Problem with Wheelz - won't stand behind his parts

Discussion in 'Buyer/Seller Feedback' started by schwemf, Aug 1, 2017.

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  1. wheelz

    wheelz 'B' is for Buick.

    Each.
    and.
    every.
    one.
    of your replies
    are honorable, sincere and I truely appreciate them all!

    I am, and have been for many years, dedicated to supplying parts for all you guys/gals who are determined and ambitious in keeping the Buick Musclecar empire alive and well. THANK YOU.

    I was there along side a lot of you restoring Buicks for many many years until recently. This is not the forum to go into such details, but, many of you know my wife is fighting cancer. These days I am selling parts to cover the 83K in hospital bills, surgeries, doctors, chemo, meds, radiation, and so forth. The sale of parts, goes directly towards paying those ever-piling up bills.

    So it is very difficult and definitely adds to my frustration to sell parts only to have to BUY THEM BACK from a unhappy buyer whom feels they should've gotten a 'better part'.
    Yes, it happens. I do understand that as I've been there. Many of you have been there too.
    It is a delicate balance when dealing with old car parts. Almost all of my 10,800+ transactions here have been smooth & flawless where everyone ended up happy. . .and yet, sometimes no one wins. Sometimes everyone loses. Such is this case.

    Mike, you made a purchase and made it very clear you were less than enamored with results. In fact, you were not just mad, but 'very mad' as in your own words. This kind of stuff makes me sick to my stomach. It really bothers me. Primarily because I am articulate as many have stated here, when it comes to describing and selling old Buick parts. I thrive on the positive feedback you guys post after purchasing my stuff. Its a good feeling that I really need more of these days.

    Here it is, 2:22am on a thursday morning, I have to take my wife to radiation treatment in just a few hours, I am exhausted, extremely weary because this issue is eating away at me, worn out, beat up and barely awake delicately searching my feeble brain for an amicable solution.

    Mike, I gave serious consideration to refunding your money to make you happy. I concur as some here have expressed, yes, it would be "the right thing".

    But then, I RE read your last post:

    "What concerns me the most is the extent of corrosion on the circuit board components, including corrosive oxide on a black wire (pictured, and I wiped away some of the oxide from the black wire). Another internal component (capacitor?) is physically broken."

    So it certainly seems apparent that you had to 'disassemble the radio' to see the 'corrosion of circuit board components and broken capacitor" as you described, right? SO, if I refund your purchase, will I be receiving my radio in the same condition it was when it left here just a few days ago?? or is it probable other internals could now be broken like that "capacitor"?? Furthermore, is it now possible, this radio will no longer work even on AM tuning as it did when it left here?? ... if you say YES, how can you be sure???
    Ya see, these questions bring this issue to a whole different, very concerning level.

    SO Mike, here's to you: You bought an AM/FM radio for a reasonable $285 plus shipping. I am going to refund you $160, roughly half of what you paid, and you do what you want with the AM/FM radio.

    Hear me out. I sincerely apologize for what you have experienced in dealing with me. This has been an extremely unfortunate, difficult and a very unusual situation.

    Understand, I am accepting half the responsibility for you being unhappy with your purchase.
    This is not up for negotiation... a check for $160 will be sent out to you in todays mail.

    I need to be over all this and get back to taking care of my wife and other much more important things.

    Wheelz, Tampa Bay

    One last note: good chance you wont, but I can only hope that in the future, should you ever need other Buick parts that I may have listed, (and I have a lot) please accept the fact that I would be willing to offer you a BROTHER IN LAW PRICE DEAL, just to keep a healthy 'Buick Friendship alive" and attempt to make up for this frustrating radio deal.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2017
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  2. deluxe68

    deluxe68 Well-Known Member

    You're not alone, we've all made purchase mistakes on our classic cars before. There are countless reasons why a "used" part may or may not meet expectations viewing from pictures. Yes you do get a description, but everybody's view on the overall quality of the part is different. This is where being a responsible "buyer" is beneficial in purchasing "used" parts.
    Exspecially electrical components.
    If the "buyer" fails in communicating to the seller on exactly what they are looking for, how is it the "sellers fault"?

    Mis represented part???? but it sure seems there should have been a lot more questions from the buyer to the seller before a transaction was made. (again, not the sellers fault) but your trying to hold him accountable for your lack of gathering information on a transaction that has already been made.

    Do you honestly feel a refund is in order?
    If it were me, I would not cash his check for a mistake that I made. But I would have learned a valuable lesson in purchasing parts for future transactions.
     
  3. STAGE III

    STAGE III Lost Experimental 455-4 Bolt Main Block.

    Hats off to you Dennis,
    I remember when my wife was and I were fighting her Stage 3 cancer that being called out on something like this would have crushed me with all the other demands on me, but like you bills had to be paid so I sold my GS's,a 1969 H/O 455, and also my Experimental 4 bolt main "X" block and many other rare parts.
    l have seen restored amd guaranteed AM-FM's as well as equally restored internally and externally repaired 8-tracks selling for BIG $.
    I know many of us buy these units purely as cosmetics just to fill in a hole in the dash because not many of us are going to be head banging to FM radio "power" but instead use an external modern unit hidden somewhere.
    BUT if that were not the case I would clarify in my wanted ad that I want a unit restored internally and fully functioning instead of one that "functions" and I will do the detailing.
    Dennis is not in the restoration business so If the lights on the radio came on and it made sound and the buyer wanted to do the external detailing themselves he is obviously trying like all of us (no offense)to save funds and most likely hoping he scores a working unit without the totally restored internal price. Sometimes that roll of the dice works and sometimes it does not and I have many inoperable units as an example of that.
    I see both sides of this though, $285 isn't chump change but I really feel Dennis gave you the best unit he had and without being an electrical engineer he sent it with good intentions.In my previous business I would pause long and hard before issuing a refund to a customer who opened up the casing to an electronic device and started to poke around without myself or a representative being present. That is pretty much standard procedure and why suppliers use anti tampering devices prior to shipping to confirm someone has gone into the unit in question.
    For this all to happen so quickly it appears the buyer was more concerned with internal conditions (as brought up about corrision conditions,broken off capacitors etc) so asking Dennis to pop the chassis cover and send that picture might have been an excellent request in hindsite and eliminated this entire bashing of a good man.

    Dennis, as you know I don't have a bunch either but I am going to paypal you $20 to offset some of your loss as I am sure the original amount went straight to the medical bills.

    Moral of the story is if you want a perfect internally restored radio you need to step up and pay the price from those who offer this service,not roll the dice with a USED parts seller and then trash his good name if SOMEHOW the 40 plus year old electronic thats been sitting for decades in storage has issues. As I said earlier sometimes you get lucky and get a good one but if you don't please don't hammer on the guy that tried to help you out. We like Dennis here and pray for healing for his wife and he does not purposely hurt buyers.
     
  4. STAGE III

    STAGE III Lost Experimental 455-4 Bolt Main Block.

  5. rkammer

    rkammer Gold Level Contributor

    Seems like an equitable solution. He can put the $160 towards the restoration of the radio which he probably would have had to do anyway. Kudos to Dennis for doing his share and hopes for his wife's future good health.
     
  6. BYoung

    BYoung Stage me

    That's pretty damn solid right there!
     
  7. STAGE III

    STAGE III Lost Experimental 455-4 Bolt Main Block.

    Yep, the one key word in this whole thread is "parts". That is what he sells. Just sayin

    Hope you get the radio rocking and rolling to your satisfaction with the money refunded.

    Now everyone shake hands and let's focus on the Best brand of cars made! BUICK!
     
  8. Eric

    Eric Founders Club Member

    Looks like Wheelz is being more than fair in letting you keep the radio and refunding you more than half the cost back. I have bought two am/fm non working radios at a cost of $150.00 ea. 15 to 20 years ago for my cars from a seller out here in Oregon and have had them gutted with new electronics with a total restoration cost of $500.00 to $550.00 each (not counting shipping) so...at today's prices $285.00 in my opinion is a reasonable value for an oem vintage Buick am/fm radio. PLUS...wheelz said that he'd give you a brother-in-law deal on a future purchase...
     
  9. BrianinStLouis

    BrianinStLouis Silver Level contributor

    With that kind of price, I should sell mine....hmmm
     
  10. PCUB

    PCUB PCUB

    Sounds like this boils down to a 47 year old radio that the buyer found needed more than cosmetic detailing to meet his expectation. I didn't see anything in their exchange that the seller had misrepresented the condition of the radio being sold so how best to resolve the buyers dissatisfaction? In this forum, I would expect fellow Buick owners/sellers to hopefully resolve this as future reputation and faith is preserved. V8 Forum buyers consider the sellers to be generally fair and honest over the typical national internet site and take that into consideration when evaluating product "condition" and take the chance! Like Eric indicated above; time to work it out together and move on. My two cents ( three with inflation).
     
  11. telriv

    telriv Founders Club Member

    I don't know how to start one, but somehow a GO FUND ME account should be started for Dennis & his wife to help with the bills.
    Just my thoughts. I see so much started for so many other people with less demanding problems.


    Tom T.
     
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  12. wheelz

    wheelz 'B' is for Buick.

    Again, I am truely amazed at all your heartfelt replies. THANK YOU!
    Tom Telesco, You are a genuine gentleman for suggesting GO FUND ME, Thank You... however, I am part of a growing Youth Ministry where the children I teach are much much worse off than my wife and I. These kids (mostly minorities) have
    meth/crack/pot addictive parents, abused sexually, mentally and physically, (some of their stories bring me to maan sized tears) and many of these kids have learned from their environment, they can only survive day-to-day by literally 'fighting their way' thru each and every hour of their day. Their Weapons of choice are not just "fists" anymore. These kids have access to serious, life ending weapons. Knives and guns are plentiful all around their homes very much like we used to have matchbox cars in our days... Most of them eat a so-so-called 'meal' once a day. At the end of our evening with them, NOT to make light of what we are experiencing mind you, but I THANK GOD my wife and I are dealing with so much less chaos than these children.
    God will never give us more than we can handle and my wife and I will get thru, and yet, I am deeply saddened by the fact that some of these children wont live to see the light of their teen years...

    THAT being said, while 'Go Fund Me' is an excellent idea, I would rather see financial benefits going towards the children of abused parents.

    ONE LAST THING, a check has been sent to Mike, and I hope and pray this subject of 'Unhappy Radio buyer' has been resolved.

    I will request the MODS to consider locking this thread so we can put this behind us and all move forward...

    I sincerely THANK YOU ALL for your support, past and future.

    Wheelz, Tampa Bay

    BTW, the attached is a pix of my Lovely wife. Please continue to keep her in your prayers! ThanX Guys!
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Aug 4, 2017
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  13. schwemf

    schwemf Mike Schweitzer

    Dennis,
    I'm so sorry to hear about your spouse. I just went though this with my mother. Now three years later she's back to 100%, but it is the type of thing that shakes us to the core.

    Why don't I just return the radio and you can refund me when your life settles down? It's not the money involved that has upset me but the idea that a Buick Man would do this to another Buick Man. I'll just chalk this up to what someone said previously in this discussion, that one man's junk is another man's gold.

    You may be happy to hear that I have anticipated you coming around, so I have not dissembled the radio that you sent me in any way!! All the pictures that I took were taken through access/cooling holes in the radio case. Not one screw was touched.

    Also, there seems to be a misunderstanding that any 47 year old part will look 'weathered', but that has not been my experience. Yes, I live in the dry west but the radio that I pulled earlier this week appears as new (from a car of unknown origin, but I did find a Georgia raffle ticket), and it's 47 years old too.

    I do have a 1970 Riviera AM/FM that I pulled from a parts car that does have some pitting on the chrome face, and that car was from upstate New York. So it did weather somewhat, in situ, just being exposed to that environment. Humidity perhaps?

    I also have a weathered radio, from a Denver car, but that radio was in a convertible in a junk yard. I bought the convertible for its excellent quarter panels, and saved the radio for parts.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2017
  14. My3Buicks

    My3Buicks Buick Guru

    If he had sold a show quality or an NOS radio it might be a different story, he sold an old used radio that was obviously far from perfect and was well described. Once an electronic part leaves your hand, who knows what the new owner did to it. I sold a power top motor a couple years ago that I actually installed in the car to make sure it worked properly, buyer got it and said it didn't work at all, I got the unit back and It wasn't even the same unit. Too often the sellers get dumped on and the buyers seem to have all the clout, especially now on eBay. Sometimes the buyer needs to take responsibility for what they bought unless an item is really mistepresented. Sometimes the seller needs to take a stand as a matter of principle and say no, and I think this is one of those times. All this talk about buying and selling in the Buick family and thinking that just because they have a Buick they are above reproach is just crazy thought, let's face it, it doesn't matter if it's a VW or Rolls Royce, you have crooked people both as buyers and sellers. And there isnt anybody here that can honestly say they haven't had an issue either as a buyer or a seller if they been in the hobby for very many years.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2017
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  15. STAGE III

    STAGE III Lost Experimental 455-4 Bolt Main Block.

    AMEN KEITH!!!
     
  16. deluxe68

    deluxe68 Well-Known Member

    Well written Keith!!!
     
  17. schwemf

    schwemf Mike Schweitzer

    A few years ago, the Buick GS Club of America mentioned in an editorial that they have never ever had a check bounce or otherwise not been paid by any club member. That club has been going since 1981 (or thereabouts).

    That has been my experience dealing with Buick Men (and a few women) as well, and Dennis is no exception. He's cool enough to say "hey, I disagree but if you feel that strongly let's work it out."
     
  18. 65specialconver

    65specialconver kennedy-bell MIA

    Never had a problem with Dennis either,both buying & selling.IMHO refunding half is more than fair.Be glad he's even doing that.Selling parts in the volume Dennis does is not an easy chore,more like a part time job.I remember Wild Bill selling tons of stuff on here.Now he wont due to this kind of disagreement on condition.A great parts resource gone....If your unsure,ask for more pictures!!!
     
  19. rkammer

    rkammer Gold Level Contributor

    Again just my opinion but, Dennis has rendered what most consider a fair solution to the radio issue. He has already mailed the $160 check so, why don't you just accept the partial refund and either restore the radio or sell it for the other $160 you spent originally. If you put it on this forum for $160 it would probably sell overnight to someone who would gut it and put modern components into it.

    I feel it's now your turn to do the right thing. JMHO.
     
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  20. wheelz

    wheelz 'B' is for Buick.

    I am absolutely speechless Mike. So much so, I cant put into words without 'crossing the line' so I will simply repeat my earlier posted statement:

    This is not up for negotiation... a check for $160 will be sent out to you in todays mail.
     
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