for that !

If you don't want to trust me don't trust me. I am in such a terrible situation that I don't care what you think now, the important is that I sent to you YOUR statues.

To comfort you, I will try to die in horrible pain just after I will have sent to you the last package so you will have your revenge. I may seem very strange to you but if you would have the life I have now, I don't now if you would be able to bear it...

Olivier

My response -
Hi Olivier,

I appreciate your reply and the effort you've mentioned (below) about shipping the statues. Do thank your friend from me for helping you out.

I look forward to your email with the tracking numbers, thanks for self-acknowledging that it is something you will do after you have shipped the statues. I would appreciate it if you would let me know which statues were shipped in that package/ those packages so I can keep a track of them at my end if I have to deal with customs.

With regard to putting your real name, address and email address on the topic - it was done because (i) it is not illegal to do so, and (ii) you did not hold up to your end of the bargain when you told me you would ship my statues by the end of Aug and in return I was to take off your information from the post. At the end of the month you wrote to me that you wouldn't be able to send it, which was a pattern I had seen before if you don't mind me saying so. Hence, I came to the conclusion that you did not honor your own agreement in your email to me.

Could you tell me exactly what is untrue about our transaction(s) and what I've lied about? Be specific in your response because from ALL the emails I have and ALL the correspondence we've shared I don't see ANYTHING that is incorrect/ false. If you respond saying you don't want to get into it for some reason, I will assume you just made a pointless accusation of me lying about what's transpired. This will not be the first time you've said something and backed out of it or lied to me later.

About the trust issue, even after everything happened (with you not responding to my emails for months end when you were responding to emails from a friend of mine and gave ME some excuse when I finally took some action) I trusted you enough to give you a month to ship out the statues if you recall. You replied around the end of the month to say you couldn't ship it because you were moving. I still gave you enough time to send it after that setback. You then responded in a later email indicating that you would send the statues by the end of the month. You asked me to take out your information, which I did promptly. At the end of the month you sent me your email saying you could not send it. I feel like I'm doing everything from my side and giving in to your untrustworthy emails or demands. I still have some hope that you will send the statues because if I didn't, I would have reported you to the authorities (you have the information where I was going to report it).

I don't understand where you're coming from in your last paragraph but this ordeal isn't about 'revenge'. I don't have the time for it and this isn't fun for me. This's about me paying you money for something you sold to me over the internet and while the money was sent to you, the goods were not sent to me and it's been over 7 months since I received the goods I paid for.

If you don't eat for a whole week, that's your prerogative. Don't confuse the situation. I've paid a premium for each statue inclusive of shipping. I've mentioned this before a few times and will say it again - if you cannot ship the statues to me, I welcome you to refund me all the moneys sent to you for the transaction.

Regards

What ticked me off was his blatant lie that I wasn't putting the truth out there. I don't think he remembers anything he puts on an email. The old me would feel sorry for him and give him more time or be less stern and there'd always be a conflict whether I should be stern or not. Reading everyone's feedback has surely helped change my mind, so I thank everyone again. I thought of Walter's n Turk's last posts and what someone said to me over PM as I was replying to him.

Hopefully the next update is with tracking numbers!
 
Re: RIPOFF ALERT for Zoliv/ Olivier Brion from France

Incantation,

I think your email to him was very good. I agree that he is "confusing the situation." He seems to be forgetting the fundamentals that led to this whole situation. I hope you find some closure with this soon.
 
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