I would like to warn anyone who is trading through this forum to be extremely careful with who you deal with. As with anyone on the internet, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Never under any circumstances should you send anyone money to the user on this forum known as ragingrabbit. I will not name him publicly as I feel as if that would be overstepping the mark.
Let me tell you about my trade with him. Having agreed a price (£50) for a "leon paul lightweight plastron" and sent a cheque to him, I hear nothing for two weeks until he tells me that the cheque has been paid in. A mere twenty days later, the plastron is posted and arrived yesterday.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the parcel and a standard economy plastron was staring back at me. I immediately sent a stern but courteous response to the above forum user asking if I could have a lightweight plastron sent to me in due course and this was what I received:
"Glad to hear plastron arrived
I sent you a Leon Paul lightweight plastron
I know it is the new lightweight version, because I have the older style which is made of much thicker cotton material - it has a creamy brown colour inside
This is the new thinner lightweight style
I have responded to all your emails which has taken considerable time, effort and hassle for a product you are unhappy with
I am going to waste no more time with you - sorry
If you dont want the LeonPaul lightweight plastron then sell it on ebay"
As you can see this upstanding pillar of the fencing community considers placing completely the wrong product into a jiffy bag and posting it to me as well as repeatedly fobbing me off as to the progress of the plastron being sent to be as taking "considerable time, effort and hassle". Of course, his solution to his deliberate deception of getting me to pay more than full RRP for a second hand item is for me to sell it on ebay.
I suppose I only have my own stupidity to blame for trusting a random on the internet instead of buying through ebay or my local club where I have at least some options if there are problems with the kit I bought. Unfortunately deliberate deception was not one of the issues that I envisaged happening especially from someone who is supposedly a relatively well known figure in the fencing community.
This has all left a very sour in the mouth for this beginner but I just wanted to let anyone buying kit on here to be extremely careful when doing so.
My apologies to the mods if this topic is too strong but I feel as if I have to speak out about my experience.