My father, who also owns a Crossfire, recently purchased a set of chrome vent surrounds from Chrome Tec on ebay. On the display picture, they appear to be selling an entire chrome ring to place around the vents, as the entire vent, even the textured toggle pieces on the vent, are silver. Whether or not the picture is misleading or not, upon receiving the pieces from chrome-tec, my father realized that there were 2 very cheap stick on pieces for each vent, and that the $40 or so dollars spent on them after shipping was very much wasted. In the comments on chrome-tec's ebay account, my father posted that he felt the pictures were misleading and that the product was not worth the listed price. This is, after all, why the feedback section of ebay exists (especially for sellers). Later that day, chrome-tec left a negative feedback comment on his page with this message: "don't deal with him, don't trust him, he don't read the item description BAD EBAYER".

I quite frankly find chrome-tec's response to be childish and non-professional. Most businesses would first attempt to communicate with the customer and to work out the problems on a professional level. Instead, chrome-tec makes slanderous comments that quite frankly are unfounded. My father paid for the item within 5 minutes of clicking "Buy it Now," yet he receives feedback in broken english stating that he is not to be trusted. I fail to see how chrome-tec's providing an inferior product warrants name-calling to a customer that fulfilled his end of the deal promptly and in full.

I warn any potential buyers to avoid chrome-tec, as any complaints you may have about their products may cost you negative feedback on ebay and also may warrant a verbal onslaught from some very ornery Germans.

 

He should have contacted them first before leaving the feedback.

 

I disagree; this is why the feedback feature exists. The whole system is pointless if you can't express your dissatisfaction with a seller's product.

 

~ here are the links ...

http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQf...omeQ2dtecQ5fde

...and a pic of the discussed item... according to the pic below... it looks as if it is... 2 pieces of stainless steel tacked on top of the exist vent ring.

ee_11.jpg

 

Andrew
I completely disagree. If I only went buy the pic and didn't read the text I would assume it would be the entire vent assembly. (the vent plus the metal around it).

Blade,
I disagree with you as well, when dealing with an ebay merchant you should give them a chance to redeem themselves before leaving bad feedback. You wouldn't call the BBB if you bought a pair of jeans from JC Penney's and when you got home you found holes in them. Most likely today those holes are put there intentionally. That or they are leftovers from the 80's.

 

While I agree that both sides could have handled this differently, it should definitely send a red flag to anyone doing business with this company on ebay. I have looked at their products and contemplated buying several of them, but I wouldn't now at half the price. Any company that reacts that way to comments about their products is not a company that I want to give my money to. I'm sure that there are many satisfied customers, but even one customer treated like that should make you hesitate. Do you want to be the next one??? I don't. Retaliation like that says more about a company than anything else that I can think of.

Thanks Blade...you helped me decide.

 

I have done over 1,100 transactions on eBay. I had 1 negative in all those transactions. I sold an auto book and was never paid for. When I left negative feedback on a sale gone bad, the buyer left me my one and only negative. That is not how feedback is suppose to work.
However in this case, If you bought a product and were not happy with it the first thing you do is contact the seller. They might of said send it back and I will refund your money. In that case once complete you would of left feedback such as "Customer stands behind transaction" and left a positive feedback. After all whether some thing is worth $40. is opinion but they in that case would of left you no worse off so you were made whole. Now if you contacted them and they said pound salt, then you could of left the feedback you did.
Without sounding condescending (I don't mean to be) experienced eBayer's always hold there breath when dealing with someone with a rating under 50. They sometimes just don't understand the feedback rating system and can be a hair trigger. Negative feedback should not be left unless you've made an attempt to first contact the other member. As you go to leave anything but positive an eBay warning appears on the screen stating that. Your Dad should of followed the eBay warning "If you have a dispute, contact your trading partner to try and resolve the dispute before leaving feedback."

 

Yup, gotta give them a chance to fix it. Then if he doesn't make it right, you leave him bad feedback.

 

I'm glad my post helped someone. If you held these pieces in your hand danimal, you would think they fell off of a child's plastic toy. I don't see how chrome-tec sells these things at the prices they do with a straight face. Really, I'm not trying to make everyone here agree with me, I am merely issuing a warning to those potentially interested in doing business with chrome-tec in the future. While maybe the best course of action would have been for my father to contact the seller first, does everyone not think the feedback they left on his page was childish and wrong? A buyer's responsibility is to pay for the item promptly, which he did. How does his dissatisfaction with the product warrant him receiving negative feedback? Perhaps what I'm getting at here is that chrome-tec reacted to his dissatisfaction as a child would in a "your mama" contest. This does not meet the standards I hold businesses to. If others choose to still buy from them, then good luck, I merely wish to relay this experience as a possible caution flag.

 

You can't just go by the pics. You have to read the text on all ebay listings. But the pics in that ad i think is clear, that it's not the whole vent.
I have bought a few items from them, they are over priced, items are ok.

 

Your dad can leave a follow up comment to his negative. "Retaliatory feedback; item sold inferior quality". Most bidders/sellers will not think poorly of your father due to ONE negative feedback. I too have one comment from a non-paying bidder. I gave her 4 weeks to send payment (she was also from Germany...no offense to Germans...) and never did send payment nor respond to my emails. When I left her a negative comment, she immediately, within seconds, sent me one back with an inaccurate account of the transaction.

Ebay will not, under normal circumstances, remove negatives. However, if you father does work his dissatisfaction out with the seller, they can mutually remove or retract their comments.

I have to say I've looked at their items on ebay, and will probably stay clear of them. So, at the end of the day, your original post has done some good and perhaps, the circumstances with your dad will affect their ebay business in some small way.

 

Glad to hear this thread has provided some helpful feedback for you golfergal.

I told my father that he can respond to the negative feedback, so hopefully he will do that soon.

 

Here is a quote from a forum member here who also had problems with chrome-tec:

"i ordered reset buttons from this guy. he says they slide over. there is no way i can slide them over. i ordered door pins and surrounds still waiting its been about 3 weeks now."

In the short search I did on this forum alone, there seemed to be others with similar experiences.

 

Blade,

I have looked at their products on eBay and others with similar products. I like many others, have thought them to be overpriced and as a result have not bought them.

That said, I looked up your Dad's negative comments. "...BEWARE - for your $32 you get 4 mini pieces of junk, not the whole vent! SHAME!!..." I have to say this is pretty harsh.

I agree with those earlier in the thread, that your dad should have contacted them directly about his displeasure. If that did not work, or they were just plain rude in return, at that point his feedback warning to others might be justified. I do think Chrome-Tec had the chance to take the high road but it appears they did not with their reply either.

 

Yeah, and the door pin surrounds are aluminum, not chrome and the seat belt surrounds are painted plastic.

 

That is ridiculous. You know this from ordering their parts?

 

He is right I ordered all those parts and they are as he says. Lock surround does not stay on. Pulled the old one of and there is nothing to hold the new one in!

 

I have purchased many items from Chrome - Tec, with out a problem. The pics are what they are...you can see that the items are exactly what's on your car, except chrome dipped. Unfortunately items for our cars are very expensive, and it alls depends on what you are willing to pay. Many of the items that Chrome-tec offers are OEM replacement parts.

 

Yes, unlike other people I have had no problems with their parts staying in place in my XF, however save your money and buy a really nice can of metallic spray paint.

Assume that everything they sell, unless it specifically states otherwise, is painted plastic.

The seat belt surrounds look fine, and as long as you don't touch them you may not know they're plastic. However, by weight, $40 buys a lot of plastic and chrome paint.

 

I was toying with the idea of buying some bits from Chrome-Tec. I thought they looked like cheap crap on the pics but at those prices I thought they must be something more substantial. Obviously I was wrong and after hearing about the way they behaved I certainly would NOT buy from them.

Very useful in helping me to decide, I will certainly be voting with my feet.

Thanks.