Back in October of last year I was looking for a 1967 to 1972 Chevrolet truck for my son and I to work on.

I looked at several of them and came across a truck from member greyflannelsuit1. He had an extensive description of the vehicle, more than 16 pages in fact and posted 24 pictures.

The vehicle looked fantastic. The description listed the truck as a fantastic original vehicle with only 58,000 miles on it. It had factory A/C, auto transmission, power brakes and power steering. Seemed like the perfect truck for my son. It was priced on the high side and I felt it would be worth it considering it had "virtually no rust, non smoking, non slipping, clear glass, all window functions, new Dupont paint, 50% brakes, excellently maintained," on and on.

I contacted the member selling it. I asked him if he would accpet a Paypal payment for the vehicle. He did not respond immediately. In fact when he did respond he made me an offer to purchase the truck immediately with only a few hours remaining on the auction. I considered the option and accepted it not knowing it was against Ebay policy. BIG mistake!

I purchased the truck and he sent me the title. I drove to Oklahoma to pick the truck up and it was a mess. The master cylinder was empty, the truck made an aweful noise when I started it. I knocked on the business door it was parked at and no one answered. It smoked, the transmission slipped, and it repeatedly stalled. The mirror even broke when I tried to adjust it.

I spent the afternoon in a parking lot of a supply store and got it running decent. I found burned plugs and wires, leaking fuel hose, oil like mud, no rear brakes and no good way to fix them.

Once it was running good I made it about 80 miles down the road or so and the right front drum locked up. It was glowing red. Only 600 miles to go... A chunk of bondo fell out of a huge rust hole in the fender - Yeah I was mad.

Once I got it home I wrote a scathing letter to him about the gross misrepresentation of this vehicle. I did a little digging and found out this man was a lawyer, never owned the vehicle and cleverly worded the description that included many disclaimers. I felt betrayed and ripped off. I know I fell for it and here is what you should know if by chance you ever fall into this trap.

This lawyer turned out to have several user names. His other names are sdsinger, kia501, and I don't remember the other one. He "schilled" the price up and ended the auction with one of his alternate names.

I filed a complaint with the IFCC which refered it to the Oklahoma Attorney General's office. I then filed a grievance with the Oklahoma Bar Association. I then noticed he was auctioning off another vehicle with the same description almost word for word!

I contacted the winning bidder and found out that she went to retrieve the vehicle and found the same thing. She refused to take delivery of the vehicle. He kept her deposit and will not return it even though she drove from Illinois to purchase the truck. She put me in contact with two other people that also had similar transactions with this lawyer.

Turns out he has done many things wrong. Selling vehicles as a broker for estates and elderly people without a dealer's license, misrepresentation, conspiracy with prior knowledge, and signing trust documents for which he had no authorization.

One person that purchased a vehicle from him still has the vehicle and can not sell it. The lawyer was mad at him and will not send him the title. He is not even sure if the laywer ever had the title.

This lawyer was probed on a recent relisting of the truck that he kept the deposit on and he said that the lady wanted to take posession of the truck without paying for it in full. That was not true. He even made claims that a European buyer backed out of a deal on this truck when that actual buyer was from Texas.

Here is what I found out about the process. If you purchase a vehicle outside of Ebay they can not help you. If you dispute the charge on your credit card they can issue an order of replevin and repossess the vehicle. If you file a complaint with the consumer protection unit of the Oklahoma Attorney General's office you will be wasting your time. If you pursue the matter with Mr. Murdock's office with the Bar Association you will be dismissed. If you file a grievance with the Oklahoma Motor Vehicles they will not do anything about it. If you take the matter up with this member you will be threatened, lied to, and manipulated. The small claims process in Garfield County Oklahoma, which is the jurisdictional court for these matters regarding this member, know him well. He will be privledged to represent himself as a lawyer and you will have the right to representation but be prepared, the laywers in that community do not like going after another lawyer.

I know I messed up - DUH! but I also know this was a total set up. I could have lived with a few things but not over 20. I trusted a stranger and will not do that again. I recently purchased another 1968 truck and am exceptionally pleased with the transaction but avoided all of the potential issues that could have occured. Get a phone number. This lawyer is very phone shy. He is clever and took the time to set this up. He has the upper advantage even if you purchase the vehicle through an auction. He short lists them and doesn't give you much time to react. If you are out of state he will especially target you for an outside deal. BEWARE!