Posted By: french_coupe
My not so good experience of Facebook - 03/02/2022 15:37
I have had an interesting few months trying to get a LHD brake servo for a 20VT delivered after paying for it back in October. After 3 and a half months and involving the German police I finally have the part.
I didn’t use Facebook until last year. I actually used it for getting info for various things in Bulgaria as I was making the move, but knew very little about the place.
After we were settled here I started to have a look at pages for the Coupe and saw a page for parts for sale. As the UK is no longer in the EU its now not so easy and much more expensive to get parts shipped into the EU.
Some of you may remember that the drive to Bulgaria in 2020 involved the Coupe having a problem with the servo whilst in Croatia. It took a good friend 3 months to get a 2nd hand servo and then have it fitted. Eventually I ended up shipping the car from Croatia to Bulgaria. Since then I have been keeping an eye out for a spare servo as they are so rare.
Back in October I saw an advert on Facebook for a LHD 20VT being broken in Germany. I contacted the guy and we agreed a price for the servo so I sent the money.
I didn’t follow up for a while as I had assumed that he would just send the part. After 3 weeks I asked him for the tracking number. He replied that he had not yet sent the part would would do the next day.
Another 2 weeks went by with no info from him. Again, I asked for a tracking number. He kept putting me off saying he would send the tracking info. After a couple of days I went back to him and asked that he return the money. That got a response saying that he would send the tracking number that afternoon.
The next day, nothing. I then went onto Facebook and put a post about him ripping me off and also reported him to Facebook.
Within 30 mins he sent me the tracking details, BUT the date and time was from right then. He sent the parcel AFTER I reported him.
I removed the post and waited for the parcel.
6 days later the parcel arrived. It was a box full of garbage and 2 x rear quarter windows. This was now the middle of December and I had already deleted my Facebook account as I found out from the Facebook page admin that ripoffs were common. I have no idea why the admin doesn’t do more to protect people when he knows that there are many issues.
I then decided that if I didn’t receive the correct part within the next month I would report him to the police.
As expected the part never arrived so I filled in the 8 page online crime form using Google Translate. Not easy but worth the effort.
The police contacted me a few days later and said that they would follow up. (They replied in perfect English too.)
When they came back they said he claimed to have made an error sending two parcels on the same day to the wrong addresses and wanted to resolve the issue amicably. I didn’t make a big deal of it, but he had previously claimed that the windows were for his own car and wanted me to send them back BEFORE he would send the servo to me.
I contacted him by email, as per the police advice and he said he would send the part. He asked for my address again. This was the 3rd time I had given him the address.
I waited 2 weeks and still nothing so I contacted the police again and didn’t bother with him. This time he finally sent the part which I received today.
I have no idea why he didn’t just send the part originally or just keep in touch with me if there was an issue. He never once contacted me without me contacting him first. Seems odd that he had the part but seemed reluctant to send it.
It has caused him problems with the police for no good reason.
I definitely will not use social media for buying goods again unless I already know the seller. I could have been protected if I had bought the part using Paypal. Unfortunately Paypal doesn’t work for me anymore as I have moved countries 3 times in 2 years. Seemingly they don’t like that very much.
In all the years of owning the Coupe this is the first problem I have had when buying parts. I have bought parts from several countries over the years with no issues.
I guess from now on I will buy from reputable dedicated sites / companies or known suppliers. Lesson learnt.
In the end it worked out fine, but took some effort and a lot of time. I have 2 cars both running well and the LHD car has just passed the Bulgaria technical inspection for another year so all good.
I didn’t use Facebook until last year. I actually used it for getting info for various things in Bulgaria as I was making the move, but knew very little about the place.
After we were settled here I started to have a look at pages for the Coupe and saw a page for parts for sale. As the UK is no longer in the EU its now not so easy and much more expensive to get parts shipped into the EU.
Some of you may remember that the drive to Bulgaria in 2020 involved the Coupe having a problem with the servo whilst in Croatia. It took a good friend 3 months to get a 2nd hand servo and then have it fitted. Eventually I ended up shipping the car from Croatia to Bulgaria. Since then I have been keeping an eye out for a spare servo as they are so rare.
Back in October I saw an advert on Facebook for a LHD 20VT being broken in Germany. I contacted the guy and we agreed a price for the servo so I sent the money.
I didn’t follow up for a while as I had assumed that he would just send the part. After 3 weeks I asked him for the tracking number. He replied that he had not yet sent the part would would do the next day.
Another 2 weeks went by with no info from him. Again, I asked for a tracking number. He kept putting me off saying he would send the tracking info. After a couple of days I went back to him and asked that he return the money. That got a response saying that he would send the tracking number that afternoon.
The next day, nothing. I then went onto Facebook and put a post about him ripping me off and also reported him to Facebook.
Within 30 mins he sent me the tracking details, BUT the date and time was from right then. He sent the parcel AFTER I reported him.
I removed the post and waited for the parcel.
6 days later the parcel arrived. It was a box full of garbage and 2 x rear quarter windows. This was now the middle of December and I had already deleted my Facebook account as I found out from the Facebook page admin that ripoffs were common. I have no idea why the admin doesn’t do more to protect people when he knows that there are many issues.
I then decided that if I didn’t receive the correct part within the next month I would report him to the police.
As expected the part never arrived so I filled in the 8 page online crime form using Google Translate. Not easy but worth the effort.
The police contacted me a few days later and said that they would follow up. (They replied in perfect English too.)
When they came back they said he claimed to have made an error sending two parcels on the same day to the wrong addresses and wanted to resolve the issue amicably. I didn’t make a big deal of it, but he had previously claimed that the windows were for his own car and wanted me to send them back BEFORE he would send the servo to me.
I contacted him by email, as per the police advice and he said he would send the part. He asked for my address again. This was the 3rd time I had given him the address.
I waited 2 weeks and still nothing so I contacted the police again and didn’t bother with him. This time he finally sent the part which I received today.
I have no idea why he didn’t just send the part originally or just keep in touch with me if there was an issue. He never once contacted me without me contacting him first. Seems odd that he had the part but seemed reluctant to send it.
It has caused him problems with the police for no good reason.
I definitely will not use social media for buying goods again unless I already know the seller. I could have been protected if I had bought the part using Paypal. Unfortunately Paypal doesn’t work for me anymore as I have moved countries 3 times in 2 years. Seemingly they don’t like that very much.
In all the years of owning the Coupe this is the first problem I have had when buying parts. I have bought parts from several countries over the years with no issues.
I guess from now on I will buy from reputable dedicated sites / companies or known suppliers. Lesson learnt.
In the end it worked out fine, but took some effort and a lot of time. I have 2 cars both running well and the LHD car has just passed the Bulgaria technical inspection for another year so all good.
