You meet all kinds of people on line; on group buy and sell

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
February 6, 2018

You will encounter all kinds of people on line;  very challenging and interesting. At worse you will get sleepless and worrisome nights;  or you can be scammed:   I have seen and  met gentlemen and honorable: riders  I bought a very light wheelset from a Chinese businessman he was on time and gave me a little discount.  I met too an owner of luxury car parts and repair shop who was selling a GS for someone.  He gave me a huge discount, albeit there were rusts and deep scratches on the carbon parts.

I bought a pair of Ultegra direct mount brakes cheap at Alabang. The transaction was straight forward and quick.They were the very nice
ones.

When I inquired from fellow riders, those who are regular on line sellers who are triple A are:

      1. Kevin Timoteo
      2.  Theodore Laquena
      3.  Jhun Quintain
      4. Bong Cancejo
      5.  168

  Yon lang daw ang A ok....
However you can meet the regular guys:  those who change their minds and back out, those who will not give you warranty and resents giving one.

1.  What is bad that even for meet up are:

      1.  He gives you defective part (as in the case of Conti tube I bought) that has a bleb;
      2.  The party does not arrive or arrives very late.

2.  For the pre order as I am experiencing now:

    After you sent the money:

    1. Will not acknowledge the receipt of the cash;
    2. Will not send you the goods at once;
    3.  May not send the item ordered;
    4.  Or kulang mga piyesa or what was promised.

  I have my nervous moment.  Since Thursday, after I sent 22k payment, the the other party answered only now (after joking him that the money may land in a gf account. before I sent the money)   And lo he would not be able to send the item, because he got the wrong size...😅 I made sure we had a contract...Sana mas lalago business nila if they had good phone and communications ethics and an image of reliablility

3.  Advertising broken or defective products.

    I have seen a  df wheelset being sold cheap and the seller was kind enough to point out that there is damage that is why he is selling it a big discount.  However there was representation that it could be repaired somewhere and the somewhere replied quickly that it could not be done that would not compromise the safety of the new owner.

   I saw another post that says that there is a crack in the frame and it could be repaired well.

   As to the carbon fiber, unless there was a big crash or heavy object that fell on the cf frame, it would not disintegrate. But some break.

The FB groups for posting online is free and everybody and everybody can buy and sell without being pre qualified and screened.  And it cant be avoided that there will be posers and bad eggs and apples getting mixed up with good ones.  The admin is ill equipped to handle the screening and curating the members: policing nor sanctioning slapping penalties violators :  for criminals.


In the meantime, it is not bad to be paranoid.  Andrew Grove of Intel said:  "Only the paranoid survive"
If the advice or admonition always is to "Ingat sa ride"    Ingat din sa mga ka deal online.  That is the only way not to get scammed or short changed