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.
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.