Scammed by a fellow small business

Long time lurker, first time poster. I love all your work

Not sure where to start or where to post this but every few weeks I get mad about it all over again and today its just ruined my mood before the day even started. I need to get it out somewhere and just let it go. Before I start yes i have filed a claim with my bank with all proof, it was rejected.

I will type out a transcript of our last few communications at the end. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* to \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* is the transcript, skip it if you like. I can provide screenshots too.

Last year august I made multiple purchases from a 3d printing small biz who was in multiple WhatsApp craft groups with me and many other similar small biz owners, mistakenly thinking obviously they'd be trustworthy. And they were trustworthy, their own WhatsApp group showed their customers recieving and praising orders and interacting with other handmade artists too. I'm not sure what happened in my specific situation but I have a few theories, only one of which I'm ok with them admitting and I'll accept it was a mistake but they now kicked me out of their own group chat.

Worth noting, around the time we were discussing my orders they also got into it with a few others and they (this scam biz) were kicked out from those groups and a group they admin with 2 others also completely disbanded. Not sure what happened there but while finalising my orders we did discuss it in our own chat. This is also referenced in the transcript.

So. It was multiple orders made adding up to over 100s of pounds as they were boards, stands and keychains etc. for my own business. I sent the orders off with them (before they had a website set up, I know I know) I paid and we did interact throughout until November regarding the orders etc (as they did not have the filaments they needed at the time) and then I went travelling to see family where the WiFi was very spotty and not all messages were coming through/going out. So I thought no worries they would reach out to me when my items were ready and I'll see them when I'm back. They had only completed one item by the time I left and shown me and others in their group chat and I said publicly I loved it its perfect. Others also loved it and many of them were ordering the same for their small businesses at that time, most of which had already received and sent photos on the chat.

Keep in mind I had given them the name of my city so they could check postage but no where was my full address given.

I also gave them the option to send it to my relatives address as I was there for quite some time, I ONLY gave town name and postcode to check shipping for that too. But when they checked the postage costs we agreed it was too high so I said no send it to my home address and they said they will.

The dispute: It was January this year before I was back and I managed to load all my WhatsApp messages but saw they had not yet reached back out. So I messaged again and they tell me yes your orders has been posted and sent me 2 confirmations with a RANDOM name, let's say IRIS (close to both my name and the random recipient) and their ADDRESS (literally gave me all their personal info) they sent out to earlier that month and stated how I hadnt contacted them despite attempts to reach out with no response so theyve just shipped them out.

Uhhhh A. Thats not me???? It was a similar name but not my name, and my name is pretty unique

B. Those orders were for January and my orders are from August

C. Which address did you send it to???? Did you happen to send my items by mistake to this Iris person , which if so fine but at least admit the mistake and we can contact her! But noooo.

They said you went off the grid and we had tried to contact you, LIKE I was abroad I told you this AND now my messages have loaded I see there was NO attempt at messaging me we have the whole chat right here!!!!

I tried 3 more times to ask them to double check etc but Ive been ghosted. And then blocked. I'm just annoyed on normal days at this entire thing then randomly I get mad about it all over again like today

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

Here's a transcript of our last few messages: (I was annoyed so I even added my spelling mistakes 🤣 You can tell where I get heated up even more)

M (Me), Scam/Small Biz (SB)

SB: Have you read my message I know who you are

M: Yes but we agreed that was too expensive so we said (home city) postage once everything was done. Can i see the images of my items, so I can confirm if they actually are the ones we're talking about

SB: I know who you are

M: Because I had no idea my order was finished

SB: \*sends screenshots of first item that was completed\*

M: Thats one item out of all the ones I ordered. I love it remember? You shared on the group too.

SB: You asked me to prove you know who I am talking about yes I know who I am talking to (my name)

M: Yes i know. Im asking about the rest of my orders. (Here I dot tagged her in a previous message confirming other items)

SB: Do not dot me. All your orders were made and sent to your (relative's) property which I also confirmed to the bank when I was worried you went out of contact. I won’t tolerate rude. Messages with (.)

M: Im not rrying ti he rude, im scrolling back thriugh messages and tagging them. And ive had no notification of any packages coming to this address. The shipping was probably expensiv le so I can repay you for that if I find the items. There was no attempt at contact from your end either? I was waiting for you to let me know my order was completed

SB: I don’t need you to repay me because initially when u paid you paid to cover postal. You just disappeared of the face of the earth.

M: Yes for (my home city)

SB: I was removed from (other) group to and had no contact. With anyone

M: No I was waiting for your messafe. That was before we finalised and I paid postage. (I was wrong here it was after I had the dates confused)

SB: No that was after

M: Hun im seeing our messages after you were removed from the group, they come after my order (again, I'm wrong here)

SB: I was removed in September I have the screenshots of (other) chat. I’m not here to argue I’m also currently trying to feed my 1 year old

M: Me neither. Im tryin to think why the oackages didnt come through here of you did post them, as we get notified even if something has been returned. Yes and my orders were placed in August before that. Ok you know what

SB: Yes so it wasn’t finalise after I was removed . It was finalised before

M: I will have my brother check at the (home) address

SB: It went to (relative's) so you’ll be irreverently searching (relative's)

M: But ive had no notice of any package coming through here. I havent given you my full (relative's) address. Now that I search for it I havent given either (home) or (relative's) address. (Here I sent screenshot of out postage agreement for home city)

(Next day, 17th Jan)

M: Hi

M: Quick question, did the postal service accept (relatives city, postcode) as an address? I can check if my local post office has held it if so

(2nd Feb)

M: Hi, could you check if my items didn't happen to go to Iris please

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

No response from then so Im going to assume Ive been ghosted. I was blocked and kicked from their group but not this private chat between us, so I suppose I could try again but would I even say???

Anyway, thank you for letting me vent here. Typing this all out I dont feel any lighter than I did before but oh well. I want to laugh at all this now its been a few months but I cant its hundreds down the drain and I really really wanted those items.

Having breakfast now, if you got this far thank you I appreciate you reading it all.

Again love your work ❤️