I recently bought some mongoose forks from an ebay member...
Before committing to the purchase I e-mailed the seller, asking if the forks were straight...
because I thought I could see a slight mis-alignment on his picture
He responded, assuring me that they were perfectly straight.
I received them, quickly checked them over on arrival for any shipping damage and then stored them fo 4 - 6 weeks...
until ready to fit them to one of my frames.
Frame ready, I fitted a new headset, got the bars, grips, stem and brakes ready - only to find...
the forks are fooked !
A horrible twist and bend ! on the right side.... I could hardly get the wheel in, but when I did - it made the craziest lines ! :o
I contacted the seller, and he said "it must have been done on the way over here" (from US)
I responded " no way, the box was not crushed"
He told me to claim off the insurance !
Then I asked him to compare his original ebay listing picture with one I took...
Attempting to demonstrate that the forks look the same now as they did when he listed them !
I request a refund, he ignored my messages... until I informed PAY PAL and ebay, then he wrote to me saying how offended he was that
I took action against him ! :o
He eventually offered me under half of what I paid for them, I asked for $5 more and he has broken all contact !
Any advice on what to do next, would be appreciated... (ebay and PAY PAL are not really interested, because its been more than 30 days - they took 3 weeks to get here - should have been 7 - 10 days !)
I know one thing for sure, and that is these forks are not going to be straightened.
I'll give the seller one more chance to refund me, before I pursue more thorough action against him and give more details of this horror story ...
Here are some more pictures for your amusement