Re: [CR]KOF, Elation then Disappointment on Ebay

(Example: Production Builders:Peugeot:PY-10)

Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 06:08:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]KOF, Elation then Disappointment on Ebay
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, Jose Villaluz <jose.villaluz@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <366c192b0810082131o104ef01eq8e9dffec95e4f57@mail.gmail.com>


I feel your pain.  A couple of years ago I bought a KOF 1988 Mercian King of Mercia and I think I paid $125 to $150 packing and shipping because the seller added $50 for "professional" packing by a bike shop.  Yeah, rig ht.  The "professionals" just threw the bike in a box with minimal paddin g, and worst of all threw the front wheel in loose, neither padded nor se cured.  Not surprisingly, the wheel banged around and put a sizeable dent in the toptube.  I agreed with the shipper on a refund of the $150 shipp ing, and suggested he seek a refund from the "professionals".

Fortunately this frame was repaired by Mike Barry, who repaired the dent an d resprayed just the surrounding area.  Mike also repaired a similar dent in a Raleigh International, also with a partial respray.  In both cases, it is impossible to tell a repair was made.  I've never seen anyone as g ood as Mike at making a flawless repair without resorting to a complete res pray.  And he would have done it within the $150 refund except that I had to buy the unusual blue/purple flamboyant paint from Mercian in UK.  Mik e's retirement means the loss of a big resource.

This just points out that there are bike shops and there are bike shops.  The special ones like CdO, First Flight, Acme and others associated with t he CR list, and I would add Lickton's, you can literally trust with your li fe.  But unfortunately some shops cannot be trusted at all.  Most are a t least partly staffed with relatively inexperienced teenagers or twenty-so methings, but that was the case In The Day as well.  The difference is th at at the special shops, the owners provide their young employees with the guidance and motivation to do the job properly, hopefully in the process de veloping the outstanding shop owners of the future.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA


--- On Wed, 10/8/08, Jose Villaluz wrote:


From: Jose Villaluz <jose.villaluz@gmail.com Subject: [CR]KOF, Elation then Disappointment on Ebay To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 11:31 PM

Greetings All,

This is not the first time this has happened and as long as I buy and sell bikes from the far reaches of the planet it won't be the last. I "won" an auction for a Dave Moulton Fuso last week (Ebay item # 250300880559) for what I thought was a fair price. In order to ensure it's safe arrival I wanted professional packing and I contacted a bicycle shop that claimed to be able to do the job (wrong, wrong, wrong). Prior to packing up the bike I asked an employee at the sop to give the bike a once over to be sure it didn't show obvious signs of damage not disclosed in the ad. The guy said the bike looks new and verified it was in fantastic shape. The packing job could not have been more inadequate to the task and these pictures show the results. The employee and seller were both right in that other than this no w seriously screwed up seat tube the bike was in fantastic shape. Some of the damage was also likely to have been caused by rough/poor handling. Names of guilty parties withheld for their own safety. A warning to all: make no assumptions about the ability of a shop to properly pack a bicycle for transport. Thanks for reading this was mildly therapeutic. BTW neither packer or shipper is stepping up and taking responsibility but it appears that the seller is doing what he/she can to get this right - bike was insured. In all seriousness, anyone with a 56cm - 58cm Moulton Fuso they want to sell? Cheers All.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/josevillaluz/dm1.jpg

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/josevillaluz/dm2.jpg

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/josevillaluz/dm5.jpg

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/josevillaluz/dm6.jpg

Jose Villaluz

Wesptort, CT