Use caution: Bitten by a snake -update

[SNKBYT]

Be very careful when buying viper products from our classified ads! I recently purchased a complete rearend for my 97 viper.The seller contacted me after reading my want ad for a rear end for a 97. I was told by the seller that his 92 rear with 3.55 gears was compatible. However, the rear would not fit unless the case is machined and the actual gears were not the standard super 44s,but the lower quality regular 44s. I purchased the rear in good faith, after having the seller give me good references two VCA Officers. I have met both of thes outstanding gentleman and felt comfortable sending a money order. I then received the rear end C.O.D. I did agree to pay the shipping charges but was supposed to be told in advance the cost. The rear showed up COD,I paid the shipping and the C.O.D. fee- no problem. I then had a a shop install the rear, it would not fit, and paid $$ for wasted time. I contacted seller,asked him to send me back a refund for the rear only, and I would ship the rear-end, same deal as I purchased it, or send me $500 to help cover the costs of maching the case, changing the gears to the super 44, and pay for wasted time removing and then reinstalling my original. He refused both offers,and wants me to shipp the rear end at my expense, and then will return my purchase price. I prefer to try to resolve this before I name names, please be patient. This board can be very useful to protect upstandind members for situations like this. BE VERY CAREFUL OF WHAT AND WHO YOU BUY FROM! Tim Cloutier, AKA SNKBYT


<FONT COLOR="red">Edited with permission by Vipermad same date.</FONT c>

 

[GR8_ASP]

Tim,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I am not sure if you posted your questions about the rear end differences from GenI to Gen II. I believe if you had you would have found out the differences. The cumulative knowledge of the board regarding component differences is pretty good. Also, in the future, I would recommend checking with someone like JonB before completing a purchase. As they say: better safe than sorry.
Hope you get the monetary aspect cleared up.

Ron

 

[SNKBYT]

Ron, my ad was for a 97, and the seller said it would fit.After he gave me some very respectable names as references I believed that he knew what he was talking about since he contacted me knowing that I had a 97gts. If it was an honest mistake,Id like to think that he could atleast take some responsibility for his error,and not just slither away.

 

[Joseph Houss]

Just a reminder to all:

References are supposed to be used to CALL the individuals... and should be used to confirm the accuracy of the seller's statement.... so next time, give the two members a call.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Sorry to hear about the issues with this sale. This actually shows one of the potential benefits of the forums. It can be used as a reference, but a person needs to post/ask..... The fact that early and late cars mount the rear ends differently is something that many here have experienced. Also the change to the Dana "Super 44".

Even I have a few "used parts in the garage" I bought for my car thinking (in error) they would work...... buying used parts for Vipers is a little more challenging because Team Viper is always improving and changing things.

When references are used, please email or call them. In this day and age of easy access to information, it is simple for a seller to say: "well respected "insert name here" says it will work just fine" ..... without the person whose name is being used to "legitimize" the information ever knowing they are being used as a reference.

 

[SNKBYT]

Update on being bitten. It has been a week now since I e-mailed the seller asking him to credit me the shipping costs of returning the rear end. I have had no response. I thought this was more than fair since I have spent many dollars installing,removing,and re-installing the original. I feel that the seller should share some responsibility because 1. He answered my ad stating,I wanted a complete rear for a 97gts. 2. he stated it was a 92' but it had 99' gears in it, and said it would fit. 3. His attitude and reference to two highly prominate VCA officers led me to believe that he knew what he was talking about. If there was any doubt by the seller of even the slightest amount of doubt that it would not fit, I would have done more homework to verify it. However, I thought he knew more than I did. I'm sure any reputable vendor would gladly pay only the shipping costs to resolve this issue, or any other honest fellow viper owner. However, the snake that bit me was FRANK BARBA,aka Hemidytona. If I am totally wrong in this matter, I will apologize. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN BUYING PARTS FROM OUR CLASSIFIEDS, you could be bitten! Tim