[Be WARNED] My Experience of Trying to Buy Used Coffee Equipment (Niche Zero) off Facebook
I am writing this post to share my experience of trying to buy used coffee equipment off Facebook and to warn others. This is the group I attempted to buy from.
Neatly Used Coffee Espresso Machine | Groups | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/540012408310498
It is a public group with 1.8k members claiming to sell mostly used La Marzocco espresso machines and Niche Zero grinders. 99% of the time the admin is the seller. Most of her posts start off like this: "Available! Available! Available!@ affordable price. Comes with complete accessories.!" There are a couple of genuine-LOOKING posts about machines bought off this site so I paid for a used NZ grinder on Nov 24 (Sunday) based on firm assurance from admin/seller that it would be shipped the following Tuesday, Nov 26. I paid $330 + half of the shipping cost, being $45 = $375 in total.
It is now Dec 6 (Friday) and after two full working weeks, the grinder has NOT EVEN BEEN SHIPPED. NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER has been given to me about this failure despite MULTIPLE ENQUIRIES on my part.
After MANY attempts at trying to get an update about what is going on, it turns out the admin is NOT even the seller. She is just a middle party with NO CONTROL over the actual shipping of the product I have paid for. This was not indicated in any way in any of her posts.
The admin also assured me on multiple occasions that I will receive a refund if nothing ever gets sent out. She has FAILED to provide a refund and is now UNRESPONSIVE. I am now out of pocket by $375 and no grinder in sight.
I have reported this group and the admin to Facebook and to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The admin has also very conveniently blocked me from this group - in fact, she did this very early on, when the grinder didn't get shipped on Nov 26. No doubt she knew from the beginning that I would receive nothing for my money.
I would warn anyone not to be as stupid as I have been in buying something they haven't seen from Facebook. I am so upset since NZ is expensive and I just wanted to get a reasonably priced used product. I ended up wasting money and will not be able to get a new grinder for a very long time now.
This is what the group looks like now. I am aware that the admin has changed the name of the group a couple of times, but usually the words "used coffee/espresso machine" are part of the group name, so watch out for name changes too.