Larry Myers wrote:
> I just received, this morning, my first foreign purchase from e-Bay.
> It is a very cool ALAN bike, sized for a child (or very small adult)-
> 22' tubulars, 155mm cranks, jr. Concor seat, etc. Only one small
> problem- while unpackaging the bike (which was very poorly packaged),
> I discovered that it has a broken frame. The RH seatstay has parted
> company with the seat lug, leaving about a 1/8" gap between these two
> pieces. I don't feel that the poor packaging caused this- it is a
> break much more typical of hard use , than of shipping damage. The
> Italian seller was not a bike specialist; their line of work seems to
> be vintage scooters & motorcycles (and other antique items), and the
> break was in a place that only a fairly skiled mechanic would notice
> it, so I am pretty convinced that the frame was broken when the
> seller obtained it from it's previous owner. I have e-mailed the
> seller; but will probably not hear back for at least a day. I would
> greatly appreciate any input/advice from fellow listers who have been
> through this sort of thing- how it was resolved, how long, steps I
> can take to get a speedy resolution,etc. The transaction was
> conducted through PayPal, where I am a verified buyer/seller; should
> I call them, or would I be wasting my time? Any info appreciated!
I would contact the seller first to resolve the issue directly. Unless the seller is very agreeable, I suspect you could end up spending as much vindicating yourself as you did on the bike itself. And how likely are you to find another child-size Alan?
Depending on the damage -- was it a joint/bonding failure or a tube failure? -- you might well just have it repaired. IIRC, there are/were some shops that handled Alan repairs. This might make more sense and leave you with a usable bike in the end.
--
John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA