Such a pleasant surprise at my mailbox this afternoon: A padded envelope with a Pevely, MO, return address, containing the 12 dvds that comprise the Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish video instructional series (52-half hour shows produced by by WGBH in Boston). There was no name in the return address and nothing inside the envelope other than the dvds, in paper sleeves. Still, I’m pretty sure the package comes from the only person I know who purports to have a Pevely address: Derek Daniel Buckner, the subject of our November 12th post, “should we e-shame Derek Buckner (the cyber-peddler not the City-painter)?.”
Our earlier post describes in detail “my highly unsatisfactory consumer interaction” with Mr. Buckner (not the Brooklyn painter with the same name), who was a very responsive correspondent before I sent my check, but who had failed to send Destinos, a month after that check had cleared. His last “communication” was a Yahoo Auto Response claiming that he could not access his email in-box but had shipped all items to his DB Liquidations customers as of October 25, 2007.
Because the metered postage label on the package that I received today has the date “Nov 14, 07,” and Derek hasn’t sent any explanation for the delay or timing, it looks like it was our “e-shaming” of him that nudged Mr. Buckner to fulfill his obligations as a Cyber-Seller. So, I’m quite happy that I took the time to memorialize our transaction, and that the post achieved such robust search engine presence. [Today, it’s the 7th result in the Google search /”Derek Buckner”/ (despite the many links featuring the popular painter), and the first result for the query /“Derek Buckner” Missouri/.]
e-shaming can work (at least, when you have a well-linked weblog): I probably would have never received the purchased product or a refund of my money from Derek, had I not brought our situation to the internet. He had apparently lied about his bank holding my check for ten days, and then about shipping the item by October 25th and getting back in touch after establishing a new email account, so there’s little reason to think he was suddenly going to act in good faith and send the Destinos discs.
The Abuse Department at craigslist wrote back a few days ago, saying that they would not be able to do anything for me, and “this may be a matter for law enforcement.” They suggested that I might try “consumer mediation services available in your area” (with someone several states away who I had no way to contact and no reason to trust!) and that I file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (not noticing that I had attached the complaint I had already filed with IC3 and mentioned it prominently in my e-mail complaint to craigslist — nor that their reply to me had that same IC3 complaint attached to it.). On the law enforcement front, the St. Louis County Police internet fraud officer called this morning, saying they wouldn’t take any action over a $60 dispute (unless they get more complaints about the same seller). So, it looks like a little cyber self-help was apparently my best bet, and it worked this time.
Nonetheless, I am sensitive to the issues raised by law professor Daniel J. Solove in The Future of Reputation (which f/k/a reviewed on Nov. 8, 2007), about permanently shaming a person on the internet. Therefore, I need to decide what to do with my original posting about Derek Buckner. Naturally, I will place an update blurb in the post tonight, saying that I have now received the merchandise. But, should I expunge it, or otherwise help give Derek a chance to rehabilitate his reputation?
For many reasons, I’ve concluded that I should not remove the earlier post (or details identifying Derek Buckner of Missouri) — at this time. Here’s why:
- as indicated in the earlier post, this does not appear to be the first time Derek Buckner, d/b/a “DB liquidations” or “wrestling_king”, has given buyers unsatisfactory service of this nature;
- Derek was willing to mistreat me as a customer, despite my first telling him (truthfully) that I was on disability and a very limited budget, and was therefore very pleased to find his low price for Destinos; and, even after I informed him that I’m a retired lawyer, but active consumer advocate, with a weblog, who expected fair treatment. That information merely got the dubious stalling response that his bank was holding my check for ten days. So, I finally got a bit more specific, telling Derei:
Unless you give me a very good reason not to do so, I will begin tomorrow to send alerts to Craigslist and other online vendors about doing business with you, and contact US Postal authorities (mail fraud is serious business), and local law enforcement in Missouri.
I will also be posting at my weblog about the risk of doing business with you. My website has about 2500 visits a day and is the #1 Google result for many of the topics discussed there.
That message basically made Derek go into hiding, and garnered the Yahoo Auto Response saying that his email In Box was broken, but he had shipped all orders.
after biting the horse
the horsefly hides out…
lotus blossoms………………………… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
- Clearly, Derek Buckner, who calls himself “midwestpokerplayer” at his MySpace.com webpage, was gambling that I would not do anything over losing a mere $60.00.
- Standing alone, then, Derek’s decision to mail me the merchandise — two days after I wrote about him here at f/k/a and received healthy search engine results — with no explanation and no way to reach him, is not much of a guarantee that Mr. Buckner has resolved to be an honest Seller in all transactions from this point forward.
For the sake of others who might be considering a purchase from cyber-peddler Derek Daniel Buckner — especially doing so directly, without an organization offering recourse –I believe the message in our Nov. 12th post needs to stay online, where it will be easy to find using Google or Yahoo or other search engines. It will be informative for other consumers, who mostly do not have the leverage of a weblog with relatively good visibility to encourage Derek to be on his best behavior.
Sunset Clause: Nonetheless, Dan Solove is correct: forever is a very long time. So, I’d be willing to sunset my e-shame post about Derek in two years, if he contacts me requesting that I remove the identifying information in the post (which also has useful lessons and links for consumers). At that time, if my research shows no continuing misbehavior by him as a seller online, I will sunset the e-shaming aspects of the post.
selling morning-glories
wet with morning dew…
a tough character
waiting and waiting
for sunset…
the willow tree
rain from the eaves
drip-drip…
a late sunset
……………………………. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
special delivery –
a smile from
the pregnant mailman………………………………. by dagosan
Derek:
Thanks very much for this posting & I believe you are doing the right thing in leaving the original posting up. Two years, with a request to remove by the original perpetrator, is generous and, I believe, correct. Think of all of us who have been scammed by him and others like him via the internet.
And Issa, Issa, Issa … speaking directly to the issue so many years ago! Don
Comment by Don — November 17, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
Imagine my surprise when a Google search for Derek Buckner turned up your web page on internet e-shaming. Mr Buckner also failed to send me the DVD collection for French in Action even though I had sent him a check for $60.00 on Oct 16, 2007. I am in the process of gathering information about him on the internet before filing complaints with the State of Missouri, the FTC and with Craiglist as you had done. I can only hope that additional information will either encourage Mr Buckner to engage in responsible behavior or help the authorities have enough information to take appropriate action.
Comment by GaryPayne — November 21, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
Thank you for your comments, Don and Gary. I hope responsible “shaming” will be good for consumers and fair to sellers.
Comment by David Giacalone — November 21, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
David,
Could you respond directly to my email address so I can touch base with you on this directly?
Thanks
Comment by GaryPayne — November 22, 2007 @ 11:39 am
David,
As you recall, my dealings with Derek Buckner were essentially the same as yours in that I did not receive the merchandise that I purchased. In my case it was a set of DVDs to study French while yours was for Spanish.
I filed the IC3 complaint and the FTC forms and copied those materials to Craiglist. I am in email communication with the Jefferson County law enforcement folks who requested a copy of the cancelled check.
At this point we will await any further law enforcement activity.
On the whole this has been an instructive experience. Understanding the damage that can be done with inaccurate information, I see value in a public posting of antisocial behaviors that happen on the internet. Had I not run across your reference to Mr. Buckner, I would have had less evidence to present when dealing with the authorities and would have felt like an isolated event rather than an actor within a pattern. I do hope you keep the information on your web page and I will do what I can to keep Mr. Buckner’s reputation in the public eye
Thank you again for your help.
Comment by GaryPayne — November 30, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
I am having the same situation with the infamous Mr. Buckner. I ordered a 12 dvd series of French in Action (also for $60.00) from him in October. I still have not received the dvd’s even though my check cleared weeks ago and he finally responded to my numerous e-mails two wks ago to say the dvd’s had been sent. How do I contact the St. Louis internet fraud dept??
Comment by Royln Hiatt — December 5, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Thanks for the information Royln. I don’t have the phone numbers for the St. Louis County police with me, but a quick Google search will bring you to the department’s site and contact numbers.
Comment by David Giacalone — December 5, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
Rolyn,
My contacts are currently with Detective Bergner at 636-797-5515. He can be emailed at sbergner155@yahoo.com. I did file the IC3 complaint but I needed to send the information directly to Detective Bergner.
Good luck. Mr. Buckner is aware of this site and corresponded with me last week to promise to send the refund. His email address is “derekbuckner79 AT gmail.com”. My response was
“At this point, I will believe you when I see the check.”
I have not seen any behavior in support of the promise and his check should have been here two days ago.
a robber
sensing pursuit
appears like a friend
Comment by GaryPayne — December 7, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Thanks for your continued efforts and the useful information, Gary. And, for the senryu poem. [I spelled out the email address you left in your Comment for Derek, because no one deserves to get all the spam that a live email address online will attract, especially when he or she did not themselves put up the address.]
Comment by David Giacalone — December 7, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
I sent a comment a few days ago regarding my French in Action dvd order from Derek Buckner. At that time I hadn’t received them and was beginning to think I’d been scammed. Happily, the dvd’s arrived today. I had mentioned your website info in an e-mail to him and that may have helped.
Thanks.
Comment by Royln Hiatt — December 7, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
All,
Today, I received a certified check for $60.00 from Mr. Buckner. I do not know how much to attribute to the web posting, Mr. Buckner’s own responsibility and how much to my persistence and followup with law enforcement but the combination has a happy ending. In this instance, the internet community was able to manage this discontinuity.
As Sergeant Preston would say to his dog, “Well King, I guess this case is closed.”
Comment by GaryPayne — December 7, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
I’m currently fighting with Derek for some DVD’s that I paid for. I’m currently out only $35, but I can only imagine how many people have done this to him!!
Comment by Jessica — January 23, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
Anyone with any information can contact Sgt. Long at the Pevely Police Department. Their website is:
http://cityofpevely.org/Police/police.html
Comment by Jessica — January 24, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
I WAS NOT SURE IF I SHOULD SUBMIT A COMMENT OR NOT BUT I HAVE A DAUGHTER WITH DEREK BUCKNER AND WAS UPSET TO THIS SITE AFTER MY DAUGHTER GOOGLED HIS NAME. I KNOW THAT HE SOME HOW MADE HIS MONEY ON THE INTERNET AND NOT THE RIGHT WAY. MY DAUGHTER IS 9YRS OLD AND HE HAS NOT SEEN HER SINCE SHE WAS 3 AND LEAVES LESS THE 10 MINS AWAY. HE OWES MONEY FOR CHILD SUPPORT FOR MORE THAN JUST MY CHILD. AND I HAVE SEEN HIM DO MORE WRONG THAN RIGHT TO PEOPLE SO I HOPE THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND AND LEAVE THIS SITE UP LONGER. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO BEFORE I BECAME DISABLED I WAS A BILL COLLECTER AND FOR THE FIRST TIME AS A COLLECTOR I HAD TO DO MY OWN SKIP TRACING. SO I PUT IN MY OWN SS# AND IT DID NOT GIVE MY INFO BUT HIS AND HIS WIFES INFO I HAD NOT USED MY SS# IN YEARS NOTHING HAS SHOWN ON MY CREDIT AT THIS TIME. BUT GOING TO SOME WEBSITE THAT HELP US FIND PEOPLE IF I PUT IN MY NAME AND SS# IT GIVES 2 ADDRESSES FOR ME NOW IF I PUT IN AMY SS# AND HIS NAME I GET ALL KINDS OF ADDRESSES THAT HE LIVED AT AND I NEVER DID. SO I AM LOOKING AT THAT AT THIS TIME. IF YOU HAVE ANY ?’S PLEASE EMAIL ME
Comment by RHONDA — September 3, 2008 @ 12:31 am
I ordered UFC and PRIDE dvds from Mr. Buckner off of ioffer.com and sent him my payment for the dvds via paypal and I got my dvds almost a month later. Yet I didnt recieve my PRIDE set and the UFC set had some missing discs and some defective ones. I emailed him about it and he said oh I will get u the replacement discs and the set I owe you. Then I emailed to check on the shipment and he said he would send them within 2 days and the send an email the next day as confirmation of his shipment. Well low and behold I havent heard from him in about 11 days. I paid $150 for this set and am furious with him. Any suggestions?
Comment by Marcus — October 18, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
Marcus, I’m sorry to hear about your troubles with Mr. Buckner. Calling the police authorities in the city or county where he lives is probably the best course of action at this point. If it is St. Louis County, the contact information is above in the body of this post. It couldn’t hurt to contact the Postal Service and the Internet Crime Complaint Center, too, and might help others. Good luck.
Comment by David Giacalone — October 18, 2008 @ 10:20 pm
Cool, thanks and will do. Im giving it till Monday to see if anything shows up in the mail if not I am going to email someone with the Pevely Police Dept. I will post on here soon to update what has happend.
Comment by Marcus — October 18, 2008 @ 10:25 pm