At this point in time, I am not sure what is what or what is true and what is a lie and since we are only about two weeks into this story I would like to with-hold any names to avoid potentially tarnishing a reputation just in case it turns out to be no big deal afterall.

There is a guy who is a registered user here on this forum. He sells salvaged and collected/gathered Camaro and Firebird parts in abundance. I have bought from him a couple times before with great satisfaction and ZERO issues. There are even several members on this board who will vouch for his honesty and integrity. However, my last transaction with him has me a bit nervous at this point.

We had been talking for a bit about my car needing new weatherstrip, and he said he had a brand new set of GM weatherstrip for a T-Top car. He said he had all the pieces to do the entire car and would sell it to me for $150. Based on past experiences with him I quickly hopped on this. Come closer to payment time he said he could not locate the drivers side T-Top strip but still had all the other pieces and since this one piece was missing he would sell for $100. "GREAT!", I thought. Since my actual T-Top strips were in good condition and it was the doors that were falling apart. So...

April 10th I PayPal this guy $105 and he says he will get it right out to me. I tell him to be sure to send me some GOOD stuff and sign off for the night, thinking nothing of it again, because of my past experience with him. A few days go by and I still have not received an E-Mail from PayPal stating that a package had been sent. I didn't think this to be a cause for alarm because there have been many times in the past where I was paid for something through PayPal and boxed and shipped it myself without going through their label generating service. The time has come to a week and a half and still no word from this guy and still no package. I sign on AIM to see if I can find out what the deal is, except he doesn't respond to my messages despite the fact his status indicates he should be right at his keyboard.

So later that night I call his phone and he answers:


So, at this point I am a bit freaked out. The vibe I just got from this phone call tells me that he does not have the stripping in his actual possession and is getting it at the swap meet to send to me. If this scenario is true, he was supposed to have already had this stuff to begin with. And, if he is getting it from a swap meet, how can he be sure of It's condition?

We are now sitting at 2 weeks still no package and still no word from him (Other than the time I initiated contact). This whole situation has me really nervous/dissapointed. If you are going to be late on a shipment, you should at least contact that person and let them know what the deal is. That is good customer service and will keep people coming back. If you are unsure whether or not you can hold up a deadl the way you initially stated, let the buyer know what is going on and offer a full refund if they so please. I don't see what is so hard about that. And to make matters worse, I signed into AIM about an hour ago to see if he was on, he was. And very coincidentally only 5 minutes after I signed on and was about to message him, he signed off.

Again, I do not want to jump to conclusions or get an itchy trigger finger here. Myself as well as several other members of this board have done transactions with this guy in the past and it has gone great. But this is beginning to become a tad unacceptable. So what I plan on doing is periodically trying to get ahold of him through AIM and if I can't do it that way attempt to call him the middle of next week. If I don't see a package on my doorstep by next friday, I am filing a dispute with PayPal.

Suggestions? Input?

 

Being that you have dealt with him in the past with good results, I would at least talk to him again on the phone, tell him your concerns and if his answers are to your liking, ask him for a full refund, and if he refuses or comes up with more excuses then file the complaint! Really, you are completly justified to file a complaint right now but maybe just maybe he has a good reason and it can be kinda hard to find good vendors for third gen parts and you might not want to burn that bridge just yet. But that's just my 2 cents.

 

I did talk to him about an hour ago and he informed me that he had sent the pieces out this morning. Only thing left to worry about is their condition, which I will know of in a few days.

 

Did everything come out ok with this transaction?

 

In the end, yes.