Advice about Dealing with USA Dealer who sent Defective Prod

[RecRider]

This is one of those “What would you do posts”?

I ordered 2 Torque Arms from a USA Dealer (Not calling him out here).

And I was very clear that what I wanted was the short arm (fender eyelet) torque arms. Actually the Rev2 from Ebikes.ca. I would have ordered from them from Justin's site, but I didn’t want to pay the extra shipping and the extra wait time from Canada. These were supposed to be the same Grin product. I actually sent the link to the Ebikes.ca Torque Arm page to this Dealer. He deals with them for some parts. Again I was very clear on what I wanted. I also talked to this Dealer over the Telephone prior to placing my order.

Anyways the “Dealer” sent me a single torque arm that was nothing like what I had expected. I was very surprised that there was only 1 and that it was nothing like what we had discussed. Fortunately he responded by immediately sending 2 fender eyelet torque arms. I gave him a pass on this because I understand that mistakes can happen.

Now here is where it gets strange, this is what happened next. One of the two torque arms sent AFTER the first mistake appears to be close to new and the other is completely hammered. See the photos for yourself.

I paid $45.90 and for these.

I then sent another email to the Dealer and asked him what now? That was on Wednesday and it’s now Friday and no response yet.

Who does this? What kind of dealer makes a major blunder, then turns around and sends a customer ruined product? It's just unthinkable that anyone would send out this badly damaged product to a customer.

What would you do? I’m less interested in calling this guy out than I am in getting a quick solution, but I clearly can not trust this person.

BTW: I also ordered a “Kit” from this vendor and the hub is making an internal grinding noise. Due to my bewilderment at what he has already done I chose to contact the Distributor directly and I am awaiting their response as well. I would probably have been better off just ordering blind from China.

 

[RecRider]

I just bought an Amped Bikes Geared Front Motor Kit.

I have not applied power to it yet. When it's in the forks and I spin the wheel there is a grinding noise on the wire side. It grinds one time per rotation. The wheel is completely secure and properly mounted inside the forks on the bike upside down. It will also make this sound when I hold in my hands and spin the wheel. Spinning in the direction the wheel would rotate when operating.

It's not real loud, but its there like a scraping on the inside. This concerns me a lot because the warranty on these wheels is pretty short. And so far customer service response from Amped has not come.

Can anyone speculate what might be making this noise and how concerned I should be?

Also when I spin the wheel pretty good it will spin for about 7 to 8 seconds then stop. Just doesn't seem to be freewheeling normally. My regular bike wheel will spin for about a minute or more. How well should these geared motors freewheel in your experience?

As this is new product I am not going to open it up and take any chances.

 

[cassschr1]

I don't believe those are TA. There just the link between the TA and clamp, eyelet, or what ever fastening system you need to use. TA are the shape of the axle ONLY and the tighter the fit, the better it is.

 

[amberwolf]

Additionally, the one on the left appears to be used--it's got a bowed-out section where a bolt or something has been forced against it.

I highly recommend posting the vendor name here; that way other people can avoid this vendor if they do not wish to deal with such issues.

It is always frustrating when people have problems but refuse to say who it was with. Then no one else can benefit from the issues and they will continue causing problems with people until someone finally tells us who it is.

 

[amberwolf]

The FW spin sounds about right, but the noise shouldn't be there. If you are unwilling to open it you need to contact the vendor and have them fix it.

 

[nicobie]

Good luck

 

[recumbent]

When you say it spins for 8 seconds then stops, this can just be the new bearing seals on each side and some other "tight" parts not broken-in yet.

Some things you say are not quite clear because it seems you've not driven it on the street yet.

All motors make noises, some stranger than others, yet they work great, take it out for a ride or two before you fret, you might be pleasantly surprised. Good luck.

 

[dogman dan]

Sometimes a bearing will be bad from the get go, so it could be something like that. But you are hearing this noise while it freewheels right? Could be something not right in the clutch/freewheel inside.

 

[dogman dan]

He's just giving the vendor some time to make it good. It would have been better for the vendor to refund money if he couldn't send the right product. Pretty sure we know who anyway, from reading the motor grinds thread.

And yeah, niether of those parts is intended for use on the axle of a motor. Those are the second piece of a two piece arm.

 

[newb]

Do you have a disc brake? If so, back out each of the disc mounting screws a few turns to see if it's still rubbing. Other wise it is a warranty issue.

 

[RecRider]

Thanks.

It's a definite scraping sound with each rotation (like a metal on metal scape). The Disc Brake Screws is a good idea to check. I don't use disc brakes, but Amped does make a note to use only their screws (Which I haven't touched) because the length of others may cause problems.

I'm not sure how a bearing could make a scraping sound. It's my understanding the clutches are nylon or composite plastic, and this sounds more metal like something rubbing up against the inside of the housing on the non wire side.

I sent a message to amped on Wednesday but have not heard back from anyone yet.

 

[RecRider]

Dogman couldn't be more correct.

Pretty disappointing that someone would send this, further disappointed that they would then dodge me after the fact. There is nothing to gain from doing that. I have been incredibly patient and understanding with this person. But we are past that point now. I'd still like to just get a resolution to this problem. A lot of time and energy and now money wasted. I do not know this person. Their reputation seemed to be okay prior to ordering, but if this is truly how he does business.... I'd steer clear.

And yes you are correct this is only part of the 2 piece torque arm, I was having a lot of trouble on my end getting the photos to upload.

 

[dogman dan]

Could be worse, he did send you something.

And btw that torque arm isn't defective, it's merely been used hard. Only you can change your thread title.

He still owes you a new one of course.

Bear in mind also, we take a pretty darn dim view of folks who join ES only to whine about a dealer. We've had past bad experiences with that, buisness is war and all that. So now you get to go years with everything you'll ever say suspected of being part of a dealers " competition".

 

[nicobie]

Have you asked this question on the amped bikes forum? Be very careful how you word it and for god's sake don't complain or you will get banned. It happened to me when asking about wire sizes.

 

[RecRider]

Whine?

I don't have money to throw away on junk. Exposing an unethical individual is a service to others that come after me.

You either run an ethical business or you don't. I doubt there is anyone here who would expect to purchase new Torque arms at the price I paid and have what showed up appear on their doorstop. And it is in fact defective product. It's totally and completely trashed... Defective, worn out, junk, call it whatever you like. I'll call it defective.

And my motives for joining are not to Whine. But you are entitled to your opinion.

I would think that people want to know what is happening. It's dealers like these that leave a sour taste in the mouth of customers. And while this appears to be a robust community, there are those like me who have "lurked" for years to learn.

It was and is my problem for trusting this person without doing more investigation. That happens when there is a very limited supply of dealers in a very small market. In order for the industry to grow in the United States there has got to be an ethical distribution channel including manufacturers that is more than just hobbiests operating out of their garages. When this occurs the economies of scale will bring prices down and quality up dramatically and the market will take off. That's' good for everybody. Bad dealers slow the process.

That's my opinion anyways.

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, knew that would tick you off. Ask anybody how helpfull I can be when you ask for advice before you buy stuff. The fact remains, you joined only to complain, whine, whatever you wish to call it.

This particualr vendor has been slammed here before so unfortunately your joining just to complain does raise questions. If you think I'm being harsh, wait till you meet the less gentle members.

 

[DAND214]

I just bought an Amped Bikes Geared Front Motor Kit.

I have not applied power to it yet. When it's in the forks and I spin the wheel there is a grinding noise on the wire side. It grinds one time per rotation. The wheel is completely secure and properly mounted inside the forks on the bike upside down. It will also make this sound when I hold in my hands and spin the wheel. Spinning in the direction the wheel would rotate when operating.

So power it up and let it run a few minutes and see if it's gone. Could be just something in the clutch missalinged and needs to run.

Or take it off and send it back. Get another o find the same thing. If it's bad they should take care of it.

If I inspected every motor I had with a fine tooth comb like you have, I would of sent some of them back but they work fine now!.

Dan

 

[amberwolf]

It's my understanding the clutches are nylon or composite plastic

I doubt that. Probably the gears are, but I expect the clutches to all be metal.

 

[amberwolf]

Exposing an unethical individual is a service to others that come after me.

Except that you weren't exposing them since you didn't tell us who they were in the original post. That's not a service to anyone.

You either run an ethical business or you don't. I doubt there is anyone here who would expect to purchase new Torque arms at the price I paid and have what showed up appear on their doorstop. And it is in fact defective product. It's totally and completely trashed... Defective, worn out, junk, call it whatever you like. I'll call it defective.

I happen to agree with you; unfortunatley it is not uncommon for this sort of thing to happen, and one reason we typically recommend that anyone asking about various vendors do some searching of our forums to see the opinions various members have had of them. Doesn't help in your case, as you already got the stuff before coming here, but it can help some people that come here first.

I would think that people want to know what is happening. It's dealers like these that leave a sour taste in the mouth of customers.

We would--and that's why I asked who it is, and why it is strange that you would not have said so right away in the first post. There is zero point for anyone to see the problem without knowing who caused it--it's impossible to avoid them if we don't know who they are.

So at the moment, this thread isn't helping anyone--not you, nor anyone that reads it, until you name the vendor.

 

[dnmun]

the creepy squirreley way it has been presented is kinda really offensive too. nobody is even gonna believe you now even if you did say amped. you have another thread about the motor you got from them and the screws for the disk are rubbing on the inside. or did you take the screws back out?

 

[Jason27]

Rec, that torque arm can still be used!!

This is a case of Walmart mentality when somebody's not instantly 110 percent satisfied like Rec they whine and complain. But when I looked at the pictures those torque arms can still be used for intended purpose. Maybe the manufacturer didn't know they were warped but the point is they can still be used.

Rec your at a point now where complaining does no good. You can either use the torque arms on your build or send them back for refund.

 

[amberwolf]

But when I looked at the pictures those torque arms can still be used for intended purpose. Maybe the manufacturer didn't know they were warped but the point is they can still be used.

AFAICT, the warped one is the obviously-used one--even if blind, the vendor's shipper couldn't miss that it is well-used and that it shouldn't be sold as a new product (or at all, if they don't have a separate way they sell used items, distinguished to their customers from the new stuff).

the other apparently-new arm piece does not appear warped.

 

[Rodney64]

When you talked to the vendor after you received the single incorrect one to what did you say

 

[Jason27]

To me that torque arm does not look used, it just looks like maybe it was a manufacturing defect. I say either keep it or return it.

 

[dogman dan]

NO, It's obviously a used torque arm piece. You can clearly see the bolt/washer rub marks on the round hole. No way it should have been sent without a refund of the difference between new and used price and an explanation.

Like I said, he at least sent you something though, and it's still quite usable. You can bolt it up and go ride once you sort the motor issue out.

Because it is a slam on Amped bikes, is just another reason to suspect a shill poster from some competitor. Not that a customer amped pissed off is unheard of though.

I agree, it's likely the motor issue is the bolts for the disk. Without a disk, they'd be sticking in another mm or so. So that is the likely possibility. Fixable with some washers if that is the problem. If it doesn't fix it, you'll be so glad you pissed off Danny with this thread.