Hello!

I just want to drop a note here to give a warning about a certain shop that sells ATV's on E-Bay. There site handle is 460roadsidesales. The guy that owns the shop is the one that deals with the ATV's sold on E-Bay. His name is Gerald Vandyke. His shop is located in Keen Mountain, Virginia and it is called 460 Polaris.

This is quoted from his ad for my 2003 Suzuki Z-400:
I talked to Gerald and he guaranteed me that I would be super happy with this machine. That everything was perfect on it. Man when I received it I would hate to see what it would have been like if I was pissed! This machine had...[*]No taillight.[*]He did me a favor and bolted on a muffler that would have been illegal to use in the state of Wisconsin.[*]The reverse interlock wasn't working.[*]The neutral light was not working.[*]Parking Brake was shot.[*]Chain was totally out of adjustment.[*]The rear skid plat was destroyed.[*]Somebody cut holes in the airbox to attempt to make it breathe better.[*]Part of the frame was broken where the lower part of the bumper attaches.[*]Bent rims in the rear.[*]Battery was not holding a charge.[*]An aftermarket bolt was used to attempt to hold the axle adjustment plate.[*]Stripped Heads on Bolts and Nuts everywhere.[*]No tool kit.[*]No manual.[*]No Bill Of Sale.

I called Gerald and complained and he now promised me he would send me whatever I needed to make me happy. Well I gave him a list of things. About the only things that he got me was a manual, incomplete tool kit, a new airbox lid, the original muffler, and the bolt for adjusting the chain. Never seen anything else including the bill of sale. I left messages upon messages. Left all kinds of emails. About the only time that he would talk to me is if I happen to catch him at the shop. He would say that he would send things out, but I would never see them. I did this for over 5 months. Finally I gave up. I thought that I might have been screwed because I could have sworn that you needed a title or bill of sale to register the ATV in WI. Well turns out all that I needed to give them was the VIN. Thank god. So I did finally order all the parts that I needed to get the ATV in decent running condition again. It still isn't perfect, especially for the price that I had to pay for it. And now it is fall, so I missed out the whole summer to ride.

One thing that still ticks me off is that a month after I purchased this one a local one was for sale. It was mint! It looked like it came off of the show room floor and the guy only ran it like 3 short times. It was listed for $4k, or $150 more than what I paid for mine. Talk about being pissed!

 

Sorry to hear about that man. But thanks for giving us the head's up on him. Hopefully people read this and do not make the same mistake. Again, sorry to hear about your luck. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

Thanks westpamudder. At least it is running OK now. I would still like to know who worked on the damn thing. The reason why my reverse interlock wasn't working was because I was missing a spring... This belongs inside the engine!! You would need to rip the whole thing apart to get to it. So instead I was able to come up with a spring on the outside to push the "plunger" back in. Then the neutral light wasn't working because the little contacts for the sensor were missing. The springs were there, but they are too big to touch the small contact for neutral.


More new news from Gerald...

Luckily I saved the e-bay page on my system since it was over the normal 90 days allowance to leave feedback. This is the feedback that I left, since you can only use 80 chars for a feedback I had to be vague...
This is what Gerald replied...
Do not buy from this guy! All he does is lie to you!

I won the bid on Feb. 10th, 2004. He claimed that he would get a quote for shipping. Didn't after a few weeks. Claimed that his mother was sick. I did the leg work to get shipping done. Finally received the ATV on March 4th, 2004. I received the bolt, airbox lid, toolkit, and manual on March 22nd. May 14th I finally received the stock muffler. At this point I finally decide to settle for just the Bill Of Sale and Taillight. Many calls and emails he keeps promising that he will send them out. Nothing. July 17th, 2004 he says that he will just send me a check for $35.00 for the taillight and include the bill of sale. At this time I break down and just order everything that I need to make it legal again. August 6th I purchased a new battery for it. Still making calls looking for Bill Of Sale and Check. August 22nd got all my parts installed and took the ATV for a ride down the block. This is when I learn the rims are bent. Gave Gerald one last chance in a LONG email to get me my check and Bill Of Sale and warned him about negative feedback if he didn't return a sum of money to me. August 26th I contact the Wisconsin DNR and explain my situation and turns out I just need to give them the VIN number, so I register the ATV so I can actually ride it for once. I wasn't about to take the chance to ride it before this because the DNR is strict here and without registration, without a taillight and a having a loud muffler I would have been busted for sure!

In the email I gave him 2 weeks before I would leave any feedback and write to any forums. Well as you can see from my post date I actually gave him 3 weeks and I heard and seen nothing. So hear is my message. I also followed up with Gerald's reply on e-bay with a link to this post so that nobody else would have to go through the crap that I did.

Here is more detailed information about his dealership in case he decides to change his name...
460 Polaris
Hwy 460 East
Keen Mountain, VA 24524
276-498-7572
roadside460@yahoo.com

This is where he wanted the deposit sent to... more than likely his house.
Gerald Vandyke
Rt1. 1 Box 159V Raven, VA 24639

BUYER BEWARE!!!