Little long of a story but I want to get all the details in:

In mid October I posted a want to buy oil pan for a 3.8L V6 camaro. Camaromotorsports PMed me saying he had one for $100 shipped. I asked condition, stating that a few dings didn't really matter. He replies:

(email removed so he doesn't get spam bots or anything like that)

Sounds great to me. He ships it soon afterwards, and it arrives. Now I'm working 32+ hours a week plus full time college so I can't get to putting the pan on my car right away, plus I don't have a lift accessible to me at the time. However, at that point he had 88 feedback on here all good so I wasn't worried about it.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend. My friend's work has a lift that we can use over the weekend since they won't be needing it. He's off work, I'm off work and school, so finally schedules all fit together. I get the car on the lift, take my old pan off the car, and pull out the replacement from camaromotorsports. Just to find it is all banged up and really not in better shape than mine! What the heck, he said it was nice! Well at that point I'm kinda screwed, I have a bad pan, this replacement really isn't much good either. I could have hammered it out but then that wasn't what I was buying, I could have just pounded mine out really. I end up paying nearly $200 at the dealer that day to buy a brand new one, which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place

I contact camaromotorsports and let him know the pan that he sent me is all banged up. He sends the reply:

Well there's no way it got banged up in shipment otherwise the box would have been bashed in as well. So I tell him that, and tell him I can send pictures and also let him know to check my ebay feedback and heatware feedback (over 150 in total, 100% positive) as proof I'm out to rip anyone off. I don't blame him for being wary. His reply:

At which point I send pictures to prove it wasn't "just fine."

THE PAN HE SENT ME:








MY OLD PAN:



MY BRAND NEW PAN FROM THE DEALER (and invoice as proof of purchase - sorry for pic quality but all I had with me at the shop was my cell phone):





His response to this:

I freely admit that yes, I made a mistake in not checking it when it arrived right away. However, when a guy with 88 positive tells me when this part is "nice" I'm hardly expecting the pan to look like this! So I tell him that pan doesn't have "minor dings" it needs work, and no he didn't sell me what I was looking for. He sold me what I already had, a banged up oil pan. If I was looking to hammer a pan back into shape I would have just done that to my old one. The clearance between the oil pickup and the bottom of the pan was a concern. His reponse:

No actually, my drain plug didn't leak, the thing leaked from where the pan attached to the block. And according to my friend, all the crusty looking stuff on the backside of the pan he sent me (the side where the plug is) was old dried up dirty oil from it leaking at the gasket surface, like my old one was. What else would it be, the front side of the pan is pretty clean and that is where you'd expect road dirt and grime to build up on. Maybe I'm wrong here however, so do correct me if I'm wrong.

SO to sum all this up
I feel that he's in the wrong here. Yes, I admit I made a mistake when I didn't check it right when it arrived, but his description of it being nice was way off as you can see in the pictures. I asked for a 75% refund since I had made that mistake, however his description of the pan being "nice" is hardly accurate. That description even morphed in the PMs from insisting it was nice, fine, all that until I sent him pictures where it turned into a "it would have worked."

I tried to resolve this via PMs with him over the past week but gotten nowhere. I'm posting this here now to get 3rd party opinions. Who is in the wrong here, am I, or is he, or are both of us? I feel both of us are, but him more because he did not give an accurate description of the pan at all. All I want is 75% of my money back, and I will ship him his pan back if he wants it.

Thanks for reading. My heatware feedback can be found HERE and my ebay feedback HERE - over 150 total.

 

It may not leak, but it looks like $hitt. I would'nt have sold anything in that shape.

 

wow, that oil pan was shitty. but honestly, working 32+ hours with school would still leave you enough time to at least open the thing and make sure he didnt send you a worn out tire. and also why would you not request pics to begin with? he must have thought he hit the lottery with you. that thing would have been in my garbage

i still think he should refund you some money. id be embarassed selling that to someone and claiming that its in "nice" condition

 

I agree, and that's why I'm accepting some of the blame. I should have checked it and I didn't (and I've learned, always check the parts regardless of who it came from or what his feedback looks like), that's also why I'm not asking for a full refund.

 

Wow, looks like that thing took a beating. Ehh just a few dings. I would not use it. How did you pay? Is he a sponsor on here?

 

I paid via non-CC paypal. I paid more than 30 days ago though so I don't think they'll help me any. No he's not a sponsor, just a member.

 

The guy is local for me. I went to get a LS1 Harness from him and someone clipped one of the O2 Connectors off of it. He gave me another one to use for it..so the guy hooked me up with another Connector, and I've gone to him a couple of other times for parts.

You may be out of luck with the Oil Pan, then again I wouldn't sell anything that was beat to hell like that either..

 

Yeah that's the part that got me, so many others obviously had no problems. This all could have been avoided if he had given me a true description of the pan. Also, this could have been maybe taken care of easier had I checked it when it arrived, not assumed. You'd think after doing 150+ deals online I'd have learned that but apparently not - Never ran into this kind of thing however.

You bet I've learned now, don't take anyone's word for it, always check regardless of feedback or at some point it will burn you

 

You shouldn't feel 'guilty' by opening the box a month later. The part was obviously damaged, and nothing would have changed if you had opened it right away. A p.o.s. part is and will be p.o.s. He would have used the same excuse that the part was functioning properly and a few dents were ok.

Also, I don't understand sellers who can't even clean up some parts they are selling. It is just a matter of courtesy. I realize it is a $100 part, but at least wash that sludge crap off.

A positive feedback is a nice thing, but a lot of buyers leave positive feedback being afraid to be retaliated back with a negative. The way I see it - if you sent money and the seller receives it, you have done part of your trasnaction, you should get a positive feedback right away, not sit and wait for the other party to check what you left for them.

If he doesn't want to send you another pan or offer some way of recovering this sour deal, leave him his first negative feedback.

Yeah, lesson learnt - ask for pictures in the future in high-resolution.

 

well , i was asked for a oil pan that was usable, his was leaking i was told , this oil pan was non leaking , he told me some dings would be fine, that one was off so i sold it at 100.00 shipped, cost me 18.00 for shipping , now if there were a problem , it should have been brought foward a month ago when he received it , i would have found a replacement , i would not ahve had any problem , but waiting over a month and then emailing me is not acceptable , i buy used parts from yards all the time ,and they say 30 day warranty on the receipt , thats my point , if theres a problem , bring it foward when it arrives , don't wait months ,and when i am told i need a non leaking pan , dings will be fine , thats what i thought i had sent , guess i was wrong , seems everyone else other than this person i have had no complaints from you can plainly look at my feedback

 

Maybe the reason why other people left you good feedback is you didn't sell them a piece of crap, on the pretense of it being in good shape when it actually was not?

This is the biggest problem about the whole thing: You did not give an accurate description of that pan, at all. If you had, there would never have been any issue.

 

I think you're just going to have to take this as a lesson learned. As soon as he said it had some "dings" in it, you should have asked him for some pictures - obviously time was no concern. I also understand being busy, I work and go to school, but when I buy a used part online I check it out thoroughly when it arrives and email the person letting them know the package has either safely arrived, or that we have an issue.

You really have to look at it from his point of view too. Like he said, he sold you a used part and its months later.

I'd be pissed off if I were you, but asking for a refund is pretty ridiculous.

 

Honestly i think you should have asked for pics first. See what your getting before you get it. Also, you should have gone through gm parts direct. paying list price for new GM parts...ouch.

 

Agreed, That pan is a piece of ****, and you are acknowledging that and just because its been 30 days doesnt mean you can't do the ethical thing and refund him his money.

 

He didn't say it had dings, he said it was nice after I asked condition and I did say a couple dings were ok (that pan doesn't just have a couple little dings though). I admitted before and I'll admit again that I should have checked the pan when it arrived, instead of trusting him as much as I did. I've learned not to look at someone's feedback and assume he's being 100% honest with you anymore. Sad, but true it seems. From now on you bet I'm asking for pics of stuff.

Well I was stuck. I had the car on the lift, the old pan off, and this was my only chance to use the lift and I wasn't about to put a piece of crap on my car again so that was my only other option unfortunately. My wallet was hurting after shelling that much out for the new pan... even more after I had bought a pan once already

 

Its your fault, take it as a lesson learned, nobody buys used parts without asking for exact details and pictures, if you cannot ask questions its your fault, whenever i buy something used I make dang sure i know the condition and every detail, your carelessness costed you here, yes that oil pan is beat up, but its your fault for not specifying more specific demands and then clarifying that what he was selling was what you wanted. He sold you exactly what you requested, can't argue with that..

 

So according to your logic, the seller was 100% in the right? The buyer should have requested pics or more details and he also should have opened the box to verify parts/condition. The seller clearly misrepresented the condition of the part he was selling. If that oil pan is nice by his standards then you can be damn sure I never buy from him. That oil pan wasn't worth the price it cost to ship it IMO.

 

I'm going to have to agree with you. Clearly, if the part was represented as "nice" then it was misrepresented. The buyer is at fault for failing to perform due diligence, and the seller is at fault for misrepresenting his product.
It is unfortunate, however, that the seller a) sold such a flawed product to begin with, and b) refuses to admit that the product was misrepresented.
AFA its worth, I would have to make the dog carry it to the curb on trash day, it's not worth the effort for me to do it.

 

You should have told him that the oil pan was beat up coz I don't call these dings, also I know you are trying to make some money out of parts you sell on here but 100 bux for that oil pan was exaggerated and overpriced.

The buyer should always ask for pics before purchasing anything in order not to be surprised of what he is gonna get when he opens the box.

 

holy ****, run on sentences much? god damn