SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A buyer-beware ad posted by a Yellowknife man last month may have helped one woman get her money back after she paid $200 cash for a washing machine that was never delivered.

After more than two months of waiting for the delivery of a used washing machine she paid cash for, June Seagrave contacted the RCMP and the seller finally coughed up the money. - Alyssa Smith/NNSL photo

June Seagrave said before shelling out the cash for the appliance she had seen advertised on a trade website, she went to inspect the washer with a friend who had purchased a treadmill from the same individual with no issue.

"I was satisfied with it (the washing machine)," she said. "So I paid him the $200 cash and he wrote me up a receipt and said he would deliver it the next day."

Seagrave said the next day came and went with no delivery, and when she finally contacted the seller, she was told the individual she was looking for had fallen seriously ill and had been medevaced to Alberta.

After two months of calls and promises of a refund that never came, Seagrave came across Greg Vallis' classified ad telling of a similar experience he had with a faulty fridge.

Seagrave said she suspected she was going to get burned and when she saw Vallis' warning, it confirmed her suspicions.

She said when she next spoke with someone who claimed to work for the same company as the seller, she confronted him, despite his threats of legal action.

"I was going to lose out, so I told him to go ahead and take me to court," she said.

Seagrave's next call was to the RCMP who took her information and told her they would get back to her.

"I figured yes, when hell freezes over," she said.

Seagrave said she was contacted by RCMP less than an hour later.

"He (the police officer) said they had spoken with the seller, who had apparently never been ill, and that there would a bank draft for $200 waiting for me at the detachment on Monday morning," she said.

Three days later, Seagrave collected her cheque.

Police took action on Seagrave's behalf, because she never received the item she paid for, which according to RCMP Const. Jarret MacDonald, is theft.

"It's the same as if you bought something at Sears and they never shipped it to you," he said, adding charges were not laid in this case because the $200 was returned.

He said in Vallis' case when he actually received the fridge, nothing criminal happened.

Vallis said he's just glad he helped spread the message about potential fraud.

"The biggest thing to me is that this gets out there," he said. "I hope nobody else is buying crap from this guy."

He said Seagrave isn't the only one who noticed his story.

Vallis said a woman who works as a legal assistant has started a civil suit against the same seller. She contacted him and is now helping to prepare his own case.

"It turned out to be a bigger deal than I thought," he said. "I never thought it would get this big."

"He's preying off the people who can't afford to lose this money," Vallis said. "It really is truly disgusting to me."

He said he's been watching for classifieds on the trade site for advertisements that look fishy, but said he hasn't seen any lately.

Vallis added he's since spoken with the manager of the site, who assured Vallis he is going through every appliance advertisement individually to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to someone else.

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