ipeefreely

Hey guys. So I recently picked up a s2k and before I knew it, I had begun tearing into everything to mod.... including the engine.

Anyways, we found out that my original engine was bad so I ended up buying one locally from a shop (the original listing was on ebay). Got the engine shipped to my shop and had my mechanic look into it. Luckily I had my mechanic take a deeper look at the new engine I bought before installing it because we basically found out that it's a shit engine that's on the verge of detonation.

I contacted the shop that sold me the engine and the guy was in straight denial. Long story short, he claimed the engine was good but refused to return my money even if I paid for the shipping back to him. lol.

Ended up opening a paypal dispute which ended in my favor. So I got my money back (yayyy) But now... there's a engine and tranny on a pallet just sitting at my mechanic's shop. I've tried to contact the seller to see when he intends to have it shipped back to him but he's completely ignored my attempts to contact him. So I'm not sure what to do at this point?

My mechanic has already spent countless hours looking over this engine and due to the sheer size of the product, it's taking up a lot of room in his shop so I need to figure out what to do with it. Can i sell it? If I can, what would the proper procedure to do that? Honestly, I'm almost at the point where I want to contact my lawyer to see if he can just handle it for me but I really don't even want to put one more cent of my money into this situation.

Ucljae

Keep in mind that I know absolutely nothing about Paypal disputes, but I'm assuming that, since you won the dispute, you're required to return the engine back to him. Is that true? Who's responsible for the shipping costs?

At this point, it seems like you've made a very reasonable effort to reach out to him, so probably not worth putting in more effort there. I'm sure it's tempting to just sell it, but I think the right thing to do here is contact Paypal, and see if they can provide a solution. I believe that Paypal's dispute resolution is automated, so I think you should try to get in contact with an actual person if possible. I could see a scenario where you sell the engine, and then later the seller contacts you demanding the engine back. No matter what you end up doing, I think the most important thing is to have a record of everything, including your attempts to contact the seller.

This probably didn't really help at all, but good luck. Hope you're able to resolve the matter quickly.

HwangTKD

Don't sell the engine. He may try to bring you to small claims court. Consult a lawyer.

deception9

retain an attorney. be a nice guy and get it out of your mechanics working space. through a tarp over it outside. discuss options with attorney.


what was wrong on the original and replacement engine?

MrFunk

For sure don't get rid of the engine.
I'm sure the guy is discussing his own options with a lawyer.
Read all the t's and c's with Paypal about these types of disputes to make sure you understand the policy around returning items after a dispute. Is there a timeframe in which you must return it?
It would be worth a call to Paypal to make sure they are aware of what's going on.

ipeefreely

Honestly. I'm way passed being a nice guy. I actually tried to work things out with the guy AFTER he made some vulgar remarks to my mechanic and I. Hell... I'm still trying to contact him so that I can ship the thing back to him.

If possible, I'd like to avoid retaining my attorney for this. I feel like I've spent enough time and money as it is (I've missed two track days cause of this situation). I think the only thing I'd be willing to do at this point is ship the thing back to him at MY cost. But even then, I don't feel right about that because I'd be putting more money into a situation I was shammed into.

I'm going to wait a couple of days and give Paypal a call and see what they say. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to contact him to return the engine to him. Even if he doesn't respond to me, at least I'll have evidence to build a case against him.

AngryTurtle

Start charging the guy a storage fee?

ipeefreely

my old engine had a rear main seal failure. The oil pan was also leaking and it was also showing low compression on one of the cylinders.

The new engine was advertised to be at 220 compression across all 4. However, upon receiving the unit, my mechanic noticed that the head had been swapped out so we dug in. Found out that the short block was damaged with DEEP scratches in 3 out of 4 of the walls.

We contacted the seller regarding the discrepancies. Instead of helping / working with us, he made vulgar remarks and accused my mechanic of purposely damaging the engine. I told him we wouldn't do that because we were actually trying to get the car back together and we were just checking the engine out to make sure it was up for track duty. From there, he made more accusations and basically told me he wouldn't "warranty shit".

After some more unrefined remarks, I could tell this was going to go nowhere and I hung up on him to let him chill out. That was the last time i ever spoke to him directly and I've actually been trying to contact him via paypal, email, and text to resolve the situation in a amicable manner.

ipeefreely

I was actually trying to be nice but the guy cussed my mechanic out so I think the shop actually started charging him storage like a week ago already... LOL.

It's getting silly because I feel like all of this could have been resolved if he had just worked with us / or at least been up front about the condition of the engine.

MrFunk

Call Paypal. They should be able to advise you on what to do at this point. If they say to discard the motor then have them send that to you in writing then get rid of it. Maybe they can create a ship label for you and charge him and you can ship it to him at his expense.