When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am posting this for both visibility and since I am getting a "tough luck" response from the vendor.
I reached out to house of wheels via email on April 2 inquiring about rim options for my car. Long story short, I need traction and wanted to go down to an 18 inch rim in the back.
On april 5th I mentioned I wanted some chrome 5 spoke OEM front wheels and that I would like to stretch them out to 18x11. Bob offered some 18x10.5 repros. I responded with questions about the weight and fitment on the back of a c6, he responded by just answering the weight question. (Email snippet is below.)
I get the rims and take them up to the tire shop to have my tires mounted to them. I come home, mount them, then notice these DO NOT fit. They stick out from the fender quite a bit. I contact House of wheels via email and they wanted me to call to discuss. I get a hold of bob and he states they do not take back mounted rims, this is listed on his Ebay page. Very surprising to me, since I never visited his ebay page. I found him here on the CF. Also a bit shocked that rims are apparently completely destroyed and devalued by having tires on them.
My issue here is, being the "corvette wheel specialists" you should know what fits my car, especially if you suggest these rims, and should not be deceptive and gloss over the question about fitment. Also, as you can see below, the offsets are way off and make the car look a bit ridiculous.
I have offered to return the wheels, even pay for the shipping, get a credit, and then I will purchase even more expensive fronts. From there, I wanted to send them to weldcraft to be widened. My communications are below. I could not fit the 2nd email in a snippet, so i pasted it here.
If any moderator needs a copy of anything, i'll gladly provide it.
Original email snippet:
Email I sent today regarding my concerns:
Hello House of Wheels,
Sorry about the delay, I meant to reach out on Monday but my schedule did not allow it. I'll get right to it.
I would like to return these rims and get 2 front OEM rims in place of them. These rims have about 5 miles on them before I removed them.
Reasons why I would like to return.
· I contacted you about front OEM's with my plan to have them stretched to 10.5 or 11 inch rims. You suggested 18x10.5 repos.
· I asked about weight and fitment issues, you replied with the weight of the rims only.
· I received the rims and TPS sensors. Mounted tires to them and placed them on my car. Please see attached pictures.
· These tires are 285 in width, the same as the stock sized 19 inch.
18x10.5
Stock
18.x10.5
Stock
· You had mentioned something about your return policy etc on ebay, I have no knowledge of your ebay policy nor was I ever presented with anything regarding it. I found you from the corvette forum and sent you an email, nothing from Ebay. If you suggest some rims for my make and model of corvette, being the specialists, you would expect them to hit the targeted demands of your consumers. Not hang out 2 inches from the stock setting(and 1.5inches from the fender), even with another .5 inches of width added.
My offer is pretty clear and fair. To gloss over the question with the most relevant information, does not make me happy, but we can correct it. You can leave me pissed off over a 400 dollar purchase, or leave me happy over a 650 dollar purchase of front rims. I will pay to ship them back, you can obviously sell them slightly used, I purchase two fronts, and we both walk away happy. Or we can work out some form of credit.
If you want to focus on some “policy” with Ebay and not do the right thing, I’ll make sure the proper consumer protection agencies in both states are notified of the issue.
Bob wanted to discuss by phone and I told him I preferred email communication. He stuck to the original answer so its since been escalated to my bank and both consumer services in FL and MI.
Bob wanted to discuss by phone and I told him I preferred email communication. He stuck to the original answer so its since been escalated to my bank and both consumer services in FL and MI.
Yeah, I ran into some weird vibes from Bob when I was shopping for my wheels. I require written quotes and requested an email, and he just kept insisting on calling him 'for the best price'. Red flags fly up whenever someone pulls that kind of crap. I never bothered and just went elsewhere. Seems my BS detector was right on. Good luck buddy.
Never heard of any vendor taking back wheels that were mounted and driven on. Fitment is supposed to be checked prior to mounting. He was short with his responses which should have been the first clue to move on.
Received a response from the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
I can't really make out half of it. It seems he is trying to live off the no return policy, however, the issue is this policy is no where to be found on his website. I have no idea what modification he is talking about? My car has Forced induction on the motor, nothing suspension or bodywork wise. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I would have never bought something with no return policy. Both the regulatory specialist and vendor didn't respond to much of the concerns. I am following up today with them since the response is lacking.
here is a picture of the response. Any hand writing experts that can help ?
Just seeing this and Vettebuyer6369 was kind enough to reopen.
Long story short, I took this up with my credit card company after trying to go through the other channels. They hit him with a chargeback and refunded my money.
I supplied the email chain, pictures, and a signed letter from a reputable rim/tire shop about the fitment. The 2 lines from the picture of the response came up with my CC company(which helped me piece together what he wrote). I still have no idea where this modification he claimed I did to mount the rims came from, it's simply not true.
Hope this helps anyone that is looking to purchase rims in the future.
05-26-2016, 10:19 PM
Not happy with House of Wheels
? 
