Just thought I'd detail my experiences here with Alan Gun (AGLA Inc.) based in Florida... hopefully this will help others from making the same mistake. [
]
I'd decided that I liked the look of the sports steering wheels for my 987S and had been trawling the classifieds in search for one... eventually came across a wheel on eBay which looked like a good option:
The wheel was a 'standard' 987 Boxster 3-spoke steering wheel that had thumb grips installed at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions and had been slightly thickened to what Alan referred to as GT2 specification. The 'bonus' with that wheel was I could retain the use of the triangular airbag from my original wheel rather than having to source a round airbag (OPC cost: £572 for the airbag alone!!!).
After a couple of emails back and forth, where the seller appeared very communicative, I decided to bid in the auction and 'won' it for $589.99 - quite a lot of cash, but bear in mind OEM wheels from the OPC are well over £1000 (or so I have been quoted).
The item was sold as a stock item - i.e. it was physically available to be shipped immediately - most of his other stuff is custom made and can therefore take time to ship (hence some of the poor feedback for him on eBay).
I paid (immediately after I'd won auction via PayPal) on 12th July $654.99: $589.99 for wheel and $65 for shipping (which turned out to have cost him $47 - so obviously an expensive box and daily paper used to wrap the item...)
I then paid a further $150 for the core wheel return charge - the idea being the original wheel from my car was sent to him to allow him to do another 'custom' wheel, or I could choose to keep my original wheel and he would keep the $150 deposit.
Despite being told the item would ship immediately, the product wasn't shipped for over 2 weeks. He'd gone on holiday, and despite promising he was checking his email every day and would get his assistant to post out, this obviously did not happen... The item eventually arrived into the UK 4.5 weeks after the auction ended and I had the pleasure of paying a further £40 in UK import duty/VAT.
In the meantime I actually won another auction on eBay for an OEM sports wheel from a 997 from a UK seller - received 2 days after the auction - and as luck would have it, the wheel from the US arrived the next day :bored:
Unfortunately, the quality on the AGLA wheel was not what I had hoped for - you could feel the thumb additions - very obviously added and nowhere near as good as the OEM wheel. The leather too was not particularly well fitted and was loose at the top of the wheel - I suspect this would have badly creased very quickly after being used. The padding too was not up to quality, so after comparing both wheels it was obvious the AGLA wheel needed to be sent back to its maker...
I decided to send the wheel back and claim my refund as per the sellers terms and conditions... The wheel was shipped by DHL and signed for on the 20th August (4 days after posting) and received in good condition - it should be - I had bubble wrapped the wheel better than the seller!
I'd asked for $739.99 back (i.e. $589.99 for wheel and $150 for core return charge) - so not asking for postage costs either way (leaving me the best part of $200 out of pocket already on this transaction) which I thought was perfectly reasonable...
I'd asked AGLA Inc on 22nd Aug for a refund ASAP - given I had always had the courtesy to pay them immediately, but was met with the following response 2 days later:
"Gavin
Had been out last several days- we got the wheel back
We do all returns that pop up over every month the last day of the month for accounting/tax purposes
You see it at that time thanks
A gun"
He has never answered the phone to me and it seems to hang up whenever I try to get through to discuss the situation. I've had no further contact from him via email despite sending a number of mails since the 24th - basically he is now not responding to any contact.
I was concerned that if I waited until the 31st August I would be outside the 45 days you could lodge a dispute with eBay/PayPal and so contacted their customer services. They logged the details on the item number but said not to bother raising a dispute unless the seller did not pay up on the 31st, which surprise, surprise he has not done [] [] []
So now I'm trying to chase up through eBay on premium rate (£1.50/min) lines to try and get this situation resolved... anyone else care to join me in banging head off wall??!!! I can see how the conversation is going to go... "so, you didn't lodge a dispute in the first 45 days - I'm sorry we can't help..."
So, a word of caution, if you or anyone else you know of were thinking of buying anything from Alan Gun at AGLA Inc either off eBay or directly from his website... think again.
Rant over [&o]
]I'd decided that I liked the look of the sports steering wheels for my 987S and had been trawling the classifieds in search for one... eventually came across a wheel on eBay which looked like a good option:
The wheel was a 'standard' 987 Boxster 3-spoke steering wheel that had thumb grips installed at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions and had been slightly thickened to what Alan referred to as GT2 specification. The 'bonus' with that wheel was I could retain the use of the triangular airbag from my original wheel rather than having to source a round airbag (OPC cost: £572 for the airbag alone!!!).
After a couple of emails back and forth, where the seller appeared very communicative, I decided to bid in the auction and 'won' it for $589.99 - quite a lot of cash, but bear in mind OEM wheels from the OPC are well over £1000 (or so I have been quoted).
The item was sold as a stock item - i.e. it was physically available to be shipped immediately - most of his other stuff is custom made and can therefore take time to ship (hence some of the poor feedback for him on eBay).
I paid (immediately after I'd won auction via PayPal) on 12th July $654.99: $589.99 for wheel and $65 for shipping (which turned out to have cost him $47 - so obviously an expensive box and daily paper used to wrap the item...)
I then paid a further $150 for the core wheel return charge - the idea being the original wheel from my car was sent to him to allow him to do another 'custom' wheel, or I could choose to keep my original wheel and he would keep the $150 deposit.
Despite being told the item would ship immediately, the product wasn't shipped for over 2 weeks. He'd gone on holiday, and despite promising he was checking his email every day and would get his assistant to post out, this obviously did not happen... The item eventually arrived into the UK 4.5 weeks after the auction ended and I had the pleasure of paying a further £40 in UK import duty/VAT.
In the meantime I actually won another auction on eBay for an OEM sports wheel from a 997 from a UK seller - received 2 days after the auction - and as luck would have it, the wheel from the US arrived the next day :bored:
Unfortunately, the quality on the AGLA wheel was not what I had hoped for - you could feel the thumb additions - very obviously added and nowhere near as good as the OEM wheel. The leather too was not particularly well fitted and was loose at the top of the wheel - I suspect this would have badly creased very quickly after being used. The padding too was not up to quality, so after comparing both wheels it was obvious the AGLA wheel needed to be sent back to its maker...
I decided to send the wheel back and claim my refund as per the sellers terms and conditions... The wheel was shipped by DHL and signed for on the 20th August (4 days after posting) and received in good condition - it should be - I had bubble wrapped the wheel better than the seller!
I'd asked for $739.99 back (i.e. $589.99 for wheel and $150 for core return charge) - so not asking for postage costs either way (leaving me the best part of $200 out of pocket already on this transaction) which I thought was perfectly reasonable...
I'd asked AGLA Inc on 22nd Aug for a refund ASAP - given I had always had the courtesy to pay them immediately, but was met with the following response 2 days later:
"Gavin
Had been out last several days- we got the wheel back
We do all returns that pop up over every month the last day of the month for accounting/tax purposes
You see it at that time thanks
A gun"
He has never answered the phone to me and it seems to hang up whenever I try to get through to discuss the situation. I've had no further contact from him via email despite sending a number of mails since the 24th - basically he is now not responding to any contact.
I was concerned that if I waited until the 31st August I would be outside the 45 days you could lodge a dispute with eBay/PayPal and so contacted their customer services. They logged the details on the item number but said not to bother raising a dispute unless the seller did not pay up on the 31st, which surprise, surprise he has not done [
] [] []So now I'm trying to chase up through eBay on premium rate (£1.50/min) lines to try and get this situation resolved... anyone else care to join me in banging head off wall??!!! I can see how the conversation is going to go... "so, you didn't lodge a dispute in the first 45 days - I'm sorry we can't help..."
So, a word of caution, if you or anyone else you know of were thinking of buying anything from Alan Gun at AGLA Inc either off eBay or directly from his website... think again.
Rant over [&o]
