Hi from the UK - INDIAN Board Tracker tribute, my first build

[PeteMcP]

Hope everyone enjoyed a ful and restful Christmas. Here's wishing you all the very best for 2022!
As expected, given our routine-heavy circumstances here, Jen and I spent a quiet Christmas together. Pretty much just like any other day really. Apart from one scenario which I'll spill the beans on....

While surfing YouTube on Christmas Day evening, I watched a very glossy and persuasive pop-up advert for a series of 1/3rd scale, all-metal, working engine model kits. The ad offered 4-cylinder, V2 and V8 variants. Super looking things. If you haven't seen the ads from various e-retailers on YouTube or any other online platforms, they are so cool and definitely worth checking out. There are even YouTube videos of these things being independently reviewed and assembled, including an awesome stop-motion vid showing one of these engine kits magically assembling itself. But take my word for it, if something looks too good to be true, JUST DON'T PART WITH YOUR MONEY like I - and it turns out many, many others - were foolish enough to do. Yep: this is a classic Far Eastern 'Bait 'n Switch' scam. These crooked sellers have absolutely zero intention of shipping you what you think you've bought and paid for.

I sprung for the working V8 engine model, and paid via PayPal. Within hours I was sifting through online reviews of these engine kits when I started seeing warning messages from folks who were giving a heads-up about being scammed. The most concerning of these was on the 40Plus site, and a guy there had posted details of his sorry saga dealing with these Far Eastern crooks. Replies to his post from umpteen others who had been similarly scammed made me realize I had joined their club too! So I immediately e-mailed the seller - in my case Saltdays, but the list of sellers changes frequently as is often the case with these types of scam - telling them I wanted to cancel my order for the all-metal, working V8 model engine kit and requested a full refund. Seller replied on Boxing Day saying their resin(!!!) engine was presently out of stock due to high demand and it would take 15-20 days to restock. Said I could wait and receive priority shipping after they fulfilled back-orders, or I could get a full refund. I said gimme my refund. Later that day I e-mailed Saltdays again, pointing out they had actually admitted they intended sending me a resin engine, not the all-metal engine kit I had ordered and paid for, and told them under no circumstances did I want their resin tat. I said I was onto their 'Bait 'n Switch' scam and given that the item was out of stock, I wanted a refund.

Next day, Saltdays replied, inexplicably requesting me to photograph the item I'd received and mail it to them so they could address the quality control issue. I responded, saying how on earth was I supposed to photograph something they hadn't even shipped to me yet! Saltdays next response was even wackier.. a brief message said 'due to Covid, they couldn't receive my package, so could only offer 50% refund'. I told them to Eff that, said I'd had enough of their runround tactics, and would involve PayPal in an effort to get my money refunded, which I did on Dec 28th. After escalating my complaint to a full claim with them, PayPal were quick to respond, and I provided them with details of the convos I'd had with Saltdays. Later that day I received an e-mail from PayPal confirming they'd contacted the seller and were awaiting their response. Today, Dec 30th, Saltdays sent me an e-mail saying they had refunded my money and it would take a couple of days to reach my account. Hmmm...I'll believe it when I see the funds safely there. But I won't hold my breath. In reality, I'm expecting (more like hoping) any refund to come back to me direct from PayPal themselves. Watch this space....

The pics below of the 4-banger engine are lifted from the guy who posted about being a victim of such a scam on the 40Plus site. First pics shows what was advertised and what he was looking forward to building... the assembled working model built from a kit of several hundred metal components, powered by an electric motor. Second pic shows the one-piece resin 'ornament' he received
BUYER BEWARE!!!
Here's hoping the New Year gets off to a better start than how the old one ended. HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!

 

[curtisfox]

AHH! Pete, sorry to here that. But PayPal is good, me and my son run into a snags a few years ago, and both got refund. My sons case he bought a swing set, and found it was cheaper at Walmart, seems the guy was buying and reselling. My son wanted to send it back, ended up PayPal got his refund, and got to keep the swing set, seller said I hope you enjoy it. ............Curt

 

[indian22]

Sorry Pete it's pretty compelling marketing, just untrue, I also gave a look, but held up.

PayPal has been way good to me & it's the only online method of payment I use and In have used PayPal thousands of times. Always complete refund & return shipping paid as well. Like Curtis related a few times they did not want the item shipped back

Hope you had a great Christmas and wish you a wonderful new year.

Rick C

 

[PeteMcP]

Rick/Curt,
No need to feel sorry for me. I'm as annoyed with myself for falling for it as I am with the crooks who run these scams. Their 50% off offer was the reason I bit - but soon after I made the UK£50 purchase I started looking online for reviews of the product and saw the same working engine kits listed for sale on Amazon and a couple of other sites at between US$400-700 a pop. That's when the penny dropped and I knew I'd been scammed. Honestly should have known that it was impossible to market an all-metal stainless and anodised aluminium kit at the kind of price I was tempted by.
Fingers crossed PayPal step up and help bail me out. Pretty certain they have payment protection for stuff like this. I even logged onto the section of PayPal's site which gives a warning about such scams - it even specifically mentions this very one for the motorized engine kits offered by a range of online scammers - so the real question is why on earth they allow these crooks to hook potential buyers using the option of paying via PayPal as bait? That was one of the main reasons I bit. No way do I ever divulge my visa debit card number over the internet.

 

[Greg58]

Sorry this happened to you Pete, I sometimes think the scammer's search for people like us to call or email, I get emails that look like they're from Amazon or social security saying my account has been compromised, asking me to enter my password to verify my account. They must think we're a bunch of nuts!

 

[Greg58]

I'm tired of hearing my car warranty is expiring too!

 

[indian22]

I'm tired of hearing my car warranty is expiring too!

Exactly the same 3 calls I receive Greg, but the fourth, Psychic Hotline, forgot my number.

Rick C.

 

[fasteddy]

A large building I rented a work shop area in was purchased by a chap who had made a large amount of money running scams that were one step inside the law. He ran the ads in the 1970's and 1980's. He bought the building in the mid 1990's for another scam that landed him in jail for many years.

His first one was a solar clothes dryer for not much money with the ads running in back to the land magazines ect. Lots of flowery talk about saving the environment and easy installation, and when you sent your money in you received 50' of clothes line and a bag of cloths pins. It was indeed a "Solar Dryer."

His next one was a wood stove for $99.00. This was when heating with wood was at it's peak. He told the chap that he bought the building from that he'd sold many thousands of them and he had used an actual photo of them so he couldn't be arrested for false advertising. He did deliver what was in the photo.

What did you get for your $99.99? A table top sized stove made of wood. A wood stove, literally. Apparently many of the states Attorney Generals tried to prosecute him but he had delivered what he advertised and they couldn't. Carefully worded ad and it was up to the consumer to be careful.

What got him in the end? Greed and stupidity as usual. He had a money making legitimate business with an endless, well heeled clientele but he couldn't stay straight. He started in California putting early truck bodies on Chevrolet S10 pick up 4x4 chassis with large engines. Fully restored with your list of options. The first few went well and then the business took off. He moved to Northern New Hampshire to a large former body shop to distance himself from his victims just stopping in to check on their trucks progress.

Then he sold the same truck to as many as a dozen people. They all received photos and progress reports but were allowed to fly in to view "their" truck at certain times. Arnold Schwarzenegger was extremely upset when he found out he'd been had up.

It was the largest, White Collar, crime in history in New England at the time and the states Attorneys Generals where the victims lived made political hay with it. I believe it was somewhere around 25-30 years he was sentenced to. He sold the building back to the previous owner by some back handed way that kept it out of the courts possession and I do know the monthly payment was made to his Mother. The original sale of the building may not have gone through to completion legally but the full payment was already made and the repayment couldn't show up in the scammers bank. I just heard bits of the dealings from my old landlord after I'd moved back in. The building was in the scammers hands for a matter of months before it all hit the fan.

What this guy could have done with the internet would have been more amazing than it was.

Steve.

 

[PeteMcP]

Having read umpteen sorry online tales these last few days from fellow victims of the All-Metal, Working Model Engine Kit scam I've fallen foul of, I'm at a loss how folks have been sent a variety of worthless, unrelated junk instead of the quality kit depicted in the Oh-so convincing adverts. Some guys report receiving a tennis ball sized Lego-type toy, others a small plastic 4x4 truck, and yet other say all they got was a red plastic car toy valued no more than a few pennies, the kind you'd expect to find in a Christmas cracker. The s_ _t I gave my money to planned on sending me something which at least bore a resemblance to the product I wanted - albeit a crudely-cast, one-piece resin blob, badly painted as if by a kindergarten kid.

From the feedback I've read on forums giving a heads-up about this 'working engine kit' scam, it would appear the modus operandii of the seller, after receiving complaints from purchasers following delivery of their junk 'item', is to offer buyers a derisory refund - say 5 dollars. Then after a few back and forth e-mails, all leading nowhere, they up the refund offer to 6 dollars. Seems a high percentage of folks realize they might as well write off any chance of getting anything more and accept, after finding out from their local Post Office what the return postage to China would cost. Lesson learned the hard way. A few others reported they went down the same route as me and raised a complaint with PayPal. Some say PayPal refunded them fully, whilst others say PayPal advised them to accept the seller's offer. So I guess the jury's out on how my PayPal claim will pan out.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Having read umpteen sorry online tales these last few days from fellow victims of the All-Metal, Working Model Engine Kit scam I've fallen foul of, I'm at a loss how folks have been sent a variety of worthless, unrelated junk instead of the quality kit depicted in the Oh-so convincing adverts. Some guys report receiving a tennis ball sized Lego-type toy, others a small plastic 4x4 truck, and yet other say all they got was a red plastic car toy valued no more than a few pennies, the kind you'd expect to find in a Christmas cracker. The s_ _t I gave my money to planned on sending me something which at least bore a resemblance to the product I wanted - albeit a crudely-cast, one-piece resin blob, badly painted as if by a kindergarten kid.

From the feedback I've read on forums giving a heads-up about this 'working engine kit' scam, it would appear the modus operandii of the seller, after receiving complaints from purchasers following delivery of their junk 'item', is to offer buyers a derisory refund - say 5 dollars. Then after a few back and forth e-mails, all leading nowhere, they up the refund offer to 6 dollars. Seems a high percentage of folks realize they might as well write off any chance of getting anything more and accept, after finding out from their local Post Office what the return postage to China would cost. Lesson learned the hard way. A few others reported they went down the same route as me and raised a complaint with PayPal. Some say PayPal refunded them fully, whilst others say PayPal advised them to accept the seller's offer. So I guess the jury's out on how my PayPal claim will pan out.

You can take it further to the credit card that was used to pay Paypal and they may help. Parts for my underwater scooter had some nasty stuff that was supposed to be silicone grease on orings. It was tacky an very dry, much like anything to anything glue. It was my word against shippers. The pictures I took to show what a mess it was just did no good. It was just finally that the credit card company just absorbed the cost of some of my purchase as I have been with them for a while. A mess cleaning the stuff off and putting new orings I had already bought from another seller. Orings that fit and worked from the other seller worked right off. Large corporation and authorized service center had wrong size orings for my scooter and tried around 4 times to get it right as courtesy, but never did. Mom & Pop small Ebay seller had it right!

 

[PeteMcP]

Great news! 2am here and I just received an e-mail from PayPal confirming they reviewed my case against the seller, found in my favour and have issued me with a full refund which should appear in my account in 4-5 days.

 

[curtisfox]

Amen for that!...........Curt

 

[fasteddy]

Pete, that's wonderful news. The trick with these scammers is they send you something so the record shows you received a package from them. That way they can claim you received what they sold you and the photo of what you received is a fake because your trying to get what you purchased for free.

I saw a video of one person who was burned for a lot of money in a scam, who videoed himself opening every package with a newspaper beside the box with the date visible. That way the date delivered corresponded with the newspaper date. He'd beaten a lot of scams that way and whoever he used to pay couldn't argue with him.

Steve.

 

[Greg58]

Y’all may not remember but I’ve posted before on the forum that I have ordered every priced too good to be true engine kit I could find on eBay, that seems to be the only way to draw attention to the fake sellers. After a few days eBay will refund my money and block the seller because he/they haven’t provided a tracking number. I use PayPal and a credit card not connected to my bank accounts, that gives me three ways to file a claim. So far eBay has covered it every time.

 

[indian22]

Great news! 2am here and I just received an e-mail from PayPal confirming they reviewed my case against the seller, found in my favour and have issued me with a full refund which should appear in my account in 4-5 days.

PayPal still my favorite comes through once again

 

[indian22]

PayPal still my favorite comes through once again

Greg I also use the 3 way method you described but never had to take a dispute past PayPal. Pre PayPal days ebay actually did a good job on providing refunds and amazon as well.

Percentage wise I've had relatively few bad purchases that required a dispute, but after literally thousands of purchases online I've had some.

Rick C.

 

[Greg58]

The ebay sellers I use I check out by ratings and the amount of sales they have had, so far every one has refunded or made things good. In 2019 I bought a Chinese chainsaw that was listed as a 62cc, when I checked the bore it turned out to be a 52cc, I contacted the seller and told him what I found, we agreed on a partial refund if I would keep the saw. The saw ended up costing me $64 I think.

 

[PeteMcP]

Haven't made much progress on my latest build these last few weeks. Embarrassing. Sorry 'bout that. But I've at least managed a couple more detail jobs which will help personalize the build after it's finally completed - whenever that may be....
Found a local engraving company here in the North East who quickly whipped off a couple of brass and aluminium plaques for my ACE. Ordered these online on Sunday evening and received the brass disc for the filler cap on Tuesday, promptly followed by the pair of Aluminium plates for the footboards yesterday, Wednesday. Super efficient service. These are actually intended as identity tags for pets - but everything can be re-purposed... right? Couldn't resist adding a few rivets in keeping with the many others featured on this build.
Incidentally, those footboards, including mounting hardware, cost a mere UK£16. Looked at them on AliExpress and over the next few weeks they kept bombarding me with e-mails offering ever-more tempting discount till I finally couldn't refuse. With shipping, they came in at £23 a pair. Quality is great too. I had the option of selecting driver or passenger sized footboards at the same price, but opted for the smaller passenger boards 'cause they are more in proportion to the ACE which is a compact bike. And to cap it off, the moulded rubber pads on these footboards feature a pair of spread eagle wings, matching those on the ACE tank decals. Fate....

 

[fasteddy]

Best part of AliExpress is if you even think about looking something up you will indeed be bombarded with ever increasingly better offers if you can hold out. However resistance is futile because they will get to a price that you can no longer resist.

Not to mention this will happen at least four times a day.

Steve.

 

[PeteMcP]

Saw these period looking, raw cast aluminium fish tail mufflers listed on The Complete Automobilist website years back and always intended using a pair of these on my Citroen 2CV-based DeFlyer kit car build when I get round to commencing that build using all the many parts I have stashed here and in storage. These mufflers have been stashed in my 'watch list' for donkeys years, but for the time being, I thought I's order one to see if it would be suitable for use on my current ACE boardie - or even on my Gnome Rhone 125. To be fair, even though the item description said these mufflers were supplied 'unpolished', I was a little disappointed at the very visible scuff marks left by an angle grinder after removing surface imperfections from the casting process. These will need buffing out, so I'll need to have this muffler pro-polished. (As usual, Mischa says Hi!)