knucklehead (Larry Pike) stole my money

86SS86LS · #1 (**permalink**) May 16th, 2008, 11:50 PM

Well it has been nearly 3 months now and it is getting obvious to me that I won't be getting my money back. I have decided to use the Feedback section only as a last resort. Larry can still make things right on this transaction, but until this happens I feel that I should warn the other board members of dealing with this guy.

So here are the facts surrounding this deal:

I respond to a post by Larry Pike (knucklehead) for a 145 mph cluster, we arrive at a $75 shipped price and I paypal Larry $75 on 2/26/08.

I received the cluster via UPS, remove the speedometer and notice that it is in below average condition - face is scratched up and the metal parts are pretty well rusted, including the shaft that spins the odometer. I questioned whether the odometer would even turn, but proceeded to place the speedometer in the GN anyway and went out for the drive. Sure enough the odometer didn't move and the speedometer made an annoying grinding sound as it turned.

So I notify Larry that he had sent me a broken part and that I would send it back to him (at my own expense) and he would refund my paypal payment. In the meantime I purchase a good working speedometer from gn4u2c.

Larry sends me a private message on 4/24 saying that the mounting tabs are broken, screws are missing, and the flexible curcuit board is ripped. I respond stating that I may have missed a few screws when I placed the speedometer back in the cluster and that I would send him extra screws from my recently purchased cluster - but I did not break anything else.

Larry then decides that the cluster broke in transit back to him (no doubt in my mind it was originally sent from him in that condition) and that I should try to recover the money from UPS (obviously a last ditch effort to avoid refunding my money). He offers to send pictures, and once I get them am not able to see any damage at all so I ask him via pm on 5/8 and again on 5/14 to clarify the damage in the pictures - he does not respond.

This is his final pm to me, sent on 5/13:

i sent u the pics of the damaged cluster
if u did not contact the shipper then that is on u
the cluster is broke and un-usable to me
( was not shipped to u in this condition)
there will be no refund !!!! i will send u back the cluster for the cost of shipping if u want it back .
please respond in 2 days or it will be thrown in the trash.

I packed the cluster in bubble wrap and sent it back to him, offering much better protection than the way it was shipped to me. There is no way that whatever damage he claims happened occured when in transit back to him. Judging by the overall condition of the speedometer I am certain that it was sent by him that way to me - keep in mind that I only needed the speedometer so I didn't even glance at the cluster housing when I had it in my possession. I also will refuse to make any kind of claim to UPS when I know that the damage did not occur during shipment - this is considered fraud, and I will not participate in it.

So to summarize: Larry now has my $75, he has the cluster, I spent another $12 to return the cluster to him, and I am out a few hours of my time to install/remove the speedometer, troubleshoot the odometer problem, pack and send the cluster back to him, etc. If I would have known that he was going to rip me off, I never would have spent the $12 to send it back to him and I would at least have the cluster (not that a speedo with a busted odometer is worth anything).

I've dealt with quite a few boardmembers and vendors here and all of my transactions have been handled very well. This is the first time I've gotten screwed over and it is unfortunate that these type of people are members of the TB community. If nothing else, I'm lucky that the dollar amount is relatively low. I can handle the $75 hit, it's just that the thought of someone scamming me out of my hard earned money really boils my blood.

Hopefully this post will prevent members from getting screwed over in the future. His profile indicates that he runs some type of performance shop in Spring Hill Florida called Dominant Power Solutions. Based on my experience with him, I would be very afraid of Larry doing any kind of high dollar drivetrain work.

knucklehead · #2 (**permalink**) May 17th, 2008, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by 86SS86LS
Well I tried it again in the car and the speedometer worked great, the odometer would not turn however- clicked and moved a little, like it wanted to turn. Also spun it with a drill and got the same result.

There is a fair amount of rust on the metal pieces of the cluster including the little shafts that turn the odometer. When was the last time that the odometer worked? Did you just pull it out of a running car?

I hate to say it but I am going to send the cluster back, a speedometer without a working odometer doesn't do me much good. What is your address?

ok ! the way i allway's sell them is with out the
odometer . i did not have the time to remove it .so u can put yours in to keep the correct milage of your car!!!! but if u feel that u want to send it back thats fine.
yes it can from a running car.

i dont rip off anyone
as u can see people only write what they want u to see !!!!!!
i offerd a 100 & 10% refund
but he was advised the part was broke
and did nothing about it for 30 days

now if it was broke when he got it
dont u think he would have said something about it !!!!!!

86SS86LS · #3 (**permalink**) May 17th, 2008, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

i dont rip off anyone
as u can see people only write what they want u to see !!!!!!
i offerd a 100 & 10% refund
but he was advised the part was broke
and did nothing about it for 30 days

now if it was broke when he got it
dont u think he would have said something about it !!!!!!

Not sure what you are trying to say here. Yes, it was broken when I got it, the odometer did not turn. And yes, I did notify you about it, the pm that you quoted in your above post confirms that.

You did not offer a 110% refund - if you did, why haven't you returned my Paypal payment? I sent PM's on 4/28, 5/1, 5/5, and 5/13 asking for the return of my $75. You ignored all of them.

The facts are:
You sent me a nonworking part.
I spent $12 to ship the nonworking part back to you.
You now have both my $75 and the worthless part.

knucklehead · #4 (**permalink**) May 17th, 2008, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by 86SS86LS
When you get a chance, please refund the $75 Paypal payment. Like I indicated earlier I didn't break the mounting tabs or the flexible curcuit board(????). My guess would be that you either sent the cluster in that condition, or it had broken in transit. I thought I replaced all of the screws when I put the speedometer back in the housing - but if not I can send you a bunch of screws, since I bought another cluster and have plenty of extras

now if i sent it that way ( from what u wrote in your first post) not that it worked great
just the odometer did not work!!! and im sorry for over looking some of the pm's you sent !!!!! this one states u took it apart sorry im not walmart u cant take it home .break it . but it in a box and say (i didnt do that)

.

no-nos · #5 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 03:44 PM

my opinion is, the bottom line is the guy is out of his $75 bucks, you have his $75bucks and your part and you don't want to send him back the money because you say the part is'nt in the same condition as when you sent it,
THE WAY I SEE IT, 86SS86LS -you need to make sure that when your buying a used part everything about that part is disclosed to you ( I.E.- condition, working condition , apperance etc) i'm not saying you did'nt ask about those things, but it helps. knucklehead- you got your part back, it may be missing screws and what not, but as you said yourself it works fine, seeing there's no damage to the speedometer, you should at least come to some middle ground , maybe not a full refund but a partial-refund would be fair, it would show that you offered some type of solution to a sale gone bad. I know you don't have to do a dam thing!, ( especially hear what i have to say ) but you risk your reputation over a $75 sale, it's not worth it if you ask me. you'll find selling any other part on here really difficult if your not trusted on this web-site. and 86ss- you gotta keep in mind these are used parts, the condition is not going to be as good as new, a full refund that's pretty hard to get back, ( and yes i know he has his part back ) but you have to consider that he's stuck with a part he'll have to try to sell again.

i hope i have'nt pissed any of you guys off, thats not my intention. I have been a member of this board for awhile now and can truly say, we buick guys always try to work things out. i don't know either of you but i'm hopeing you 2 make the rest of us proud to have you guys amung us.

86SS86LS · #6 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 03:57 PM

For the last time....I did not break anything and it did not break during shipping back to you. This was a worthless, busted up piece of junk when you sent it.

Since I did not need the cluster housing, I simply removed the speedometer from the housing and then returned it to the housing when I found out the odometer does not turn. Nothing was broken in the process as you claim.

You flat-out stole $75 from me. And now you have the cluster back in your possession so you can repeat the scam again.

86SS86LS · #7 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no-nos

my opinion is, the bottom line is the guy is out of his $75 bucks, you have his $75bucks and your part and you don't want to send him back the money because you say the part is'nt in the same condition as when you sent it,
THE WAY I SEE IT, 86SS86LS -you need to make sure that when your buying a used part everything about that part is disclosed to you ( I.E.- condition, working condition , apperance etc) i'm not saying you did'nt ask about those things, but it helps. knucklehead- you got your part back, it may be missing screws and what not, but as you said yourself it works fine, seeing there's no damage to the speedometer, you should at least come to some middle ground , maybe not a full refund but a partial-refund would be fair, it would show that you offered some type of solution to a sale gone bad. I know you don't have to do a dam thing!, ( especially hear what i have to say ) but you risk your reputation over a $75 sale, it's not worth it if you ask me. you'll find selling any other part on here really difficult if your not trusted on this web-site. and 86ss- you gotta keep in mind these are used parts, the condition is not going to be as good as new, a full refund that's pretty hard to get back, ( and yes i know he has his part back ) but you have to consider that he's stuck with a part he'll have to try to sell again.

i hope i have'nt pissed any of you guys off, thats not my intention. I have been a member of this board for awhile now and can truly say, we buick guys always try to work things out. i don't know either of you but i'm hopeing you 2 make the rest of us proud to have you guys amung us.

I realize that there is some risk in buying used parts. But a speedometer without a working odometer is not worth a thing in my opinion. Sure I can accept aesthetic defects on a used part (scratches, rust, etc.) but when it does not perform its primary function than it is completely worthless.

And I don't think a full refund is out of the question. What would you do in this situation? Say you spent $75 on a part that did not work then sent it back. Would you expect a full refund?

Its all about doing the right thing, People like Mike at Full Throttle and Brian at G-Body Parts wouldn't hesitate to refund your money if a part did not work. I also believe that 99% of the board members would have enough integrity to offer a full refund.

You can really tell an honest, respectable seller by how they react in a situation like this. Good sellers will go out of their way to make things right, dishonest ones will backtrack, lie, stall, etc. use whatever means necessary to keep the money.

stack1 · #8 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 05:48 PM

I don't see much from those pictures. Let's see the whole thing and try to adjust the focus a little. All I can see is a missing screw, big deal!

knucklehead · #9 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86SS86LS

For the last time....I did not break anything and it did not break during shipping back to you. This was a worthless, busted up piece of junk when you sent it.

Since I did not need the cluster housing, I simply removed the speedometer from the housing and then returned it to the housing when I found out the odometer does not turn. Nothing was broken in the process as you claim.

You flat-out stole $75 from me. And now you have the cluster back in your possession so you can repeat the scam again.

well once again its a new story !!!!!!!
1st )i installed it and it did not work
2nd ) i took it apart to fix it
3rd ) now i removed parts ( because i did not need the housing)

if the odometer did not work im sorry !!!!
the reason i sell then with no odometer
is so when a car is sold it has the correct milage !!!! (first)
and so the buyer does not get scamed

i contacted u when i got the box and stated
the cluster was damaged . i sent u pics.

u got a cluster with no damage (other then odometer inop)
i got back a broken peice of crap

did u contact the shipper NO !!
u just tried to blame it on me !!!!!

86SS86LS · #10 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stack1

I don't see much from those pictures. Let's see the whole thing and try to adjust the focus a little. All I can see is a missing screw, big deal!

Yes, my point exactly, I've sent him 2 PM's asking what the damage is because the pictures do not show anything. He did not respond to either PM.

86SS86LS · #11 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

well once again its a new story !!!!!!!
1st )i installed it and it did not work
2nd ) i took it apart to fix it
3rd ) now i removed parts ( because i did not need the housing)

The story never changed, re-read the original post.

1.) I installed the speedometer into my existing housing - I had no reason to pull out my perfectly good housing. And yes, it did not work, the odometer didn't turn.

2.) Never claimed that I tried to fix anything.

3.) Yes, I removed the 6 or 8 screws to take out the speedometer

86SS86LS · #12 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

if the odometer did not work im sorry !!!!
the reason i sell then with no odometer
is so when a car is sold it has the correct milage !!!! (first)
and so the buyer does not get scamed

The odometer is an integral part of the speedometer. The $75 was for the speedometer/odometer and cluster housing. It was never said or implied by either of us that I was not purchasing the odometer. And I never intended to use my existing odometer.

86SS86LS · #13 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

i contacted u when i got the box and stated
the cluster was damaged . i sent u pics.

Yes, you did send some blurry pictures to my email address. I PM'd you on 5/8 and 5/14 asking you to clarify the damage. You did not respond.

no-nos · #14 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:45 PM

i just hope you guys work this out, the guy does have his part back and in working order, i said maybe not a full refund cause, he might have lost the chance to sell it to someone else. you may have a valid point why not a full refund? if it was me i would at least offer you a full refund -minus what the screws may cost ( were talking a couple of dimes, and some gas ) in other words i'd offer about $60-$65 bucks back to ya. but that's just my opinion.
good luck guys.

86SS86LS · #15 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

u got a cluster with no damage (other then odometer inop)
i got back a broken peice of crap

I love how you keep downplaying the fact that the odometer does not work. The primary functions of the speedometer are 1) to tell you how fast you are going and 2) how many miles you have traveled. The piece you sent me only does one of these. This is kind of like advertising a perfectly good running car, but the transmission is shot....no big deal right?

OK...this is the last time...YOU SENT A BROKEN PIECE OF CRAP. The odometer didn't work, the face was all scratched up, metal parts of the speedometer were rusty, speedometer made a grinding noise as it turned.

Like I stated earlier, I did not use the cluster housing, so I did not look it over very closely. If I had, I would have seen the damage you are referring to (you still have not explained the damage and the pictures are no help). There is no doubt in my mind that you sent it in that condition.

knucklehead · #16 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86SS86LS

Yes, you did send some blurry pictures to my email address. I PM'd you on 5/8 and 5/14 asking you to clarify the damage. You did not respond.

these are the other pics that were sent to u

86SS86LS · #17 (**permalink**) May 18th, 2008, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knucklehead

did u contact the shipper NO !!
u just tried to blame it on me !!!!!

Contact the shipper and tell them what? "Here are some blurry pics and I don't know what the damage is....."

I am certain that you sent the parts in that condition and claiming shipping damage would be fraud. If you are so certain that this happened in transit, go ahead and contact the shipper yourself. If it did happen during shipping (highly doubt it) it would more likely have occured when you sent the part to me - it was loosely packaged with wadded up newspaper. When I sent it back to you I realized it wasn't packed well and snuggly wrapped the part in bubble wrap.