Webercarbsdirect.com, Buyer beware!! Options

[Series9]

Following up on my emulsion tube issue this week:

These carbs were purchased from Webercarbsdirect.com and were represented as genuine Webers.

They are not. They are Chinese knock-offs.


The retailer refuses to take them back.

You've been warned!




Do everyone a favor and spread this around to help others from getting screwed.

[Series9]

The only thing on the carb that says "Weber" is the cover plate and two stickers with "serial numbers":

[rhodyguy]

I knew this was coming. There have been more issues with those carbs, noted here, than I can remember. I think a new set bought via amazon was the only time the vendor helped to resolve the issue.

[Series9]

The vendor kept skirting around the issue until I used "fucking junk" in a reply. He then said "now that you've cussed on the phone, I don't have to help you; keep the carbs".

I'm not the purchaser, though. I'll have the owner call them.

[Series9]

From Bud Pauge at Redline Weber (apparently the real deal):






Joe

I will send you two each F11 e tubes

but I will note

these are not Weber Carburetors, These are one of two versions

Note one you did not send any pictures of your Carburetors and those numbers you mentioned are not Weber identifeing or production reference numbers.

I believe you have if you see a weber logo cast on the carb body it will be on a Flat side of the carburetor.

the other side of the carburetor will be rounded.

These are alternative branded Webers assembled from parts of no identity or known manufacture and assembled in the Edlebrock Weber production plant in North Carolina. They are not a Genuine European Weber Product.

Im sorry to give you this bad news.

Weber Carbs direct is not a direct importer of Weber Carburetors and more commonly supplys Chinese alternative product and supplies them as Weber with out any real note that they are only Weber like they have never seen the inside of a Weber Production facility.

At one time when there was an issue with Weber Production ( at one time the plant was closed for just over a year due to a labor issue) during this time they recived permision to offer alternative product. This time has ended Weber has been back in production in Spain and has been producing product at there own plant now for 8 years.

This has been the plant of supply for Weber for nearly 20 years now.

So pending your pictures to confirm I am wrong you can confirm if you note a flat sided carburetor with logo cast on the flat side or no logo anywhere other than a round sticker the serial number is just there way of selling the belief you have a real weber give it a serial number it must be real.

again Im sorry for your issue

can I ask are you a Worldpac customer or is series 9 a worldpac customer

If the purchase was under 9 months ago you could return them as not as ordered required Genuine European Webers.

At this point they are what they are.

Should at some point you have other issues or lack the performance expected from a Weber we understand the frustration in good faith you thought you had a Weber. We will offer to sell at redused cost a Genuine set because we did not import or sell these alternative carburetors we cannot exchange them or sell them below cost.

The bad news is if they are the chinese Copy they are selling them at weber like prices ( you would have to confirm what you paid ) but commonly the square sided US carburetor is something like 100 dollars a pair less in value and the chinese ones to give you an idea of how they are made are a full 100 dollars a carb less expensive you can usually purchase a chinese conversion kit for something like 450 to 499 not more than 600.
The flat sided carbs I believe are also in the 599 range.

In the future please be aware, Redline fuel managment and WEber Carburetor conversions is a division of Worldpac. Redline has been a Weber direct importer for over 45 years. I personaly have worked for some form of US direct importer for weber for over 55 years. We currently are one of only two world direct distributors of Weber Carburetors .

We have been supporting and supplying only genuine Weber Product. We do manufacture our own adapters , linkage parts and specificly calibrated and set up Weber Conversion kits. When we supply a carburetor in a conversion it has been opened float levels checked and set and today a specific calibration change for the current emissions fuels

you note your in Florida the pump fuels in the south east are blended to meet emissions standards using up to 18% blend alcohol /or ethanol as an emissions supplment thus it is not posted on the pump. I have worked very closely with some of the chemical team at Joe Gibbs racing and would suggest in there studies to creat there new fuel additive line the Engineer Lake Speed Jr has found that in just the mid atlantics over the last year there have been no less than 167 different fuel variations all with Oxygenated or alcohol related chemical additives. Which is why like Lucas fuel additives Gibbs now supplies a line by the name of Driven fuel additives and fuel stabalizers.

Many of your customers have noted mood swings in there cars you will find weber carbs will wake up some times over night and simply run like Sh---- and you may have just performed a tune up. the fuel swings can be over night.

So with that

in the future if we can help with your shop Weber needs tuning guidance and any tuning and install information we are glade to help

I will note that the carburetors you have at best may as well be a Dellorto you can tune them to function they will run the car.

What they will not do is tune to the same fine detail and if we use lap time as a reference to function quality they simply will not get with in 1.5 seconds of a weber tuned car. ( tuned right that is )

Several companies were given the right to use the license to copy a Weber

Solex, Dellorto, Mikuni, even the SK made in japan for Toyota. each make a nice looking replica. Back to back on any given sunday a weber application will simply out perform all of these applications.

Our frustration is there are people out there that simply take advantage of others a domain name is not a registered legal name. Weber carbs direct is not a registered business name it is a domain name because of that many people think they are purchasing a real weber from us and are simply purchasing from an importer and packager that is not related.

I am very sorry for what might be bad news

I am interested to hear any comments you might have observed. and any pictures of the carburetors and the serial numbers or other details you might reference..

WK288 is not a Redline carburetor conversion

;I am very interested to confirm any numbers from the carburetor base and any pictures you might be able to offer.

I will send out the e tubes because at this point you believe you have a Weber. We can deal with that fall out down the road.

Thanks for your input comments and I hope future support of Genuine Weber Products

[Kansas 914]

Joe,

Thanks for posting this. It could save someone a lot of time, money and frustration.

I hope it all works out for your customer.

[rhodyguy]

Skip the f bombs joe. I hope this matter is resolved for your customer. How long since the purchase was made? It might be time for the customer to dispute the sale with his/her credit card company. Can't hurt to try.

[ripper911]

I bought mine from webercarbsdierect through eBay a few years ago, they're made in Spain.

I guess that things have changed since then.

[914work]

Tough lesson, good info.
Bottom line support Redline for you Weber needs.

[walterolin]

Not just 914's: https://www.google.com/webhp?rls=ig&gws...bsdirect+review

[ripper911]

The kit that I got from them was the weber redline brand, I haven't had any problems with them.

[sean_v8_914]

i saw some fake webers that seep out of casting porosity. gas sweats

[aircooledtechguy]

I used webercarbsdirect.com occasionally for several years. Then about 8 months ago I buy a set and they are Chinese EMPI knock-offs in Weber boxes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) I too was pissed. I called their tech line and I got "transferred" to another person and curiously, the line got dropped. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I called several more times each time I got "accidentally" hung-up on. After about 3 calls I think they blocked my number and all it would do is ring and ring. . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif)

[DBCooper]

EDIT: IRRELEVANT, SEE ALIBABA CHINESE SUPPLIERS POST BELOW

I went to their site and saw "GENUINE WEBER" all over the place, so wrote their sales e-mail and asked:

I'm told that a set of your 40 IDF's for VW are actually Chinese knock-offs? I was a little surprised to hear that since your website says "genuine Weber" repeatedly. I know Weber doesn't make carbs in China, so could you affirm that the castings and all components and parts in the carbs you sell are sourced from Weber Italy or Spain?

Got this back, quote:

Hello All of our Weber Carburetors are genuine. Weber Carburetors have not been made in Italy since 1990. As with most automotive parts these days our products are manufactured throughout the world. We carry both Asian and Spanish made Weber Carburetors. What product were you looking to purchase? We will check to see what Genuine Weber Carburetor we have in stock. For more understanding of Genuine Weber see enclosed likn from our website. Thank you

http://nebula.wsimg.com/6cd0ee31d45c522709...p;alloworigin=1

Unquote.

What's odd is the Weber statement in that document refers to Redline, Interco and Worldpac, to the point where I'm a little confused about who's who.

If you want to really get their attention file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (here: http://forms.ag.ny.gov/CIS/consumer-complaints.jsp ) It's online and fast, just let WeberDirect know that you've filed a formal fraud complaint (it's interstate so the Feds have jurisdiction) and give them the complaint number. That should help the guy get over your use of a swear word.

Then the Long Island Better Business Bureau here: https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/fil...int/get-started

Finally the New York State Attorney General's Consumer Fraud complaint form, here: http://forms.ag.ny.gov/CIS/consumer-complaints.jsp

It looks like ridiculous overkill, but if you let them know they're going to be getting all these different calls they'll almost always be much easier to talk with and willing, even eager, to resolve any issues.




And could you please let us know how this turns out? I'm very curious.

[rhodyguy]

"Authorized source or licensee". Ok. Lots of verbiage. Takes a more smarter guy ten me to figure it out. I think I'll take a look at the weber direct ste.

[Chris914n6]

China has become capitalist America without the legal protections. Once you give them permission to make something you lose ownership and control of distribution.

[DBCooper]

EDIT: IRRELEVANT, SEE ALIBABA CHINESE SUPPLIERS POST BELOW

[DBCooper]

Forget that, I don't think it will matter.

This is getting more interesting. Here's a better Redline explanation, from 2008: http://genuineweber.blogspot.com/

But the craziest thing is this, the Alibaba search results for "weber carubretor china", with 502 HITS!!! 502!! And look at all the IDF's!! http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/we...carburetor.html

Good lord! I just have to say, there's NO WAY you'll ever know what's genuine Weber any more. Just the castings, none of the internals? Or carb body castings too? Are all those Chinese companies really respecting the trademarks? If not can you even depend on the identifying keys Redline listed any more? I kind of doubt it.

What it says to me is FUEL INJECTION. Or at the very least Dellorto.

EDIT: Ha ha, even SPANISH IDF's, out of Ningbo/Shanghai: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Auto...0122851231.html

Fifty bucks apiece?

[rhodyguy]

$50…the manufacturing costs must be about $7.49. HOLLY SHEET!!! looks like there's money to be made selling pos carbs. these sort of threads make for some interesting reading.

[patssle]

Go through your credit card company if they are refusing to refund you. Selling a product that isn't what it is labeled as is fraud.