MGretz70

Ok guys looking for opinions from the forum brothers. I had purchased some cup wheels for my GS. I decided to sell my OEM wheels off my GS. I sold them on a poplar auction site about a month ago. After the wheels were delivered I contacted the buyer to make sure everything was good with the wheels, he emailed me back said "Yes they look great, will send you a pic after they are installed". Several weeks later I received an email from him stating he had his tires mounted and balanced but kept getting a vibration from the rear. After numerous attempts of balancing and driving on them the tire shop he is using told him one of the 19" rear wheels is bent and probably can not be fixed to OEM specs. So he wants to return them and wants his money back.
My very first response to him was if the tire shop he was using did Road Force Balanced and that the wheel is probably not bent but just out of round and a Road Force Balance should take care of it. After several emails back and forth he basically said that he didn't give a F$#% if it was Road Force Balanced it was balanced and that I sold him a bent rim and I knew it.
I'm 99.9% sure none of the wheels were not bent when I sent them out, I had previously plasti-dipped them and had to clean them very well and inspected them throughly prior to selling & shipping them.
I used the exact same boxes my cup wheels came in which had a huge disclaimer on the side of the box which stated to inspect the rims prior to mounting tires on them, once tires were mounted, balanced and put on the car they are yours.
My perspective is not to refund any money for something he received, said they looked good, had them mounted and balanced several times, drove on them for who knows how long, he states maybe 5 miles.
So is my perspective wrong? I know for a fact none of these wheels were bent prior to sending them out, should I refund money to this guys for apparently either he or his tire shop bent the rim ( Only Explanation I can see )?

AORoads

I have seen wheel sellers on here (e-tailers) actually state in black and white their policy of no return if the tire is mounted, or the wheel and tire are mounted and used on the car. It seems odd, but it does prevent a person saying there's anything wrong with a wheel, a new wheel. Damage can happen on a mounting machine, or on the road. The suggested method by these sellers is to have the wheel spun on a balancer without a tire on it to see if there's anything wrong with the wheel which a competent technician can assess.

Ordinarily, in a private sale, this type of precaution and method(s) isn't necessary. But it would have helped if you had elaborated on the box's written statement for the buyer to take extraordinary measures. Barring that, I doubt there is any recourse by the buyer since one could say both of you were trusting of each other.

I've read of some who have actually sold wheels using some escrow co. that holds the money until the buyer is satisfied and the seller's agent (escrow) receives, cashes and has real money in hand. That also didn't happen here. So, again I think the buyer is out unless you change your mind. It is possible that you can tell a wheel is bad, but maybe not. And if a tire and wheel are both out (of round, runout, etc) they could compound the problem.

23/C8Z

that's tough.. imo, he bought a used set of wheels, buyer beware. if i were him, i would just purchase a new Rear and call it a lesson learned.. unless you are within driving distance of a seller for wheels, it isn't worth the risk (unless the seller is a company that provides free shipping in case of return etc).. Give him the money back for one rim and tell him that's only because you're a good guy, you know the rims worked on your car and anything could have happened in shipping.. if he's not happy with that so be it.. That's my $.02

4SUMERZ

Well...... if he didn't get them road force balanced, then he's wrong IMO.
I have an out of round rim on the driver rear, and the one and only way to get rid of the vibration is by getting a road force balance done. Any other balancing act is just that, and act, and no way should be used on any sports car.
Not every reputable tire place has the Hunter Road Force Ballancer, so one has to call around and find it.
With a high speed balancer used, I could still feel vibration through my seat over 70mph.
Once I had the balance done by the road force balancer, even above 70mph, not any hint of any vibration whatsoever.

Good Luck

Don-Vette

You sold wheels with zero defects.

The guy bought the wheels.

The guy mounted the wheels.

The sale is over, the wheels are his.

familyman's C7

I agree.

tprice

I would strongly consider this option, if he is just not happy with the look he will balk at it but if you are willing to refund for the one wheel you will know it was a true problem

bluecougar2000

I agree with this guy, but it is buyer beware, and I hope you stated that is was "as is sale"

I sold an SLP II loudmouth exhaust to a guy in Virginia for a 2008 that I had bought from a forum member from here, took me 5 hours for the NPP exhaust to be taken out and the SLP exhaust to be put in, I wanted something louder, so I uninstalled, sold it to another forum member and he had his muffler shop do the install, come to find out why I had such a hard time with the install, the exhaust I bought was for a 2009 and newer, so he told me about it, I was thinking the same thing, sold "as is" but I was pissed that I bought them from a forum member and he stated that is was for a 2008. I ended up paying around 150 dollars to him for the new pipes that his shop had to make in order to make the SLP work on his car and I told him I was sorry and it was a lesson learn on both our part, just be aware of what your buying on this forum, even though that was the first for me, and I've bought many things from people off this forum, once a corvette brother, always a corvette brother.

R&L's C6

At most I would refund the money for one rim if and when it was proven it could not be road force balanced.

not08crmanymore

He's full of s***.Who waits 3 weeks to install new wheels they just bought after saying everything is fine?You sold,he bought,case closed. If you must,1 wheel is supposedly bent,not 4.Replace 1.

myfunz

Garret

used item and you know it was not bent. I would not send a dime. For all you know he bent it.

Hameister

If I were you, I'd resist any refund.

If push came to shove, I'd offer a refund for the one allegedly bent wheel.

If the buyer refused to accept a refund for just one wheel, I'd withdraw the offer, end of discussion.

Don-Vette

Like I said before, giving any money back is preposterous! !! The buyer mounted and drove on the wheels! !! They are now his!!! And your not buying them back from him!!!

thomaswat

I'm not in favor of returning any money if you're convinced they were good when you sold them. Maybe he decided he really couldn't afford them and is making excuses trying to get his money back. However, I'd like to ask those who say that he mounted them and then drove the car so you shouldn't give anything back, how else would he know there was anything wrong ? When you get new wheels what do you do with them? Most of us mount them and drive the car.

MGretz70

Most rim/wheel sellers state to have the wheel spun on a balancer prior to having tires mounted to make sure nothing is wrong with them. Once tires are mounted and balanced they no longer cover anything with the rim.

And thanks for all the responses, the buyer states that he is a lawyer and is going to submit a claim to the poplar auction site. So guess I'll just wait and see how the process goes.

John Harry

Bought, looked good, tires mounted, driven on. Too late, that's it, sale is done.

And the auction site could not care less if he's a lawyer, nor should you. They get thousands of claims and will settle this one as they see fit.

ls1121

If it was ebay and he paid with paypal I would get in touch with them not the buyer because they are the ones that will give him his money back and I have read that people having the money being drafted from their account and not having the product returned at all. This could be a very tricky situation and I would suggest you contact them. The rim could have been bent when the tire shop installed the tire, I had an exxon station rip a tire to shreds trying to install it. Good Luck.

SSWEET

IMO...the sale is final. I might consider covering the cost of a road force balance for that particular wheel but nothing more.

piper_chuck

This should be helpful if he files a claim with the auction site.