Buying from abroad, do I have any protection?

[Slugsie]

A few months back I bought some Equal tyre balancing compound from the USA for my Surf. I had it fitted by a tyre specialist.

Since then, I have had a few problems, mainly with the supplied valves. They're special ones, that are supposed to be filtered to prevent the compound getting into them. 2 leak quite dramatically, and 1 is now jammed solid (thankfully without a leak as far as I can tell).

I have contacted the site I bought it from, hopefully they'll see me right.

If not, what rights do I have? I didn't use a credit card for the purchase, so that's not an option. Pretty sure trading standards won't be interested.

[Cant Get Right]

HMMMM get a plane over there and kick some asss

[darkdezigns]

u bought wot????

[Slugsie]

u bought wot????

http://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/

[darkdezigns]

http://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/

ok thats wot i thought,call me mad but why??,if u want to go down that route speat to a commercial tyre fitter,they have it by the bucket load,or atleast a simpler version without special valves,but why not just get the wheels properly balanced?

[Slugsie]

ok thats wot i thought,call me mad but why??,if u want to go down that route speat to a commercial tyre fitter,they have it by the bucket load,or atleast a simpler version without special valves,but why not just get the wheels properly balanced?

None of the tyre places round here knew anything about this sort of thing except for the place that I used to fit it. One of the guys there had used a similar idea (usually just sand) for balancing tyres on his rally cars.

I wanted to try it out for several reasons. 1. I've had a bit of a problem getting this particular set of tyres balanced properly, it never seems to be quite right. 2. I had read up on this stuff, and it was supposed to give perfect balancing all the time, and adjust to changing tyre condition (i.e. tyres wearing over time and going off balance) as well as increasing tyre lifespan.

Plus I just plain wanted to try it out.

All of which is besides the point. The fact is, I did buy it, I am having a few problems, and I might have to 'get shirty' with a foreign company.

[darkdezigns]

None of the tyre places round here knew anything about this sort of thing except for the place that I used to fit it. One of the guys there had used a similar idea (usually just sand) for balancing tyres on his rally cars.

I wanted to try it out for several reasons. 1. I've had a bit of a problem getting this particular set of tyres balanced properly, it never seems to be quite right. 2. I had read up on this stuff, and it was supposed to give perfect balancing all the time, and adjust to changing tyre condition (i.e. tyres wearing over time and going off balance) as well as increasing tyre lifespan.

Plus I just plain wanted to try it out.

All of which is besides the point. The fact is, I did buy it, I am having a few problems, and I might have to 'get shirty' with a foreign company.

didn't mean to offend,sorry matey,got to be worth a shoutin match with them,get money back,then goto commercial tyre fitters,if i remember they use chalk

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

None of the tyre places round here knew anything about this sort of thing except for the place that I used to fit it. One of the guys there had used a similar idea (usually just sand) for balancing tyres on his rally cars.

I wanted to try it out for several reasons. 1. I've had a bit of a problem getting this particular set of tyres balanced properly, it never seems to be quite right. 2. I had read up on this stuff, and it was supposed to give perfect balancing all the time, and adjust to changing tyre condition (i.e. tyres wearing over time and going off balance) as well as increasing tyre lifespan.

Plus I just plain wanted to try it out.

All of which is besides the point. The fact is, I did buy it, I am having a few problems, and I might have to 'get shirty' with a foreign company.

If they know there's a car forum watching how you are getting on trying it they might pull their fingers out with a view of more sales / reducing bad feedback.


Trev

[BushBuster]

I have bought IT equipment from the USA over the last 10 years or so valued between a few dollars and thousands and during that time I've had the occasional problem/issue. Contact them and ask to speak to someone [even via Email or CHAT] knowledgeable about the product in question. You will normally find that they do understand what 'customer satisfaction' is and they like to please and keep their customers, they also believe in reputation.

In my dealings I have found that if you play fair with them and don't bull$h1t, they'll see you OK. Best of luck.

[Slugsie]

didn't mean to offend,sorry matey,got to be worth a shoutin match with them,get money back,then goto commercial tyre fitters,if i remember they use chalk

Oh, don't worry, I'm not offended. It takes a LOT more than some words on a screen to offend me.

I have emailed them, and asked if they'll send me some new valves as these ones are obviously faulty.

I don't know of any 'commercial' fitters to try. I presume you mean places that deal with vehicle fleets etc? No idea where I'd find one of them.

[MattF]

I wouldn't worry about it. It won't change anything, and there's more than a good chance they'll sort it out without any hassle. Worrying achieves bugger all.

p.s: Why didn't you just use ballbearings?

[Slugsie]

I have bought IT equipment from the USA over the last 10 years or so valued between a few dollars and thousands and during that time I've had the occasional problem/issue. Contact them and ask to speak to someone [even via Email or CHAT] knowledgeable about the product in question. You will normally find that they do understand what 'customer satisfaction' is and they like to please and keep their customers, they also believe in reputation.

In my dealings I have found that if you play fair with them and don't bull$h1t, they'll see you OK. Best of luck.

Thanks for t he advice. In my email to them I simply stated the facts, and asked them if they were prepared to replace the faulty valves. I'll have to wait now to see how they respond.

[BushBuster]

Thanks for t he advice. In my email to them I simply stated the facts, and asked them if they were prepared to replace the faulty valves. I'll have to wait now to see how they respond.

The other point I meant to mention was.... if you don't have much luck, ask one of the USA forum members to have a word on your behalf.

[Slugsie]

Well, just had a reply (pretty quick response, I'm impressed). They've asked me to try something, and if that doesn't work they'll replace the valves. So, looks like everything will be fine, and Expedition Exchange get the thumbs up for customer service.