Bought a set of wheels through here recently which were described as being in 'good condition' and running 'straight and true'. Offered the chap his asking price as a gesture of goodwill in exchange for prompt delivery.
When they arrived, I noticed that half of the front hub cone assembly was missing (no washer or tightening nut on one side) and when spinning each wheel on a bike frame noted that both wheels had flat spots and the back wheel didn't spin freely on its axle. In both wheels, the bearings are pretty much shot. All of these things are easily fixed by someone that knows what they are doing (which I don't) or a LBS.
I emailed the seller immediately bringing all of this information to light and asking whether he would refund me in exchange for return of the wheels, or pay for them to be sorted out. His response was that he thought they were fine and that he wouldn't refund me, but may consider a contribution towards their fixing.
I have since responded with a link to my LBS's fixed-price menu for servicing hubs and trueing wheels and a suggestion fo a fair contribution. I have not received a reply to this email, or a subsequent email chasing up.
I know that it is a risk buying anything from a web forum and that if a purchase is made through Paypal Gift, there is no recourse through Paypal, and I know it is naive to expect everyone to be 100% upfront and straight, but it is nethertheless extremely disappointing.
I cannot see a way of taking any formal recourse against this STW member, other than to appeal to his honest nature.
As for what to do with the wheels, I can get them fixed (but am reluctant to chuck more money at them), or I could just throw them on the classifieds with a very honest description of their condition and sell them to someone who has more mechanical capabilities than me who can service the hubs themselves and true the wheels (so just incurring the cost of the parts).
So if anyone fancies a pair of black 317 Disc rims on Deore hubs (6 bolt) for £40 plus postage, let me know.
You live and learn!
These ones then...
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mavic-317-disc-wheelset-shimano-hubs-skewers
Giving the seller the benefit of the doubt maybe he's mechanically inept and just didn't actually check that the wheels were straight/true though he thought they were.
Either way I sense a lynching gathering 🙂 I've got my pitchfork ready...
i'm not naming any names, or going on a witch-hunt as i still hope the person in question will do the right thing, but it is looking unlikely (he was very prompt with emails when i was buying, but not when i found fault!).
Good luck! 😀
Too late for that - anyone can work out exactly who it is, just as I did...
It was brave of you buying with Paypal gift off a seller who only joined the forum a couple of days before.
Hope you get it sorted but I suspect you might have to sell them or get them fixed yourself and move on.
well, looking through my recent activity is entirely your perogative, but i'm not going to be the one to say who it is.
as for going ape... not in my nature... i try to treat people as i would like to be treated. mountain biking is my leisure pastime and getting stressed about it defeats the object.
as i mentioned in my original post, i am disappointed by the situation, nothing more, nothing less. nobody has money to burn in the current climate and at the moment, i feel that i have wasted £65 of my hard-earnt post-tax salary. 🙁
time for fist pie 
Another seller who contributes f*ck all but to rip people off within days of joining STW.
They're all blurred, that'll shake yer eyeballs/fillings out. 🙂
What do you mean by 'flatspots'.
The bearings are easy to fix assuming the races are sound, pennies rather than pounds. Would be a good opportunity to learn how? If the seller won't play ball, your choices are to fix or shift. If you shift at £40 you'll be losing more than the price of a fix.
Praps threaten to tell everyone about his gopping sofa if he won't help out? 🙂
You couldn't tell from the photos?
j/k - depressing that someone is prepared to hand stuff off like that. Fist pie is an option - yet to see the dispute that couldn't be clarified with a serving of the pie.
by flat spots i mean that they do not appear to be entirely round when spun... no doubt someone who knows how to true a wheel could sort them out in double-quick time, but i'm not that person and i'm quite time poor at the moment... i guess i could teach myself how to rebuild hubs, but alternatively, i could sell them on for £40 plus postage and take the £20 bath as a lesson in the harsh realities of life... lol
it's a shame, as over the last couple of months i have dealt with a number of people on this forum, all of whom have acted as exactly as i would have done.
as for 'fist-pie'... two wrongs seldom make a right... i prefer the higher moral ground with these things (right, time to head off to hug some trees and skip around in meadows looking at fluffy bunny rabits and pretty flowers)
I bet you could get em trued and the bearings sorted for less than £25 at your LBS (assuming [i]real[/i] one not Evans et al).
BTW, menu pricing on a web site will always err on the cautious side so there should be some contingency in there.
<edit> agreed full refund or fully covered cost of repair but, if the seller won't play, what to do?
refund and return, or pay the full cost of an LBS fix
even if i had bought them i would expect a refund equal to the LBS charge..... why should i fix them on my time
I'm a pretty good wheel fixer but I don't think I could pull those back into focus.
But could you do owt about the sofa? (apart from burn it?) 🙂
users who join just to sell stuff. always suspicious
Where do you live? If anywhere near me, I'll do my bit for karma and give em a true up and service for you if you want. Though that's not the point I suppose as the condition has been ill described to you.
where are you campfreddie? I'd have a go at trueing them if you're anywhere near Halifax. Bearings etc if they're shot can be had via CRC for pence and its pretty easy IIRC to just take the cones off, new bearings in, cones back on?
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That's him. Ugly isn't he 🙂
mboy and DaveyBoyWonder - I'm down in the New Forest close to Southampton.
mr_mills... can we try not to do the whole witch-hunt thing. I know that anyone who can be bothered can easily search through my recent activity to find out who the person is, but the purpose of my post was one of venting my (mellow) fury and seeking advice on resolution (and by resolution i mean that all i want out of this is spare pair of wheels to put on my gf's Giant Talon which seems to have the world's heaviest set of hoops!)
cheers
wish my g/f had the worlds heaviest set of hoops 😆
alarm bells should have rung - look at his sofa!
If you really are being mellow then get a nut, washer and spoke key and spend a therapeutic hour or so fettling them yourself.
It really isn't too difficult as long as you do it bit by bit and keep checking. You don't even need a wheel stand. Just turn the bike upside down and use a bit of chalk or felt pen. Actually, I just use my hand and eye to spot which bit needs tightening/slckening next.
Well I can't edit it now so you'll just have to ignore it 🙂
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OP, how did you think this thread would go? Same as all the others hate hate hate....
mboy and DaveyBoyWonder - I'm down in the New Forest close to Southampton
Ah, ironically been invited down to a Wedding in Southampton tomorrow, which I can't go to... Never mind!
I'm in Worcester FWIW.
Never trust anyone who's not a regular (good) poster in the chat and bike forums, anyone just on the classifieds is much more likely to be a chancer.
No recourse and I bet no-one on here knows them unfortunately.
What bearings do you need ? I [u]may[/u] have some I can send as a "gesture of goodwill"