WP0

I thought that this thread needed to be created for our Rennlist community, as Scuderia V has been a Rennlist vendor and sponsor for more than five years, occasionally offering up items for sale on the forum, but there is not much written about any purchasing experiences with this vendor, although I did find one other thread by another Rennlister who had a very similar experience to mine.

For those who are minimally interested in the details, here is the summary:

Any purchased items from Scuderia V will eventually arrive, but expect two months for delivery in the US, and possible headaches with customs clearance and shipping to your door in the US. The items that I was told that I was purchasing were described as new, OEM, and with factory finish. The items that I received were OEM, but there were clear indications that the items were used with wear marks, evidence of repair, and the finish was not factory, but clearly aftermarket with blemishes. So, to a degree, you will get the item(s) that you order, but it might not be in the exact condition that it's stated.

Here are the details:

I bought physically large items for my 991 from Scuderia V, a Rennlist sponsor, who has been on this forum since 2017. Since he had been on the forum for so long, without any significant complaints, I felt rather confident purchasing from him, especially since the parts were "in stock" at his warehouse at the time. I was told that I was purchasing new parts, finished at the factory. In fact, during one of our discussions, he said that he personally picked them up at the Porsche factory.

During the inquiry stage, before the purchase, communication was prompt and frequent. We communicated for about a week or so before the purchase, and photos were exchanged, and items described. Scuderia V only accepts wire transfers, as is the case for many European vendors of all goods.

Literally 1-2 days after sending the wire transfer for the items and shipping, I received communication, and a photo of the packaged items in a rather large cardboard carton, so I was naturally excited to receive the item in short order. The funds were wired out two weeks before the Christmas holidays, and I thought two weeks should be plenty of time to get the items shipped before the holiday rush.

I inquired about the shipment a few times from then until Christmas, and I would get a reply about "working on shipping" about a week after each inquiry.

Then January arrived, and the items still weren't shipped. I inquired again, and supposedly his contact with the shipping company was out until January 3. . . and mid-January arrived, and the package still wasn't shipped. Six weeks after payment the items still weren't shipped, and the excuse was that he was still working on the best shipping rate. In summary, I wasn't getting very regular communication from Scuderia V: perhaps once a week he would reply with an excuse about his shipping agent, and then something else about looking into shipping, etc., and this went on for six weeks into the latter part of January.

Naturally, I became concerned about the possibility of fraud after about four weeks, so I began to contact other Rennlist members who had purchased from Scuderia V. I contacted about half a dozen former clients of Scuderia V, who (I think) were all based in the US, and they all vouched for him, and said that he would send the items that I purchased, although everyone mentioned that, for some unknown reason, the shipments from Scuderia V always take about 2 months. This feedback settled my concerns for a while.

But after another week or two of not hearing anything from Scuderia V, I informed him that I was becoming upset about the matter. Subsequently, we set up a time to talk via iMessages, and I found him to be a very friendly individual. It seems that he sells parts to us on Rennlist as a part-time business, so he does not devote the amount of time to his parts business that a full-time business owner might, consequently, items aren't shipped as promptly as we Americans are accustomed to.

About one week after talking, I got a tracking number and a photo of my item being loaded on a freight truck, as well as a delivery date. However, I could never get the tracking number that I was given to work, and after the delivery date passed without any delivery, I sent an inquiry, and was told that it would arrive in another week. Eventually, about two weeks later, I was contacted by a freight shipping company that a package was at an airport in US customs, and I had to get customs clearance within two days, or I would owe storage fees.

Not knowing exactly what to do, I contacted the freight company, and asked them how to proceed. They told me that I needed to hire a customs broker to clear customs. Additionally, this freight company told me that they would not deliver to my business address because it was in a residential area, and that I had to hire a different freight shipping company to get my package. (So much for the extensive "shipping" investigation on the seller's part with respect to delivery to the buyer.)

The customs broker charged me another moderate fee to clear customs, and the freight company charged me another fee for delivery, which was on top of what I had already paid Scuderia V for shipping. So, it seems, I paid for shipping three times, eventhough supposedly the reason for the seven week delay in shipping was to get the best shipping possible.

Once the items finally arrived, 10 weeks after I wired the funds for the items, they were packaged in a makeshift cardboard carton, comprised of about fifty different small pieces of cardboard taped together to form something that resembles a box. The items inside were well wrapped with bubble wrap, but had about another fifty pieces of randomly scattered re-purposed form-fitted foam (for a form markedly different from the parts in the carton) inside the carton. However, the packaging sufficed, as the items were not damaged, so I must commend Scuderia V on his creative, but effective packaging.

After unwrapping the items, I was pleased to see that they were OEM parts. However, there was clear evidence that the items were not new, but used, as they had clear wear marks on them, where you would expect wear. There was also evidence of a non-factory finish in several areas, as well as a repair.

I informed Scuderia V that the items were not new, as described, and sent him photos documenting the evidence of the wear and aftermarket finish. We spoke afterwards, and he declared that there was no way that the items couldn't be factory finish, as he had personally picked them up from the Porsche factory, and then he went on to describe how some OEM Porsche items were not painted at the factory, nor made at the factory, but made by various vendors who also paint them in house.

I requested a partial refund on the items, since they were not as described, but he has been ignoring me since my request. Scuderia V also has not reimbursed me for the additional shipping costs that I incurred to get delivery.

Overall, the items that I received were OEM, but used, so it's not a complete loss, but I didn't receive exactly what I was told I was purchasing; so it seems that Scuderia V misrepresented his inventory. I would sum up my experience that purchasing from Scuderia V is like dealing with a communist bureaucracy: quick to take your money, slow to deliver, and quite painful.

I would conclude that Scuderia V is a seemingly friendly individual, and his OEM parts eventually get delivered, but he works very slowly, has poor customer service, and the parts are not always exactly as described.

Angryinch

This guy sell LWBS seats right??

signes

Interesting and thanks for posting. I've considered buying from him but always was concerned about the lack of remedy buying overseas.

PHX

Do you have pics and can you post them of your product and the areas of concern?

RAudi Driver

Yes let's see these parts? Sad to hear about this as I always thought, from his ads, that he was legit.

WP0

I would posit that 99% of the people on this forum wouldn't be able to tell anything about any photos. You have to know what to look for, and know precisely and exactly how the finish from the factory looks. It's equiivalent to looking at forgeries: you have to have trained eyes, otherwise it looks fine, although this is not quite a fine forgery, and rather obvious. However, more important than photos that I could post would be corroborating evidence. Here's another Rennlister's post from the 996 forum:

...and, just to be clear, I wouldn't say that Scuderia V is not legit, but that he misrepresents his products, which are legitimate products, albeit not precisely as always described. . . and this is just my personal experience with OEM products. His aftermarket products probably really are after-market.
. .. and you'll also get a few other legiimate things: a legitimate headache dealing with his BS, and a legitimate call from a customs agent, too!

zmon

its nice to put these PSA out across multiple forums, but it would be better if you could be more specific! what did you buy? sounds like seats? show us what your talking about... explain why they are not legit.

WP0

I never said that they weren’t “legit”. In fact I specifically indicated that they were “legit” OEM parts, but simply used, and repaired. No one on the 992 forum probably works on their cars, so they probably wouldn’t recognize a repair anyway. The important part is the poor customer service anyways.

Captain P

cc @Scuderia V we need answers.

RAudi Driver

just post up the pictures and let us decide. I have a 997 and do most of my own wrenching

thigos

I have considered LWBS from Scuderia V in the past, but by chance went with Justin Placek (also overseas). For what it is worth to anyone considering buying LWNS specifically, Justin was very responsive, sent several pictures throughout the process, the seat was well packaged, customs was included, and delivered in under 10 days from time of payment.

cosmos

Lol!! A lot of us work on our cars, we install cages, suspension parts and I’ve taken seats in and out of GT cars more than I’d like to admit.

Angryinch

More info on this please. I got stuck with the 18ways and want to get the LWBS. How much were they and do you have this fellows contact info?

Thanks!

BlazinPond

I held off on buying 991.2 GT3RS mag wheels from him once he told me wire only.
If anything went wrong, i felt I had no recourse, so saving a few bucks made no sense.

Secondly, no offense to guys w/ a side hustle but couple that w/ overseas and wire only....easy pass for me.

Angryinch

Found JP on IG and sent him a msg about the buckets to see what he has. Cheers