Alan Cornock

[Dave Harmison]

Back in September, I communicated with Alan Cornock, Royale-UK, about buying an A-arm for my Royale RP21. He said he had a used one on the shelf that needed re-plating. He also said because of card fees, he would only accept payment by wire transfer. This I found out is not offered by my credit union and can be expensive to do with other institutions. After much fooling around I got $291.03 transferred to him on September 7th. After he had received the money, Alan revealed that the condition of the A-arm was worse than he had originally thought. I told him "No, don't send it, refund the money". He hadn't shipped it yet so it shouldn't have been a problem.

On October 5, we receive $242.54 as a refund. Alan, what happened to the other $48.49? He complains that he's already lost 15 Pounds because of the exchange rate moving. But that isn't $48.49.

Best I can figure out, because he has stopped responding, is that $48.49 converts to exactly 35 Pounds at that days exchange rate. I figure his bank took out a 35 Pound wire-processing fee and I get to pay for it.

In the big scheme of things, $48.49 isn't going to hurt me much, just don't think it's much of a way to do business.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

And card fees are typically not in excess of 10%.

[tlracer]

I can't comment on what happened here, but sometimes wire transfers go via an intermediary bank, not directly. This processing bank charges a fee, then the receiving bank in the UK charges their own 'foreign transaction' fee.

On top of those, the buy/sell exchange rates mean the conversion from $ to £ is low.

On a few occasions this has happened when my company has received a non-UK payment, meaning we receive rather less than the client sent.

[Dave Harmison]

Appreciate your input. This is how I see it:
I had to absorb any bank transfer fees when I sent the money to him in the first place. He certainly wasn’t going to send me a part of I didn’t pay him in full, was he?
Likewise, I expected him to absorb HIS banks fee in returning the money, which is instead coming out of my refund. He set the terms of payment, not me.
And of course the whole thing is caused by him offering to sell me something that was totally unusable.

[E1pix]

I find threads like this to be more important than ever. Unsavory practices need to be called out, if only to give more business to the honorable.

We live in really troubled times, and it seems some justify such behavior as “normal.” The more we allow it, the more normal it will be.

We travel full-time on the road in a VW bus. Finding trustworthy mechanics and parts suppliers has become nearly impossible, and may force us to sell at a huge loss. My wife is disabled and that calls into question “If you’re willing to treat a disabled woman like this, who is safe from it?”

Some unscrupulous will argue “Why is the thread poster worried about 50 lousy dollars?” The obvious answer to me is “If 50 dollars is nothing, why are you screwing me out of it?”

We’re all in deep trouble if allowing this as normal. If we do, what happens is as much on us as it is on those doing it to us. The eventual result is trusting nobody, a disservice to the good people and a clear path to complete business breakdown — if not our own decency.

How anyone can treat anyone else like this is beyond me. I’d live in a ditch before doing so, and perhaps that’s why I can sleep. But at some point, being broken will replace being broke — and none of us is immune to that.

[Pi_guy]

It has always been tough with the exchange rate and banking fees.

Most of the racing business work on slim margins if he got hit with 3 or 4 banking return fees he might not eat that week.
Not advocating this is the proper way to do business but your not dealing with a company like google where you just move $ via ledgers.
I know I have been close to not breaking even on some out of country sales, it takes a lot of extra work. Some I have not even bothered with just had the feeling it would be not profitable and aggravating.

Will say again I do not agree with this behavior, would be in more outrage if it was something not involved with discretionary expenses. The downside with crucifying a person in the formula car world is there are less and less of them.

[billtebbutt]

I think posts like these are great. We all deserve to know who we are dealing with, and as long as facts are presented fairly, well then it is valuable information as far as I am concerned......

I am afraid that the reality of our times is that there are no small thieves - just early-stage large ones in the process of maturing and perfecting their craft. Somebody who does this for $50 will also do it for $500, and then eventually for $5,000. The needle fell off the moral compass a while ago....

best,
bt

[Earley Motorsports]

I think it boils down to this. The seller misrepresented what he had for sale therefore he should be the one that eats any fees. Just my 2c.

[John Nesbitt]

I am not sure that I would go as far as 'misrepresent'. From the original post, it seems that Mr. Cornock took a second look at the part, realized that it was in worse condition that originally stated, and notified the buyer.

Selling used parts is always tricky. One man's trash is another man's treasure. That said, it was Mr. Cornock who described the part, and he who (presumably) is in business for the long term and (again, presumably) is concerned about his reputation. He should have eaten the fees and refunded the entire amount.

Some years ago, I sold a number of parts on Fleabay. For used parts, I posted photos and described item condition as objectively as I could. But I also offered a guarantee: If the part did not meet expectations, I would refund the entire purchase price and the buyer could keep the part. On ~200 sales, I think that one buyer may have cheated. So, it was worth it to establish buyer confidence.