Facebook Saab groups

[Steve McF]

Anyone else bought items from people breaking Saabs on here?

Not naming any sellers, but I bought a set of 314mm brake callipers which came very quickly, but will need a lot of cleaning.

Then bought a rear parking sensor kit which came very quickly too, but when I had it fitted, found that the loom had been sliced through, and so I had to pay for a new loom which doubled the cost of the bits. Not too impressed with that, but it's on the car now and works.

Last week, I was talking to a guy who was breaking a 2003/4 Aero, and who told me he had the 13 speaker system with the extra amp and the 6x9 rear speakers. So I bought them, paid with PayPal, and after a couple of days, couldn't get hold of him again. Now he did say he was breaking the car in his own time outside of his own job hours, but every message  have sent him in the last few days has not been read from what I can tell, yet he has been offering other bits and pieces to people in the group in the mean time.

Am I in the process of being ripped off, and is there any comeback on these Facebook groups? I wanted to message the admin, but can't find the option to do so. This guy put the same ad in Saab Nuts, All Saab, and Saab 9-3 Owners UK groups.

I messaged him about other potential bits I may be interested in, but have had no contact from him for about 5 or 6 days now.

I may have got it all wrong, and the stuff could turn up tomorrow.....but.....you know that nagging feeling that you may have given some toad 70 quid for nothing...... 

[sgould]

You go on the FB pages and ask if these are still available.  Someone else might say that they bought them...

[Steve McF]

I've messaged (PM'ed) him to arrange buying the bits, and the money has already gone through to him, as well as my address etc. I may have got him all wrong....but the fact all comms appear to have ceased is a bit suspicious

Interesting, the car he is breaking has MOT till November (HX03EAA).

[sgould]

Did you buy from Kevin Holmes?

If so, there's a post about something similar in the Saab Owners Club GB FB group.  Andy Anderson.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1860362827526305/

[Steve McF]

No it wasn't Kevin Holmes....

[Max Headroom]

Not SAAB but other stuff over the years... I too have got into a bit of a tiz thinking I've been ripped off because of someobodys sudden apparent lack of communication with me and not other people has happened. But in my instance, it was unfounded worry and the stuff just turned up late.
Hopefully it will arrive soon.

On the other hand I have heard of unscrupulous people advertising highly rare and sought after valuable vintage car components - usually for sale in a remote and fairly innaccessible area of say, Scotland.
The one that springs to mind is a rare 1930s MG gearbox that was found advertised for an unbelievably cheap £2500 which turned out to be a scam.
What happened was, the photographs and info on the gearbox type etc had been stolen from a magazine advert that some years earlier had sold (in a genuine sale) a gearbox that fetched £4k.
The scammer thought they could make a quick buck by making a a similar advert for a non-existant, similar, g'box advertised at an unbelievably cheap price of £2500 (but still a lot of money).
Luckily this was flagged up on the MMM forums by a suspicious MG owner that recognised the photos and remembered the origianal advert, and even still had the magazine, and realised  the that this was potentially a fake sale.

This same scam has now happened something like three times in the last five years and is no doubt being set up by the same individual!
Somebody tried to trap the scammer by saying they wanted to inspect the g'box first, but got all manner of excuses saying that he was overseas and blah blah blah etc and that the g'box was already in the process of being bought by another individual in Japan, and that if he wanted it he would have to transfer the money immediately.

Scum like that will hopefully live very long, painful and unhappy lives.


I am sure there will be some explanation of your stuff being a bit late and for the apparent lack of communication, and that your stuff will turn up very soon.

[fka]

I've bought quite a few bits and pieces from people breaking on FB, UKS and ebay. A lot around that are just people who've decided for whatever reason that their car is no longer salvageable or they'd get more by breaking than selling. i.e. they are not professional/ seasoned breakers. It's possible they could just get overwhelmed having to break the car and deal with the sales in their spare time. Might also explain some 'questionable' mechanical skills!

There's a number of regular breakers on UKS, FB and ebay, who I'd go to first.

Big problem with PayPal is that you're most likely going to be sending cash as a "gift" as opposed to a paying a seller. In which case I don't think PP offers any recompense if anything goes wrong!

I hope the guy gets in touch and your parts arrive, I'm sure they will. Most rip off merchants circulating these groups are usually weeded out quite quickly.

[Steve McF]

All's well that ends well.

I didn't get the parts, but the guy started to dismantle the car to find there was no amp2 (although the bracket was there), and the 6x9 speakers were aftermarket ones. So he got back to me, and refunded me straight away.

[sgould]

Phew!

[Max Headroom]

Fair play to the guy getting back to you and swiftly refunding. I'm sure you could have done without the brief moment of stress, though 

[Steve McF]

Yeah I'd had not contact from him for a week, and he didn't respond to subsequent queries I had, so I was getting twitchy that he'd walked off with my money :0

Also my contact with him was by private message, so people on the group had no visibility or knowledge of the transaction.

Anyway, when he did come back to me, he had been in the process of trying to remove said parts to find they were not all there.

So a good guy in the end.