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What can I do about a seller that (apparently) scammed me?

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bikercosmos

'Lil Knee Scuffer
So back in April my wife and I bought her a prewar Elgin from Facebook marketplace. The seller seemed to specialize in antique and vintage bikes, so I trusted him. The listing stated it rode well and included everything pictured, which was a complete bike, besides the stem, which he said would be swapped out with another prewar stem. So when the bike arrived in the mail, I noticed it didn't have any stem or pedals at all. No big deal, I sent the seller a message about the stem and he said he would send one. A few weeks passed and he didn't send one, so I decided to drop it and just buy one from the Cabe.

A few months passed and I've been working on restoring my bike and I haven't worked on my wife's much. Fast forward to now, and I've now noticed that when I put the chain on it's drooping, and comparing the sprocket to mine it's definitely too small, maybe a 24" instead of a 26". In addition to that, the seat is not the one pictured in the listing (I posted another thread about this a few weeks ago here.) It's a post-war seat instead of the long-spring Troxel from the listing, and it's missing the front spring.

So now I have to buy pedals, a sprocket/crank assembly, a seat, and had to buy a stem. All of which should have been included. Now that it's been 5 months is there anything I could do? From the previous exchange with the seller I doubt he's going to send me the proper parts. Normally I wouldn't worry about it, but we're not collectors or anything and these are our only bikes. Plus prewar parts don't seem to be cheap and we don't really have the money at the moment to get a bunch of new parts. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Boy, i hate to see this. I do think though, that 5 months later is too long. Not sure if facebook has a resolution dept or not, but in the future check your purchases as soon as you get them and if something isnt right, take care of it asap. Unfortunately i think you may be SOL with this purchase unless the seller is real cooperative.
 
the ladies sprocket is smaller than the mens on these.

The mens sprocket is a 26t, the ladies is a 22t, your sprocket should look like this, on @TieDye 's bike, a Murray built Elgin.

Sorry that is wrong, your bike should have the sweetheart style chain wheel.

you either need to tension the chain, or your chain could be stretched, which considering the age of the machine is possible. I had a chain on a bike that was stretched over an inch and a half.


1662416600281.png


The Westfield built Elgin's used a different front sprocket (chain wheel), like this on my bride's 41
1691467
 
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the ladies sprocket is smaller than the mens on these.

The mens sprocket is a 26t, the ladies is a 22t, your sprocket should look like this, on @TieDye 's bike, a Murray built Elgin.

Sorry that is wrong, your bike should have the sweetheart style chain wheel.

you either need to tension the chain, or your chain could be stretched, which considering the age of the machine is possible. I had a chain on a bike that was stretched over an inch and a half.


View attachment 1691466

The Westfield built Elgin's used a different front sprocket (chain wheel), like this on my bride's 41View attachment 1691467
Oh that's good news! It is a sweetheart sprocket so it might be right after all. Do you happen to know of a guide where I can read up on how to add tension to a skip tooth chain?

20220905_171859.jpg
 
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