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The sail might be good, but I just had a bad experience trying to buy it.
Before last night my last PayPal dispute was 12 years ago when PayPal was brand new. Here is the 2000 character dispute I submitted against somersetsails.
On Saturday I purchased a sail on ebay from what I thought was a reputable business. I paid for the item within 3 minutes of the auction end intending to buy the sail.
* The seller contacted me Tuesday evening asking me questions about my Cape Dory 25.
* I answered the questions to the best of my recollection and clearly stated that I was aware I would need to make some minor modifications to the sail and/or boat to make it work.
* The seller asked me to send him my old sail because they don't want this to be the wrong sail for me.
* At this point I think the seller might be acting in my best interest. I ignored the request to send my old sail but answered questions, sent measurements, and pictures of the existing sail. I again clearly stated I was aware modifications would have to be made to make the sail fit my boat.
* Seller has failed to answer two of my very simple questions -
1) Is your sail really off a CD25 and in good condition?
2) Are you willing to send it to me?
* Seller asks me to call them to discuss some issues and I start to smell a scam. I ask the seller to stop wasting my time and cancel the ebay transaction if he doesn't want to send me the sail.
* Seller ignores my request to cancel the ebay transaction and demands that I send them my old sail so he can remove parts from it and put them on the sail I just purchased from him. Doing so takes away my option of returning ebay purchased sail if he did not represent its condition accurately. Doing so makes my somewhat useable old sail completely unusable. I'm now not confident I'd ever see either.
I won the auction for and paid for the sail in its pictured/stated condition. I don't want his services. Sending my old sail in addition to payment was not a requirement of the auction. The seller has my money and is wasting my time. At this point I'm an unhappy customer and want my money back well within the 14 day return period & before it shipped.
Yeah, smells fishy. My bet is 1 week later you would have seen your old sail for sale on eBay. His excuses just sound to me like a way to get more product to sell. Be sure to leave negative feedback on his ebay account as well.
Russell
s/v (yet to be named) Tayana 42CC
s/v Lady Pauline Cape Dory 36 #117 (for sale)
Duncan wrote:Nevertheless, your failure doesn't sound like any reasonable reason to issue a "buyer beware" against the other sailor.
If I knew the seller would refuse to ship a sail that I won unless he gets the original sail shipped to him, removes the luff wire, and inserts it into the won sail, I wouldn't have bid. *shrug*
I'm in agreement with Russell on this one. The 'strings attached' should have been mentioned in the original add.
Very unprofessional..........and deserving of a 'Buyer Beware'.
Last year, I purchased a new main sail from Somerset Sails. The fellow who operates the loft is definitely not a scammer - but he is difficult to deal with and I would not purchase from him again. He is knowledgeable and passionate about sails but he does not listen and loses his temper easily. After telling him that I did not want a large roach that would interfere with my backstay and topping lift, he went ahead and made it that way anyways. He also made the sail longer than I specified. When I spoke to him he told me that he knew what was best. The sail is excellent quality and the price was very reasonable but he is a very difficult person to work with.
I chose him because he was "local" and not more expensive than the sails made in Asia. As they say-
Price, quality, service - pick two out of three.
Thanks for sharing. If I put your post plus his rebuttal to my dispute minutes before refunding my money -
The sail he purchase will not fit his boat as is and do not object to cancelling the deal but do object to his abuse when it is clear he has no knowledge of how his boat work and what it needs.
Just offered FREE help.
I now believe he probably isn't a scammer, he just "knew what was best for me" like in your case.
(Of course the reason he knows I have no idea what the boat needs is because I didn't want the sail modified because I don't know what other work I want to do yet. I might want to change the furling gear!!!)
I've had good luck with the sailmaker in question. Years ago he helped me covert my Cape Dory 30 K to a sloop rig, making it easier to single hand on Lake Erie. He made a new backstay, Full batten main, and roller furling 135% genoa. All were well built. He recently sold me a used full batten main and 100% jib for a Morgan 30 that I single hand on Lake Dillon in Colorado. All of my purchases were reasonably priced, and completed as promised. Sometimes a phone call can save alot of heartache.
As one poster ("Vasco") responded -
"Whether the sailmaker knows better or the purchaser knows better is not the issue. The purchaser specified what he wanted, ostensibly the sailmaker quoted on those specs and the sail was not built to those specs. If those are the facts the sailmaker is clearly at fault."
