Buyer Beware.

M

Merrsh1

Member
 Teesside
Just wanted to share an experience of buying goods on the forum.

Recently bought some rims and wheels off a forum member who described the rims as 'perfect' condition and the tyres having a certain tread. Neither of which was true, wheels arrived with corrosion on each and a mil less tread than described. The photos in the ad showed a completely unmarked set of alloys that you could have ate your dinner off and I confirmed the condition before paying...

Just a note for anyone else buying individual to individual on here, don't be naive like I was. I ain't picky but the wheels will need refurbing so what started as a good deal now isn't.

On this occasion I'll chalk it up to experience, Caveat emptor. :headbang:
 
Who was the forum member? I think its fair to warn potential future buyers.

Personally, I'd like to think forum members would be some of the more trustworthy sellers.
 
name and shame. you wouldn't want another buyer to have the same mis-fortune as you've experienced.

unfortunately there are dis-honest people in the world. don't let one person put you off buying on this forum though. i've bought plenty of items on here and not had a single problem.
 
StevenH72 said:
Who was the forum member? I think its fair to warn potential future buyers.

Personally, I'd like to think forum members would be some of the more trustworthy sellers.
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X2 plus have you tried to resolve this issue with the seller
 
I also have onoy good experiences with buying stuff from forum membpers.
And I think we should know who is a good seller and who isnt.

TapaTalking
 
another forum i use has a section in the classifieds where you can praise a member who sold you something, or warn others of potential scammers.

they're called Disputes and good trades.
 
You can get forum addons for things like feedback from buyer/seller, the more you sell the more "trusted" you are I guess. Like eBay feedback but for the forum.
 
That's a shame. I've had only good experiences too. I do occasionally ask a few "piece of mind" questions (confirm fully functional etc) just to cover both sides in case of a dispute but nobody has ever taken offence.

Taz was very good about confirming the forum sticker worked as advertised :D

If you've tried resolving with the other party, might be worth naming them but don't write anything that could be taken as defamatory
 
Sorry to hear your news, I have bought a number of items from forum members and have only had good experiences with all the transactions. As others have already said, I would name the offender so other potential buyers are forewarned how that person conducts his/her business.
 
I bought an afe intake from a Belgian member on here that was less than described, bit pissed as I paid extra on a bank transfer to avoid him paying paypal fees. he refunded me a token gesture but it was a pain to sort out.

it is hard, due to differing standards of an individual describing condition etc. when buying my z I went to look at one that the seller had described as mint and it was a long way off, well used but scrubbed up would have been more accurate.
 
Sorry to hear this... I have bought loads of things from here... Nothing but perfect exchanges.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 
It's a little surprising as the forum is a community and within reason, the members get to know and trust each other. If it's a seller who'd set up an account just to offload some stuff I'd be wary but otherwise trusting.

I'm buying Shaun69's Gaptech and he voluntarily posted pics to me and answered my dumb questions. I'm sure that will all go well too.
 
Stuart Truman said:
It's a little surprising as the forum is a community and within reason, the members get to know and trust each other. If it's a seller who'd set up an account just to offload some stuff I'd be wary but otherwise trusting.
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The forum like everything else there are honest members and there are less honest members, I would suggest that you first publish photographs from the advertised wheels and then pictures of the wheels that you received and let others judge the difference.

My car in my eyes may look clean but to a detailer it probably doesn't and thus it is a matter of personal perspective, if forum members can see a difference than having the sellers name there would be enough to shame them into action
 
I tried to resolve the issue and pointed out the difference in the photos in the ad and the condition of the rims. I also pointed out the difference in tread.

I was basically told if I'm not happy I have to pay to have them returned. It could be argued I should do just that but if someone will lie about a sale would you really want them to have your cash (just shy of £800 quid) and the item..

I don't want to get into a name and shame scenario, just wanted to warn others to be careful. One thing to note, as I looked into this in details, is that under the sale of goods act you basically don't really have any protection as a buyer when trading individual to individual. If you are buying anything using a private sale I'd attempt to pay by credit card via PayPal. At least then you can let the credit card company do the leg work of recovering your cash.

Here are some pics of the perfect alloys... All 4 are in this condition... Tread just under 6mm as opposed to the 7mm quoted.

20130306_081718_zps16b0204e.jpg


20130306_081426_zps5559c422.jpg


As I said buyer beware! :thumbsup:
 
Merrsh1 said:
At least then you can let the credit card company do the leg work of recovering your cash.
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Doesn't apply to personal sales as the seller is not the one offering the credit card payment paypal is. You could raise a paypal dispute though.

6mm or 7mm is easily within error limit - you'd only have to push slightly harder/softer on the gauge and you'd end up with a different of 2mm.

I'm more worried about the wheels themselves, as one of the marks looks like a small crack.

I'd definitely send the back, even if it does cost you a few quid - better that than the £100-£200 out of pocket on the refurb. The next issue of course is actually getting the money back.
 
There is always a risk buying through this sort of channel, personally:

1. I'd always want to see an item before exchanging a large amount of money (I'm guessing this was long distance purchase).

2. I don't see any reason not to name the person, albeit perhaps wait until it's all sorted/ resolved before doing so.
 
That's a shame, I'd always be over critical if selling on here, not that I wouldn't be straight elsewhere , but on here we're a community, I wouldn't want anyone to say I wasn't straight with my description.
 
my experience of buying wheels and tyres from another forum member was very positive,
I guess there will always people who misdescribes but its better than eBay,
 
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