I just wanted to pass along some information that could prevent some frustration for all you race car sellers out there. I placed an ad to sell my ride and received a phone call from an individual that resides in Baltimore, Maryland. I returned his phone call and discussed the car in more detail. We then began to communicate via email and agreed upon a price and I followed up with a phone call to get the verbal agreement that he would make the purchase. Funny though, each time I would call him I would have to refresh his memory about who I was, what car I had, how fast it was, and what was under the hood; this happened many times. He never made an effort to call me after first contact, I always did. Anyway, we finally settled on a price and he said that he would send a cashier's check and that I should make arrangements to ensure that someone remained home to collect the check. Optimistic to hand the money to my wife, we canceled a couple of road trips during the Christmas holiday break so that the check would not be missed, and after I called him and he reassured me the check was in the mail, I took the car off of RacingJunk. Once the deal was struck he became very difficult to contact by phone or email. After 5 business days I began to worry for his money since he had everything to lose. I began calling him from other phone numbers with different area codes and I had no problem talking to him. Each time he reassured me that the money was already in the mail. I thought since the eastern seaboard experienced a 20" snow event the mail might be running behind so I would give him more time. Each day I would email him to let him know that the check had not arrived via email and leave a message on his cell phone. Finally after the 5th (10th total) business day I placed my car back in RacingJunk for sale again. I then emailed him and let him know that this was the final email he would receive until the check arrived so that I would not continue bothering him since he did not seem to be worried at all that his money was somewhere. I then followed up with a phone call (roughly an hour later) to leave him a message to the tune of the same thing, except that he answered this time. I told him that his check had not arrived and then he immediately let me know that he noticed my car was back in RacingJunk for sell. I said yes that it was my wife's idea and his instant reply was, "Okay, you listen to her then. Bye!" I did not attempt to call him back.
Let's go over few things that could have prevented this disappointment. First, usually the buyer should be the aggressive person in the party, not the seller. If I wanted to buy a race car I really wanted I would be calling all the time. Second, the things this guy told me and how he told me should have raised a red flag (and it did but I ignored them). Every time I called he acted as though he never met me and had no idea what I calling about. His typing skills were exponentially sub-par and they were all in CAPS. Third, hypocritically speaking as a highly religious man that he claimed to be, he kept saying the N-word anytime he thought someone was knocking his intelligence. I should have questioned his way of speaking at that point but couldn't chance losing the money by my hand. Fourth, he never contacted me within RacingJunk.com so that kept him under the radar until now, and how did he know within a short period of time that I put my car back in RacingJunk? He must surf the website and calls people for kicks. The way he responded, then hung up reinforced to me that there was no check in the mail. I finally paid for a background check to see if this guy was for real or an alias. According to the state of Maryland, this guy has been in court multiple times and fraud was mentioned under several charges.
Here he is: Jesse McClain Jr.; cell # 443-467-5451; Email:
[email protected]
Avoid this guy if he calls you.