If you were the owner... what would you do?

[Jimbotronics]

Seller FatRodder on eBay sells ton's of automotive parts. I found a set of headers that I like that were clearly listed for 67-72 chevy trucks with a 350. This was in the beginning of the rebuild and the engine was out. SO to be certain I called the company personally to question their fit and place the order. I had the new headers in no time, and was really impressed with them but had no way of test fitting them and frankly never thought much of it. 5 months go by and this weekend I get the engine back in. Drag out the headers still perfectly boxed and bubble wrapped from Fatrodder's. They don't even come close to fitting, having them heated and bent is out of the question because they are ceramic coated. So I call up Fatrodder's, explain the situation, and that I don't want my money back just the right header's and that I'd even pay shipping in both directions. NOPE you got 'em live with 'em. I can put them on eBay with hopes to get a lil return back but that's difficult because I don't know what to list them as fitting. I suggested I ship them to them at my expense and if they didn't feel they were still brandnew they could ship them back to me at my expense with all deals off. Needless to say - they have alot of stuff that I'd like to buy but you can bet that AINT happening. Bad part is out of frustration I did alot of arguing and made it clear I wasn't happy, and that's just not me

[phantom dually]

Id be P/O too.......... but what do you do?

[mbgmike]

If their hedman,hookers,or flowtech give us the part number and we will look it up. Hedman lists like 28 models for those years. Of course alot of it is just coatings,collector lengths, dia. etc.
Mike

[Jimbotronics]

Hey Mike - Not sure what brand they are they werent marked, knock offs I'm certain. But if you go to eBay and do a search by seller, enter Fatrodder, then search for 67-72 headers you'll see 'em.

[wurksucks]

Did you pay by Paypal? Complain to them. Lord knows they are on the side of the buyer.

[Jimbotronics]

Nope called 'em up and paid over the phone. Good thought tho

[bryanw1968]

Does their policy specifically state that there are no returns?
If not, call them back and threaten to list your experiences to every forum you belong to. That might get their attention.

If that doesn't work, put them on ebay or craigs list. Also, like mentioned above, try to find out exactly what they "do" fit.

If you are looking for a good fitting good value hedder, take a look at the Hedman Elite.

Good luck.
B

[67ChevyRedneck]

I've had troubles with ebay and parts before. Bought a tailgate that looked nothing like the picture. I specifically asked if there were any dents or rust. Seller said no. I got it and it was a rusted bent POS. I did end up getting 1/2 refund. I still ate about $60. UPS lost 1/2 of a package I got from a board member. They lost all the bushings, bolts and brackets for an ECE sway bar kit. Box clearly marked 29lbs and just the bar arrived which weighed 21lbs. Many useless phone calls later I ended up buying almost $80 in parts from ECE to replace what was lost. The seller was great and offered to pay for some. I only asked for $40 and he sent it right away.

As for your situation. You're screwed. Most places don't care about customer service anymore Why? I have no idea. I think a lot of companies have that 30 or 60 day return policy to protect themselves from poor quality and fit parts. Think about it. How many guys buy a part and put it on the truck immediately? Not often. We buy parts as money allows and it's sometimes months or years before they are installed. The unfortunate reality is that a lot of parts don't fit correctly or are not even the right part at all. The company still made their money and you get to keep the part! There are some great vendors on the board with great customer service. I just wish there was one close enough to drive too Shipping is killer.)

[junkyardjohn]

I BOUGHT A DUAL DIAPHRAM, CORVETTE STYLE MASTER CYLINDER BOOSTER, & ALL THE BRACKETS & HARDWARE FROM THEM EARLIER THIS SUMMER. IT WAS SHIPPED FROM ANOTHER COMPANY ALTOGETHER, & SEVERAL PIECES WERE MISSING. I EMAILED & CALLED THEM SEVERAL TIMES, & EACH TIME THEY PROMISED TO SEND THEM OUT THE NEXT DAY. AFTER WAITING 3 WEEKS.... NOTHING. I WENT TO NAPA & BOUGHT WHAT I NEEDED. (THOSE GUYS ARE GREAT) I HAD TO MANUFACTURE A ADJUSTMENT PIECE THAT GOES FROM THE BOOSTER TO THE MASTER. IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF MAKING A NEW (LONGER) ROD & THREADING IT. I WOULD HAVE MUCH PREFERRED THEM BEING HONEST WITH ME FROM THE GET GO INSTEAD OF JERKING ME AROUND & LYING TO ME CAUSING ME TO WASTE A MONTH. I DON'T THINK I'LL BE DOING BUSSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN. JOHN

[Jimbotronics]

I KNOW I won't be doing business with them again. They were great when placing the order but the minute there's a problem they get defensive and all of a sudden it's all YOUR fault.

Has anyone else had dealings with them good or bad?

[Joe67]

The fact that is was an 'ebay part' has nothing to do with it, ebay is out of the equation.

It sounds like you are doing all of the right things so far, did you pay by credit card? You should be able to dispute payment for about 6 months or so...

This sucks for sure

[Jimbotronics]

Thanks for all the inputs fellas!

I did submit a claim with my credit union - their policy is that the transaction must be submitted within sixty days, however, they allowed me to write an 'exception to the rule' request. We'll see.

As far as finding out what they fit - Fatrodder's claim they are for a 67-72 Chevrolet truck. I offered to fly his a$$ down to Florida at my expense and if he could make them fit (without hacking the motor mounts - that was their other suggestion) I would shake his hand and fly him home. If he couldn't he could find he own way home... to include back to the airport wearing headers around his neck....

[byrd]

Wish I would have seen this before I ordered from him I 'm having trouble getting the parts I ordered not just what their illiterate(sp Ironic ain't it?) staff just decided to throw in the box.
Sent three emails over a period of 5 business days with no response, so I dispute with pay pal. less than 12 hours later they respond saying this BS...
Randy- I don't know what is the problem with your order? With the car show season it is hard for us to keep up with emails but our phone works everyday all day. So please call our office at 319-232-4870 and we will resolve right away. THANKS Ashley

My response was...
That's funny, I have tried to call that number a few times with NO answer and NO machine to leave a message with.What are your hours of operation? I should not have to use pay pal to track you down and get a response, as I have sent three emails previously( I have copies if you want to see them).I know you got an email telling you to respond to this dispute and obviously you checked it and responded, so why do you now respond to this dispute and not the three previous emails I sent you? 2 thru ebay and one thru my personal email account.You sent a balled mill air cleaner when I ordered a flamed one, and also the HEI vac advance chrome cover was left out of the order.All I want is the parts I paid for, not what you sent.You did send a part that I didn't order some sort of zinc coated bracket, didn't order it and frankly I don't know what it is.

We will see where is goes...

[dwcsr]

I understand your problem but as a retailer of computer parts I wouldn't take it back either. Every reasonable company has a return policy it may be 10 day 30 days 90 days what ever it is. To take back part that they sold 5 months ago I think is an unreasonable request on the customer’s part. I know you wanted to exchange the parts but what you may not realize it that each time a part is shipped it gets some travel wear on it. It may be just a few minor nicks, chaffing or scratches and I may not see them when it comes in. You get your new headers, 3 months later I send those to a new customer and they come back again due to the nicks in the coating. So now I have a used part that was never on a truck and I have to eat the price of the mark down to get rid of them. I call you 3 months later and say “Hey you know those headers you returned they are scratched. Would you pay for them?” I doubt you would, you’d tell me to kiss off.

Other things to consider are that may be they were hard to sell parts and I got them real cheap and sold them at a real discount. So now you want to exchange them for different ones that maybe cost me more that you paid for yours. I have to turn over inventory x times every month or quarter. When I have parts out for 5 months and then back sitting for 3 or 4 more I lost money when I could have turned that cash over 12 times. I will never make a profit on that part and never break even on it. What do I do with that, charge you the profit loss for the exchange? Most customers would go nuts with that.

The bottom line is I didn't wait that long to see if they fit. I’m not in the, lend a part for months to see if it fits business. The reason businesses have return a policy is so customers don’t do that kind of thing. It also protects them in court. A firm Sales policy has to be in place so you don’t always lose in court. You could always sell them on eBay.

As a customer I agree with you 100%. They guy sucks. I have bought parts and had to eat them for the same reason as you did. I got it too soon and months later it didn't fit. I learned my lessons, don’t buy too soon and don’t buy from that guy again.

I have heard that he has some unique policies when it comes to parts returns and customer service in general. forget about calling your credit card company they won't help. 90 days max on that unless its not been delivered.

[byrd]

dwcsr, you have a valid point about the return policy, but I believe you failed to READ what jimbo said. The seller specified the headers for a 67-72 with a 350 and he called and askes specifically if they were correct and the seller said YES they will fit with no issuses. Now the seller is obviously wrong on this account and should make it right NO MATTER HOW MUCH $$$ THEY LOSE,OR HOW LONG IT TOOK TO RETURN THEM, THE SELLER WAS WRONG BOTTOM LINE, AND HE WOULDN'T BE TRYING TO RETURN THEM IF THEY WERE WHAT THE SELLER INDICATED THEY WERE.
I don't know jack when it comes to computers, but I do know if I bought a part from you and you said it is compatable with what I have and it isn't who's fault is that? Mine ? I think not!!No matter how lon git takes me to figure it out in the end YOU were still WRONG. I sell a ton of restored dashes on ebay and a few parts too, and I have made a couple of mistakes along the way, and yeah lost money, but IT WAS NOT THE BUYERS FAULT SO WHY SHOULD THE BUYER SUFFER??? Just my .02...Randy

[dwcsr]

I read the entire post and as a retailer I stand by my comments. If you bought a part from me and I said it would fit and it didn't AND you followed the return policy no problem you got a new part coming and if it was my fault I would most likely cover your shipping. But 5 months later your SOL. He should suffer because it was 5 MONTHS later.

You have to draw a line somewhere and unfortunately the customer always thinks he should have the pencil in that situation. Its not good business to do that unless your a jegs or that size. Customers want to be able to buy parts cheap and that policy ensures that I'm here to sell you parts cheap.

There is also a train of thought that one unhappy customer is nothing to worry about. Lets say you come on here ripping me for selling you an AMD chip and you wanted Intel and 6 months later you want to exchange it I don't let you because chips are 10 day returns. So I lose 15 potential customers, the thought is that I lost 15 potential cheapskates that would do the same thing and really lost nothing but a head ache. Out of the several hundred that read this post only a hand full have protested the treatment he got. I have had the same thing happen to me and I didn't like it but that the way it goes.

As far as I know jegs is the only place you can return a part up to a year later most are 30 days.

[dwcsr]

I just looked at the fatrodder ebay site and this is what I saw

Payment methods Pay Pal
Money Order/Cashiers Check, Personal Check
Payment may be sent to: Jason Schmitz PO Box 41221 Des Moines, IA 50311. Paypal may be sent to fatrodder@aol.com.

Store ship-to locations the United States only

Shipping & Handling Buyer Pays Shipping.
Sales tax Sales Tax not specified by the seller.

Customer service & return policy Returns accepted only if product is in original new condition. Refunds

Fatrodder has no stated time limit on returns and refunds are the only recourse.
I stilll stand buy my comments but this may be his out to get back his cash
Jimbotronics will need to let the cc co know about this policy and it may well violate his merchant agreement that fatrodder is so vague on the policy. Fatrodder does get a lot of complaints per month on ebay
Jimbotronics would win in small claims if he were in that same state.

[Jimbotronics]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

I read the entire post and as a retailer I stand by my comments. If you bought a part from me and I said it would fit and it didn't AND you followed the return policy no problem you got a new part coming and if it was my fault I would most likely cover your shipping. But 5 months later your SOL. He should suffer because it was 5 MONTHS later.

dwcsr - I agree with you to an extent, five months is a long time. But the thing is that although I found the headers on ebay I called Fatrodder's to confirm that they were the right part. I also explained (to ashley at Fatrodder's) that I was doing a frame off and that it'd be awhile before I was ready to install them. The little voice on the other end ready to take my money said that that wouldn't be a problem in 'exchanging' them. Though she denies that conversation now. Nonetheless, it's a lesson learned - I'll purchase parts as I need them. You'll also notice that this company hits the defense before giving you a chance to explain the situation.

Byrd - Did you order headers? Let me know if they fit please.

[dwcsr]

From what you just said and the skimpy return policy that they post on ebay then i think you should be compensated. It apears that you followed the policy and were told it was ok. The responses on ebay from disatisfied customers is almost the same as yours.

[Jimbotronics]

Thanks dwcsr - I certaining feel the same way. I'm over it - my loss. What is important to me now is getting the word out so that other's can, at a minimum, make a consiencence purchase if they choose to buy from them. My personal advise would be to refrain from doing business with them.

[Orange]

If you can sell them on eBay, just list as what they are, and offer to take any measurements for people that they may want.
That way you might be able to recover some cost and spend that on your next set anyhow.

There are custom builds too where people have plenty of frame clearance, so someone will be willing to bite for the right price (just offer free shipping - it's amazing what people will pay when you eat shipping costs - they think that's the best deal they can find).

[dwcsr]

if they are hitting the cross member then they are most likely 4x4 headers

[Jimbotronics]

Originally Posted by Orange

If you can sell them on eBay, just list as what they are, and offer to take any measurements for people that they may want.
That way you might be able to recover some cost and spend that on your next set anyhow.

There are custom builds too where people have plenty of frame clearance, so someone will be willing to bite for the right price (just offer free shipping - it's amazing what people will pay when you eat shipping costs - they think that's the best deal they can find).

That's exactly my intentions, just haven't had the extra time to get around to it.

dwcsr - the #2 exhaust pipe hits the motor mount.