gmkillr - Negative Feedback
03-13-2014, 10:19 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
gmkillr - Negative Feedback
I recently had a not so pleasant experience when I purchased an OEM navigation unit from gmkillr. I put out a feeler on the message board that I was looking for a stock navigation unit out of a 2007 or newer Corvette. I received the following PM from gmkillr describing the unit that he had for sale and its condition.
“I have the mint condition unit out of my 07 Z06 and has the map cd and works flawlessly.”
In the PM he gave me his cell number so we exchanged a few texts where he sent me pictures of the unit and his asking price. I thought the price was fair so I agreed to pay it and sent him the money via paypal that evening. This was on Thursday 2/13, he shipped the unit on Monday 2/17, and I received it on Thursday 2/20. As soon as I got home from work on Thursday I opened the box and installed the nav unit in my car. I put the car into accessory mode so that I could test the functionality of the unit without it going into theftlock mode. This is where the problem occurred.
I tested the radio and the cd player functions and they worked fine, but the navigation did not work. There was a map dvd in the drive, but the unit would not read it or eject it. As soon as you push the eject button the unit freezes up and the screen will not go back up. The drive doesn’t make any sounds like it’s trying to eject a disc or anything. The car’s battery has to be disconnected and reconnected to unfreeze the unit and to get the screen to go back up. If you try to use the navigation it asks you to insert a map disc even though there is one in the drive. I verified that the disc was not dislodged in shipping. I could see it in the drive and I could spin it freely by hand. It’s looking like the unit’s dvd drive is dead at this point. My last hope was that maybe, just maybe, this was all some function of the theftlock feature and would be remedied after the dealer programming was completed. I called the seller to let him know what was going on and brought up the possibility of a refund since there may be something wrong with the unit. He did not seem very receptive to the idea of a refund and suggested that the unit needed to be programmed by the dealer in order for it to work. I did not push for a refund at that point since I was not 100% sure if the dealer programming would fix it or not. So first thing Friday morning I took the car to the dealer and they programmed the unit to my car. After paying the dealer $103, I tried to eject the nav dvd as I was leaving the dealer lot and had the same results. So now I know that there is definitely something wrong with the nav unit.
I sent a text message to gmkillr to let him know that the unit still had the same problems even after the dealer programming and he called me to talk about it. He kept telling me that I needed to take it to a stereo shop so that they could get the disc out of it. No. If the unit was working properly like he described it then it would eject the disc on its own, or at least make noises like it is trying to eject a disc and not freeze up. He basically told me that it had to have been damaged in shipping and that since I did not request any shipping insurance on the unit that there was nothing he could do for me. First, he never informed me that shipping insurance would not be provided. Second, shipping insurance is for the seller’s protection not the buyer’s. Third, I don’t really think that it matters anyway since there was no visible damage to the box when it arrived. I don’t think you would get a dime out of UPS if you filed a damage claim in this case. Now comes the shady part. He told me that the only thing he could think of was for me to ship it back to him insured and then he would file a damage claim when he got it to try to recover the money. This seemed pretty dishonest to me so I refused to do that.
After we got off the phone he did text me and offered to refund me $100 and I could keep the unit, but I decided that I would rather try to get all my money back and filed a claim with paypal. Luckily paypal has determined that I should be refunded the money. Part of the risk you assume as a seller is that your item could be delivered in a condition other than originally described, and it is your responsibility to make the situation right. Even if that means that you have to suck it up and issue a refund and have the product returned to you. That is part of the cost of doing business and just good business practice. I do not know if it worked or not when you shipped it, all I know is that I took it out of the box plugged it in and it did not work properly. Personally I would not do business with gmkillr again.
“I have the mint condition unit out of my 07 Z06 and has the map cd and works flawlessly.”
In the PM he gave me his cell number so we exchanged a few texts where he sent me pictures of the unit and his asking price. I thought the price was fair so I agreed to pay it and sent him the money via paypal that evening. This was on Thursday 2/13, he shipped the unit on Monday 2/17, and I received it on Thursday 2/20. As soon as I got home from work on Thursday I opened the box and installed the nav unit in my car. I put the car into accessory mode so that I could test the functionality of the unit without it going into theftlock mode. This is where the problem occurred.
I tested the radio and the cd player functions and they worked fine, but the navigation did not work. There was a map dvd in the drive, but the unit would not read it or eject it. As soon as you push the eject button the unit freezes up and the screen will not go back up. The drive doesn’t make any sounds like it’s trying to eject a disc or anything. The car’s battery has to be disconnected and reconnected to unfreeze the unit and to get the screen to go back up. If you try to use the navigation it asks you to insert a map disc even though there is one in the drive. I verified that the disc was not dislodged in shipping. I could see it in the drive and I could spin it freely by hand. It’s looking like the unit’s dvd drive is dead at this point. My last hope was that maybe, just maybe, this was all some function of the theftlock feature and would be remedied after the dealer programming was completed. I called the seller to let him know what was going on and brought up the possibility of a refund since there may be something wrong with the unit. He did not seem very receptive to the idea of a refund and suggested that the unit needed to be programmed by the dealer in order for it to work. I did not push for a refund at that point since I was not 100% sure if the dealer programming would fix it or not. So first thing Friday morning I took the car to the dealer and they programmed the unit to my car. After paying the dealer $103, I tried to eject the nav dvd as I was leaving the dealer lot and had the same results. So now I know that there is definitely something wrong with the nav unit.
I sent a text message to gmkillr to let him know that the unit still had the same problems even after the dealer programming and he called me to talk about it. He kept telling me that I needed to take it to a stereo shop so that they could get the disc out of it. No. If the unit was working properly like he described it then it would eject the disc on its own, or at least make noises like it is trying to eject a disc and not freeze up. He basically told me that it had to have been damaged in shipping and that since I did not request any shipping insurance on the unit that there was nothing he could do for me. First, he never informed me that shipping insurance would not be provided. Second, shipping insurance is for the seller’s protection not the buyer’s. Third, I don’t really think that it matters anyway since there was no visible damage to the box when it arrived. I don’t think you would get a dime out of UPS if you filed a damage claim in this case. Now comes the shady part. He told me that the only thing he could think of was for me to ship it back to him insured and then he would file a damage claim when he got it to try to recover the money. This seemed pretty dishonest to me so I refused to do that.
After we got off the phone he did text me and offered to refund me $100 and I could keep the unit, but I decided that I would rather try to get all my money back and filed a claim with paypal. Luckily paypal has determined that I should be refunded the money. Part of the risk you assume as a seller is that your item could be delivered in a condition other than originally described, and it is your responsibility to make the situation right. Even if that means that you have to suck it up and issue a refund and have the product returned to you. That is part of the cost of doing business and just good business practice. I do not know if it worked or not when you shipped it, all I know is that I took it out of the box plugged it in and it did not work properly. Personally I would not do business with gmkillr again.
