Ordered wheels, now vendor says they're out of stock...What should I do?
03-17-2006, 12:07 AM
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Ordered wheels, now vendor says they're out of stock...What should I do? I've been looking for wheels for my Silver SS for the past few months. I wanted something that looked decent, but was also affordable. After cruising the classifieds here and ebay, I settled on a new set of 17x9.5/17x11 black ZR1s from a vendor on ebay. (My car has a black roof, mirrors, SS badging, and 5% tint, so I figured the black wheels would go well with the car and create a silver/black theme)
Anyway, I used the Buy It Now option and paid for the wheels immediately. I then ordered some 275s and 315s from Tirerack. This was all last Thursday.
On Monday, Fedex dropped off two of the tires. The remaining two came on Tuesday. "Halfway there," I thought.
I checked my inbox Tuesday afternoon, and there was an email from the vendor I bought my wheels from saying that I should contact them concerning my order. Long story short, the vendor said that they were out of stock on the black ZR1s, and wouldn't have more in for another 2-3 weeks. Shipping to me will be an additional week, so I'm looking at 3-4 weeks total before the wheels reach my doorstep. They did however offer to knock $50 off of the price. So at this point, I'm getting the wheels pretty darn cheap. I went ahead and told them not to cancel the order, and that I would wait it out.
There are a few problems, though. My old tires are totally wasted. I don't want to drive the car and risk having a blowout. I have access to an old Accord that I can drive, but as many of you know, that's not much fun (especially when you have an F-Body at your disposal). Additionally, I anticipate being extremely busy in the coming weeks (I'm a graduating senior taking 20 hours), so I wanted to get this wrapped up this week since I have been off all week.
I'm not exactly happy that the wheels were advertised on ebay when in reality, they didn't even have them in stock. As I said, they did offer to knock $50 off of the price, but that doesn't help much with the time element. The remainder of their auctions for black wheels have been removed. I assume they will be relisted once they replinish their inventory. FWIW, the rep I spoke to was very polite, but I haven't received my refund/discount, and it was my understanding that it was to be processed the day I spoke with the rep. I also kind of feel like the auction should not have been run if they were not certain of stock levels.
So, would you be upset, or am I just impatient?
Anyway, I used the Buy It Now option and paid for the wheels immediately. I then ordered some 275s and 315s from Tirerack. This was all last Thursday.
On Monday, Fedex dropped off two of the tires. The remaining two came on Tuesday. "Halfway there," I thought.
I checked my inbox Tuesday afternoon, and there was an email from the vendor I bought my wheels from saying that I should contact them concerning my order. Long story short, the vendor said that they were out of stock on the black ZR1s, and wouldn't have more in for another 2-3 weeks. Shipping to me will be an additional week, so I'm looking at 3-4 weeks total before the wheels reach my doorstep. They did however offer to knock $50 off of the price. So at this point, I'm getting the wheels pretty darn cheap. I went ahead and told them not to cancel the order, and that I would wait it out.
There are a few problems, though. My old tires are totally wasted. I don't want to drive the car and risk having a blowout. I have access to an old Accord that I can drive, but as many of you know, that's not much fun (especially when you have an F-Body at your disposal). Additionally, I anticipate being extremely busy in the coming weeks (I'm a graduating senior taking 20 hours), so I wanted to get this wrapped up this week since I have been off all week.
I'm not exactly happy that the wheels were advertised on ebay when in reality, they didn't even have them in stock. As I said, they did offer to knock $50 off of the price, but that doesn't help much with the time element. The remainder of their auctions for black wheels have been removed. I assume they will be relisted once they replinish their inventory. FWIW, the rep I spoke to was very polite, but I haven't received my refund/discount, and it was my understanding that it was to be processed the day I spoke with the rep. I also kind of feel like the auction should not have been run if they were not certain of stock levels.
So, would you be upset, or am I just impatient?
03-17-2006, 01:02 AM
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Umm.. Honestly, I would ask them to cancel my order and refund the money right away.. Or, once they have the wheels, they send it OVERNIGHT!!...
You paid for it assuming the wheels were in stock, while they were not! If they did not list limited availability or something in the auction, they ARE at fault!
Frankly, $50 doesn't cut it... I would ask them to either do an expedited overnught shipping at NO additional charge or simply refund my money!!
Btw, who was the seller ? I bought mine from ebay and got'em within 4 days!!..
Even though this might be an isolated incident and the seller might otherwise be great, it's still a loss to you... esp after paying'em in full!!.. Would they be okay if you paid 10% now and told'em you'll pay the remaining within 2 weeks!..
Call'em and be persistant, yet polite and professional..
Goodluck!!
You paid for it assuming the wheels were in stock, while they were not! If they did not list limited availability or something in the auction, they ARE at fault!
Frankly, $50 doesn't cut it... I would ask them to either do an expedited overnught shipping at NO additional charge or simply refund my money!!
Btw, who was the seller ? I bought mine from ebay and got'em within 4 days!!..
Even though this might be an isolated incident and the seller might otherwise be great, it's still a loss to you... esp after paying'em in full!!.. Would they be okay if you paid 10% now and told'em you'll pay the remaining within 2 weeks!..
Call'em and be persistant, yet polite and professional..
Goodluck!!
03-17-2006, 01:13 AM
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Originally Posted by RahuL
Frankly, $50 doesn't cut it... I would ask them to either do an expedited overnught shipping at NO additional charge or simply refund my money!!
03-17-2006, 06:03 AM
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Taken directly from Ebay's policy section:
If a seller is no longer able to complete the transaction because the item is no longer available for trade, the seller may consider contacting the buyer, explain the situation, and attempt to reach an amicable resolution. While eBay encourages the buyer to be open to a reasonable resolution proposed by the seller, the buyer is not obligated to agree to any such proposal.
I had this same exact thing happen to me a month and a half ago. Won an auction for an LT1 Corvette balancer. The seller's auction even stated that they had 5 of them available for sale. The day after I won the auction with "Buy It Now" and Paypal'd them the money, they send me an email stating that they're currently out of stock of the item and couldn't confirm a date for when they'd be receiving more. They then had the nerve to act like they were doing me a favor by giving me the option to accept a refund. In so few words, I told them they could shove that favor in their orifice of choice and that I expected them to follow through and deliver the merchandise. After 3 weeks go by, and having received an email from them each consecutive week stating that they had no new info about the status of my order, I got ahold of Ebay's dispute resolution service. After trading emails over a 2 day time span explaining the situation, Ebay basically informed me that I had one of two choices in the matter: I could accept the seller's offer for a refund, OR I could wait out the 60 day grace period that they allow for either party to complete the terms of the auction to the other party's satisfaction. If after the 60 day grace period had ended and the seller still hadn't delivered the merchandise, I had the option to file a non-performing seller complaint at which time Ebay would decide "at their discretion" what actions they would take against the seller to bring about an "amicable resolution." Since these people had already wasted 3 weeks of my time, I decided to cut my losses and take the refund.
I hate to say it, but unless you're willing to buy these wheels from another source, you're pretty much stuck waiting out the timeframe this seller has told you it will take for them to replenish their stock. Ebay's not going to do a thing for you. What this basically boils down to is if the price you got them for is good enough to be worth the inconvenience you're being caused.
As far as your question of being impatient: not in the least. Think about how things would be if the situation were reversed: how many sellers do you think would be willing to wait 3 weeks to receive payment from a buyer?
If a seller is no longer able to complete the transaction because the item is no longer available for trade, the seller may consider contacting the buyer, explain the situation, and attempt to reach an amicable resolution. While eBay encourages the buyer to be open to a reasonable resolution proposed by the seller, the buyer is not obligated to agree to any such proposal.
I had this same exact thing happen to me a month and a half ago. Won an auction for an LT1 Corvette balancer. The seller's auction even stated that they had 5 of them available for sale. The day after I won the auction with "Buy It Now" and Paypal'd them the money, they send me an email stating that they're currently out of stock of the item and couldn't confirm a date for when they'd be receiving more. They then had the nerve to act like they were doing me a favor by giving me the option to accept a refund. In so few words, I told them they could shove that favor in their orifice of choice and that I expected them to follow through and deliver the merchandise. After 3 weeks go by, and having received an email from them each consecutive week stating that they had no new info about the status of my order, I got ahold of Ebay's dispute resolution service. After trading emails over a 2 day time span explaining the situation, Ebay basically informed me that I had one of two choices in the matter: I could accept the seller's offer for a refund, OR I could wait out the 60 day grace period that they allow for either party to complete the terms of the auction to the other party's satisfaction. If after the 60 day grace period had ended and the seller still hadn't delivered the merchandise, I had the option to file a non-performing seller complaint at which time Ebay would decide "at their discretion" what actions they would take against the seller to bring about an "amicable resolution." Since these people had already wasted 3 weeks of my time, I decided to cut my losses and take the refund.
I hate to say it, but unless you're willing to buy these wheels from another source, you're pretty much stuck waiting out the timeframe this seller has told you it will take for them to replenish their stock. Ebay's not going to do a thing for you. What this basically boils down to is if the price you got them for is good enough to be worth the inconvenience you're being caused.
As far as your question of being impatient: not in the least. Think about how things would be if the situation were reversed: how many sellers do you think would be willing to wait 3 weeks to receive payment from a buyer?
Last edited by thesoundandthefury; 03-17-2006 at 06:25 AM.
03-17-2006, 07:35 AM
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This is exactly the kind of thing that creates the fear of buying off ebay for me. I've bought 2 items and received them rapidly from different sellers, but I hold my breath each time. If you can't find wheels any cheaper elsewhere, just bite the bullet and wait it out. I would call them and ask for a larger discount for your inconvenience. If they will not do that, then tell them to ship overnight as was stated previously.
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03-17-2006, 11:39 AM
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Thanks for the input. I'm not going to post the name of the seller/vendor, but I will say that there have been threads about the seller here, and while most of the feedback was positive, there were a number of negative comments, too. Seemed like most of the complaints concerned customer service issues or shipping times, but the quality of the products was good.
...I hate to say it, but unless you're willing to buy these wheels from another source, you're pretty much stuck waiting out the timeframe this seller has told you it will take for them to replenish their stock. Ebay's not going to do a thing for you. What this basically boils down to is if the price you got them for is good enough to be worth the inconvenience you're being caused. This is pretty much what I had been thinking. The BIN price I purchased the wheels for was $594.60, including shipping and insurance. They also include lugnuts and valvestems with each purchase. Factor in the $50 discount, and the total drops to a little under $545. I didn't cancel my order because IMO that's incredibly cheap for four new wheels, lugnuts, shipping, and insurance.
This thread wasn't created to blast the seller (which is part of the reason I haven't mentioned their name). I just wanted to get some other opinions.
Originally Posted by thesoundandthefury
...I hate to say it, but unless you're willing to buy these wheels from another source, you're pretty much stuck waiting out the timeframe this seller has told you it will take for them to replenish their stock. Ebay's not going to do a thing for you. What this basically boils down to is if the price you got them for is good enough to be worth the inconvenience you're being caused.
This thread wasn't created to blast the seller (which is part of the reason I haven't mentioned their name). I just wanted to get some other opinions.
Last edited by QUICK305; 03-17-2006 at 12:00 PM.
03-17-2006, 01:04 PM
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Lol I got the call today.. out of stock. Its a good thing they called me though since they had me marked down for 9.5's all around when I ordered 11's for the back. I'm gonna wait it out since they agreed to pay back my rushed delivery money and take off 50 dollars and send them rushed delivery once they come in. Now I have two weeks to buy tires lol
03-17-2006, 01:35 PM
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What kind of time frame did they give you? I am seriously thinking about cancelling the order and going through AFS (even though it will cost me another couple hundred).
Did they mention when you will receive the discount? I was under the impression that it was going to be processed same day, but my paypal account shows otherwise.
EDIT: Meanwhile, I have four new tires sitting in my living room, but no wheels to mount them on.
Did they mention when you will receive the discount? I was under the impression that it was going to be processed same day, but my paypal account shows otherwise.
EDIT: Meanwhile, I have four new tires sitting in my living room, but no wheels to mount them on.
Last edited by QUICK305; 03-17-2006 at 01:40 PM.
03-18-2006, 06:45 AM
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they said that I will have the discount within the next 48 hours and said that they should be recieving their order within the next two weeks. Then they would rush them out asap. Im kinda a patient person though so I can wait it out.. especially since its gonna be a week anyways for my tires to be here lol
03-18-2006, 05:07 PM
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Update:
The seller made good on their promise, and I received my $50 refund on Friday. So, it looks like I'm just going to wait it out. While I'd like to have the wheels sooner, I'm getting them at an excellent price, so I really can't complain too much.
The seller made good on their promise, and I received my $50 refund on Friday. So, it looks like I'm just going to wait it out. While I'd like to have the wheels sooner, I'm getting them at an excellent price, so I really can't complain too much.