Hey everyone. There is a company selling wheels on Ebay appear to be OEM at first, but they state in the ad they are replicas. The company is called O.E. Wheel Distributors. I sent them a mail regarding what I thought was a bit underhanded auction title and they were a bit angry at me for it. I don't know anything at all about the wheels, they may be great, I just know they are not OEM. Here is the mail thread. My Last Response: Listen, as a Mustang enthusiast and consumer, I have a right to question your products. It APPEARS that in your auctions, you are selling Original Equipment wheels. Which mean they are made by Ford Motorsport, Saleen, Steeda, or whoever. The wheels you sell might be made by the same people who make the original wheels, but that is not an OEM wheel. It is a replica wheel made for you by the same manufacturer and you should state that. I am saying that your auction leads people to believe that it is an Original Equipment wheel they are buying. Someone could easily miss the fact that they are replica's and are not subject to the extreme scrutiny of Ford, Saleen, or Steeda. They have very strict guidelines for quality and tolerances and the ability to check and enforce them. They also have a large reputation to protect as well. That is why we pay more for the real Cobra wheels vs. replicas. I am not sure I understand the hostility really. There is nothing wrong with selling a replica wheel. AFS does a booming business in replicas with great quality and customer service. When they post an auction, it is clearly stated that the wheel is a replica and they go into detail about the quality etc. If you call them up, they will happily tell you where they are made and other such information. You might take a lesson from them on that. I am not thinking I can make a dent in your business by posting on Corral or Stangnet about your products. I had no intention of saying "They suck and are bad wheels". I don't have any info to make that claim. I didn't buy them and find them bent, flawed or broken. I didn't have one break for no reason on a car. I am not a liar. What concerns me is that average joe's looking for wheels might mistake them for OE when they are not and that is what I would post. If you have great quality wheels at a good price, then say so. Just make sure that the buyer is aware that they are not FMS, Saleen or Steeda wheels and that they are made for you by the OEM manufacturer. As for calling me stupid, you might want to check your grammer, punctuation and maybe capitalize a sentence or two before calling names. At least your spelling is OK. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Complete OEM To: Futureshock Cc: shop Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 7:38 AM Subject: Re: Question for item #7910549187 - O E 18" SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN WHEELS RIMS TIRES 94-04 are you really that stupid and i dont say that trying to be mean i am just wondering if you could be that stupid but here is the part i just realized if you are that stupid then you would not know it, is that right, oh that is right you would not know. do you really think that you are going to inform the world of something they do not know and then business is going to stop for us, the real truth here is the is your problem, so make sure you put this email in your protest and if you have a problem with the stupid thing make sure you call me and not be the scared person that you are jim call me anytime Thank you Sales Staff Jim, Sharon, James, Shawn, Hunter, Jesse, Eric O.E. Wheel Distributors LLC. 3969 Sawyer Road Sarasota, Florida 34233 Office Hours Monday thru Friday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm Eastern Time E-Mail Address and Paypal address: Completeoem@worldnet.att.net Phone 1 941 921 0065 1 941 926 4745 1 866 273 3651 Toll Free ----- Original Message ----- From: Futureshock To: Complete OEM Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 11:47 PM Subject: Re: Question for item #7910549187 - O E 18" SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN WHEELS RIMS TIRES 94-04 I understand that. It is still a bit misleading at first. It's like calling yourself B.B.S. Wheel Distributors. It is a good way to get traffic to your auctions, but they are not BBS wheels. I am not usually a stickler for that kind of advertising, it's just I was about to bid on these wheels thinking they were Original Equipment 18" Saleen alloys. I read that they are replica's and not OE Saleen wheels and it just bothered me. I will make sure that the Mustang community at large is aware that your wheels are replicas. Who makes them by the way? I am curious. I can see why you are getting some negative feedback about your customer service. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Complete OEM To: shock96@comcast.net Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 5:49 PM Subject: Re: Question for item #7910549187 - O E 18" SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN WHEELS RIMS TIRES 94-04 oe is our name, try reading before speaking Thank you Sales Staff Jim, Sharon, James, Shawn, Hunter, Jesse, Eric O.E. Wheel Distributors LLC. 3969 Sawyer Road Sarasota, Florida 34233 Office Hours Monday thru Friday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm Eastern Time E-Mail Address and Paypal address: Completeoem@worldnet.att.net Phone 1 941 921 0065 1 941 926 4745 1 866 273 3651 Toll Free ----- Original Message ----- From: shock96@comcast.net To: completeoem@worldnet.att.net Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 3:10 AM Subject: Question for item #7910549187 - O E 18" SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN WHEELS RIMS TIRES 94-04 Question about your item Dear moore9911, You should change your ad to read REPLICA and not OE. Those wheels are not original equipment pieces. You are mis-representing them Mike Item # Item Title Listing end date 7910549187 O E 18" SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN WHEELS RIMS TIRES 94-04 Jul-13-04 Thank you, futureshock Need help calculating shipping cost? Use the Shipping Calculator. Is this message an offer to buy your item directly through email without bidding on and winning the item on eBay? 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Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc. Just an FYI. The prices seem fair if the wheel is decent. Customer service might me lacking. I could be wrong....
You see that everywhere on the net. I am just used to it now. BTW, to be 100% technical, to imply that the wheels he was selling were factory manufactured, he would have needed to put O.E.M., not just O.E. Saying the wheels are Original Equipment is technically correct. They did come on a mustang from the factory. Albeit not on your specific car from the factory, it DOES imply that they are meant to look like the factory wheels, but not manufactured by the factory. If I was the seller, I would be a little annoyed by someone like you. Do you even have the money to buy the wheels? Or are you just trying to be a nuisance? Understand your acronyms first, then you can whine. I can understand his tone/rudeness. To him, you have no interest in buying these wheels, so he is just venting his frustration on you. You never told him you had any interest in buying wheels from them, so why would the give a rat's ass what you say/think????? I don't mean to say using the term O.E. isn't underhanded and a little sneaky. It's just another technique to draw you to the auction. This is a relatively mild case of poor representation by an internet company. i.e. when you see someone selling a generic no-name cat-back system, and use the title Flowmaster all over the page. It has absolutely nothing to do with Flowmaster. And they DO NOT clearly say that this isn't a Flowmaster exhaust, unlike the O.E. Wheels. They clearly say in all their auctions that they are REPLICAS. I am only playing Devil's Advocate, so don't take this as a Scott
Mo_dingo, I agree with you. I was actually interested in buying the wheels as I stated in one of my mails "I was about to bid on them" when I discovered the replica thing. I am not just whining to whine. I was a little annoyed with the tactic. He has a perfect right to name his ad that way as he does state later on that they are replica's. It just appears a bit shady to me. Hell, there are many ads on Ebay that say: "Porsche Wheels! NOT BBS, Enkei, Azev" That gets the people to the ad in a search, but it clearly states NOT, so you can just ignore it. By saying "OE Saleen 18" Alloys", what do you expect to find? I expected to find a set of original Saleen wheels. As far as OE goes, I disagree. Original Equipment means that the wheel was available as Original Equipment from the factory for a car. So, if I am selling a Steeda 18" Ultralight wheel, that wheel is available for Steeda Mustangs made for Steeda. If I am selling a Steeda 18" Ultralight wheel made for me by XYZ Casting company, that is NOT Original Equipment. It might look like one, be the same dimensions, even be the same quality, but not an Original Equipment wheel. It would be the same as if you were selling all beef hotdogs vs. all MEAT hotdogs. They work the same, eat the same, fit in the bun the same, but I will stick with the all beef thank you very much!
I think I'm gonna send those guys an email. That is, if you don't mind. I just want to let them know that I've noted some bad customer service, and that it will impact their sales, due to their unprofessionalism
I think for the most part O.E. Wheel Distributors sells actual OEM wheels. I bought OEM 01 Cobras from them about a year ago and all the mustang wheels they had at the time were OEM. My experience with them went well. They have good prices and quick shipping OEM or not.
you're sure they were oem, all the mustang stuff i've seen has been replicas with that pretty small statement that says soemthing in reguards to "these are replicas and by the way they come with the cobra center cap that no one wants instead of the pony that we advertise" it just shows you you have to read EVERYTHING or else you have no comeback. As to this company's return email, I do think he got a bit defensive and mean but he thought you were attacking him even though your point was valid. Hmm, this is a tough one. I don't think that this one action of bad customer service is giong to deter many from buying their product. They have the best deals and a TON of people like their product, heck i plan on buying from them too knowing full well they're replicas- i just dont have the $$$ for OEM ones
When you are selling something on Ebay you have to do whatever it takes to draw attention to your auction. They do mention in the description that they are replicas so they're not misrepresenting their product. As the buyer/bidder you are responsible for reading everything carefully, review the feedbacks and afterwards if you still have questions then ask them.
Agreed... but you should NEVER call a potential customer stupid. Even if you think they are blowing smoke up your arse and have no money.
I agree his attitude was uncalled for. Speaking for myself I think I would start to get a little annoyed if I stated something in my auction and someone that no longer has an interest in bidding/buying kept emailing me about how I worded the auction. But I'd also stop replying to stop the email tag.
I purchased 95 cobra R replicas wheels from this company on ebay "O.E. Wheel Distributers" and I don't recommend buying wheels from them. I bought them a year ago and the outside face chrome is still "ok" but the inside wheelwell is peeling badly. When the wheels arrived they were in a box labeled "Detroit Wheels". Knowing what I know now, I would get genuine real Ford wheels. Save your $.
I just checked one of their auctions or a set of Saleens and in the auction it Clearly says: " 18" NEW SILVER MUSTANG SALEEN REPLICA WHEEL " If they have bad service or not, they do say that the wheels are replica, so you can't **** at them for that
I was fully aware they were replica wheels when I bought them. I was not aware that they were POS replicas. In the wheels defense, they were cheap as hell for chrome.
Yea they're OEM. They have FORD with part number 17x8 and what not stamped on the inside of one of the spokes. I had read somewhere a few days after buying them, before they arrived that sometimes they sent cobra center caps even if they had pony caps on them in pics. But mine showed up just how they looked in the pics with pony centercaps and in perfect condition.
He just lost all respect from me. Yo may be stupid, but he cant call you that. Stupid. Just kiddin, I think you made a GREAT point about the way he pulls peoples beliefs by the title of his company. Its a SCAM man..................
That makes no sense You say they were cheap for chrome wheels but then you say they POS replicas ?? Did you think you could get GOOD chrome replicas wheels cheap ???.. Just admit it, you tried to be cheap and save a few dollars and you got
