Complaint Review: Corey Bowman

I feel I was ripped off by an eBay seller, Corey Bowman, did not tell me the truth, thus made wrong decision, losing truck and out of pocket money of over $500!!! This seller could have avoided all this by simply telling the truth and I would have employed a transport service to pick it up, thereby not driving it home, saving a lot of grief in the process. The seller will tell you that the vehicle was sold AS-IS, hey I have no problem with AS-IS as long as the seller is telling the truth about everything else.

I purchased a 1975 Toyota Long Bed Truck through an Ebay auction (#2455376502) ended Jan 29, 2004, from Corey Bowman, user ID (Corey) 99 feedback, Note: be sure to do a search on the user name (Corey) in parenthesis because there is another user without the parenthesis, i.e. corey (1142) 99.7 positive feedback this it's not the same ID)

I feel that the truck was misrepresented and sold with known, undisclosed defect, specifically a bad timing chain!!!

Based on the seller's description of vehicle, on February 12, 2004, I took a Greyhound Bus to seller's location in Provo, Utah, specifically, in emails to me, he claims engine is good, no knocks, no smoke, no burn oil but in fact had a bad timing chain that left me stranded in McCook Nebraska, Wal-Mart Parking lot., had to take a Greyhound Bus home to Brownsville TX, cost me double bus fare plus over $500 out of pocket expenses..


When I received the vehicle, here is what I got:

As stated previously, seller met me at the Provo Greyhound Bus Station, when he arrived he proceeded to take off Utah License Plate, didn't even have the courtesy to tell me that he was going to remove plates, had the inconvience of staying another day due to court house being closed on a holiday, and could not obtain a temporary permit until next day.

I noticed immediately that the engine was extremely hard to start, once started I took off to the local Wal-Mart on University Ave, to buy some items, when I came out of the Wal-Mart, I proceeded to turn right on the main road, University Ave, truck died in middle of road, immediately, I popped the hood, then went in front of the truck to open the hood when I almost got clipped by a passing car, I stuck a screw driver in choke to open it up, tried to start, to no avail, kept cranking it until finely it started, this is where the nightmare began. I drove for a while to next town, I noticed engine was running a little rough but keep going, got a hotel in Green River Colorado, stayed over night, checked out next morning, jumped in truck to leave and you guessed it, truck would not start, I did a little troubleshooting, checked for fuel delivery in carburetor, test for spark and adjusting the points, it took two hours finally got truck started, took off, I noticed engine was getting rougher, until engine started to fail in Hudson Colorado, I asked a convience store owner if I could stay in his parking lot overnight and he said yes, the next morning, I decided to adjust the distributor and the truck started running again, so I took off that morning headed east to McCook Nebraska, where I stopped at a local Wal-Mart, there I bought some items that I needed, I proceeded to take off, again I noticed engine was noticeably getting worse, I drove 45 miles south on 83 where engine began to completely fail, it was now running on 3 cylinders, I came to a stop in a very tiny town, asked for a tow, NO ONE would help me, so I sat there in the dark contemplating what I was going to do, so I decided to take a chance and go back to the Wal-Mart in McCook Nebraska, this is where the terror began coming down big time, this was a very deserted place and I had 45 miles to go, I was hoping and a praying I would make it back, the truck's max speed was now 45MPH, it was barely moving and I was scared, then what seemed like and eternity, say 40 to 50 minutes, I see hope, I see the lights of McCook it was a pretty sight, the truck was now running at a speed of 30MPH max when I rolled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. I slept in the truck until the next morning in which I got a taxi to take me to the nearest Greyhound Bus Station, North of McCook, 70 miles away; cost $70, when I arrived at the North Platte Bus Station I got a Greyhound Bus ticket back home at a cost of $155.00

Note:

ask any professional mechanic and they will tell you that a timing chain does not go out instantly, its gradual process, where one tooth of the timing chain sprocket will slip, thereby causing hard starting, back firing, bad gas mileage and finally engine failure exactly like the symptoms exhibited with this vehicle. Seller was very anxious to get vehicle into my hands, did not stay around so I could ask questions, dropped truck off at bus station and was out of there like a jack rabbit., what decent person would sell a truck to an individual knowing that a person would drive it home over 1700 miles away!!!!!!! *****

The only offer I received from seller is refund of $150.00 toward shipping which is not acceptable. The quotes I received in the neighborhood of $900 that in addition to the $500 I already lost.

Seller made inaccurate claims of condition of vehicle, specifically, vehicle had a slipped timing chain, thereby resulting in vehicle breaking down, and I currently have no vehicle in Hand, cost me over $500 dollars out of pocket in addition to Visa Charge of $965.00 for vehicle.

The purpose of this report is to help you if you are thinking about buying a car from eBay, buying a car on eBay is worse because you can't see it, remember the picture can be tweaked and may not represent the real picture of the vehicle, also as in this case the seller could be lying to you about the condition of the vehicle.

If you are interested in buying a car on eBay, make sure you give the seller very little money and bring along a competent mechanic to check the car out just like you would if you were buying locally, and only then do you do the deal, never under any circumstance drive the car alone, have a friend come with you in another car in case something happens, you can also have it transported, it will probably run you around $900 to ship it.
I recommend not buying a car no more than 10 hours from your home, I hope this info will help you.

REMEMBER NEVER TAKE THE SELLERS WORD FOR ANYTHING, TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT PERIOD

The following is from eBay motors community:

pdxauction (145)
02/24/04 11:08 AM (# 5 of 5)

Why do you think thes sellers love to get rid of this kind of inventory out of state? Because they won't have the customer showing up on the lot after the sale. It's easy to sell good cars in their own city but the crap has to be sold on Ebay so the buyers don't show up after the sale. should of had an inspection performed prior to purchase.

The seller's ad made the following statements regarding their efforts to describe the vehicle's condition; description is taken directly from ad on Ebay, Go here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2455376502

You are bidding on a 1975 Toyota Longbed Pickup.
I hate to see this truck go but my wife says we have too many cars.

It comes with the following features
original 20R engine
4 speed standard transmisiion
re-upholstered seat (not just a seat cover).
AM/FM Cassette radio
The exterior is in great condition.
It received a cherry red paint job about three years ago.
The engine runs great.
Mechanically this truck is in good condition

Overall this Pickup is in great Condition. It has been driven daily for the last three years, and runs great.
This is a pretty basic truck, that's how they made them in the good old days.

William
Brownsville, Texas
U.S.A.