markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

On May 25th, I sent japan2la $3061 for a full JDM TII swap plus shipping to my house, which was

The next day, 5/26, I PM'd him asking when he'd be shipping the order and when it would arrive:

I didn't hear anything else.

On 6/2, eight days later and after the engine should have already shipped, I PM'd him asking for an update and whether the shipping had insurance on it. I didn't get a response.

On 6/7, twelve days later and after the engine should have arrived (although I did get a box with the MAF, BPS, and TID and another box with the driveshaft the day before), I again PM'd him asking for an update. This PM was also ignored.

I was checking almost daily for PMs and seeing that he would be active every day that I checked.

On 6/14, about 20 days later, I sent another PM, a similar email to his forum email address and to his paypal email address.
I got this in my email:

Next day, 6/15, I got this PM.
I told him that I didn't mind the wait, if it meant a great engine. When the engine arrived wasn't that important to me. That it didn't arrive when he said it should and that I wasn't getting any responses to my PMs was what was worrying me.

The 16th and 17th pass with no PM from japan2la even though the engine should have shipped and I should have a tracking number.

Friday the 18th I PM him
quick reply
I ask him when I should check in again and don't get a response.

Next Wednesday, 6/23, I send another PM.
quick reply
Saturday comes and I have no tracking number.

Tuesday, 6/28, I ask him how it will ship and if there is a tracking number and I get a reply PM with a tracking number. Engine finally arrives two days later on the 30th. I'm super excited!!!

Then I open the crate and my excitement dwindles.

Most of the other parts have arrived fine, with the exception of the oil cooler which is pretty beat up and the downpipe which didn't arrive at all. My initial examination of the engine show a great deal of rust and corrosion.







My NA that had 180K miles on it and sat in the driveway for a year and a half looked pristine by comparison. No rusty pulleys, no rusty OMP, no rusty much of anything.

I decide to do some initial inspection and notice that there is a lot of oil on the outside of the turbo that I can't see the source of. The hole where the BOV used to be shows a dirty looking interior tube. I remove the TMIC and notice some oil in there. I let the TMIC drain overnight and this is what came out of it.



I pull the plugs to have a quick look at the apex seals. Rear rotor looks fine, but the front rotor appears to have rusty water on the rotor faces and seals.






I then started a thread, https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/questions-about-used-engine-911331/, to get some additional opinions on the matter to make sure that I wasn't missing something. The general consensus was that the motor was iffy to bad.

I send the following PM to japan2la
Japan2la offers me a refund for the motor, which would leave me with a TII drive train, which I wouldn't need. I press for a full refund. He agrees, although he wants me to eat all the shipping charges as well as a $150 handling/restocking charge. I would be out close to $1000 at that point and have nothing to show for it. We argue some more via PM, which I'm not including here because it's kinda dull.

Here is a basic summary of his position
I'm very sick of this by now and am about ready to eat the charges just to recover at least some of my money. In a later PM he states
Since I'm very wary at this point, I want to get very clear about the above statement as it's a generic out.

I reply via PM, on 7/5
I have not received any further PMs as of 7/7, two days later.

Since his main issue is that there can not be anything wrong with the engine, I decide to dig deeper, just in case he's right and it is just a little condensation.

I pull the turbo and exhaust manifold off and find this rusty horror waiting for me. The entire rotor housing, irons, side seals and rotor corners and apex seals are covered in rust. You can see from the pics, but looking at it with the eyeballs, it looks even worse (it's hard to get a camera and a mag-light pointing into the same hole).








You can check out my album if you want to see all of them - https://www.rx7club.com/members/markusparkus-2684-albums/.

So now I have an engine with a terrible coolant leak in the front rotor that has rusted everything near to death and I'm looking at having to shell out a good bit of extra cash to get it operable again.

From our PM interchange, I was expecting something a little better out of a stock of at least 7 TII swaps.
quick reply

theo481

iTrader: (10)

W O W is all i can say....

Good luck man, did you pay with credit card through paypal??

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, and they won't do anything about it.

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

Just got this PM from Japan2LA

So where then, did the major rust in the front rotor come from? Saying that there's no coolant leak in the front rotor is absurd given the amount of rust in there. That's like looking at a burned down house and claiming that there was no fire. Rust requires metal and water.Lots of rust requires metal and lots of water.

The price of the engine you quoted me was $1850 plus shipping, not $1350.

I purchased a full TII swap, not a bunch of miscellaneous parts. Since the engine is toast, the swap can't happen. Trying to leave me with these leftovers to deal with is unfair since I can't really do anything with them without a working engine.

Since you were claiming that all of this was just made up and wouldn't pay for any return shipping and were going to charge me for a restock fee, getting clear about the state of the water and rust was a requirement.

I've never dealt with a company that wouldn't pay for the return of defective items. Never. Not once.

Natey

iTrader: (19)

If I were him, I'd eat the money, send you a clean engine (like you two originally agreed upon) and keep my good rep intact.

Restocking fees and shipping charges aren't cool either, since it's NOT your fault that the transaction fell apart. Maybe the thread you started was a little...premature, but that's no reason to punish you by keeping your money.

Good luck to the both of you.

btbaus

iTrader: (3)

ive recently contacted Japan2la about purchasing a TII engine and he never came through. He just ignored my PM's. After seeing how this situation played out, i'm glad he ignored my pm's. Hope you sort things out man.

RotaryRocket88

iTrader: (7)

There is clear evidence of internal rust in the pictures that he provided. If this is something you knew about prior to selling the engine, the engine should have never left your possession. Anyone that buys a used engine should remove the exhaust manifold to inspect the rotors and seals. It is absurd to tell someone they're not allowed to check the engine out for themselves.

This $150 handling fee you've come up with comes across as just plain spiteful, but more to the point, it also goes against the rules of the classifieds section. We don't allow sellers to ask for handling fees, PayPal fees or anything of that kind. The item cost and shipping cost should be the only dollar figures on the table. I understand in this case that shipping costs will be high (heavy items), but hopefully there is room for some compromise given the state of the engine. It is not the buyer's fault that the engine is showing some serious warning signs. It is the seller's responsibility to ensure that an item for sale is actually what it's being marketed as.

FelixIsGod29X

iTrader: (50)

O my F-ing god, i wont tell anyone where to buy a JDM engine anymore. Ive lost all trust on this forum. Markusparkus in my opinion you deserve all of your money back considering non of this garbage is your fault.

Natey

iTrader: (19)

...Speaking of "premature".
let's not jump to conclusions. There's two sides to every coin, and Brian has a good rep on this forum for a reason. I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything, but let the guy defend/explain himself in this thread before we lose all faith in him OR the forum.
There's aren't too many guys willing to spend the time and money to do what japan2la does, finding and importing these hard-to-find parts for us.

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

Thanks...

There has been more than one offer put on the table to resolve this..

TENAZ

iTrader: (2)

I hope you as RX7club forum seller can make up to the buyer.


TENAZ

theo481

iTrader: (10)

???

Yea they will......

I had a bad transaction with a member on here for 2160 and I called discover, said my sh** came broken and they filed a chargeback..

Got all of my money back

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

Really? My bank says that since I used paypal, which drafted from by bank account through my card, that they consider it a pre-approved payment and won't do anything about it. Maybe I should use a true credit card instead in the future.

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

This is true. However, both of these offers have high additional costs to them: I'm expected to pay additional shipping charges to return the item(s) to you. Charges which are way higher for me, since I don't have a shipping account with central freight. I'm having a hard time stomaching paying an additional $500 for what I originally ordered.

I understand that you are upset about not making a profit (or as high a profit) on this transaction. However, be aware that you aren't the only one who would take a loss on a full refund. I bought and installed a walbro pump that I'd take a loss on. I bought a FMIC that I'd take a loss on. I bought an n370 that would need selling. I bought a floor jack and transmission adapter so I could pull the rear subframe and differential.

I too, have spent a lot of time on this. Aside from all the time and stress just dealing with the situation, taking pictures and videos etc., pulling the subframe and diff was a LOT of time and effort. I spent days working the removal of a half shaft for this swap, destroying it in the process, which I'll have to replace if the swap doesn't happen.

It's understandable that tempers got a little hot and if I jumped the gun on anything, I do apologize. This is the largest online purchase I've ever made and I wasn't expecting the response that I got.

Building trust in a brand, the Japan2LA brand in this case, is about building relationships of trust. It seems that the heat of the situation has obscured an important point. This isn't just between you and me: this is between you and me and a lot of your future potential customers. These threads have gotten a lot of views and a lot of people are watching. How you treat this transaction and customer is a public testament to how you are willing to treat customers in general.

Our relationship has gotten off to a bad start, and even though we've been through a lot together, I really think the best thing for both of us is to break up. You offered me a replacement engine, if I'm willing to shell out a good bit extra to ship the bad one to you, but I think the best thing for both of us is for you to arrange return shipping for everything and give me a full refund. I know you don't like the idea of losing money on this, and neither do I. I offer for your consideration of this the following: how much longer do you want this disagreement to continue? The longer these threads stay open, the more people are going to see them and the more likely the search engines are going to pick them up and index them. What happens if, God forbid, I get another bad engine? Then what? We do this dance all over again? Our dirty laundry is on the line and I'd like to pull it in and rewash it. In the end, we'll both have lost some money and time, but I'll get money back to figure out another option for my car and you'll gain appreciation and positive rep. for taking care of the situation in a professional manner.

I want to make it very clear, that this is not personal for me. I don't hold a grudge against you and I don't want a flame war to start. I do appreciate the service that you provide to the community, it just didn't work out well for me.

FelixIsGod29X

iTrader: (50)

Not fully inspecting an engine before it gets shipped is premature. He paid for an engine that looks to have been driven around the world and a bit pricey. Now has to eat shipping charges over the sellers fault? This is just wrong IMHO.

I thought japan2la offered warranties?

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

Please understand that this thread is not hurting me in anyway.

I have given several resolution options..

These options are not open ended..

Gringo Grande

iTrader: (97)

Japan2LA used to be the man you could trust...he still may be the best option...not for me to say. However there seems to have been several disappointing threads this year regarding his services...and I personally know someone who received an engine from him that did not have promised compression but it had been more than 30 days before he installed it so he never said anything (buyers fault).

Hope Japan2LA can get back to having a consistent good rep.

TENAZ

iTrader: (2)

If I were him .
I'd take care of the customer.I know sometimes I ended up loosing a bit.
(specially in used auto parts).
But over all is about his Integrity as a Forum vendor.

Tenaz

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, 30 days. Which I'd like to take advantage of, but since I'm expected to eat another several hundred dollars at least to return the defective engine, and I'd STILL be taking a chance on an engine from a questionable vendor, I'm not very interested.

If here were willing to cross ship me a replacement engine and issue a pickup for the busted one, I could consider it. Not if I'm going to have to eat another $500 dollars though. Especially since he's said this:
and won't clarify these points. As it stands, it looks like he's just rolled out a big barrel he expects me to bend over.

So, if it's not clear, I'm willing to compromise. If he'll send me another engine, one that's not rusty and has the expected > 100psi compression on all faces, isn't damaged in any way and doesn't have rust in the compression chambers, and has a manual flywheel, not an automatic one requiring me to spend even more money AND have the busted one picked up when the replacement is delivered, then I'd be willing to move on. Oh, and the downpipe that never arrived should come with the replacement engine.

I know that he'd be probably just be breaking even, but FWIW, technically, he still has $87 of my money that he charged as a paypal transfer fee, which could be considered a credit on my part towards the return of the defective engine.

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

I have no problem sending out another motor.. but 1st..

The original motor needs to be sent back to me for inspection.

The engine has to be 100% complete ( no missing parts, hardware..everything that was there before needs to be there when it gets back here) and it has to be all bolted together correctly.. same way it was when it arrived.

Once the motor is back here I will look it over.. and if everything is there, as it should be, another replacement longblock will be shipped out right away.

I am not going to send another motor out until the 1st one is back here.. Getting it back here is your job.. and then sending out another one is my job.. That is how it works.

Anytime there is a warranty issue, the buyer must send back the item... I am not being unreasonable in asking for this to be done in this situation..

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

Also, I can arrange for the shipping.. I can send you a BOL and all you need to do is package the motor up correctly, get it strapped on to a pallet and then deliver it to the terminal with the BOL paper work. And I will pay for that but...

When I get ready to ship the replacement engine out to you, you are going to have the pay me for the shipping of the new engine..

I will cover shipping 1 way only... not both ways...

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

BTW: The above resolution has been available to you... from before you even took delivery of the engine..

Before you started all these threads.. without even contacting me 1st to voice your concerns..

Before you made VERY unfavorable comments about me..

Before I was call a "questionable vendor"

Before a question of my integrity was ever mentioned..

All you had to do was let me know what was up... instead of trying to play up to some internet audience..

Japan2LA

iTrader: (256)

Also: Thank you ...to whoever the MOD was, that cleaned up the thread..

I have been called worst things here before, so I was not very bothered by that post...

markusparkus

iTrader: (1)

How much will shipping be for just the engine?

Before I get my hopes up and spend more money on this, I want to see some documentation on the replacement engine. I don't want to spend more money just to trade one rusty lemon for another.

I need to see clear photos of all sides, plus top and bottom. I'd like to see clear closeups of the turbo intake and exhaust blades. I also want to see clear closeups of all six rotor faces and apex seals through the exhaust ports and a shot of each rotor housing surface, similar to what I posted.

Additionally, I'd like to see a clear video of the compression test showing > 100psi on all faces.

I have a preference for a replacement engine with a manual flywheel.

I also would like for the downpipe that didn't arrive to be included in the replacement, as well as a replacement oil cooler as the one originally shipped is pretty beat up.




How long is this in days and how long will you need to inspect the engine I return to you?



WRT to the return of the bad engine, I want to know that this
is all that's going to be used to determine that you got what you sent. Not some vague and open ended terms like "altered".

To help avoid any confusion about the above, I will video tape the re-assembly and take photos of the re-assembled engine and send them to you beforehand. Additionally, I'll send you photos of the packing process to make sure that it's packed in a way acceptable to you.

How does that sound?

SMKNRX7IL

I'm sorry. I would be pretty ticked off if I paid 500 bucks to have an engine full of moisture and rust shipped to me, and was then expected to pay another 500 bucks to have a replacement shipped. I know that for warranty type returns and such, that is the reality with a LOT of vendors. Part of the reason why I wont buy a JDM engine from anyone. I'm just surprised that taking off the exh. mani and visually inspecting the chamber conditions isn't a "standard" check on an imported engine. This check would have prevented this whole situation, as I highly doubt that the moisture damage in those pictures happened in transit from CA to TX. If it were my business, I personally would suck up the loss of shipping costs for this one transaction, set it right, and learn from it. Add a chamber check to your compression test as part of your QC process. Take pictures/video of these checks for your records. If you sent me pictures/video of the chamber check and a proper compression test on the engine you shipped, and then something was wrong with it, I would feel a little more at ease with having to foot a return shipping charge to get a replacement. I know these little extra steps would take more time away from what I am sure is an already packed day. (no sarcasm intended) But they would make your customers a little bit more confident in your products, and cover your butt in an instance like this. Just my $.02.