My jeep buying experience

[Duhwhat]

I bought a jeep from we2arebeckken on eBay and I have to say they turned out to be awful dishonest sellers. They did a really good job of misrepresenting the jeep and when it was delivered, they avoided all my calls and emails. I had to file a claim with paypal to get them to respond and because I didn't pay the whole amount through paypal, I was out of luck since paypal doesn't support partial payment claims.

I made a few other mistakes like making an offline offer and not asking enough questions. I looked at the guys feedback, which was very good, and trusted the losely worded assurance that there were only "three small rust spots and you could drive it anywhere." The rust spots weren't small and it would run well enough to go up a 3 degree incline. All of the pictures were from angles that didn't show the issues and I didn't ask for more. Shame on me in that respect.

The funny thing is that I had all these plans to go completely through the jeep, but now I am disappointed that I will actually have to. lol

Be very careful if you have dealings with these folks.

It's just that these people set out to deceive me for profit and accomplished it.

All in all, I am positive I will make chicken salad out of chicken poop, but it is the principle of the thing. Too bad you can't trust people anymore.

 

[Cheepjeep85]

i buy alot of stuff off of ebay but a vehicle won't ever be one of em. if i can't see it in person, inspect it, pull the dipstick, or kick the tires, i won't even consider it. a vehicle is a big purchase, with what could be alot of money involved, and that is to much to leave up to someone else's opinion of what their vehicle is.

 

[mylittlecj5]

Due to the new PC qualified rules around here, I can't say exactly what I think, So I'll just say welcome to the Jeepin World! :ww:

 

[Old Dog]

All in all, I am positive I will make chicken salad out of chicken poop, but it is the principle of the thing. Too bad you can't trust people anymore.

That kinda stuff happens way to often anymore.
To bad it was your jeep deal, but now you have a project like the rest of us. Welcome to the site.

 

[Sasquach]

I once had a similar experience on Ebay with a Honda CRF250, seller was a crook but we made the trade of motorcycle and cash in person and after seeing it I made a much lower offer and all worked out. Ended up being a good bike, after some new wheels and a few other things.
Not everyone is as honest as you would like to think.

 

[Petescj]

Due to the new PC qualified rules around here, I can't say exactly what I think, So I'll just say welcome to the Jeepin World!


There arent any "New PC Rules" here. We just encountered something that hadnt happened in the first 3 yrs. of this site. I could see a Bad seller/buyer forum to post in if people feel the need.

And thanx for the heads up Duhwhat. None of us want te be scammed and or ripped off.

 

[Duhwhat]

Due to the new PC qualified rules around here, I can't say exactly what I think, So I'll just say welcome to the Jeepin World!


There arent any "New PC Rules" here. We just encountered something that hadnt happened in the first 3 yrs. of this site. I could see a Bad seller/buyer forum to post in if people feel the need.

And thanx for the heads up Duhwhat. None of us want te be scammed and or ripped off.

There is always a way to say things in a PC way and get your point across.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent a little.

 

[kickitandholdit]

yea i agree with alot of the things people have said already. you cant look at it as he ripped you off.. look at it as if better jeep stories and more experience just cost a bit more haha

Dont feel bad. people on the internet are good at misrepresenting things and making you trust them. its how they make a living. They way I look at it is if some guy has to go through all that to trick me and lie then he probably needs the extra few bucks more than I do anyhow. and if we are making the mistakes to get ripped off we will learn priceless lessons. I would just email them and tell them karma sucks LOL. I guarantee you they wont be getting any business from this site.

 

[kickitandholdit]

by the way lets see some pictures of your new project!

 

[Duhwhat]

by the way lets see some pictures of your new project!

I am in the process of trying to get a Weber on it to see if that will get it running. I can not believe all the 'stuff' in the emission and fuel systems that I am having to make decisions on.

It is in the carport as close to one wall as possible and not really photograph-able at this point. As soon as I get it running, I take some 'starting' pictures.

If you have an eBay account, the completed listing number is 160545992943. You may be able to login and view it.

The thing about the listing is that it was so well worded and the picture distance/angles did not really show the issues. Compound that with me falling in love with it on first sight and it was a disaster in the making.

Specifically, it didn't run, back right panel dented, left roll bar foot rusted, hard top back hatch is poor at best, and the small rust spots on the body were much more significant than the photos imply. The listing didn't specify that it was a 4 cyl and I <-BAD WORD->-U-ME'd it was a six because I did not know they made a 4 cyl CJ7 . Had I looked for it on the CarFax, I would have seen it, but he intentionally did not fill that part in on the description.

On top of all this, he recommended a carrier that was a friend that he used and I took him up on it. (This allowed him to load it with a winch assistance and still have someone who would say 'it was running when we loaded it here')

Then he wouldn't answer any calls or emails to discuss a resolution.

I fully accept my role in deceiving me.

I am fortunate that my nieces husband does frame off Mopar restorations and can turn a rust bucket into a collectible classic.

All in all, I am still looking forward to the process, but would like to get a few hundred dollars worth of "simple assault" fines as closure.

 

[ftwflh]

DOesnt look all that bad for a CJ.As long as you didnt go over board on the price it will work out alright.Hang in there.Looks in better shape than mine did when I got it.

 

[Duhwhat]

DOesnt look all that bad for a CJ.As long as you didnt go over board on the price it will work out alright.Hang in there.Looks in better shape than mine did when I got it.

I paid for what I thought I was getting, which after the fact seemed about 1500 to much.

Tell me if you can see the rust hole in front of the left rear fender? It is about 3" tall and 1/2 to 3/4 wide at the worst point. All the photo angles prevent you from being able to see it.

The rims aren't actually chrome, but painted silver. The hard top back door has no latch and fits poorly because of the way the hinges have been 'repaired.' The two other rust spots are in the typical spot behind the front wheels on the lower panel. You can't see them in the auction pictures, but the are baseball sized bubbles.

I asked him specifically if it ever had a soft top because I couldn't see any snaps and he said it had not. When I got it there were spot welds all around the body where the snaps had been removed.

This is really small on cost, but big on integrity... He says he will replace the missing left marker light in the auction, then calls me the day of shipping to say the dealer sent the wrong one and he will mail me the correct one as soon as he gets it. NOT.

I am sure my expectations exceeded realism for a 25 year old unrestored jeep. Like I said, I accept my role in decieving me.

 

[83cj7]

Don't feel too bad. My ebay deal stated it had a new rebuilt engine and tranny. I had to trailer it home due to dry rot tires. Engine sounded great at idle,started right up. Took me 2 weeks to get and install lift kit to clear the new wheels and tires and 16 miles later bad valve train noise. Compression check showed 1 dead cylinder(45 psi) and all the rest all over the board below acceptable levels. Tranny popped out of 3rd gear coasting. Got lucky about no rust.
Called PO about it and 72 year old guy I got it from said he was a master mechanic and engine was built correctly. Took it apart and found he had rebuilt 1 head,put new tappets on worn out cam and because he assembled engine dirty new main bearings had deep scoring on crank and bearings and 2 new tappets had heavy damage.
So far I've replaced or rebuilt everything he has done. My tip off should have been the custom built tranny cross member be built cause he could'nt figure out how the stock one went together. I guess your never too old to screw someone over. My bad.

 

[dave123]

Sorry you got burned, I think we all have at one point or another. A Jeep is one thing I would never buy without driving and checking it out, so hopefully this thread will warn other people.

Good luck getting it right. One thing you got going for you is the vast supply of part available for your vehicle, what if you had bought something with very little aftermarket support? Could have been worse.

 

[kickitandholdit]

i looked it up on ebay.. looks alot better than most the peoples jeeps when they first get it. cant possibly be THAT bad

 

[Duhwhat]

i looked it up on ebay.. looks alot better than most the peoples jeeps when they first get it. cant possibly be THAT bad

"That bad" is a position that can't be fully appreciated by anyone but the person being taken advantage of.

That was my point to begin with. It looks good on eBay and it was described as 'can drive anywhere.' Leading me to believe I was receiving a daily driver that needed a small amount of body work.

When I received it, it would barely crank and had literally no power. The body is rusted through in one spot in front of the left rear wheel well and the back hatch on the hard top is really poorly fitting.

As an update, I finally go the Weber installed yesterday and took it for a test ride. After about 10 minutes, it started smoking like a mosquito spray truck. So, engine replacement before I 'can drive it anywhere.'

When I removed the air breather and connecting thing from the radiator housing, it was full of leaves and nuts where some varmit had built a nest. There were actually some nut shells inside the air filter container. All sorts of emission hoses were broken or disconnected.... How could anyone say you could drive it anywhere and pretend to be honest about it?

Setting me up to use his friend the transporter was all part of the scam. Now he has someone who will say it was running when he picked it up (which he does). Hey, I was born at night, but not last night. That jeep was more than likely winched onto the trailer while they high fived each other.

I paid what I think was a premium price for a really good jeep and was seriously deceived.

Maybe it is just me, but had the tables been turned and I was the seller, I would have gone overboard describing what was wrong with it so the buyer would know exactly what to expect. I would never set out to fool somebody into spending their hard earned money. I can almost guarantee that the seller did what he did for profit, not out of need to recoup funds he lost on a bad buy himself.

The seller had a serious shortcoming in the integrity department. I don't care to live a life looking over my shoulder for the guy I screwed over last. That's just the way I operate.

What would you pay for a smoking 86 jeep with a 4cyl that wouldn't run at the time, three rust spots (one completely through) bad hardtop hatch, dented right rear panel by the gas tank, with some rust on the floor board at the roll bar?

Then what would you pay for one that was what the one in the eBay add looks and sounds like it should be?

The difference in the two scenarios has to be the price of a new engine installed.

Bottom line, I would probably have looked for another jeep. I am almost certain that full disclosure would have ended my interest.

Once again, I will say that I let it happen by not asking enough questions and <-BAD WORD->-U-ME ing too much. I fully accept my roll as a dufus buyer. That doesn't excuse the seller, but fairly spreads the blame.

I just hope the next person who buys from him Googles his seller name and reads this thread. Then hopefully they will ask a lot more questions than I did.

I looked at his eBay rating and thought he was a great seller, but if you read a couple pages of feedback you will see he has had some other significantly dissatisfied buyers.

My bad, pure and simple.

 

[kickitandholdit]

"That bad" is a position that can't be fully appreciated by anyone but the person being taken advantage of.

That was my point to begin with. It looks good on eBay and it was described as 'can drive anywhere.' Leading me to believe I was receiving a daily driver that needed a small amount of body work.

When I received it, it would barely crank and had literally no power. The body is rusted through in one spot in front of the left rear wheel well and the back hatch on the hard top is really poorly fitting.

As an update, I finally go the Weber installed yesterday and took it for a test ride. After about 10 minutes, it started smoking like a mosquito spray truck. So, engine replacement before I 'can drive it anywhere.'

When I removed the air breather and connecting thing from the radiator housing, it was full of leaves and nuts where some varmit had built a nest. There were actually some nut shells inside the air filter container. All sorts of emission hoses were broken or disconnected.... How could anyone say you could drive it anywhere and pretend to be honest about it?

Setting me up to use his friend the transporter was all part of the scam. Now he has someone who will say it was running when he picked it up (which he does). Hey, I was born at night, but not last night. That jeep was more than likely winched onto the trailer while they high fived each other.

I paid what I think was a premium price for a really good jeep and was seriously deceived.

Maybe it is just me, but had the tables been turned and I was the seller, I would have gone overboard describing what was wrong with it so the buyer would know exactly what to expect. I would never set out to fool somebody into spending their hard earned money. I can almost guarantee that the seller did what he did for profit, not out of need to recoup funds he lost on a bad buy himself.

The seller had a serious shortcoming in the integrity department. I don't care to live a life looking over my shoulder for the guy I screwed over last. That's just the way I operate.

What would you pay for a smoking 86 jeep with a 4cyl that wouldn't run at the time, three rust spots (one completely through) bad hardtop hatch, dented right rear panel by the gas tank, with some rust on the floor board at the roll bar?

Then what would you pay for one that was what the one in the eBay add looks and sounds like it should be?

The difference in the two scenarios has to be the price of a new engine installed.

Bottom line, I would probably have looked for another jeep. I am almost certain that full disclosure would have ended my interest.

Once again, I will say that I let it happen by not asking enough questions and <-BAD WORD->-U-ME ing too much. I fully accept my roll as a dufus buyer. That doesn't excuse the seller, but fairly spreads the blame.

I just hope the next person who buys from him Googles his seller name and reads this thread. Then hopefully they will ask a lot more questions than I did.

I looked at his eBay rating and thought he was a great seller, but if you read a couple pages of feedback you will see he has had some other significantly dissatisfied buyers.

My bad, pure and simple.

dang... sounds like you ended up with a heep instead of a jeep. Looked into any lemon laws about it? i would try to get something done before i just accepted a pos.

you could find out where they are from.. i got a nice new shiny tire iron that we could use to obtain compensation

 

[Duhwhat]

dang... sounds like you ended up with a heep instead of a jeep. Looked into any lemon laws about it? i would try to get something done before i just accepted a pos.

you could find out where they are from.. i got a nice new shiny tire iron that we could use to obtain compensation

It is somewhere between. I tried to get them to refund me 1k for the undisclosed issues and they wouldn't even talk to me.

The guy sold many vehicles and still does and his state law says you can only sell 4 per year without being a licensed dealer. I am pretty sure he isn't paying taxes on the profit and doesn't pay the applicable fees for the number of vehicles he sells.

I will be composing a letter to the state motor vehicle agency of my suspicions soon.

 

[we2arebeckken]

Funny thing about this person is he is the one who set the price all I did was accept his offer. The auction was stalled at 4,095 with 4 days remaining when he made the offer. Of course I will take his 6000 dollar offer. As far as the three rust spots they were noted in the auction as rust through and in fact only one was rust through the other 2 were surface rust. Then with no attempt to communicate as a man he goes and files dispute with Paypal which he lost by the way. He never asked any questions other that how much rust was in Windshield frame and would I take 6000. So for me decieving him thats a bald face lie, he decieved himself thinking he was gonna get a perfect which it was stated was not perfect Jeep CJ7 for 6000. Doesn't happen in the real world. Then sent me emails quote"My first cousin is the former assistant Attorney General and lead the consumer
protection division. He has a lot experience in this type of issue. After that
he was the state Treasurer of the state of Mississippi. He is now a practicing
lawyer in New York. I have been in discussion with him about pursuing this in
the state of Virgina. Furthermore, I wonder about your compliance to state and
federal tax laws and would feel obligated to bring this to the attention of the
parties involved."
This was cut and pasted directly from his email.

So just as anyone in here would do I took his offer of 6000 now its not what he was expecting and he needs to put on his big boy pants and enjoy the Jeep just as my son did, which oh by the way was my 18yr old sons CJ. We are a Jeep family and members of Jeepforum.
And oh by the way folks he is just using your website to try to slander me also per his email"BTW, I am posting everywhere I have an opportunity on the net using your ebay
name and a warning to all."
So to encourage such a thread is just demoralizing a great site such as JeepCJ.com

 

[we2arebeckken]

Also as a second note Jeep was tuned before he bought it. Also I encouraged him to go have it checked out since compression test was done 6 months prior to sale which were 125,125,140,135 which are all dry numbers, so as far as Jeep smoking because it needs new engine absolutely not. My first guess would be to check PCV valve to make sure you have it hooked up properly. Or maybe as I stated to you when you said it didnt run put the rebuilt Carter back on it and have it set with a vac gauge which it should be set at about 20. It might be hard to find a mechanic that does old school work but they are out there. And as far as the relay for choke being missing it is no longer needed after being changed to a manual choke.