Just for the record, I genuinely am just seeking opinions and advice – I don’t want to start a witch hunt and I’ll be ruthlessly honest so you don’t need to go poking around in my forum activity history 🙂
Long story short, I bought a bike on here (normal PayPal, not gift) a couple of weeks ago. It was well described and the price was reasonable. The photos showed it as being ready to ride. The fork had just had a respray and oil change and the brakes were bled.
When it arrived, the rear mech was swinging loosely – I tried to tighten it but it was immediately evident something was wrong. The fork paint was flaking away and it had obviously just been sprayed without any key, or preparation. I could also pull both brake levers back to the bar.
I took it straight to my excellent lbs. The (Cytech qualified) mechanic phoned me back the same day saying the rear mech was hooded, the brakes needed bled and the fork required a rebuild. They also reckoned there was no fluid in them. So a hefty expense and I’d still need to strip, prepare and respray the forks myself.
The seller started off badly by insisting there was absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. He then relented and admitted the paint job was a legitimate cause for complaint. Given the cost of getting it ready to ride, I asked for a refund. Seller says no, but he will send.me another rear mech and a link to instructions to rebuild the fork…
Would you just bang in a PayPal dispute? Unreasonable? It’s an old bike and I wasn’t expecting miracles, but did.expect it to be rideable.