Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware!

Having had the head-gasket go on my Freelander I examined the options and decided that I would replace the engine with a reconditioned unit.
Looking on ebay I found a company who shall remain nameless offering recon units for £545.
OK, including carriage to the Isle of Man that's £700.
Estimate from a local garage to fit the engine £300 to £400.
I was promised the engine on a specific date, had the car towed to the garage for fitting (£60) and then waited. Two weeks went by and the engine eventually arrived. Filthy, covered in oil and road grime, rust everywhere and loose carbon in the exhaust ports.
The oil filter and filter housing were missing, the water pump was completely useless, the cam belt tensioner was also useless.
The suppliers got on their high horse and insisted the engine was a fully reconditioned unit. Despite their own info stating that the unit is completely stripped to its component parts, which are cleaned, inspected and replaced where necessary, they insist this does not include things like the water pump, cam belt tensioner etc.
The sump , they say in their info, is removed, shot blasted, cleaned, oilways etc inspected and cleaned and then reassembled. Presumably they then covered the sump in oil and grime, carefully covered the bolts in rust and grime and siezed them in place.
Despite all my emails they insist the engine was fully reconditioned and accept no responsibilty other than their standard parts only guarantee.
I could have returned the engine to them - at my own expense and for a 10% re-stocking fee. I would not have got the original carriage cost back either. That's about £350 to end up with nothing at all.
I've gone ahead and had the engine fitted (cost now about £700 including fixing the items found to be faulty) I have no idea what condition the internals of the engine are in - It was by far the easiest option and certainly better than throwing even more vast amounts of cash at it.
The moral of the story is that if a deal looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

I'm going to sell the vehicle and buy a diesel version.

p.s. The garage locally reckons the engine probably was reconditioned - some years ago, fitted to a vehicle which was later scrapped and the engine lifted out and sent to me. Without stripping it down there is no way of telling, and I simply can't afford to have that done.
PM me if you really want any further details.

name and shame, if you're not taking them to court or involving trading standards nothing to lose by naming them

I must admit I did think about that, but I haven't yet examined all my options. To be honest it's not as if they'll be that hard to find - do a search on ebay for "Freelander Engine" and the choice of people offering the service as described is fairly limited!

did you pay for it through paypal if so you have a case send them a email telling them all

You should not have fitted the engine

Buying via ebay does give you a lot of protection especially if you paid by paypal or credit card as both forms of payment will get you your money back

My brother in law bought a car via ebay, had it delivered and as the condition was not as described refused delivery, got in touch with ebay and his credit card company and had his money back in no time at all

To answer you questions - no I didn't buy through paypal.
Yes I did fit the engine - strange to say I couldn't afford not to. It was at least a running engine, with head gasket and new cam belt. Leaving the vehicle with the old dead engine was not an option - sod all resale value, returning the engine costing £350, multiple towing fees to get it to ............ no storage space where I could leave it indefinitely.
At least it's now in a condition where I can sell it.

If it's who I think it is their ebay feedback is very good including feedback for engines.....3 neutral and and one negative for item not sent for over 1800 transactions

You should still report it to trading standards. If they get a lot of peeps complaining about them they will then look into it. They may contact you in the future if they're going after them.

Also report of ebay and give appropriate feedback.

Hippo, can't leave feedback, didn't buy it through ebay.
They may well have excellent feedback Blue Beasty, but that doesn't alter the fact that I've been sold a lemon with no comeback. It's the dogged repetition that it's a fully reconditioned engine which meets all the criteria on their description when in fact it simply doesn't.
Interestingly now it's fitted it doesn't seem to have the same "oomph" as my original engine. By the way it needed over £200 worth of parts to make it a runner!

I'm not doubting what you say, just stating that it really doesn't help your case and I understand that you had little choice but to go ahead and fit the engine. An independent inspection may have helped but that's more cost and delay.

Fanatic and The Mad Hat Man are our resident crock 'o' ****e experts and may be able to make suggestions if you wanted to take it further.

UPDATE
Just over one year later and the head gasket has gone on the "reconditioned engine"!. This despite full service, under 1000 miles use and very VERY careful weekly checks on oil and daily checks on water. Noticed the water level was dropping and the oil was emulsified. Had it checked and yes, head gasket gone.
I've sent the supplier an email asking for their comments and suggestions for resolution of the matter - I wonder if I'll get a reply.
Sadly I don't think it's worth replacing either the gasket or the engine - the cost would approach the value of the vehicle.
If nothing satisfactory is forthcoming I will have to examine options - naming and shaming etc. I'm not sure where I stand with regard to trading standards as it's been a year and I'm on the Isle of Man.
I'll keep you updated.
Mike

Sorry to hear your of you problems. Sounds like you would have been better off buying any old engine from a local scrappy.
BTW interested to know why you decided not to repair the original, there are a lot of mobile mechanics (although maybe not on Isle of Man) who will repair a HG for around £300.

Cheapest quote I got for replacing head gasket on the original was over £800 - at the time the replacement engine with supposed new water pump, cam belt, head gasket, most other gaskets, etc etc etc seemed like a better bet for a couple of hundred extra. Sadly when it arrived we had to replace the water pump, cam belt etc. To send it back would have cost me carriage to Devon (£250) the original carriage to the Isle of Man (£250) a ten per cent re-stocking fee (!) and if I wanted my original engine back yet another carriage fee (£250). Then I would have still had to fix the head gasket - that's a total of around £1600.
On the Island getting an engine from one of the local scrap yards is not that simple. They want you to remove the engine yourself - with no access to lifting gear, They make more from shipping the vehicles away than from selling parts with the associated storage etc, one of the few downsides of living on an Island.

Devon you say?? Who was it?

manxmike said:

UPDATE
Just over one year later and the head gasket has gone on the "reconditioned engine"!. This despite full service, under 1000 miles use and very VERY careful weekly checks on oil and daily checks on water. Noticed the water level was dropping and the oil was emulsified. Had it checked and yes, head gasket gone.
I've sent the supplier an email asking for their comments and suggestions for resolution of the matter - I wonder if I'll get a reply.
Sadly I don't think it's worth replacing either the gasket or the engine - the cost would approach the value of the vehicle.
If nothing satisfactory is forthcoming I will have to examine options - naming and shaming etc. I'm not sure where I stand with regard to trading standards as it's been a year and I'm on the Isle of Man.
I'll keep you updated.
Mike

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According to some on here, that's purely down to poor maintenance. If you look after it they are reliable good engines!!

Name and shame

Is it the place in Axminster?

manxmike said:

Cheapest quote I got for replacing head gasket on the original was over £800 - at the time the replacement engine with supposed new water pump, cam belt, head gasket, most other gaskets, etc etc etc seemed like a better bet for a couple of hundred extra. Sadly when it arrived we had to replace the water pump, cam belt etc. To send it back would have cost me carriage to Devon (£250) the original carriage to the Isle of Man (£250) a ten per cent re-stocking fee (!) and if I wanted my original engine back yet another carriage fee (£250). Then I would have still had to fix the head gasket - that's a total of around £1600.
On the Island getting an engine from one of the local scrap yards is not that simple. They want you to remove the engine yourself - with no access to lifting gear, They make more from shipping the vehicles away than from selling parts with the associated storage etc, one of the few downsides of living on an Island.

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That's scandalous. the parts are cheap (under £150 even if you change all belts, tensioner and water pump) and the labour will be less than a day for a skilled mechanic. I did the job on my MGF VVC on a Friday night and finished in time for tea (edit:- that's 6pm here in NI) on Saturday. It was my first time doing it, I'm not a mechanic and as you can imagine there isn't much room to work at it.
Unless the engine has overheated there is usually no need to skim the head so the job can be done in one go.
I can see why you went with the new engine but I guess you were unlucky. I would sue the bstrds.