2 replies to this topic

[Sleepy Stu]

Hi everybody. It really pains me to right this about another member of the forum but I have decided that I don’t want anybody else to get mislead and be completely out of pocket as I have been. Sorry it’s so long but I want to give a full account of everything that happened.

The TMF member in question is ‘miniman-pie’ and what follows is an account of dealings I have had with this member.

Moderators before you remove this post stating that I should try and sort the issue out with the user involved instead of posting on the forum, I have tried to do this but he has ceased replying to any of my messages.

A while ago I posted on the forum stating that I was looking for an unleaded head for my 1275 GT. miniman-pie then got in contact with me and said he had one available for £80 as long as I collected it. When I collected the head it was extremely dirty and covered in oil and I must say I did not inspect it closely at the time as it was dark and raining.

A few days later I cleaned up the head and found there had been a blow out between 2 & 3 and that there was a small groove between the two. This presumably had happened when Pie had had his big engine explosion that he had detailed in other threads on the forum.

Anyway hoping that the problem was not too serious I took the head to Malvern Rebore to be skimmed and get rid of the groove. Needless to say when I picked it up the groove was gone but the blow out was worse than I thought and there was a crack between 2 & 3 essentially rendering the head useless.

Not only this but more annoyingly the gentleman at Malvern Rebore informed that the head HAD NOT been converted to lead-free which was the only reason I purchased it in the first place!

I contacted miniman-pie about this and he said that he knew nothing of the blowout and that before he sold me the head it had been converted to lead-free by a friend of his. He also informed me that before he sold it to me it had been skimmed and compression tested by the gentlemen at ‘Bromsgrove Engine Services’ (BES). I found this hard to believe considering there was a blow out between 2 & 3 when I received the head.

He then implied that the crack may have been caused by poor workmanship by the gentleman at ‘Malvern Rebore’ and that as I could not return the head as sold he would not offer a refund. As for the unleaded conversion issue he continued to maintain that his friend had converted the head to lead-free.

Unconvinced I took a trip to see the guys at BES and had a chat with them. They remembered seeing the head that miniman-pie sold me and said that as they told miniman-pie at the time that the head would be useless as would the block of his engine which had warped when the blowout occurred.

More importantly they also confirmed that the head HAD NOT been converted to lead-free and also confirmed that there is no way on god’s green earth the crack between 2 & 3 under the blowout could have been caused by poor workmanship by the guys at Malvern Rebore and would have been present at the time the head was sold to me.

In conclusion 2 separate gentlemen, from 2 separate companies (both of who are neutral to both of us) who have probably been in the business more years than I have been alive have both confirmed that the head miniman-pie sold be had not been converted to Lead-free. Also is it my belief that miniman-pie sold me the head hoping I would drop it straight into my car and start using it. However I decided to clean it up first and noticed the problems listed above. It is clear that he has lied to me on various occasions. A TMF moderator was bought in to hear both sides of the story and even he agreed that miniman-pie should refund me the money. In the end miniman-pie just stopped replying to my messages and I haven’t heard from him since.

Interestingly does anybody actually know where miniman-pie is at the moment because when I offered to return the head to him he said that he was in an airport on his way to New Zealand to work for 4 months. I also believe this was a lie and have reason to doubt it but if he is indeed in New Zealand then I apologise for that comment.

Anyway DO NOT have any business dealings with this user as he is untrustworthy and after all my petrol costs and everything else I am probably out of pocket to the tune of £120 now.

[Purple Tom]

Please see below the response from the person concerned:

Hello Tom.

Hadnt seen that topic as ive been out since 2 this afternoon. That post was very intresting. A few points inparticular.

When Stewart came to collect the head, I welcomed him into my house, and we talked for about an hour. Stewart inspected the head there and then and said "it looked in decent condition". As i said, we then talked for an hour before he took the head and left.
He then left it over two weeks before contacting me referring to a "crack" in the head. Now i told him this was not possible as the head had been skimmed and pressure tested before i sold it. It was then covered in oil and wrapped in a rag so that it would not go rusty. I have evidence that this was done as i went up with a mate and whitnessed the work being done.

He then goes on to say that BES told me the head was useless and the block was warped. How they did this is beyond me, as they didnt, and still to this day havent seen the block.

I did question Malvern rebore as they managed to destroy a friends 4pin diff when building the gearbox, stuffed it in anyway, and then said they had no knowlege of it happening when questioned about it. They suddenly paid out for a new one when he threatend them with legal action. That is one example.
I also know they dropped a cooper head of my friend Ashleys, which damaged the casting, again they denied all knowledge of it but ashley found a bargian 12g940 head.
I could give you numerous other examples of how bad Malvern Rebore really are, but i wont bore you with the details.

As for the unleaded conversion, i was told by Tim at minimail (who i trust) that it was converted.

I havent recieved any more PMs about this and as far as i am concerned, it is all sorted.

As you know Tom, i am part of the staff and i go the extra mile for the forum. Why i would sell dodgey items and put my place on the forum in jepordy is beyond me.

I KNOW that head was in good condiditon as i was contemplating on using it on the 1293 again, this was until i found a nice little 998 whihc i am currently building

Pie

[Purple Tom]

Please find above a response from the user concerned in the initial allegation.

Both members have been contacted regarding this issue, and the best course of action has been determined - that is to allow both members to have a say, similar to eBay's 'feedback' system.

The thread will remain closed, and any further discussion on the matter will be done between the members themselves.

This thread will be searchable in the future, and may possibly be incorporated into future plans for a member 'reputation' system.