Moped Army

I have a plan to get my money back from Columbus Motor Sports. Read on, this post is a bit long but it does contain some good information. I could use some help on my personal quest to get my money back by having printouts of anything you may have on your loss. That is a printout of the auction, and some proof of payment, please nothing with account numbers on it, and a statement of the actions you have taken to try to get the stuff that you have ordered. Please send me an email indicating if you are willing to help.

Here is what I have found out about Columbus Motor Sports.

The name "Columbus Motor Sports and Accessories" was registered with the Ohio Secretary of State as a business name by Steve Tietjen. However, the registration expired in 1999.

The name "Columbus Motor Sports Ltd." was registered with the Ohio Secretary of State in 1998. It is a limited liability company, and I am in the process of obtaining further information on this company, including where their principal place of business is.

So, the first step is to identify which one of these business took the money and ran. Once that is done the trick is going after them. If it is Steve Tietjen he will not go far since he owns a house in Franklin Co. Ohio. I have his address, but, I will not share it right now since I am not 100% shure who to go after. I will share the information once I am sure. If it is the limited liability company they will not get too far either. They are currently suing Shamrock Developments (their landlord) and this case is currently set for a jury trial in December 2003.

Ohio law provides that when a supplier does not ship an ordered item within 8 weeks it is a deceptive sales practice. When a deceptive salse practice occurs the supplier can be sued for three times the damages, or $200.00 which ever is more. So, someone who lost $15.00 would be able to get a judgment against the supplier for $200.00.

So, you see that my plan is to proceed to sue Columbus Motor Sports as soon as the eight weeks has expired turning my $36.00 loss into $200.00 for me.

If anyone else is interested in pursuing this course of action and do not want to do so because of the cost of traveling to Franklin County to go to small claims court to sue there is a way around this. In small claims court the rules of evidence do not apply, so, what would normally be excluded such as a written statement would be allowable.

However, you would need someone in court to present the written statements, that is a lawyer, and lawyers cost money. Well one of the nice things about Ohio law is that when there is a deceptive sales practice and it can be proven that the practice was done deliberately the supplier has to pay the attorney fees of the person who got ripped off. That is why I need the written statements from those of you who have been ripped off by Columbus Motor Sports, the more people who this has happened to the more likely that the court is going to find that the action was deliberate, and that attorney fees will be paid.

If enough people are interested I could help those people who are out of state find an attorney to handle all the cases. I might even do it myself since I am an attorney. (Even my expected recovery of $200.00 may not make it worth my effort to take the day off of work to pursue this mater. But, I will probably do it any way just for the sake of jerking their chain.)

There would be cost and risks. The courts filing fee is not recoverable, I do not know what the filing fee is but I assume that it is at least $30.00 from the last time I took a case to small claims in another community. Then there is the risk that Columbus Motor Sports will not pay the judgment once it is ordered by the court. But, there are ways around this.

I will keep everyone here posted.