E-Bay mess

[sirstude]

I am debating on if I should even say anything about this but both as a warning and possible help for me I will post this.

In November there was a guy (Race Suppliers) on E-bay selling Gm Performance Big Block heads at a real good price.  I did all the checking on him that I could through e-bay and he looked good, so I bought a set.  The deal on these were they were pre-orders and had to be paid for then and would be shipped when he got them.  The only time I have ever been burned on e-bay was on a pre order for a diecast that never showed up.  Anyway, nothing showed up for a while and then when I wrote him the end of December, he wrote back and said that GM shuts down the first of the year for a couple of weeks and then should be shipping out.  He offered to refund my money, but I wanted the heads so deferred.  Still nothing as of yesterday, so I wrote again and he sent the following reply, so look like I am out the bucks.  What I was wondering is if anyone on the boards knows this guy and to warn about pre-ordered items on e-bay.

Doug

Letter to me:
To all purchasers of the Big Block cylinder heads on EBay:

I know that this has turned into a nightmare for each of you just as it has for me and my family.  I hope that each of you know that I am doing my BEST to end this as quickly as possible by either getting refunds to everyone, or get your heads.

What has happened is this:

In May of 04', as I was looking for a set of small block Chevy heads, I ran across a newly authorized GM Performance dealer in Dallas Texas.  They had not done much business as most people did not know they were a GM Performance dealer.  So I began talking to them about the heads I was looking for and what my application was and through that it led to a conversation about the new BBC crate motors and their cylinder heads.  Knowing that I built some engines for myself as well as other local racers, he told me that he thought it would be in my best interest to check into crate motors.  Through that, I realized that these were pretty good heads at pretty good prices.  He was selling way below retail trying to move some heads and make himself look good with GM.  He made me a deal on the heads so I tried it with one auction on EBay.  That pair of heads were sold within 5 hours of me placing the auction.  So when I received the payment for those heads, I went straight to him and ordered them.  (Prior to me placing the auction, he told me that he had to have payment before he could order the heads because they were considered special order and non-returnable, so I stated that in the auction).  Since that transaction went so well, I decided to list a few different pair of heads in the second group of auctions.   And so that process continued until July when someone who purchased heads decided he would like to have them ported to certain specs as well.  So I went to a local shop that I had used for my own personal port work in the past for the porting of the customer's heads.  We started talking about where I was getting the heads and what I was paying, where I was selling them and so on.  He proceeded to tell me that he had a friend who worked for GM and he could get me the same deal, if not better.  I was a little leery, but thought it wouldn't hurt to try and buy just one set through him.  So I ordered one pair of heads and had them about 2 weeks later.  Since that transaction went so well, I decided to try it one more time.  Once again, the heads showed up in about 2 weeks.  At that point, I decided to start going through him to get all the heads.  Not only could he get them a little faster than the other guys, but he also possessed the opportunity to sell porting/polishing, valve jobs, etc.  From July to August, all of the orders I placed through him were going pretty good.  He then told me that it was becoming too much of a pain for him to be the middle man between I and his buddy and that if I could place $50,000 in GM products before Christmas, that he could get me an account set up to by direct from GM and not have to pre-pay.  At that time is when I ran the special auction on EBay for 20 sales at one time.  At the end of October, when I had received everyone's money, I went to him and placed the order.  He then told me that it should only be a couple of week and he should have the heads in.  At that point, I was still waiting on 2 pair that was ordered in August but he said they should be in at/around October 1st.  GM was a little behind.  I assumed this to be true because in June GM had a stock problem and it took me about 45 days to get the heads at that time.  So I thought everything was ok and GM would catch up.  Now here we are in January of 05' and we still don't have any heads.  He was still telling me a week ago that GM wasn't producing anymore at this moment and that is why I wasn't getting any heads in.  After doing some research on my own, I found that GM had heads in stock and could be at my doorstep in 2 weeks.  He tells me that his buddy works for a division of GM which is actually over GM Performance and they get them straight off the new assembly line.  He also tells me that since they are considered special order that they won't give his money back and he cannot give my money back.  Whether all that is true, I don't know.  Personally, I don't believe it.  Because I don't believe it and because some of you EBayers think that it is me that is holding them money and me that is trying to pull one, I have hired an attorney to try and solve this problem.  After contacting the local authorities, they told me that this was a civil problem and I needed to contact a lawyer, so that is what I did.  I am hoping that this is an easy fix and that maybe he just owes money and that is why we haven't received them.  Or maybe he is telling the truth, his contact really does get them off the assembly line and they aren't assembling anymore.  I don't know.  Don't really care.  I just want this resolved and hopefully the lawyer can help.  I certainly hope so because this whole situation is taking its toll on me and my family.

I have given a few refunds out of my own pocket.  I cannot do that anymore at this time.  I have placed all of my own personal race car stuff for sale including trailers and trucks to try and gather up the money needed to refund everyone's money.  If I am able to sale everything, or as I am able to sale everything, you guys will get a refund in the order that I received payment.  I wish I had enough money saved up to handle this, but what little money I had, has already been spent in refunds.  Hopefully I can get the heads or a refund before I lose everything I own, but I am prepared to lose it to get this taken care of.

Also, for those who have tried to phone and have not received a response.  I have started working a lot of overtime trying to gather up extra money to give as refunds.  It has been late at night before I get home, 7 days per week.  I try to return calls once or twice per week.  I try to return emails every other day at minimum.  Sometimes I am able to do this, sometimes I am not.  But I AM NOT hiding.  I'm just doing what is necessary to get this handled.  Just leave a phone message or send an email and I promise you will get a response.

And for those wondering why I'm not longer registered on eBay.  When you sell on eBay, eBay charges a seller fee which they bill you for 30-45 days later.  In December, I still owed some fees from other auctions I had placed.  Instead of paying those seller fees, I instead sent a refund to Eric Senior in California.  Because I still have not been able to pay those seller fees, EBay has restricted my account until I do.  I consider getting each of you taken care of priority over EBay's fees and because of that; I will NOT be a registered seller on eBay until after this is completed.

I hope each of you have an understanding for this situation and see that it is NOT me holding your money or trying to cheat you out of your money.  This is just a business deal that has gone bad and unfortunately, I'm the one that is going to suffer in the end.  I hope that my feedback showed you that this was a real deal, the heads were real, and the prices were real.  Looking back now, I should have never changed suppliers.  But hindsight is always 20/20.

Thank each and every one of you for your patience and cooperation.
Chris Tarrant
972-814-7685

[HotRodLadyCrusr]

WOW, I can feel empathy for both sides.  Sounds like he plans to make it right, just needs time.  Thanks for the heads up.  Good luck

[MrMopar64]

Sounds like the guy is sincere about refunding your money when he gets it
How did you pay him? If by credit card or paypal you could go through them and see what they could do. I have had paypal get me a refund once

Good Luck
MM64  

[sirstude]

He wanted a check, so that is what I used.  Did a little bit more searching and he is in Garland TX.  Might have to look into that side of things.  When you look up his number, he had those heads for sale on just about every web site possible.

Hope to get the bucks back, but not holding my breath.

Doug

[flt-blk]

This reminds me of McLure racing engines, Merc50 and I did a little
investgation for in Garland.  
Great web site, but shady character.  It is going to law suit now for $5-$10k
Roundy round motors that were paid for but never built or shipped.

[MrMopar64]

Did you notice the phone number shows up in
Dallas, Texas 75024
Princeton, Texas 75407
Garland,Tx 75044
and none of the sites use the name Chris Tarrant  They list Mat Briggs but all the sites with that phone number have the same email address  :?

MM64  

[58 Yeoman]

I hope this isn't like the sonoma truck l sold on ebay last year.  A guy form CT buys this beater truck for $660, then tells me he is going to fly  in to Chicago, rent a car, drive down here, and drive the truck back to CT.  He kept coming up with excuses why he couldn't get here.  Finally, he says that his wife spent too much money on the credit card, and he couldn't afford it.  He DID send me a check for $100, which didn't bounce.

I've gotten some pretty wild excuses for why people can't or haven't sent the money. Too much of a coincidence that so many people have a family member die, and also have puter probs at the same time.  I've got one auction right now that hasn't been paid from before Christmas.  I got an email asking if I'd gotten the check yet. LOL.

BTW, the guy who ended up buying my truck locally, had his garage burn down last week, with his new Jeep and minivan inside.  Cops said it looks suspicious, so the fire marshall is investigating.  At least that real expensive sonoma was outside.

Good luck, Doug.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

that is quite the mess.

I don't buy much on ebay.  Never sold stuff there.

I've had one deal go nearly bad..... I pushed the issue with ebay & Paypal ......... finally received the item

[Beck]

I have bought and sold a lot of stuff on ebay. Most of the transactions went very smoothly. I have recently been selling off extra garden tractor parts that have been left over from building the pullers.
There is one BAD story that I must tell. There was a Model A coupe listed on ebay. It looked like a pretty nice  builder. It already had a small block, auto trans, late rear, and a dropped front axle on it. I was the high bidder and thought I had made a good purchase. I pulled an enclosed trailer 700 miles to pick the car up. Talk about doctored up photos! This thing was total junk. The body was split badly on both sails. Someone had tried to weld it with a stick welder and shrunk the metal so badly it was unrepairable. I wanted to take a closer look at the motor and mounts. There was a tarp strap across the hood so I took it off. The hole front clip fell to the ground. The rest of the car was in similar condition.The owner and I had some serious words. In the end I pulled an empty trailer back home for the 700 mile return trip. The guy had the guts to let bad feedback on me for not taking the car. I would rather have the bad feedback than that car in my garage though.