Raven01750

But still it needs to be said. Buyer beware when making a purchase from someone who you don't know personally.

I have been looking for a set of used shocks now for a couple of months and posted on the CL Marketplace for a set. Hadn't heard from anyone until recently. Then I got a private message through the forum about someone who they knew had a set from a wrecked SC. So I contacted the person and set up the buy.

To make a long story short, even though I didn't loose any money, I should have. My whole body screamed that the person I was talking with was scamming me but I went through with it anyway really wanting a set of used struts. I got lucky but if they were smarter I wouldn't have been.

So, just a reminder, buyer beware, protect yourself and realize most people really are good. But every now and then, you come across the ones who aren't and its up to you to listen to your instincts and try and protect yourself from the people who mean you harm. Keep your eyes open out there.

Paul

joemg

I'm sorry that happened to you. I totally get why you would want the original struts, but if it proves difficult or expensive, I keep seeing reviews of the Meister coilovers where people say the ride quality doesn't degrade. May be something to consider. I was asking digitalatc about it who recently upgraded on this thread:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...hreads-42.html

He wrote: "Yes. I actually think it rides better than the stock setup"

Raven01750

Like I said, I didn't lose anything. But I have virtually every component for the the front and rear suspensions sitting in a box right now. Including new shocks, bumps, control arms etc. But I was going to fully assemble the struts before I took them to the shop but some of the individual pieces on our struts are very expensive new. Especially the rear struts. I don't really "need" them. Just wanted to have everything set up before I took her to the shop to reduce labor cost. Still trying. ;-)

Paul

joemg

ahh, I see. That's a great idea!

If you want to take a swing at doing it yourself, Gearheads in Oceanside is amazing. It's a shop where you can rent a bay with a lift, airtools, etc... I just did my big brake kit up there and saved a fortune, plus its so much fun having a whole shop at your disposal. Very reasonable prices, I bought the yearly membership which paid for about 90% of itself with that project alone.

I wish I lived closer to Oceanside, but it's worth a drive up for me on big projects. It probably would have been over $1000 in labor for all that easily, and I think I paid $350'ish including the year membership.

http://www.theheads.biz/do-it-yourself.html

Don't mind that their website looks like its from 2003, the shop is great. lol

I did a coilover install on my Miata a few years back in the driveway and it wasn't that hard. I'm sure our suspension is somewhat similar.

Coleroad

I see this scam multiple times a week on camaro5. Them or their friend has whatever part, Here’s the email. This response is 100% of the time a scam. If it’s on a forum, read their past posts. 99.9% of their posts are the same. These people claim to have every part under the sun. I suspect most of these people doing this are out of country too.

Raven01750

I got the definate impression they were at least from another country. But this particular person was out of Jacksonville FL.

I knew in my gut it was a scam but made them twist things up enough to cause them headaches they couldn't quickly deal with. Another thing is NEVER send them money directly like VENMO or some other direct transfer. PayPal at least offers a purchase protection service.

Like I said before though, not everyone is dishonest. Just try and use some common sense.

Paul

Harold57

So I'm kind of confused here Paul. You said that it seemed like a scam but you went through with it anyway and didn't lose anything. So did you call off the deal before money was exchanged or did you actually get the parts?

Raven01750

Well no. They didn't have a PayPal account. So they used some girl who used her friends PayPal account. After I used buyer protection. The guy who the PayPal account belongs to, got in touch with me to ask about the money I had sent. His "girl" friend tried to scam him and he wasn't having any of it because he had talked to the seller and was getting nothing but BS in his words but he would have been on the hook for the cash if I didn't get the struts because of the buyers protection clause. So, he sent the money back.

I contacted the scammers again still. Not letting them know what I thought I knew. I told them this time send me the struts and I would send the money. Of course they couldn't and even though I try to be trustful and hoped that my gut was wrong, I ended the deal because they wouldn't trust me as much as I trusted them.

Like I said, not the smartest scammers. And maybe I am too trusting. And actually this whole story can't be verified because I don't know the person who was allegedly selling used struts. They could be on the up and up. I wouldn't put a nickel towards that of course. But thats why I started this post. Just to remind people that they should be careful.

Paul

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

I have a WTB thread, was contacted twice in a similar manner. Reported both as spam

Harold57

Thanks for clearing that up Paul and posting about it also. Man, some people out there are messed up.