Riley Automotive - Caveat emptor

I noticed that also. Seems like the majority of the people he screws are overseas.

Low life.

 

Thats not what happened in my case. When I complained, all his buds from Denver sided with their friend Eric. Told me he had family medical problems and I should give him some extra time. I thought 3 months was plenty of damn time and then Vaphead was posting from Bonneville. Doesn't sound like a family emergency to me. I can appreciate medical problems, but answering your phone and explaining the situation is the adult way to do it, NOT get your friends to respond for you. I was new to the HAMB at the time. When you can drive across town and get your stuff its different than bring across the country. I asked Ryan for help, and Eric would not respond to Ryans PM's. The asshole sent me a frame that I had to have repaired before I could use it, then sent me another bill for the shipping, after I paid it all in full. I never got all my parts, and the ONLY way I got my parts at all, was when I told him that if my parts were not AT MY door in one week I was gonna contact the AJ in Colorado and complain on the HAMB. I got most of my parts in that week. I had to change my credit card number because of this asshole. I would never buy anything from that guy again, He is a liar and a cheat. I'm glad some got what they ordered in a resonable amount of time, but it damn sure was not the case with me. LoOnGas also had a problem with Eric's frame. I've been waiting to dump on this asshole for a long time. I KNEW I was not the only person getting ripped by the guy. Vaphead, the jig is up...DICKHEAD!

 

Regardless of if some people have had good experiences with him, there certainly are enough who have been ripped off to make this more than a situation where a guy "occasionally" lets something fall through the cracks. The OP paid him lots of money a long time ago, enough time to fix the problem, but Eric has chosen to ignore him and also Ryan's efforts to help out. Eric isn't trying to buy some time, he is out to outright rip the guy off.

So it doesn't make a hill of beans that some of you didn't get ripped, this thread is a warning from the OP that Riley does not always complete the sale after taking someone's hard earned money. There is NO excuse for those instances, especially from someone who used this forum to move a lot of his stuff.

I think it is time for Eric to realize the gravity of the situation and we can help fix that by letting him know how we feel. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and it is a toll free call.

Don

Oh, I sent a link to this thread to Rod and Custom. They need to know that someone they promoted isn't 100% on the up and up.

 

Eric - if you want to turn the heat down just refund me my money you've had for 2 years now.

Paypal $2000 ($1944 plus enough to cover Paypal fees) to [email protected]

As soon as I see it I'll post on here that you've finally refunded me.

Ed

 

by deal, do you mean a 10% discount and free shipping or at least an offer to split the shipping with you? some people find it unbelievable that he's still offering some a discount equal to that for a hamb alliance member.

i contacted eric while he was still an alliance vendor about one of his drylakes frontend packages. he said there was a 2 or 3 month wait for the CE forged dropped axle. i waited another 3 months and contacted him again. he said nope, still waiting on the axle and offered to substitute a super bell instead. he even said that if i really wanted the forged axle that i should wait. he didn't take my money or string me along. he was perfectly honest with me. i blew the money on other parts that i had saved for the frontend.

i have since done business with him after his being banned. i got my drylakes frontend package and more and still getting a 10% discount on parts and great savings on shipping. i'm not defending him, just stating the facts.

 

Bump for exposure.

 

I've casually known Eric since he worked for Terry Jarvis at Vintage Auto in Woodinville, WA.....maybe a total of 15 years. Bought a few misc. things from him since he started Riley. This is all really sad to hear.

 

I also had a TON of trouble with Eric a year ago. Ordered a large variety of parts for a build, and it took months before I finally received everything. Some of it was correct, some items were wrong, some Chinese crap from speedway that was substituted i.e. engine mounts. Ryan helped out by emailing Eric on my behalf, and the stuff slowly trickled in. Just a horrible experience. I know people have had good experiences with him in the past, have been friends with him etc, but he is screwing people. Not just having family issues, but taking hard earned money from people, and giving them ZERO in return. And some people still stick up for him, amazing...

 

I'm with you Bill. Always, Eric was a good friend and an honorable guy when he was here. Who knows? There must be more than we see going on because this all seems so out of character for the guy we thought we knew.

 

I have spent around $400 bucks with Eric and didn't have one single problem. That was before I found out he fucked a very good friend of mine out of several thousand dollars. I will NEVER spend another cent with Riley Automotive.

 

I just gave him crap on facebook, too...come on everybody, help a guy out...!!!!!!!!! and I will be calling him, toll free, as many times that I can

 

I'll chime in if only to keep this on top.

I've bought from Eric a number of times and he has even gone out of his way to source parts for me that he didn't stock.

With all the good experience I'd had I was talking to him about a quick change for my hot rod. I was close to pulling the trigger when I came across what must have been one of the first negative posts about him. I held off. Glad I did. Eventually bought from another supplier.

If you are reading this Eric, start adding up the lost sales listed on this thread alone. You could probably multiply that ten fold and you might be close to what you have cost your business. Maybe not even close. Funny way to run a business.

 

Hey, My49ply;

You nailed it!

One of the best road-trippin' songs ever... .

adapted from Alice's Restaurant

"You know, if one person, just one person complains about Riley's they may think he's really sick and they won't take him seriously. And if two people, two people do it, inharmony, they may think they're both fxxxxxxxx and they won't believe either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Riley's is a Thief and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singing a bar of Riley's a Thief and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement."



" And that's what it is..."

" You can get anything you want,..."

.

Marcus...

 

Posted on his FB.
The funny thing about the internet - once it's posted, it never goes away.

 

There is absolutely no excuse for this. Everyone of us are busy, we all have problems, we all have responsibilities. To run a business like this is suicide. With all the avenues for communication nowadays, news spreads fast and doesn't go away, Especially bad news.

Sucks that people have been ripped off.

 

Hey, Ed;

As I mentioned in my 1st post, most, if not all, agencies will blow you off, &/or be almost worthless. But, you gotta try. If you're a big enough pest, sometimes, someone in an agency will help, just so's they don't have to hear from you again... . The point was to make as many *written & documented* complaints to as many as possible. If for nothing else, than personal satisfaction, to apply pressure. At some point in the future, it will hit him, & stick, hard.

If you or Ryan, can find the email correspondence(s), that can/will help show premeditation to steal from you, instead of a genuine willingness to help rectify the situation.

I will ask a friend (expat in Germany) if he has any ideas that might work.

Hope the Hamb pressure helps.

Marcus...

 

Thanks I posted with pleasure and venting made me feel so much better. Maybe this dude is Bi-Polar !!!!

 

Lol I got "Bob Davies" pissed off on the fb page. Apparently hambers are wanna be hot rodders.

 

It wasn't that long ago when several here were slathering Vaphead with compliments.....They were the lucky ones....Good luck Ed...

 

Yep seems he didn't like my comment. Now who the hell is Bob Davies ?

 

Wow, from reading the comments on his facebook page it looks like Judgement Day has finally arrived for Riley Automotive. It is now time for him to man up and try to save what is left of his reputation...........and his business. Hope he does the right thing.

There is an old saying in business...........If you please a customer they will tell another person. If you piss that customer off they will tell 5 people. In this instance you have told almost 5,000 so far. That can't be good for any business that wants to grow.

Don

 

I bought some front end parts and a frame from him a while back. Frame took a bit longer then promised, but other then that smooth sailing. Although, all that was just a little while before any bad reviews here. I guess I was lucky with my timing.

I wonder what happened, whatever the case, it's no excuse. If you run a business, you need to take care of your obligations no matter what is happening in your personal life. Even though I had no problems with him, after seeing how many people have, I won't risk my hard earned cash with him again.

 

I got screwed by Riley Automotive a couple of years ago. I posted about it and the post go kicked off. This Riley Auto thing should have been taken care of long ago. Makes me wonder if any other vendors are taking people to the cleaners. I'm going to Face Book next and vent my anger there.

 

Is all this info correct?

1. Riley Automotive
2. his name is Eric Schill
3. Riley Automotive phone # is: 1/800/530/7636
4. on the H.A.M.B. he is "vaphead".....or is he banned?
5. he is on facebook


BACK TO THE TOP....JUST BECAUSE......Let's keep it there!!!

 

What has always surprised me is how people within the communities sometimes treat their customers. It seems like they have no idea what ethical behavior is. Some vendors are just awesome and there are the ones like this. Like many I thought Riley Automotive was a good vendor, sadly that doesn't appear to be true.

Hopefully Riley will fix their problems and work on rebuilding their reputation.

 

It looks like vaphead has disappeared from the user list.

His posts appear as:

VAPHEAD
BANNED

 

I had a couple dealings with Eric. While I never got ripped off, it did feel like I got screwed. I was an alliance member at the time and dealt with him because of the 10% off and free shipping. Never got either on my transactions. He didn't have it in stock so he couldn't do the free shipping and I don't make any money on that part to give 10% off. Soured me on the alliance.

 

Yes he is the man. And I'm not the only person he's "borrowed" money from. Since many are abroad and may not even be here on the HAMB, only Eric knows who he owes money to.
I don't even want to see him go out of business. I want him to sell a few toys, pay everyone off and and start again. This is a Christian nation, and genuine repenters will be forgiven and can start again. He just has to make a vow and put it up on facebook or here that he will see everyone good by Christmas.

I don't know who he thinks he's ripping off. I'm not Mercedes-Benz, I'm a tiny one-man chassis shop. $2000 is a lot of money to me. Thats like the profit on $20.000 turnover. I turn over $80.000 a year. And I might live abroad but I spend about $30.000 foreign dollars in the US every year. People like Eric are bad for the export industry which means he's hurting you all indirectly.

Ed

 

There has to be a HAMB service for people that live far away cannot go to the store directly and buy the stuff.
Lets say,I need to buy a chassis in NYC but I cant make the trip,I could contact this HAMBER who will make sure the seller is shipping the Item in good condition and complete,This Hamber will make sure the buyer has paid in full at the same time the seller is shipping the item,everybody gets a receipt and The hamber charges a small fee.
It would have to be a good person with good a reputation...
Even if its not a service we could do that for each other.
I guess

 

.... you are so right Ed. Although my dealings with Eric ended in me finally getting my payment or should I say my customers money back (see http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=515178&page=1 )
it has none the less soured me about smaller type parts operators. This experience not only cost me money but a good customer who disbelieved me that the parts were taking as long as they were and that he had paid for something that were not on his car. So no doubt following this thread this clown is going to get his just reward and finally be seen off and out of the business. I am afraid that you Ed have a much greater samaritan attitude to him than I do. All the best...Frank