A few years ago,I placed an order for a batch of whistles form an United States maker.But he had only completed a small portion of the order.then he told me that He was unable to complete the reamining part because of his retirement and business failure.Several years have passed,every time I ask him to pay back the money,he always says he doesn’t have the money to repay me.He owes my about 2000$.Because I’m not an American citizen and I’m not in the USA either,it’s very diffcult for me to get him to pay back the money.
Contact the attorney general for the state where he lives and explain the situation. That will probably do the trick!
Pat
If you paid using a debit or credit card, I would also look into contacting your bank/credit card company and doing a chargeback. I’ve successfully used chargebacks to refund my money when a company has charged my debit card and not delivered what was promised. As long as you have a good credit score and only do this once in a blue moon, most banks (at least in the US) won’t question it and will just reverse the transaction for you (provided that you give them a good explanation of what happened). Since you seem to have solid proof that you were defrauded, you shouldn’t have a problem.
But I’m not sure how banks/credit card companies outside the US handle this, and I’m also not sure if the timeline would be a problem, since the transaction is so old…so call your bank/credit card company’s customer service and ask them about it.
Credit card companies rarely reverse charges on bespoke (made to order) purchases.
Thank you all.I make the payment by bank transfer.So it’s very difficult for me to force him to repay the money.And I’m not a citizen of USA.This is a bit difficult for me.He told me that he still owed money to others.So I have to wait.But I have been waiting for three years already.Especially when I saw that a few months ago he said on facebook that he had purchased a keyboard prices at one thousand dollars on installment.So I doubt his promise.
I purchased many whistles and flutes form other makers,but this time I encountered such a bad situation that I have never experienced before.
Even if no product was delivered? I’m pretty sure my bank would do a debit card chargeback in that situation. But I may be wrong. And maybe credit card companies are less likely to do chargebacks.
Anyway, that’s out of the question for Qiufan Zhu, so it looks like the best option is contacting the state AG. And if that doesn’t work, I guess the only option is contacting a lawyer in the US who specializes in small claims.
The problem I’d foresee in seeking legal advice is the potential cost/benefit ratio. I don’t know how much trouble it would be to secure a small claims attorney in the U.S., but unless the process is pretty easy it will run to some money. Lawyers can be costly, even for small stuff. This is assuming that you could even find one who would take it on for such a small sum (2K).
I know that credit card companies will intervene (as has already been mentioned), but I’d be curious to know what the bank would say if payment was issued via bank transfer. Can they do something similar to what is possible with credit cards?
I’ve know a few makers who have gotten themselves into hot water by taking advance payment on custom flutes. I understand why they might take some money if there is a large custom order, especially if it is unusual. But my own view is that accepting payment in advance of having the order complete and ready to ship is just asking for trouble of this kind (and I’m mostly referring to trouble for the poor customer).
A lot will depend on the legal framework. In England & Wales you’d get the money back if you used a credit card, because the law makes the credit card issuer jointly liable with the supplier. If the supplier defaults, the card company pays, but it only works like that because of specific legislation that might not exist elsewhere.
It wouldn’t apply anyway if the money was paid by bank transfer, as that method bypasses all consumer safeguards. A case could be brought at the small claims court; it doesn’t need legal expertise, but only has a realistic chance of success if the defendant has enough money to pay or assets that a bailiff could seize. If they don’t, they’d just gain an outstanding court judgement.
The US will have different laws and the buyer would need to find out what they are. It’s possible there’s a small claims process that can be accessed from outside the country and isn’t particularly expensive, but even so, it’s likely to be time consuming enough that they’d want to be sure a successful outcome is possible. If the supplier’s been made bankrupt it’s unfortunately not worth the trouble.
Yes,even if the debt can be recovered,it will cost a lot.
In 2021,I had just entered this music world not long ago,There had never been any problem in previous communications with other makers.This person has his own website and he was active on the forum.Some members have traded with him before.This sum of money is not a large amount for Amercian.All of this makers me feel that there is no need to worry about any problems arising.Another reason is that multiple transfers are very troublesome.
Of course,now I won’'t make such mistakes any more.It is very disappointing that his promise has never been fulfilled.Instead,he complained that I didn’t take into account his situation.very irritable reply.As time goes on ,I think he has become numb.
I have a Bb flute made by you.This flute I changed from a forum member.It works very good 
The other problem is then collecting that money, even if it’s awarded to you-- which must be even more difficult if one is not even in the same country.
…I’m not sure what type of Americans you know, but most people I know in the U.S. would not think $2000 is a small amount of money.
Wondering who this might be. Private message would clear this up. Lack of identification is suspicious.
This is such a strange way, on several levels, to revive a months old thread from oblivion.