Whats your opinion on these I just received.
They are recon,Cleaned, skimmed and tested but as you can see there is damage . I was not informed of the damage but I'm guessing its location wont affect it working. There is also a scratch on the skimmed surface, again is this outside the important area?

Im feeling a bit disgruntled as they dont really meet the same standard as advertised from Emmotts on their ebay listing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390383328132?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Actually just realised the damage on the top photo should be the bolt hole for the exhaust manifold. Its been filled in or something and then chewed up.

Any chance of running a tap down it and inserting a stud ? Must admit if I'd received them I might be tempted to take a trip and insert them somewhere 😁

Looks like someone's sheared off the bolt and run a drill down the side of it. If that's the case the remains of the bolt will have to be removed and the damage will become more apparent. Definitely not fit for purpose as advertised. I'd take it up with the vendor.

They do say in the listing 'may need to be cleaned' but then it also says they are 'ready to fit'

I would at least send them an email with the pictures and question it!

Its more than just dirty Marty, its damaged.

I will contact them OB, I think you are right but how can Emmotts think this is acceptable I dont know. It makes me wonder how much they've actually tested them aswell.

Here's their reply. Sounds to me like they knew they sent it out like that.

I am now biting my lip , trying not to reply. Just hope that when I return the item they will replace it but I feel that wont be the end of it.

Dear Paul,
Thank you for your complimentary letter which has a sting in the tail at the end.

Firstly, just because there is a broken stud in the exhaust manifold it does not make this item unfit for purpose, any motor engineer worth his salt would have no problem extracting this bolt.
But for good customer relations if you send back the damaged head we will replace immediately upon its safe return.
Secondly,I can not believe that a member of the Land Rover club would complain about such a minor over site and try and make it such a big problem.

Well there's a great advert for emmotts, note to self AVOID them,, what complete wankers,, excuse my French. They advertise something that isn't as described,, did you get through eBay, or use PayPal, I'd get in contact with them if you did and show pics and response from them,

I simply contacted them via ebay but Im just wondering now, if I send the item back without going through ebay returns how that stands. If I go through ebay returns then I will simply get a refund but I really need the replacement.
What if they start playing games and say theyve received the item back damaged or something due to packaging and try get out of sending a replacement.

You've got the proof in there message they knew it was damaged, I've never heard because someone belongs to a Range Rover club, qualifies them as an engineer, total bull, I would get a quote to have it drilled and tapped, if they don't want to at least pay for that then I'd get onto eBay, I understand you need the heads, but there's plenty of other breakers

That's a piss poor response. Extractable or not, you've paid money for something that should be ready to use.

Quite right. You've paid for a pair of heads that are advertised as ready to fit which that one clearly isn't. If you were a garage there's a big difference in labour involved in bolting a ready to go head on and either drilling out and tapping or, more likely, as modern 'mechanics' are no more than parts fitters, sending it out to somewhere else to do the job (and charging it all to the customer).

It's listed as 're-conditioned' though, so surely part of 'reconditioning' something is if there is damage to a threaded hole, then you would fix that as part of the reconditioning process...

If one of my door latches, or switchpacks has a broken part in it, then I either fix or replace the broken part depending on what it is, and if it's repairable...

That's like me sending out a latch I've rebuilt, that's got a split in the plastic casing. And then being surprised if someone asks to swap it. Any parts like that which I find as I pull them apart go straight in the bin.

I used to use Emmots a lot for second hand parts, as I'd heard really bad reviews about Furness Car Co - another of the 'big' breakers on eBay (who I'd previously used with no problem aswell) but looks like Emmots have lost my future business purely based on their customer service.

Who gives a shit if you're part of a Land Rover club or not... it has nothing to do with the fact that their items aren't ready to fit, as advertised.
If they thought about their response before going back to the keyboard then they might perhaps realize that by being a business and responding like that is more than likely to get them bad press amongst the rest of the club - as it is on this forum alone... rather than good press of recognizing the issue and working to sort it out properly...

That's interesting Marty. I've used Furness quite a bit and had nothing but good experiences. Clean functioning parts and posted rapidly.

I know nothing about the state of the market for rover V8 cylinder heads but I document absolutely everything I do on eBay.
Messages, proof of postage, photos of condition, photos of packaging. You basically need to provide a full chain of evidence at every step.
If you do that and use PayPal you've got them over a barrel.

There are some slippery people out there :(

Orangebean wrote:

That's interesting Marty. I've used Furness quite a bit and had nothing but good experiences. Clean functioning parts and posted rapidly.

I had also used them a lot for bits, but there was something either on LandyZone of the 'other' forum a couple of years ago where someone of a couple of people have had bad transactions with them.

That being said, I've stopped using Island 4x4 for the same reasons, and now generally use LR Direct after a couple of transactions with Island 4x4 that were a bit sub-par and then their customer service was pretty crap aswell.

I guess it comes down to who picks and packs the parts, and how they deal with it if things don't quite go right.

Island4x4 were better when they were on isle of sheppey, was a lot smaller, more personal and good service, I think they've grown so much they've lost that personal touch, Sam who works there was always helpful and went out of his way to help.. Back to thread though, are they gonna change them ?

I have bought many, many things on Ebay and not just for the car - my feedback score is 1274 at the moment.
The only problems I have had have been with secondhand car parts generally. The condition has been wrongly described.
I would always work through Ebay. Make sure your e-mails are carefully worded and attach photos. Make sure you have got a water tight case.
Most sellers are scared of getting negative feedback, so the ball is in your court.
If the manifold bolt was damaged but sticking out so it could be unscrewed that would be one thing, but the one in the photos will need machining.
If a bolt extractor was used and it snapped off in the stud, you would be in the Sh#t. Happened to me on a classic gearbox once.

Its definitely going back for an exchange . I dont hold my hopes up on the replacement being that good either to be honest but feedback will be left accordingly, even with a replacement I will be out of pocket by returning this one and with their bad attitude it certainly wont be positive.

I have 2523 poss feedback on my ebay account.Never a single negative . Ive only had one previous problem from a buyer accusing me of selling fake headphones . I had really good comms with the buyer and I was in contact with Sennheiser direct as thats where they came from. To cut a long story short Ebay screwed me over. Because I didnt list my item as being located in France despite the fact I said in the listing they would be sent from France and that Id pay for them to be returned to France and give a full refund, Ebay said this was a breach of terms and let the buyer keep the headphones and gave him a full refund of £250, so I have no faith in Ebay after 10 years and about £20k in fees to them.
I told them to look through my contact with the buyer assuring him id accept the returns and refund of postage etc but they simply said I cant appeal and that was that.
Fortunately Sennheiser sent me a replacement pair for the hassle.

Nice of Sennheiser to come through for you on that one!

I'm of the opinion the majority of breakers don't really give a toss about the parts they're stripping off vehicles and selling. Certainly in the case of parts that can and do fail, I don't believe and of them them 'carefully test before removal' at all. Strip it off the car, list for a low price, offer 30 days warranty. Hope for the best.

There are certain things you just can't test without either specific diagnostic kit or the right conditions, and I'm pretty certain a breaker isn't investing in the kit for all the weird and wonderful things fitted to different cars on the off chance they'll come across some to sell...

Great if it plays out, a load of hassle for the buyer to fit an awkward as hell part only to find it doesn't work. At least with eBay/PayPal, for the buyer it will usually play out in the end. For sellers though, like in your case, it can be a nightmare. I've sold stuff on eBay before, but I can't be bothered anymore, too much potential hassle.