Writing this because I have no monetary recourse to this situation so all I can do it vent and warn others.
Back in March of this year I bought this “Tour pack” for my motorcycle (aka beer box)
I bought it off E-bay because it was about 650.00 (Canadian, after shipping, duty, dollar difference and taxes) vs about $2,500.00 for one from a local Harley dealer and let’s face it, plastic is plastic. Harley plastic is no different than plastic from China, which is where Harley buys their stuff from, rebrands it and charges us 4x as much.
I bought this particular one because the ad said it fits 09-14 (2009-2014) Harley Davidson Touring models which lines up with my bike.
See the steel part on the bottom left? That’s the “quick release” (QR) this attaches the box to the bike. Its supposed to mount up to the plastic box BUT the holes did not match.
It took over a month to receive the above package. In fact the seller said “don’t worry that all the parts are not in one box. We ship the QR separately due to weight and so they don’t damage each other”
So the QR came a few weeks later. That’s when I discovered that they don’t match up.
After much discussion with the seller, they were not willing to take back the part and the seller (a person in China) too me “just drill new holes (in the plastic) thats what everybody does” This is some BULLSHIT! This box is also integrated backrest for a PASSENGER! The holes in the plastic as reinforced, lots more plastic where the holes are! Drilling new holes would be in the thinner plastic! We’re talking about a motorcycle that will be on the highway with two people on it! Im not going go make it weaker by drilling more holes in it and not in a reinforced area either!
I explained this to E-bay. At first they were talking about sending the WHOLE thing box, QR, everything back to the seller. Well, we only get 6 months riding weather in Canada and by now it was already May or June, so in the essence of time, I suggested we only return the QR.
I was told on e-bay ON THE PHONE that THEY WOULD REIMBURSE ME! The cost of the QR AND due to the time and aggravation, they should also include the reimbursement of another part that was necessary to hold this all together, A bottom steel plate necessary to add strength and rigidity to the unit. In essence the plastic of the box gets sandwiched between two steel parts;
This part should have been included in the original listing but the seller knows NOTHING about the products he/she is selling! All they know is how to DUPLICATE OTHER LISTINGS and hope people will send them money.
THE ITEMS DO NOT COME FROM THE SELLER IN CHINA! My product was mailed from California USA (to Canada) its only the “seller” that was in China trying to push themselves between the buyer and the manufacturer to make some scratch!
I did my own research and found that this was the proper QR I needed;
The holes lined up with the “box” but the seller that sent me the original listing that I paid for already said “this will not fit my bike because it was for a 2014+ model year. I kept telling him that the year doesn’t matter. It’s the measurements that matter! The original seller would not send me this part (although they listed it for sale) The vendor kept reiterating that this would not fit my bike! (ONE answer PER DAY, to wind the clock down on the return window!)
So E-bay told me (on the phone) they would help me out and the total reimbursement was to be $185.00 CDN.
Long story short, EBAY WOULD NOT SEND REIMBURSE ME!
So then I tried PAYPAL’s “BUYER PROTECTION” which they ALSO advertise. It was looking alright and the people I talked to were “so sorry about all this” but they would help me out. IT’S ALL BULLSHIT!
Between all this, they took their time then said “SORRY YOUR TIME FOR RETURN RAN OUT!”
Of course I APPEALED. Then they came back with “send the part back and the seller will exchange”. BUT the seller wanted the part SENT BACK TO CHINA whereas my parts were shipped from California USA! So I went to the UPS store and got 3 estimates of what it would cost to ship the wrong QR back to the seller in China.. They ranged from $650.00 to $800.00! More that the entire original purchase! Therefore the seller would not exchange the part for me.
In summary, I had to buy the right parts and the misting parts for this. There was
ZERO HELPP FROM THE SELLER
ZERO HELP FROM EBAY
ZERO HELP FROM PAYPAL!
Cost me 185.00 (US more, plus shipping, dollar exchange, duty and Canadian taxes) to get this to work!
ALSO not included in the listing was the rear brake . signal light!
and IT of course WOULD NOT FIT EITHER! For this I DID drill holes because it was not a stress point. Only holding the plastic light on but where the holes were meant to be, and this part DID NOT LINE UP so I had to “jimmy” that myself!
Summary
EBAY AND PAYPAL FALSLY ADVERTISE BUYER PROTECTION
SELLERS FROM CHINA KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHWAT THEY ARE SELLING, ONLY HOW TO DUPLICATE LISTINGS.
EBAY AND PAYPAL SAY “CALLS RECORDED FOR ACCURACY AND TRAINING” BUT WHEN ASKED TO REPRODUCE THOSE RECORDINGS THEY WOULD NOT!
As mentioned above, I was promised the reimbursement on the phone which never happened. However conveniently, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO REPRODUCE THIS CALL! I TOLD THEM “MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY WHO ADVERTISE THAT “CALLS ARE RECORED” CANNOT REPRODUCE THE CALL WHERE I WAS PROMISED THE REIMBURSEMENT!
only chat texts are recored on your own computer so thats the only recording you will get!
This SHIT SHOW went on from March 2024 to July 2024 when they finally would not accept any more appeals from me. Countless text chat/love letters, countless hours on the phone and Im still out 185.13 US plus shippin, taxes, dollar exchange AND DUTY. I don’t even know what that comes to easily double likely closer to 400.00 CDN at the end of the day not to mention the aggravation and waste of time.
I couldn’t even leave a bad mark for the “seller” from China because of the time lapse! This is how they maintain their high 98.6% feedback mark!
They don’t know shit about what they are selling! All they know is how to play the game. They know that shipping back to China will not be economically feasible and they know that wasting time, only answering one question per day, it’s like pulling teeth trying to get any information out of them. They do this because they know the time will lapse and the buyer has no recourse!
Can’t sue them because it would cost more money to sue and time and more aggravation so they know that too.
What other industry can get away with this without recourse? If you went to the grocery store, and it cost you $200.00 but they charge you $400.00 would there not be recourse? Now on ebay and paypal!
One more thing. When I called E-bay “customer service” when I finally got through, they answer with THANK YOU FOR BEING A LOYAL CUSTOMER OF 22 YEARS!
This is how they treat loyal customers of 22 years, Id hate to see what they do to new comers!
Conclusion
FUCK E-BAY!
FUCK PAY PAL!
and FUCK CHINA!
BUY LOCAL EVEN IF IT COST YOU MORE! THINGS LIKE THIS COULD HAVE BEEN BOUGHT USED AS WELL, WITH ALL THE PARTS AND YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOU ARE BUYING!
I hope this post will help at least one person question or think twice about buying shit off e-bay or using any of the online stores.
I’ve learned that it hurts local economies for the small convenience of having stuff shipped to your door instead of going to a bricks and mortar shop.
Thanks for reading.
