WARNING about crooked parts vendor

I hope this info will help any unsuspecting parts buyer.

There is an outfit in Chicago calling themselves britbikeparts.com. They sell on Ebay as limeyspares9eaz. They've been doing alot of business--most of it bad. This is how it works: you win the bid, you send your money, and nothing ever arrives. You email them and they never respond. You call them and there's always an excuse--oh we lost your paperwork, oh we're sending it out today, oh we'll have to call you back. And you still never get your part. Then when you leave him negative feedback he goes on YOUR feedback page and tells lies about YOU. That way he discourages anyone from leaving negative feedback.

Buyer beware.

Exact same thing happened to me. I paid for the item on 8/2/06. No response to 3 emails, so I placed a phone call, was told the part was defective, and they were replating it, would receive within 1 week. Then, called again, was told they had just received it, would receive within a week. Last week was told they would have a shop in California send items to me, still have not received. Looks like this might be their M.O.

Maybe if there are any forum brothers living in Chicago, a short trip to the rip off artists place might solve a few issues. Scumbags. :evil:

Thanks for the tip and sorry about your troubles. I was thinking of buying parts from Commandospecialties off ebay. I wonder what they are all about as their feedback is good.

Limeysparez

They have been doing it for a couple of years, they also go by the name britbikeparts and I believe the have recently gotten another name. I actually wrote a review article on ebay warning people about buying british parts last year from Chicago sellers. They get new names everytime the feeback gets so bad. Just avoid any sellers out of Chicago is a good rule of thumb. There are so many other great sellers out there. The only way to get rid of these guys is not to buy from them or at least read the feedback that will tell you a whole lot about a seller.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience

hello i had the same problem with this vendor,i won a 220 whatt charging system on ebay from "slimy spears",after many emails and just as many phone callsi recieved nothing but excuses,i finallyput a complant to ebay i got my parts,took me 3 months to get the parts. i will not buy from him again.

commando speciaties

coco Ive bought many parts from them they are top notch, racing norton is another seller thats very good

That would be Marshall. I will not defend his poor business practices, but I have dealt with him in the past on several occassions, not fleabay and never had a problem with him. As a matter of fact he was very helpful in getting me back on the road after I had a pretty bad accident on my commando. Here is a general rule to follow for those who do not know Marshall. Never pay for parts by credit card and pick up in person with cash or take your chances. I have on a few occassions had him send me parts and they were sent and I received what I ordered. I would be more leary of the vendor/dealer that sells bulls### restorations for high dollor profits based on their racing career reputation and get away with it. What is the difference? I have first hand experience from such a crook and a pile of stories from an ex mechanic of his and this guy takes people for thousands of dollars in a single shot and is regarded as a norton guru of sorts, has been in business for years and continues to sell crap to unsuspecting people and laughs all the way to the bank. Marshall may have his problems, but not any worse or even less than what goes on elsewhere out there in this community. Bottom line is we all get burned once in awhile some more than others and hopefully we can warn others of our misfortune. I was taken for 5k up front for a "restored bike", plus a wreck I was in that was caused by the build quality of said bike, took five months to heal and six years to rebuild the mess I was sold to begin with and have just recently been able to ride the bike I bought from the guy. I'd take my chances with Marshall over the guy I dealt with any day.

With so many good reputable parts suppliers out there we should really support them and avoid the Evilbay fleabags. Yeah I know the honest dealers usully have a higher price but the joy of getting a bargain soon fades when you get a piece of crap in the mail or worse yet nothing at all.
I got burned once on Evilbay and quickly learned my lesson. Junk is junk no matter how cheap it costs. Evilbay just can't police the volume of transactions and unfortunately has become a paradise for scam artists trying to make a fast buck.

Scooter
(once burned twice shy)

I agree with txnortondr - stay away from Chicago Norton parts sellers on ebay. I've too have been burned from this "Chicago guy".

Regards,

Jason

This Marshall has quit eBay...last month.

Yes I noticed yesterday that he had yanked all his auctions. His negatives were piling up too fast for him to deal with. I would look to him create a new identity. I looked up every single poor guy who left negative feedback and found that "Marshall" had left bogus negative feedback for each of them. That's not lazy, that's not a "poor business practice", that's pathological and it's criminal. Surely a letter to the Chicago county attorney's office is in order. And the dumbass is stupid enough to post his address.

Commandospecialties

I've met the guy who run this business, and know him to be scrupulous and fair. I've bought from him on a couple of occasions, and intend to buy alot more.

I think one of the great things about sites such as this is these things can be hashed out like this, and then others can make up their own minds....Above are several members who had bad experiences. His Ebay rating is 96+%, however he has had 27 negative responses in the past 12 months alone, and it appears his frequency of negatives has increased recently. If you look more closely you will note there are many neutrals that were also less than flattering, and several mutual withdrawn negatives, which apparently don't count against the rating. It would appear that this is a very misleading 96+% rating...Further, the responses to any negative rating received by this seller appear disingenuous, non-responsive to the criticism given, and at times vidictive. At this point I would never deal with this vendor again myself, especially since there are so many other vendors out there that give honest, courteous and prompt service, who in fact earn repeat business...others may have good experiences with this vendor and would buy from him again, but again, that is one of the great things about the net, you can get a much broader perspective about things like this....

One of the great things about E-bay is that it provides you with a world wide market making things available that you otherwise would have trouble finding on your own. One of the bad things is that the more different people you deal with, the more chance you have of running into someone who does not deserve your business (nor anyone elses').

Hmmmm, I sent him a money order September 13th. I used Fedex so he got it. His shipping charge was $20. I expected to see some sign of my parts within 10 to 12 days, however sometimes things are delayed by Canada Customs. I gave him 3 weeks and phoned Thursday. They hadn't been shipped. Marshall said he'd get them out right away. It was an oversight. He was really sorry and would get them out that day...Blah Blah Blah. I'd like my parts or my money refunded.
Bottom line ..... I will never buy a thing from this person again and if anyone asks where not to go, I'll be steering them clear of this individual.

This guy, Marshall Hagy, pops up in a negative way all over BritBike cyberworld. He has some satisfied customers (maybe nowhere near his 96% rating as someone pointed out) so he presumably isn't a complete crook. My assessment in looking at his feedback is that he is mostly just disorganized but he also gets really vindictive when you try and give him negative feedback. He works under several eBay userids so be careful. The one I know for sure about is "limeyspares9eaz" as you mention but there are others as well. I think I might have seen a new one last week. Will try to figure it out and post it. The fact that he feels the need to work under several eBay userids sent up a red flag for me. In the meantime, one of the posts below gave some sage advice. Stay away from Chicago vendors until you can be sure it's not him. There are lots of solid, honest vendors out there selling Commando parts.

fastbackchris said:

I hope this info will help any unsuspecting parts buyer.

There is an outfit in Chicago calling themselves britbikeparts.com. They sell on Ebay as limeyspares9eaz. They've been doing alot of business--most of it bad. This is how it works: you win the bid, you send your money, and nothing ever arrives. You email them and they never respond. You call them and there's always an excuse--oh we lost your paperwork, oh we're sending it out today, oh we'll have to call you back. And you still never get your part. Then when you leave him negative feedback he goes on YOUR feedback page and tells lies about YOU. That way he discourages anyone from leaving negative feedback.

Buyer beware.

Click to expand...

Well what do you know! :shock: :shock: Two months after paying for my parts, and a couple of phone calls later they've showed up. They were sent two weeks ago. At this time I'm amazed they arrived at all as I had given up all expectation of ever seeing them or my money. I'm glad he came through in the end, It's too bad his business practices leave the customer to hounding him to perform the basics.
Cheers,

Simon