Would you put this part on your car?

[Islander]

The vendor never called me back so I called him. But before I did and since the vendor was "having problems" finding a good part for me, I made one single call to Vette2vette and found one nicely priced. Called my vendor up and told him who to call and what the price was. I asked him to buy the part and ship it to me directly. He refused (bad omen??), but said he would reimburse me for the part as soon as I sent it back to him because he's going to "fix" it and resell it. :W
So now he wants me to ship the part back and THEN he'll cut me a cashiers check or MO. OK, I'll play that game since I have no use for a damaged part, and maybe some good will come out of this in a strange and roundabout way.

We agreed he will reimburse me in the amount of $112.50 which covers the cost of the part and shipping from him to me and back to him. I will ship via Fedex and told him I expect my reimbursement no later than 7 business days from the minute he signs for his package. I will be taking photos of the package and contents at the FedEx depot tomorrow just in case, and will ask him to send the money with a tracking number so I can avoid the "post office lost the check" game. One way or the other I'll let you know how this turns out since most of you, I assume, would not want to buy known damaged used/recycled parts passed as good ones from anyone.

BTW, the vendor said I was being very difficult to deal with, even after I bought all the crap about him looking for a known good part (he knew about Vette2vette and admitted as much during our call today), even after not calling me back when he said he would, or answering one single e-mail I sent once I discovered the part was damaged (4 e-mails went out over a two week period), and even after following his payment methods which don't apply to him, apparently. Never again will I buy a part via MO or check, and yes, I had this guy checked out by forum members before I did so.

 

[Islander]

If you don't get the resolution you want, you can threaten him (and follow through if necessary) with filing a complaint with ebay based on the item not being as described. If he did not specify that it was bent, and you said the damage was not evident in the photo, you have a case for misrepresentation of merchandise. Ebay has a policy which specifies certain steps you must take before filing a complaint such as trying to resolve the issue with the seller, which it appears you are doing. In certain cases, fraudulent purchases/transaction are protected by Ebay. You can check their home page for more details.

I did not buy this part on eBay. This is a vendor with a physical storefront and website.

 

[Islander]

Things are getting interesting. I sent the part back and called the guy to tell him that I had e-mailed him the package's tracking number. I tried to get his phone number off the website but all I got was this: "This domain name expired on 10/27/2005 and is pending renewal or deletion."

So I call and tell him that the package is on it's way and he's got e-mail but the site is down. He says he thought it was renewed already. I'm glad I sent a copy of the e-mail in the package itself, but this is either a darn coincidence or [insert your theory here]. Based on the estimated delivery date of 11/09, he's got until 11/16 to call me or e-mail me the tracking number of the refund letter. If I have nothing by then I will go public.

 

[Randy Eads]

Yeah its "okay" ..... for a paperweight!

When your speedo hits the triple digets I would just about bet you say to yourself "should have, could have".

 

[Islander]

UPDATE:

Well, it's been almost 3 weeks since I deposited the money order I got from the vendor so I guess it was legit. The vendor in question was CorvetteJunk out of Mountain View, California.

This was mostly my fault. I was reluctant to do business with a vendor who won't take credit cards and was out of driving range (I'm cross country), but I asked around and all references for the vendor came back positive. I had been looking for the parts for quite some time, so I took a chance. To make a long story short, he made good on his side of the deal by refunding me the cost, including shipping, of the bad part he sent me. That part he says is repairable and he plans to do so and re-sell it. Please remember it's buyer beware out there. I, for one, will not do business of this type again unless I can easily drive to the brick and mortar store to resolve issues of this nature.

Be careful out there.

BTW I got my replacement part from Vette2Vette, nice folks.

 

[Larry's Yellow Rdstr]

A lesson learned, albeit the hard way. You handled the situation very well. Thanks for posting.

 

[4DSZR1]

You did handle it well, lesson learned for all of us. Thanks for sharing it in such detail.

 

[speedmaster4]

that cross shaft can definitely be straightened...so good that u cant tell...is it safe afterward ?...any metalurgical types in here?

 

[Islander]

that cross shaft can definitely be straightened...so good that u cant tell...is it safe afterward ?...any metalurgical types in here?

Responses in the same order of questons/comments:

yes, it can be straightened but I could tell (cracks). No, it would not be safe, aluminum subjected to that impact/stress will be weakened, to heat and straighten out would weaken it even further. Bottom line: That cross shaft is not repairable, and the rest of the arm may also be twisted due to the same stress/iimpact the cross shaft was subjected to. I had some metallurgical types in town and on another forum confirm the former.

 

[86PACER]

Glad you got your money back. Just the fact that he intentionally sold this part and told you it would work fine proves to me that this is one vendor I will avoid.