PSA - negative experience with Cycler (Aaron Beller)

Regrettably, I’m sharing my experience as a PSA for other members.

@cycler (aka Aaron Beller) is a well known, and previously reputable, part reseller here in the community. I reached out to him, talked options, and sent him money via PayPal f&f for an AiM Solo 2DL and Handy Cam combo in February ($1975 total). He then went radio silent.

I was able to verify that he placed the order with HSBK a few weeks later. After no updates or response from Aaron (and “no eta available” from HSBK), I canceled the order with HSBK in late May or early June. They confirmed cancellation but would not offer me a refund because Aaron made the purchase (even though I have the email screenshot from him ordering it for me and providing my address for shipping).

Aaron finally responded a couple weeks ago. He apologized, said he had been really busy, and assured me he would request the refund from HSBK. Unfortunately, he’s been radio silent again since then. HSBK say they haven’t heard from him. I reached out to Aaron again a few days ago asking him to resolve this amicably with no hard feelings - no response.

I know many folks here have had positive experiences with him. I’m only sharing my individual experience. For anyone wondering (appropriately) if there might be another side to the story, I welcome his input here.

Cheers.
Craig

That sucks man and I feel for you.

I've always been against the idea of F&F for payment via PayPal, regardless of the amount due to this type of possible outcome. Afterall, no matter how much of a contributor a member is to the forum and its members, in the end, they are still a stranger and shouldn't be trusted. No blame being put on ya at all because you obviously seem like a stand up guy and respected member on here and that's what sucks about this.

People should just voluntarily add the 3% extra charge if the seller requests F&F as payment and as a buyer, just eat the PayPal fees and protect yourself. Almost 2k is a LOT of money for the average person and the 60 in paypal fees would be nothing more than insurance to have peace of mind.

Again, this sucks dude and I hope he makes this right n refunds you your money. I've never been a fan of cycler and his babbling ... always writing novel type posts while he's drunk.

I met Craig at COTA last May,

And If he is placing this on the forum, is really to prevent other members from something like this.

Sorry to hear that Craig

I’m into him for about $600….same story but was for deposits on suspension bits.

Sucks because the guys certainly saved me more than that on other parts that he made good on, so I guess it’s not the end if the world, but sucks seeing the guy lose a handle on his .... and do it in a way that affects other people’s money.

I believe he's on other forums, not sure which ones but I wonder if he's active elsewhere.

I don't know this guy but I do know this situation. I just don't accept the ive been busy crap, its a 20 second email whattsapp Facebook etc etc to keep in touch. because its that easy these days you have to say its either the person is a tech Baffoon, (but having previously communicated this way obviously not,) or his intent is devious and what amounts to theft!

if you want a comparison from the UK , google the name Chris bushell and anything motorbike......

here's one

He's been pretty good to a lot of members over the years, maybe something happened? I hear he had a rough time with the 'rona.

Really too bad this has happened with him. Hopefully he will step up.

Paul G said:

He's been pretty good to a lot of members over the years, maybe something happened? I hear he had a rough time with the 'rona.

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I cared in the beginning but at this point, months later, it’s one excuse after another, Wife was sick, daughter was sick, went on vacation twice, he was sick….too much at this point.

I honestly think he just doesn’t like giving money back or he spent it and can’t…..no excuse for that.

Steven31371 said:

I cared in the beginning but at this point, months later, it’s one excuse after another, Wife was sick, daughter was sick, went on vacation twice, he was sick….too much at this point.

I honestly think he just doesn’t like giving money back or he spent it and can’t…..no excuse for that.

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I’m hearing speculation that he’s well intended but got himself in trouble spending money that wasn’t his and then needing to cover one order with money from another, and he got in over his head.

I bought some Brembo calipers,pads an exhaust, an oil pan, wheels and some misc stuff. Added up the PayPal, close to 15k friends and family. He always provided correspondence between who he was getting it from and myself and I got everything I ordered. Saved thousands over the dealers.

That seems to be the story with a lot of guys who got in early. As Aaron branched out (auto) things went downhill. I don’t think he had the resources it took to make the expansion work (cap reserves when .... goes sideways) and it got away from him. Hopefully he can fix it at some point.

This situation sounds very unfortunate. Although you paid with friends and family, did you pay with a credit/debit card attached to your PayPal? I’m pretty sure you can dispute the transaction with your provider.

That sucks.
When someone asks to be paid through F&F, that's a huge red flag to me as you have little to no recourse if things go south. Your CC company *may* be able to help but the problem is because you had paid through F&F, as Paypal and the CC company see it, there was no exchange of goods for payment....as far as they're concerned you sent money to friends and/or family. I had pursued a bad transaction for reimbursement from my CC company after almost a year of delays and I eventually did get my money back but it was a real PITA as the CC company wanted a thorough documented history of the transaction so that they could classify it as a loss due to non-delivery of goods. Lesson learned.

Hope that it works out for you...one way or the other.

I think I paid him the non F&F way... but I got what I ordered through him.

Hard to get your reputation back once it's gone. People w motorcycles usually have cars too...

.... em. Put a lien on his house.

I hate thieves.

PushingtheLimit said:

This situation sounds very unfortunate. Although you paid with friends and family, did you pay with a credit/debit card attached to your PayPal? I’m pretty sure you can dispute the transaction with your provider.

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I paid f&f direct debit, not cc. Sucks for sure and I’ll be less inclined to do so again in the future. I assumed the risk due to him being well established here on the forum, and it not being too large an order - had it been an @endodoc level order, I would have exercised a bit more caution. lol

I have bought some parts from Aaron and sad to hear of this turn of events. One thing I surmised early on is Aaron is a low level operator and has no pull with any manufacturer/wholesale distributor. Often, he would order through an intermediary like HSBK and not the manufacturer or manufacturer's primary US distributor directly. So when its a known worldwide back-ordered item like AIM, I would have gone through a big-name operator who is more likely to stock the units first when supply eases. Hindsight is 20-20 of course, and I am sorry you are out some hard earned cash Craig. We all work hard for our money and I hate to see it wasted.

Not entirely accurate. All the Brembo parts I ordered from Aaron were shipped from Race Technologies in Irvine CA who are the West Coast Brembo Distributor. Michell at RT verified that Aaron was a certified dealer/distributor for them. In general however yes he redistributed through HSBK and Bellissimoto.

This sucks to hear, and i feel for the OP.

It is however a good opportunity for people to be reminded that not everyone is who they appear to be and what they were like last time may not be who they are today, for whatever reason.....

PayPal, who charge exorbitant fees with the justification that the parties are protected won't do anything for F&F payments because (and rightly so i guess...) if you're dealing with "friends" and "family" you shouldn't need payment protection.

The bottom line is NEVER use F&F for ANY payment to anyone except trusted family and friends, the fees are what they are, and, always use a credit card, even if you have the money in your savings, transfer it straight onto your card but the credit card company charge you interest and fees and they will refund you for a fraudulent purchase, there's no F&F rubbish with VISA or MC, it can take a while, but in the few instances i've been bitten on line my VISA card has always come through, i never even bother with PayPal after they left be high and dry and was told read the T&C's and go away.......

Getting refunded through PayPal has never been an issue, as long as it wasn't a F&F type of transaction.
They are always more than helpful and after providing evidence to support your case, your issue is typically resolved within 10 days and you get your refund. I just had this issue with a piece of canvas art i purchased which arrived damaged and the seller simply stopped responding after the second shipped (and damaged) frame. 10 days after I initiated the case, i got a refund. Payment was deducted from my checking account initially.