Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

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Greg86
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:06 pm
Location: Chippenham, Wiltshire UK

Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

Post by Greg86 »

December last year I put a wanted advert for an auto gearbox for a 635 on the forum. Quite quickly after I got a message from Boyd saying that he had one and he had driven the 'Highline' it had come out of and that it was in great working order. I paid the money and after several excuses and delays after a few weeks I finally received a gearbox. It took me a couple of months to arrange getting it fitted, the box was removed from my car and to my surprise the boxes were totally different. The box was for an M20 engine. I messaged Boyd and he acknowledged that it was the wrong box and said he would send another, then nothing. After much pestering a few weeks ago he told me that he had finally sent the box out but the courier had tried to deliver it three times and it was on its way back to him. I thought this was strange as the address is my friends workshop and he gets in very early and leave late most days, I gave him a call and he said he would check the CCTV. Sure enough there had been no missed deliveries what so ever.

I have had enough of waiting and have been trying to get a refund but am not getting any reply. I'm not sure the e24 gearbox ever existed and perhaps the 'new one' doesn't either. My car has now been sat for 6 months gathering dust, a very sad sight.

Its such as shame as alongside my Highline I have rescued a couple more 635s and sourcing good used parts isn't easy, I could have been a good customer.
89' Bmw 635csi Highline Auto - Diamond Black
85' Bmw 635csi Auto - Arctic Blue
82' Bmw 635csi Manual - Henna Red
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Ralph in Socal
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:32 am
Location: High Desert of SoCal

Re: Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

Post by Ralph in Socal »

Not good for the BC group. Maybe someone familiar with Boyd can step in.

BTW, the M20 bell housing can be removed and replaced with the M30 bell housing from your existing trans. I've done it before so I know it's possible. Just be careful to not remove the "A" clutch pack housing with the bellhousing as all the bolts need to come out. Probably best to do the separation while the trans is standing on the tailshaft so gravity works in your favor.

Ralph
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There is a very fine line between "Hobby" and Mental Illness.

85 635csi Zinno Auto
84 528i Euro
83 635 Euro Arktik
81 528i Kastanien 5-speed
88 528e Bronzit (Granpa Car)
86 535i Auto (For Sale)
81 633 csi (retired)
cecotto479

Re: Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

Post by cecotto479 »

Hold on.

Months and months after you buy it, with nothing in between, you tell me it's the wrong one.

I offer my apologies and explain that the bellhousing etc. can be swapped over, but your expert mechanic declares that to be impossible, so despite the months that have passed, and my view that I'm not obliged to do anything at all because of:-

a) the time that has passed, and,
b) the fact that what I originally sent you was a known good, working working ZF4HP22EH gearbox, what you need,

I offer to take the time to take one out of a 635 and send it to you, which I do, certainly not immediately, but I do it nonetheless. This gets returned to me a couple of weeks later. Now, you or your expert mechanic, may or may not have looked at some CCTV, but I have an invoice for £42 plus VAT from my local Pallet Line franchisee and and the return paperwork - oh, and a gearbox sitting on a pallet. And now I'm £50 down too. And in this time your tone has gone from apologetic and grateful to the indignant, self righteousness we see here.

Despite this, if you still want this gearbox, send the original one back and have the one lying here collected - the process I would have implemented at the time, had I known then that you're not (or at least not solely) the genuine enthusiast you so carefully portray yourself as here, but a back bedroom speculator/"investor"/horse trader of the type that have significantly contributed to the ruination of the UK classic car market and only interested in tarting the car up for maximum resale value.

And while genuine traders are usually good customers, your type never are.

You are correct that parts are getting more difficult to source and they've just got even more difficult. I've been thinking about it for a while and, for a number of reasons, mostly relating to supply of and demand for parts, but this incident has certainly helped to convince me - I'll be following the example of some of the larger specialists and I'll no longer be selling six series used parts to people I don't know. They're getting harder to come by and to replace and selling parts that are difficult to replace and which I will almost certainly need at some point isn't a clever long term business model.

And, seeing the prices others charge, I'm not very good at it.

I'll also be able to save the not insignificant staff and admin costs of running the customer service and complaints department.

Let me know if the original gearbox is coming back and you're having this one collected.
Greg86
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:06 pm
Location: Chippenham, Wiltshire UK

Re: Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

Post by Greg86 »

''Yes. Good used guaranteed - I've driven the car - @£250 including the torque converter. Out if a Highline too, not that it matters.

Best regards,

Boyd''

This was the message you sent me back at the beginning, yes it took me just under 2 months to get it fitted but I didn't think to check the box as call me naïve but I trusted that you were telling the truth when you said it had come out of a Highline.

I asked you several times before and after you sent the apparent second for some sort of tracking information or details of the courier but you never replied? Perhaps you could post evidence of it here? All I can say is there was certainly no delivery to the workshop this end and I certainly wasn't apologetic.

When you say genuine traders are good customers but my 'type' never are what do you mean by that? We have never met, you have no idea who I am. If you supplied the correct parts in a fairly timely manner I would without doubt be a good customer as I am to many other traders throughout the UK. As far as a 'speculator' and 'investor' you could not be further from the truth, I intend to keep my 635csi for many years and enjoy it, I have just finished building a garage for it.

You certainly know how to string a few words together when it suits you but it only takes a bit of research on here and on your facebook group to see that I am not the only person that has had problems. At this stage I wont be sending the box back as then I am fairly certain that I will be left with nothing.
89' Bmw 635csi Highline Auto - Diamond Black
85' Bmw 635csi Auto - Arctic Blue
82' Bmw 635csi Manual - Henna Red
cecotto479

Re: Bavarian Retro *Nightmare*

Post by cecotto479 »

Suit yourself.
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