[Zeke]

Regarding online, I recently had an eye opener. Backstory is that I have Pirelli P1+ 225/50/17's on my XJ6. We've had tough weather this winter and there are massive pot holes everywhere. With today's traffic on surface streets it's not possible to lag back far enough to see them especially in the rain. So I hit one.

The tires have 4000 miles on them and look new except for the blister on the RF. Go back to the dealer and he can't find one. (Read, he can't find one at a wholesaler so he makes more money.)

I go to eBay and find one a few cities over but they have free shipping, so why drive in the horrendous traffic? Charges my card the day I place the order and I get an email that "shipping label created Fedex." Then it says on eBay that it was shipped but the 'estimated' delivery date is 2 weeks away. ???? Fedex tracking has nothing. ???

I keep checking and meanwhile read some more feedback that pretty well indicates that "Americas Wheel" will accept an order for any tire whether the have it or not. They didn't and obviously couldn't find one any better than my local shop. However, the listing said "4 available" at the time I did the buy.

By the time the delivery date came and went the listing was gone and there was some kind of message about "adjusting for inventory." So where am I now? No tire and no refund as of yet. I'm sure eBay and PP will handle this, but what about a seller that will collect funds the day of the order with no means to satisfy the sale?

Yeah, makes one just about done with online sales as Amazon misses delivery dates on 1/3 of my stuff and CL is full of crooks, deadbeats, and lowballers. Sorta nice to walk up to the counter and walk away with your purchase. That is unless there is some low paid don't-give-a-siht person at said counter.

Oh well, that's another thread/subject.