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Possible scam or just bad business
Hello Prevost Community, I recently had a terrible experience with a purported ‘seller’ and prevost community member known as Prevostnoob or Ralph Duarte. I’m sharing my experience and the details about the coach here in case others find the listing or seller. I discovered this specific Prevost for sale on eBay and it fit many of the options I had been searching for. We recently sold our 98 H3-45 last year in search for our next Prevost. The seller didn’t have a reserve price posted and after following it for a few days, I decided to ask the seller, Ralph Duarte, what his reserve was and if we could connect directly. On February 13th, we spoke directly and agreed on a suitable price. I then sent him a deposit, and he removed his listing from eBay. We continued to speak for the next couple of days about the coach’s great qualities and what issues needed fixing. Duarte presented an advanced knowledge of mechanics especially this coach in general, he continually guaranteed me that he was ‘a man of his word’ and that the coach was mine – he even said I should start planning my trip out to Florida in the next couple of weeks.Based on Duarte’s information and direction, I purchased parts to complete the necessary repairs in order to safely bring the coach on a cross country journey home. As I wouldn’t be able to personally fly the parts with me, he told me to order all of the parts and have them shipped to his house and he would help me with the install. I purchased the parts, and at the same time he told me he was about to go on a week-long vacation. I was not suspicious at all. I spent approximately $9200 on parts and my family arranged two weeks off from work and school to fly to Florida and drive the coach home to the west coast.After Duarte informed me that he was departing on his brief vacation, his communications came to a halt. Days later he said he would be back in touch when he returned. After many further communications without his initial level of response, he finally sent me a TEXT (note we had spoken quite a lot ahead of the deposit and in the initial days). In his text, he said he decided not to sell the coach. I explained to Duarte facts that he already knew: on top of my deposit, I had already purchased $9200 in parts, booked flights for myself and my family to Florida, and arranged for our family to have two weeks off from work and school.While I can’t be certain this is a scam, I don’t believe another Prevost owner would operate in this manner. The Prevost community has continually impressed me, and as such, I am sharing my story and the information about the seller in the hopes that no one else falls prey. I trusted Duarte’s highly rated eBay account as well as a link he had provided me to previous pictures he claimed to have posted on the Prevost community website.I did communicate my great disappointment to Duarte, and I reminded him again of the time and money I had already vested into the coach. It has now been two weeks and he still has not responded to my last communication, nor has he made ANY attempt to refund my deposit.If anyone has information about this seller or this coach, I would greatly appreciate any insight that can be shared. I am attaching photos of the coach and his Prevost community screen name. My Email Is Ben@310Listing.comHere is the Ebay Ad. User name Duarterafael23And many more photos and video’s -
17 Replies
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Ben,
I am very sorry to hear of this experience. Jessica and I try very hard to verify what is posted here in the forums. My initial thought was to possibly delete this post as we cannot verify all of the facts. With that being said I appreciate the professionalism and the time that you spent to worn others. We will leave the post stand as is, at this point.
Mr. Duarte if you would like to respond here or to me directly, I welcome you to do so.
You are correct Ben. I have been involved in premium coaches for over 10 years and I can honestly say that I have not heard a story to this level. We are very fortunate that a very high percentage of Prevost businesses and enthusiasts seem to be some of the best people that I have met. Just over the last 2 weekends Jessica and I have met many and spent time with many old friends and I can say that we thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with all.
May I ask for the city that this coach is supposedly located? Please do not give the full address.
Please keep taking a look in our classified section. Listings have been changing almost daily. We have tried hard over the last several months to improve this area of the site. The results have been very promising and the amount of listing and sales are up substantially. If we can assist you at all with making a direct contact with a seller, please do not hesitate to ask.
Again sorry for this very rare experience in our industry. I hope that maybe you will reach some type of satisfactory resolution.
Bill III
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I realize this closing the barn door after the horses got out, but not a penny should ever change hands until the coach is inspected. There are endless scams now because of the internet and it has been reported on PC that photos of the same coach have been posted on multiple sites by people representing themselves as owners, when in fact they are not.
I hope this works out for you, but I think you need to get the police involved, sooner rather than later. I am not optimistic.
As a side note when I was verifying potential members I rejected as many applicants to PC as those I provided with passwords. It was incredible how many applicants had URLs from countries known to have a high incidence of scams, like China or Eastern Europe, and how many domestic URLs had addresses that were in the middle of a forest in Oregon (thanks to Google Earth for their satellite views). As a result of seeing so many phony PC applicants I no longer trust anyone unless I can verify them.
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I just looked at the eBay listing. I guess the seller is in Miami. I am in Sarasota, but I have not dealt with Mr. Duarte personally. Strange that he has done as much business as he has on eBay with a lot of positive feedback.
I did a lot of business both buying and selling cars on eBay in the very beginning. I have not done any in the last 10 years or so for this very reason. It is my suggestion to anyone making a significant purchase on eBay that someone that you trust looks at it in person prior to any money exchanging hands. In my opinion if the seller is not willing to work with a perspective buyer in this way than they are probably hiding something. This forum is a great resource to find possible help all over North America. Best case you can find someone that is just willing to help. Worst case I also have a lot of contacts that would be able to give a qualified professional inspection for a minimal cost.
Be careful out there.
Bill III
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Thanks Jon, agreed. Yes we do still research all new members.
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Funny how you all only take one side of the story and run with it. Mr.Ben was supposed to send a non refundable deposit of 1k which he claimed he did via zelle that never came in or cleared and the. After calling my bank it was never sent. Then he sent it via PayPal which was held and never released. But I don’t have to come here and cry about it to everyone. Ben is just upset that I canceled the transaction/sale and is crying out to you all. I never received a cent from Ben nor took a cent from him. I wish Ben would be local to me so we could have a conversation how men do. I’m not going to entertain this any further anyone that knows me knows who I am and I have giving away equipment to members on this site that is worth thousands of dollars. I don’t need money nor need to take anyones money.
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Mr. Duarte,
You are incorrect in stating that I chose sides. I left the thread open in an attempt to help “all” involved. I would like to see nothing more than for the two of you to work this out directly.
Bill III
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You have the deposit which I have not received a penny back. Here is a picture from Paypal showing deposit. We don’t have to be local to talk like men do.
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You knew very well I was purchasing all the parts and getting ready to fly down there. Here’s my last text to Mr. Duarte
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I appreciate you leaving the thread open. I do not want this to happen to anyone else. Hopefully I receive my deposit back and possibly recoup some of my losses.
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If what you say is true about never receiving a deposit then why are you mentioning it in our texts. I would like my refund!!
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This is no longer about the coach. You just can’t do this to people and I hope you don’t do it to anyone else.
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I hope you and Ralf sort it out, you have made this post on the POG Forum and both Prevost Community and POG Facebook and being viewed by hundreds if not thousands of people.
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Through people that did take the time and reached out personally today regarding this issue I appreciate it. I also appreciate that the members of PC that did not take this so called ball and run with it. As a co-owner of PC I would like to state that it will not be our position to take a side on matters like these.
With that being said I will always encourage open and HONEST discussions regarding a service, products or a transaction. In a certain sense I believe that is our foundation here at Prevost Community. I will always reserve the right though, to intervene if the situation warrants that action.
To our nearly 5500 members you will find help in almost any Prevost or even Coach situation, if you ask. Please do not hesitate to ask if you need it. I am not saying this was the situation with this specific case. What I am saying is use all the resources available to you before making a decision that you may regret. With so many new people coming this way nearly everyday, mistakes are bound to happen.
I truly hope that myself and the members Prevost Community can be here to prevent a majority of them:)
Bill III
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I guess this is something that needs repeating.
PC members are not only plentiful, but they are in almost every corner of our country and often willing to help others. When a coach is listed for sale, and it is located some distance from the buyer it is not unusual for a buyer to make a post or email another member who lives near the coach to make a preliminary inspection of the coach for sale.
That is rarely a pre-purchase inspection, but it is often a very helpful part of the process of acquiring a coach. I know a number of these look-sees have been done over the years and have proven to be very helpful. I have done these preliminary looks as have others, and they tend to verify the coach exists, if it is in the condition represented by the seller, and if there are any gross misrepresentations.
All potential buyers should take advantage of this opportunity when looking to buy.
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Jon, I don’t think there is question as to whether not the Coach exists or what shape it is in, there is 2 years of posts fixing it up. I think the issue in this transaction went bad when the seller decided not to sell after entering an agreement with the Buyer.
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