[shifty]

I am not ashamed to show any of this. Here are the three "hate" emails I sent to him, UNEDITED. This is after he messaged me here and via email telling me "the money was missing" when he got home.

This messages in (blue) are the ones he sent me - read it, and you'll know WHY it looks as if I'm pretty pissed in my emails (in black) you'll find in chronological order.

No money found. Money was not on table when I returned. I made
excuses for the money being gone because I was upset I thought maybe
it was misplaced. Scott re-affirmed with me today that it was not
there. Here again I trusted you again. I have made every excuse for
you because I could not believe you took the money. I was giving that
money to the 2 guys who worked so hard for you.

One way or another we pay for our misgivings. I am really disappointed.

After reading that, yes...I was pissed. You called me a liar and a theif, plain and simple. NOT TO MENTION the fact that you are STILL saying that your "body" and "welder" guys did the work "for me", yet I told you NOT to do that work!


Email #1 from me:

Ok, let me get this straight -

You are effectively calling me a liar right now, sir, and that is complete
and utter BS, so I'm going to lay it all out there for you.

We agree on one thing - you have a thief around your house, but with God as
my witness, that thief sure as hell is not me. Some day I hope you find out
where that money went, just so you end up feeling like the biggest asshole
in the world over this matter - Meanwhile, I think you know where you can
stick your accusations.

Think about it - Why the hell would I bother calling you back to update you
that I was leaving? If I were stealing the money from you, why in the HELL
would I bother to spend my time cleaning up the shop? None of this makes
sense, and I can't believe you can't see it. Believe me - and I want you to
think about this long and hard - if I wanted to screw around and do some
damage in your shop or take something of value, money or otherwise, there
were enough tools and supplies in your shop, and enough cars to damage that
I could have done a lot worse than $175 worth, and you probably would have
never known it. I'll get over $175 lost out of my pocket - even if it's
your fault you paid for the work, even after I told you NOT to do it TWICE.

You know, I hadn't wanted to take this any farther, but how about we post on
the truck forum and give everyone a view of what happened and have them
comment - I've done hundreds of transactions with other folks on that forum,
all of which were good - those people who know my reputation in-person, many
are people I've been dealing with for years - and you ask THEM about me and
how honest I am?

Bottom line: I left that money sitting on the table for you, exactly where
you weighted it down with that motor mount. I did not so much as TOUCH
anything that was on that table except to put down the tools, because I was
brought up right - to put things in back in their place when I was done with
them - regardless of whether the person who owned them is an asshole. No
matter how this deal went, I resent that you are accusing me of stealing
from you. I'll have you know that I am $500 out at this point - the $175 I
left you plus the $325 that I paid in gas to come down there. Unlike you
(per your own admission), I don't have excessive amounts of money to throw
away at projects. Every dime I have counts, and that measly $175 hurts more
than you will probably ever know.

And for the record - if we're going to "own up" here and be totally open
with our "accusation tossing" as you've done with me:

** You would be out zero dollars right now if you would have listened to me
when I told you TWICE not to patch up the notch. You said you wanted me to
"own up to my responsibilities?" Did I put a gun to your head and ask you
to weld that patch in? No, quite the opposite - now, own up to your
responsibility, OK? You're lucky I gave you $175, because I am a stand-up
guy, and I want to do what is "right" to lead to a conflict-free situation.
Just because you're older than I am doesn't mean you're exempt from the
rules - I don't play the "do as I say, not as I do" game. You did the task,
now eat the loss (and be happy it's $175 less than it could be)

** Your frame has been in a front-end collision (I measured diagonals on it
after you left, it's out of whack by well over an inch). There is a 1"
crack on the lower framerail, passenger side, 4"-8" behind the front
crossmember which is painted (powdercoated?) over. There is a half-ass
patch on the front passenger side framehorn, probably the source of the
previous collision. There is excessive ripping on the lower inner framerail
in the upward arch, probably where the frame was pulled straight. The patch
your "welding guy" put in looks like a hack job, and it looks like the
inside of the patch was slathered in bondo before being repainted. There is
also dead hardware, like the star washer, bolt and nut that you'll find on
the front framehorn, just in front of where you notched it - this looks
tacky. These are all the reasons that led me to decide that my safety, my
wife's safety, my family's safety is not worth giving you my flawless frame
for your hackjob of a frame.

** Steering is a crucial part of a properly functioning vehicle. "Shimming"
an idler arm with several washers is not only dangerous, it's completely
stupid. For you to even suggest I'm that big of an idiot is insulting, at
best.

I don't want to start **** with you. I don't want this to go any farther,
actually, but I also will not sit here and tolerate you slandering my
character and making false accusations against me. I am not a thief, and I
resent you saying so. I don't know why in the **** you insist on harassing
me and saying I stole that money, but ... if that's what you want to
believe...more power to you. You'll know the truth when you meet the man
upstairs.

Anyway, you need to own up to your own mistakes here, bud, and stop picking
on us "young guys". You also need to look long and hard around you -
because if you're not screwing with me right now ... someone very close to
you IS.

Good day,

Your response:

Jason, alright man, I believe u. I guess you wouldn't be so upset.
Forum? I don't know anyone on the forum and I am sure they don't allow
slander. My comments were directed to u which was only an opinion on
this mystery. I can only tell u my attempt to sell u the frame was
good hearted and true. I was doing my best to do a fellow member on
the forum right. All this other stuff has been a consequence of our
emotions and we BOTH own it.

Email #2 from me:

Mark,

We do both own it, and yes, I am pissed. I don't like people calling me a
liar, I am a stand-up guy. Call it "circumstance", but truly - I am getting
the proverbial "**** end of the stick" here.

I'm out 16 hours of my life.
I'm out the $130 I had to pay to buy a hitch for the truck I borrowed.
I'm out the $175 I left for you to "make this right", even though this
expense was covering work I asked you TWICE not to do.
I'm out the $325 I spent in gas money to get down there and back.
Finally, I'm out the chunk of pride, trust and self respect I've lost over
this deal.

I've chalked this up to a $630 lesson learned. I'm just pissed because I
could have spent that $630 on a full bag and notch setup from SuicideDoors,
and ... my project now gets put on hold over a "misunderstanding", which I'm
still being harassed about.

Call it what you want. I know what I did and didn't do here - I did leave
you the money. I did not feel what you proposed with the frame was safe. I
do feel slighted, and I also feel like I've made my peace.

I'm good with the man upstairs over this one. I hope you are, too.

And finally, I assume the third email you're talking about is in reference to a PM - you sent me a message saying, "guess this was not meant to be my day. money was not on the table were i left it." and i responded with:

Mark, I'll tell you something:

I am not screwing around with you, but I certainly think someone is.

With God as my witness, when I left, that money was on the table, plain and simple. Who all was at the house when I left? There was a water van there, the same one the guy, woman and kid got out of. You say your brother was home, as well? Was anyone else home? How about getting all of those people to swear on a Bible that they didn't take it and see what happens? If the thought of going to hell doesn't entice someone there to come clean, then I don't know what will.

Seriously - If I would have known the money was going to wind up "magically disappearing", I would have kept it myself. Lord knows I'm already out $325 as it is, so bumping that number up to a nice, round $500 and me with empty hands is far from the easiest thing to do. I can't explain to you just what a ***** it was for me to swallow my pride and make the choice I made to be a "stand up guy" and pay you for the time involved with you doing that extra work, even if I expressly asked you not to.

The money was there. Please let me know what comes up. I don't think it's really feasible that a neighbor came and took it, but I don't know your area or what to expect, nor do I know who else stopped by in between. I just did what you said - left it on the table.

I'm really sorry things didn't work out, but, in my case, that money turning up missing just adds insult to injury (for me), and I can imagine it's leaving you hotter than a pig in a dutch oven. I can't be Columbo for you and investigate the matter - and I'm sorry to say, I am not going to pay you twice.

Please dig deeper, the money was absolutely there when I left.

You then sent another message later telling me "my maintenance man stopped by when no one was there and for some reason put the money in my key safe out in the garage. he said because i had left the garage doors open he thought it should be put away. i have a habit of leaving money out. thought you would want to know."

And I responded with:

Thank you. I am a stand-up guy and I do not steal from people, so I am glad it turned up.

I still honestly DO NOT think you should have gotten the money, since it is YOUR fault that you put that notch in - I asked you twice not to weld it back, and we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't done that (I'd still be out $325, but w/o any hard feelings).

I hope you truly understand that your loss in this case was your fault because of decisions you made and actions you personally took, and, seriously, I'm out way more money than you ever will be over this "transaction".

You know, the more I think about it, the more of a shmuck I feel like. Someone said it best when I was talking to them earlier: "Nobody should ever be obligated to finish a business transaction without a signed contract and without actually seeing the product first and putting your hands on it - pictures don't do anything justice".

I'll let you mill over that one. Meanwhile, it's not my place to request this, but, hey - please don't jump to conclusions in the future. Just because you don't know someone doesn't mean they're out to get you and totally dick you over.

I never walked into this with any ill intent towards you, and I feel like I've taken the **** end of the stick at every turn.

I still apologize for flying off the handle - but try putting yourself in a position of being called a theif and a liar after handing someone money for ... nothing ... and imagine how you'd feel.

Thanks for letting me check out your shop, share some time wrenching, and test-fit things to see if your frame was suited to my needs. It is unfortunate that it was not.

Now ... let any man here argue that I was being "irrational" in any of the above correspondence with you. I might have went off on a tangent here or there, but I was well-worded, polite, and MOST importantly, I WAS TELLING THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TIME.

I just want to reiterate one thing:

I made the deal. The deal was for a NOTCHED frame with the DropMember FRONT NOTCH STILL IN PLACE. You did not produce this frame for me. In fact, I told you not to patch it twice, but you still patched it. Then you made me pay for half the work before I left your property.

Everyone above is right - you should refund the money, because YOU also did not keep to the deal we had agreed upon, yet you felt it was necessary to make me pay for your mistake?

Not fair.

If you want my Paypal info, I'm happy to oblige in you offering a refund and put this to rest - the more I think about this, the more I realize you effectively robbed me, put me to blame for everything, and are not accepting the responsibility for your actions, which is not the mature thing to do.

You accused me of being a liar and stealing "your" money? Who is the real theif here?