I brought a 2.5KVA on Ebay,one of yoput $599:00 units and had no problems at all with it Its got a cord start uses unleaded fuel and will run our 19' caravan....
-- Edited by Peakhillfm on Monday 10th of June 2013 05:03:10 PM
We bought our Honda + the accessories pack for $1400 at the SA Caravan and Camping Show this year. We wanted a reliable quiet one, and this was the top recommended one.
Carried a Chinese blue Kipor 2 Kva about $1400 at the time, for bit over 2 years in the front lock up of my 20' Jayco....finally went to use this fine piece of Chinese Engineering and it dropped its piston immediately according to the local Mechanic in Heathcote who pulled it down for me...and returned to me in many pieces in a box with all the bits still brand new.....not worth repairing I was told...I started it once when I bought it and once when it shat itself..cost $700 per start!....I went and bought a 2Kva Honda which is extremely reliable....isn't reliability ,portability and the noise they make, the most important things with any Genie...the extra $400 would have given me all three attributes....don't waste your time on Chinese garbage is my considered advice, learnt the hard way as usual..total of $3200 spent to find out I should have purchased the Honda in the first place......yes the Kipor was out of warranty even though only used twice, and no..no one was interested in replacing or fixing it..gave the box of bits to the Honda Dealer to show anyone contemplating saving themselves $400...the Honda cost me $1800 with other goodies thrown in when I purchased it......Hoo Roo
-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Monday 10th of June 2013 11:59:36 PM
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'Without Going, You Get No Where'.
' Aspire to Inspire before you Expire'
Where Gold be....is where Gold be......old Cornish saying......
The older we get the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.......
After much deliberation I bought a Fong Bong (e-bay special) 4.4 KVA, ran it once all was good, air-con ran wonderful etc..etc..etc.. Plugged it in the second time and the invertor 5h1t itself. At this point it was less than a year old and the supplier on the East Coast had stopped trading through e-bay, the supplier in the Far East wasn't interested, nor was the dept of fair trading, or my credit card company who off extended warranty on all my purchases. Second time around bought a Honda 2kva from the Generator Warehouse.
I think your your gonna be one of the lucky ones, or one of the unlucky ones. I went against all my purchase principles and lost out. I'm not bitter about it, had it not failed who know's in five years I could be one of the lucky ones gloating about how great they are. You pay's your money and takes your chances.
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Mark & Linda
A man who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, but ask no questions and your a fool for life!!
We have a 4.4 kva from Ebay with no problems.A fuel hose split, just bought a length of hose and replaced it. Runs aircon and water heater at same time.
Have spoken to several nomads who have them with no problems. You must have been dammed unlucky Mark. Suggest you buy from trader that has a good track record on Ebay. Got mine from Dreamrider.
Can't the Honda for quite but agree their pricing needs a review. There are plenty around for well under $1000 up to 5 KVA plenty big enough to power most vans with all electrics on the go If quite is what your after then HONDA is it A unit in the low 70s dbA Without going into the physics of sound the lower the db level the better. Also make sure that reading is under load not idle as they normal quote Some a very quite until you turn on the aircon then the campsite shakes
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
Supplier had all the ticks in the right boxes, but for whatever reason stopped trading, could be for any one of a 1000 reasons. As I said, can't odd's it really, you pay's your money and takes your chances. It was a bloody good gennie when it worked though!! Anway's all the different opinions and suggestions helps other people, and that's what it's all about eh!!
Mark
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Mark & Linda
A man who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, but ask no questions and your a fool for life!!
I had one of ebay,4.2kva key start and pullcord used it twice and it packed it in,no one would touch it for a service. Battery went dead,couldn't purchase a Battery for it,tried everywhere even the ebay seller couldn't help. Now I'm a happy Honda fan 2kva,starts first time every pull.
Have a 3.5 KVA chinese for ages,now on my 2nd one as the first was used on building sites as well,have learnt that whatever you do do not run them on the ground,i carry a piece of ply with me,a lot of them if not all suck the cooling air from the bottom and if on sand or loose dirt it will suck it in and goes right into all the workings,sit it on a board and all will be fine,i run a house fridge in our van and when not on solar and batteries it runs that and our rooftop aircon easy as well as the telly and whatever the boss wants to run,carry a spare plug and change the oil often and clean air filter every week.
-- Edited by rickpeppy on Tuesday 11th of June 2013 03:00:13 PM
you guys that have purchased on eBay, if you had used PayPal are you aware that you can open a case with eBay/PayPal and they will mediate and maybe get you a full refund, BUT you only have 45 days from purchase to make a claim.
I recently made a claim and got a full refund through PayPal.
you guys that have purchased on eBay, if you had used PayPal are you aware that you can open a case with eBay/PayPal and they will mediate and maybe get you a full refund, BUT you only have 45 days from purchase to make a claim.
I recently made a claim and got a full refund through PayPal.
Been there too Wombat, Paypal were not in slightest bit interested because as you rightlfully say, it was outside the 45 days from purchase. Paypal even suggested that I contact the police to lodge a claim for fraudulant service (in respect of not honouring their warranty) I gave it a go so I could say I followed the "rules", you should have seen the letter I got from the police telling me what an idiot I was and how they are not debt collectors!! Went back to Paypal, total silence!! I went through every angle I could to get to the supplier and eventually got hold of a guy in China who answered the phone in "ingrish" but as soon as it got to the bit about a failure, well me no understand!!.
Being an ex warranty inspector and having had my own automotive business I can confidently say that I know the ropes and am aware of the "clauses, get out clauses, the crap and bull**** that goes with it" at the end of the day if you buy of e-bay you take your chance.
I will add that I have purchases numerous things off of e-bay and one particular item that was the wrong size, was re-sent without question with pre-paid return, a letter of apology and a discount for the next purchase, they are not all bad, but in my experience, anything to do with the kind of purchase we are talking about is best off kept on this island.
We have all had some experience in one way or another, good and bad, but I'm betting the majority of the people that have a bad experience won't post or talk about it as they don't want to give people the chance to say, "well there you go" (just like we are doing now)
My strongest of advice given the nature of the equipment we are discussing, and not a cheap "oh well it failed" throw away item............. BUY the BEST you can afford, and if you can't afford a Honda, save up until you can.
Sorry to rant, but it p155e55 me off with these suppliers who don;t do the right thing.
Regards
Mark
__________________
Mark & Linda
A man who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, but ask no questions and your a fool for life!!
you guys that have purchased on eBay, if you had used PayPal are you aware that you can open a case with eBay/PayPal and they will mediate and maybe get you a full refund, BUT you only have 45 days from purchase to make a claim.
I recently made a claim and got a full refund through PayPal.
Been there too Wombat, Paypal were not in slightest bit interested because as you rightlfully say, it was outside the 45 days from purchase. Paypal even suggested that I contact the police to lodge a claim for fraudulant service (in respect of not honouring their warranty) I gave it a go so I could say I followed the "rules", you should have seen the letter I got from the police telling me what an idiot I was and how they are not debt collectors!! Went back to Paypal, total silence!! I went through every angle I could to get to the supplier and eventually got hold of a guy in China who answered the phone in "ingrish" but as soon as it got to the bit about a failure, well me no understand!!.
Being an ex warranty inspector and having had my own automotive business I can confidently say that I know the ropes and am aware of the "clauses, get out clauses, the crap and bull**** that goes with it" at the end of the day if you buy of e-bay you take your chance.
I will add that I have purchases numerous things off of e-bay and one particular item that was the wrong size, was re-sent without question with pre-paid return, a letter of apology and a discount for the next purchase, they are not all bad, but in my experience, anything to do with the kind of purchase we are talking about is best off kept on this island.
We have all had some experience in one way or another, good and bad, but I'm betting the majority of the people that have a bad experience won't post or talk about it as they don't want to give people the chance to say, "well there you go" (just like we are doing now)
My strongest of advice given the nature of the equipment we are discussing, and not a cheap "oh well it failed" throw away item............. BUY the BEST you can afford, and if you can't afford a Honda, save up until you can.
Sorry to rant, but it p155e55 me off with these suppliers who don;t do the right thing.
Regards
Mark
Mark, you say in your post in part "At this point it was less than a year old and the supplier on the East Coast had stopped trading through e-bay, " as the original trader was on the east coast you still have statutory rights under the Trade Practices A.ct 1974, I suggest you contact the ACCC and explain your situation, they will tell you what you can do
Like Mark, I buy off of eBay, stuff that doesn't cost a lot like DVds, CDs, some clothes, even bought a gorgeous jacket from the UK, the sleeves need to be taken up, but I'm short so this happens a lot, but it fits perfectly. But I never buy electronics or electrical items, things that if they go wrong I can't post or drive to get the warranty on it.
So buying a generator is something I plan on lasting a while, especially for the price you pay. I researched the best ones, and Honda came up tops for reliability, quiet, customer service (very important). Which is why we picked the 20i, when we went to the Caravan and Camping Show we were shown one running, with all their electrical stuff plugged into it, it was still very quiet compared to others we saw.
Plus too, it's great to have a genie running when you are camping away from a power source, but it is nice to also think about those camping near you and the environment, after all you don't want to scare the crap out of the wildlife, when that's what attracts you you these places...or scare the fish if you plan on having fish for dinner.
you guys that have purchased on eBay, if you had used PayPal are you aware that you can open a case with eBay/PayPal and they will mediate and maybe get you a full refund, BUT you only have 45 days from purchase to make a claim.
I recently made a claim and got a full refund through PayPal.
Been there too Wombat, Paypal were not in slightest bit interested because as you rightlfully say, it was outside the 45 days from purchase. Paypal even suggested that I contact the police to lodge a claim for fraudulant service (in respect of not honouring their warranty) I gave it a go so I could say I followed the "rules", you should have seen the letter I got from the police telling me what an idiot I was and how they are not debt collectors!! Went back to Paypal, total silence!! I went through every angle I could to get to the supplier and eventually got hold of a guy in China who answered the phone in "ingrish" but as soon as it got to the bit about a failure, well me no understand!!.
Being an ex warranty inspector and having had my own automotive business I can confidently say that I know the ropes and am aware of the "clauses, get out clauses, the crap and bull**** that goes with it" at the end of the day if you buy of e-bay you take your chance.
I will add that I have purchases numerous things off of e-bay and one particular item that was the wrong size, was re-sent without question with pre-paid return, a letter of apology and a discount for the next purchase, they are not all bad, but in my experience, anything to do with the kind of purchase we are talking about is best off kept on this island.
We have all had some experience in one way or another, good and bad, but I'm betting the majority of the people that have a bad experience won't post or talk about it as they don't want to give people the chance to say, "well there you go" (just like we are doing now)
My strongest of advice given the nature of the equipment we are discussing, and not a cheap "oh well it failed" throw away item............. BUY the BEST you can afford, and if you can't afford a Honda, save up until you can.
Sorry to rant, but it p155e55 me off with these suppliers who don;t do the right thing.
Regards
Mark
Mark, you say in your post in part "At this point it was less than a year old and the supplier on the East Coast had stopped trading through e-bay, " as the original trader was on the east coast you still have statutory rights under the Trade Practices A.ct 1974, I suggest you contact the ACCC and explain your situation, they will tell you what you can do
Ph 1300 302 502
Did that too Wombat, came back three months later and said that they could not pinpoint or identify the point of sale, would seem that the seller had a few to shift and then left the world and probably others in a similar situation if they had failures. Anyway, it's all part of lifes learning experiences. Thanks anyway.
__________________
Mark & Linda
A man who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, but ask no questions and your a fool for life!!
