Alpinestars - Fakes on Ebay - 'grubson25'
'AlpineStars GP Pro' gloves, only they turn out to be fakes made in China.
They
look very good but when you put them on the fit is very poor, not the
size, but the way they fit around the individual fingers is inconsistent
and they are not as flexible as the genuine Alpinestars so are uncomfortable
when the hand is closed and flexed.
On the safety side there doesn't appear to be any Kevlar lining or stitching which means that if you are unlucky enough to get thrown up the road don't expect them to protect you from abrasions as they would most likely tear apart when you put your hand down.
The
tags and the packet may be genuine but the product mentioned on the tags
doesn't match the gloves, it stated 'SKULL CAP BEANIE' so the seller is
possibly buying or 'acquiring' cheaper Alpinestars goods(or just the Alpinestars
tags) and retagging the chinese copy gloves with the genuine Alpinestars
tags. The cheaper goods could be sold also as genuine of course. There
is a label inside the gloves which states 'Made in China'. The polyurethane
wrist guard is not the correct shape which would normally wrap comfortably
around the wrist but is more flat than curved.
There is a chap on Ebay(user name is (grubson25) selling these as genuine gloves BNWT(Brand New With Tags) from an address Edinburgh.
Here is the response from Paypal when you request a refund.
"Maciej Florczak - 51/8 Duke street, duke street, Edinburgh, EH6
8HH, United Kingdom - gruby2563@wp.pl - has declined your request for
a refund to settle this dispute and has posted a new message in the Resolution
Centre."
The seller only refunds when you open a dispute and threaten negative feedback, and then refuses to cover the carriage costs.
In short the goods are fakes manufactured in China and could be such low quality that they may not be able to protect the rider in the event of an accident. When the truth is discovered the seller makes it difficult to get a refund and also sends insulting emails.
16-06-2010