My terrible experience with Prestige Spares
05-24-2023, 11:52 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 408
Total Cats: 111
My terrible experience with Prestige Spares
I will start this by saying the entire reason I took a risk buying from an overseas vendor of used car parts that doesn't have an actual website is because they are vendors on Miataturbo.net. To my mind, that carries some weight. If you're looking to buy some Euro market upgrades for your car, I'd highly suggest you consider other sellers.
In mid-December I decided I wanted a 6 speed and 3.63 Torsen. I contacted Prestige Spares via PM on Miataturbo and received extremely quick replies, within minutes. I was told they had the parts available and would be able to ship them within a week once the Torsen was removed from the donor. After some difficulty with Prestige's preferred bank transfer method of payment, I was sent a Paypal invoice for $1,865 for a low mileage 6 speed and 3.63 Torsen, as well as a spare set of rear axle shafts. A few days later tracking information was sent from a company called Parcel2Go, who then transferred it to Fedex. On December 27, the package entered customs at Fedex in Memphis and apparently has never been seen again.
In early January, I started messaging both Fedex and Prestige (aka John). Fedex could not locate the item in customs. I sent multiple messages to Prestige asking if there was anything they could do, such as send pictures of the items that were shipped to help Fedex locate them. No response. I could see that Prestige/John was logging in between my private messages, but not answering them. When I did get a response after several days and attempts, they were often to the effect of "Not my job, I don't know how to do it, I'll get Georgia/George to handle it when they return". After asking how to communicate with them on a Facebook group, I was advised Prestige responds much faster over Facebook messages. I found them there and was getting better response rates, but still not the minute by minute response I was getting through MT PMs while John was trying to close the sale.
It took more than a month for John to admit that the parts were lost. During this time we were talking about my lost transmission and diff, he continued to list for sale 6 speed transmissions in early January. It took until March to locate an additional 3.63 Torsen. He did say this would take some time to find as they are rare, but 6 speeds are thick on the ground and not to worry about him finding one of those. The new Torsen was damaged on the aluminum fins and by his own admission not up to the same condition as the one I had previously purchased. When a discount was requested, he said no due to market demand and rarity going up. I accepted this as the parts were still much lower mileage than mine.
But by this point he did not have a 6 speed to send me. For the next month he did not ship anything, nor did I ever get clarity as to how he got a 3.63 Torsen from a partout without an accompanying 6 speed transmission, or why he was selling all his 6 speeds when he knew he had to ship me one.
While we were talking about my order status on Friday March 31st, he went from messaging me to setting auto replies saying he was out on vacation. He didn't bother to tell me that prior to logging off with about 15 minutes between my messages. At this point, I meant to file a claim but failed to do so for the week he was out. That was a mistake. I foolishly gave him some more time when he returned.
On Sunday 4/23 I began a Paypal dispute. I did not contact John on Monday, hoping he would act on his own. On Tuesday, I messaged him on Facebook asking for him to follow up. He confirmed that he had seen the Paypal request. On Wednesday 4/26, I messaged him again asking to follow up, and he said it would be dealt with that day. On Thursday, John left a Paypal message saying he would have to transfer funds into the account. On Friday I sent a follow up. On Monday again, I sent a follow up promising to escalate to a claim the next day if no refund was given. His response a few hours later seemed ambivalent about this, so I went ahead and did it that day, a week after my dispute began.
Three weeks after filing a claim, he still has failed to fulfill the refund request. I am still dealing with Paypal and do not have my money back. Though he has agreed to a refund on paper, he will not follow through on his end to actually give me my money back. That's just the kind of guy John is. There are some questions I think I could answer, but won't speculate on a public forum. He sent pictures of a trans and torsen packaged individually, but claimed all three were in one single shipment. In our Facebook messages he freely admitted to lying about the weight of the transmission to Fedex. That tracking number did not indicate it was a multi piece shipment. Did he send the trans alone? Just a torsen? How could he source me a 3.63 Torsen from a vehicle without being able to offer me the 6 speed that should have been in that car? Why was he selling all his transmissions when he knew I needed one? Why is he treating me like his personal loan officer?
I am posting my experience as a warning to others - be aware of the kind of operation you're dealing with before you give any money to Prestige Spares. Some people have gotten their parts without issue. Some people have been waiting a year to get what they ordered. John repeatedly had to be reminded about what I ordered, how I paid, and so on, indicating he has no order tracking system at all. It felt like I bought a spot on a waiting list rather than a part. If I had paid via bank transfer as initially requested, I assume I could have been waiting up to a year or longer to get parts with no possibility of the refund I am still trying to get. I am not the only person with this experience. See below for how people force John to respond by posting publicly because he will not respond to them in any other way, unless his reputation is at risk.
1.8 vvt Square / flat top inlet manifolds for sale - Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.
NA / NB1 and NB2 Hardtops for sale .... - Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.
I have chat logs I can share if anyone wants proof.
TL;DR I'd recommend you don't give Prestige Spares UK any of your money.
Mods, I'd ask if this is really the kind of operation you want listed as a trusted vendor.
In mid-December I decided I wanted a 6 speed and 3.63 Torsen. I contacted Prestige Spares via PM on Miataturbo and received extremely quick replies, within minutes. I was told they had the parts available and would be able to ship them within a week once the Torsen was removed from the donor. After some difficulty with Prestige's preferred bank transfer method of payment, I was sent a Paypal invoice for $1,865 for a low mileage 6 speed and 3.63 Torsen, as well as a spare set of rear axle shafts. A few days later tracking information was sent from a company called Parcel2Go, who then transferred it to Fedex. On December 27, the package entered customs at Fedex in Memphis and apparently has never been seen again.
In early January, I started messaging both Fedex and Prestige (aka John). Fedex could not locate the item in customs. I sent multiple messages to Prestige asking if there was anything they could do, such as send pictures of the items that were shipped to help Fedex locate them. No response. I could see that Prestige/John was logging in between my private messages, but not answering them. When I did get a response after several days and attempts, they were often to the effect of "Not my job, I don't know how to do it, I'll get Georgia/George to handle it when they return". After asking how to communicate with them on a Facebook group, I was advised Prestige responds much faster over Facebook messages. I found them there and was getting better response rates, but still not the minute by minute response I was getting through MT PMs while John was trying to close the sale.
It took more than a month for John to admit that the parts were lost. During this time we were talking about my lost transmission and diff, he continued to list for sale 6 speed transmissions in early January. It took until March to locate an additional 3.63 Torsen. He did say this would take some time to find as they are rare, but 6 speeds are thick on the ground and not to worry about him finding one of those. The new Torsen was damaged on the aluminum fins and by his own admission not up to the same condition as the one I had previously purchased. When a discount was requested, he said no due to market demand and rarity going up. I accepted this as the parts were still much lower mileage than mine.
But by this point he did not have a 6 speed to send me. For the next month he did not ship anything, nor did I ever get clarity as to how he got a 3.63 Torsen from a partout without an accompanying 6 speed transmission, or why he was selling all his 6 speeds when he knew he had to ship me one.
While we were talking about my order status on Friday March 31st, he went from messaging me to setting auto replies saying he was out on vacation. He didn't bother to tell me that prior to logging off with about 15 minutes between my messages. At this point, I meant to file a claim but failed to do so for the week he was out. That was a mistake. I foolishly gave him some more time when he returned.
On Sunday 4/23 I began a Paypal dispute. I did not contact John on Monday, hoping he would act on his own. On Tuesday, I messaged him on Facebook asking for him to follow up. He confirmed that he had seen the Paypal request. On Wednesday 4/26, I messaged him again asking to follow up, and he said it would be dealt with that day. On Thursday, John left a Paypal message saying he would have to transfer funds into the account. On Friday I sent a follow up. On Monday again, I sent a follow up promising to escalate to a claim the next day if no refund was given. His response a few hours later seemed ambivalent about this, so I went ahead and did it that day, a week after my dispute began.
Three weeks after filing a claim, he still has failed to fulfill the refund request. I am still dealing with Paypal and do not have my money back. Though he has agreed to a refund on paper, he will not follow through on his end to actually give me my money back. That's just the kind of guy John is. There are some questions I think I could answer, but won't speculate on a public forum. He sent pictures of a trans and torsen packaged individually, but claimed all three were in one single shipment. In our Facebook messages he freely admitted to lying about the weight of the transmission to Fedex. That tracking number did not indicate it was a multi piece shipment. Did he send the trans alone? Just a torsen? How could he source me a 3.63 Torsen from a vehicle without being able to offer me the 6 speed that should have been in that car? Why was he selling all his transmissions when he knew I needed one? Why is he treating me like his personal loan officer?
I am posting my experience as a warning to others - be aware of the kind of operation you're dealing with before you give any money to Prestige Spares. Some people have gotten their parts without issue. Some people have been waiting a year to get what they ordered. John repeatedly had to be reminded about what I ordered, how I paid, and so on, indicating he has no order tracking system at all. It felt like I bought a spot on a waiting list rather than a part. If I had paid via bank transfer as initially requested, I assume I could have been waiting up to a year or longer to get parts with no possibility of the refund I am still trying to get. I am not the only person with this experience. See below for how people force John to respond by posting publicly because he will not respond to them in any other way, unless his reputation is at risk.
1.8 vvt Square / flat top inlet manifolds for sale - Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.
NA / NB1 and NB2 Hardtops for sale .... - Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.
I have chat logs I can share if anyone wants proof.
TL;DR I'd recommend you don't give Prestige Spares UK any of your money.
Mods, I'd ask if this is really the kind of operation you want listed as a trusted vendor.
Last edited by OptionXIII; 05-25-2023 at 11:41 AM.
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05-24-2023, 04:35 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 552
Total Cats: 75
Sorry to hear of your woes, I didn’t have as bad a time but it wasn’t exactly a smooth transaction when I’ve bought things from him before. I bought an NB 5 speed, the first one arrived very poorly packed, literally just wrapped in black plastic trash bags, shifter still in place, and irreparably stuck in 5th gear. I assume someone dropped it and it landed on the shifter or something similarly forced it into 2 gears at once. A second one was eventually delivered, in similar poor packaging, that functioned. I also bought an open 3.6 diff from him that took many months to ship despite me supposedly seeing a photo of it posted to Facebook. His mileage claims seen highly suspect to me; nothing ever has more than, at absolute most, 75,000 miles. Yet these sub-80k Miata’s are apparently being junked by the dozen in the UK, yet my transmission arrived with the vin tag removed….
Buyer beware, big time. The deals aren’t even worth it anymore. Back when he was selling 6speeds for $300 shipped it was potentially worth the hassle. Now that they’re only ~$100-200 below US prices I fail to see the point.
Buyer beware, big time. The deals aren’t even worth it anymore. Back when he was selling 6speeds for $300 shipped it was potentially worth the hassle. Now that they’re only ~$100-200 below US prices I fail to see the point.
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05-25-2023, 10:25 AM
#6
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 408
Total Cats: 111
Well, I finally got my money back. Only took three calls to PayPal to force them to admit John wasn't going to pay me back if he could help it.
I'm so glad this saga is over. While I know some people have had no issue, I'd urge anyone thinking about buying from prestige to consider my experience is not the only one like this. I got a lot of similar feedback on Facebook.
I really don't think Prestige should remain a vendor.
I'm so glad this saga is over. While I know some people have had no issue, I'd urge anyone thinking about buying from prestige to consider my experience is not the only one like this. I got a lot of similar feedback on Facebook.
I really don't think Prestige should remain a vendor.
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2
2
05-25-2023, 11:35 AM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Central Commie Land
Posts: 610
Total Cats: 55
There have been many that have had a bad experience with them and Paypal should do something.
Well, I finally got my money back. Only took three calls to PayPal to force them to admit John wasn't going to pay me back if he could help it.
I'm so glad this saga is over. While I know some people have had no issue, I'd urge anyone thinking about buying from prestige to consider my experience is not the only one like this. I got a lot of similar feedback on Facebook.
I really don't think Prestige should remain a vendor.
I'm so glad this saga is over. While I know some people have had no issue, I'd urge anyone thinking about buying from prestige to consider my experience is not the only one like this. I got a lot of similar feedback on Facebook.
I really don't think Prestige should remain a vendor.
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0
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05-25-2023, 07:18 PM
#10
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 247
Total Cats: 38
It looks like a few of my previous posts within their sales threads were deleted, maybe the thread gets reset periodically. I am VERY thankful he/they showed me that I would be wasting my time and money purchasing an intake manifold. Another person finally got one sent but that transaction wasn't much better. One thing I pointed out, if you post items for sale here, you should be replying here both in PM and within the sales threads. Thankfully they ghosted me so I wasn't able to send payment after agreeing to purchase one of the many listed. I'm glad to hear PayPal was able to get your money refunded!
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05-27-2023, 10:30 AM
#17
Tweaking Enginerd
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boulder, CO
Posts: 1,778
Total Cats: 359
Might as well throw my experience into the record.
I order a pair of seats at the very beginning of the "we have hardtops!!!" madness. Over the next 12+ months I was supplied with a string of various "reasons" that my stuff hadn't shipped, finally getting them to admit the truth of the matter, which was they weren't ever going to ship. I had absolutely no urgency in when I would get the seats, which I think makes my experience unique... they usually responded to update requests promptly and with no real prodding came clean that they weren't going to fulfill the order.
Some of the "reasons" are believable. I don't think they are very good business people and they got in way over their heads. They had been shipping onsie-twosie across the pond. This didn't attract too much attention. When they decided to take advantage of the hardtop stupidity and become real importers the snit hit the fan.
I wish they could have done this better and hooked up with a few strategically located distributors before taking orders, as well as gotten the legal side of things in order. The forced MOT removal of the NA/NB in a strong market for Mazda resulted in a huge glut of much needed parts. I know of a few burned bridges for them, and am not sure they will ever recover. Thus our stateside access to this material is probably lost.
I hold no serious grudge against them, I did really really want those seats. My deposit was ultimately refunded.
I order a pair of seats at the very beginning of the "we have hardtops!!!" madness. Over the next 12+ months I was supplied with a string of various "reasons" that my stuff hadn't shipped, finally getting them to admit the truth of the matter, which was they weren't ever going to ship. I had absolutely no urgency in when I would get the seats, which I think makes my experience unique... they usually responded to update requests promptly and with no real prodding came clean that they weren't going to fulfill the order.
Some of the "reasons" are believable. I don't think they are very good business people and they got in way over their heads. They had been shipping onsie-twosie across the pond. This didn't attract too much attention. When they decided to take advantage of the hardtop stupidity and become real importers the snit hit the fan.
I wish they could have done this better and hooked up with a few strategically located distributors before taking orders, as well as gotten the legal side of things in order. The forced MOT removal of the NA/NB in a strong market for Mazda resulted in a huge glut of much needed parts. I know of a few burned bridges for them, and am not sure they will ever recover. Thus our stateside access to this material is probably lost.
I hold no serious grudge against them, I did really really want those seats. My deposit was ultimately refunded.
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