Bad Vendor

[KE4AVB]

Well I don't usually have bad experiences with a vendor but I have run across a vendor that appears to be a bunch of crooks.

Back in August I order 26 BSNPLN-10TH16 sleeve bearings. I finally got the order in November with 10 of them the wrong size. I got a RMA and return them for replacement. Well they received them and never sent the replacements. In December a month later I contacted them and they were refund the amount for the returned items and for me to re-order. Having a bad feeling I waited for the refund. It has never showed up nor a credit on my account with them.

So please be aware that Designatronics, Inc out of Hicksville, NY is a company you do not want to deal with as they are dishonest. They basically took my money and never full filled their obligation to me. I will never order from them again and recommend none of you order from them either.

BTW their website is https://shop.sdp-si.com and support email is qbcsupport@qbcbearings.com

[Scrubcadet10]

What do you use those bearings for, if you don't mind me prying?

[KE4AVB]

The Husqvarna NZTR pivot plates. Last year it was nearly impossible to get the LH one. It requires one per pivot plate. I did ten mowers last year. So basically I down to being able to do none now. And I haven't even tried lately but this I see the distributor has 5 of them in stock

BTW these NZTR steering systems are some the most sensitive one to wear that I ever seen. I mean a 1/16 inch in places can cause over an inch of toe out on forward movement. You can replace every part with new and still result with major toe out condition. When these mowers first came out they had toe out before they were even sold.

I have learn what takes to straighten this system out. It take some time at times depending how bad the toe out is but results in overall reduced wear on tires, increases the ease of steering the mower, and even reduces on the steering components.

Why should I be paying nearly 5x the price of the bushings just to replace the LH pivot which costs $17 when I can get them. Now the RH one is around $11 cost. All it takes is a few minutes at the press to change the bushings.

And normal bronze bushing are fragile when brought down to .6250 in. ID x .7188 in. OD which I have done in the beginning.

[KE4AVB]

Well finally got my refund after two more lies from them.

All this because they tried to con me into paying shipping on a lot of bushings that they knew were wrong spec. It was for them to send the correct replacements without charging another 20.75 shc as I paid for the return shipping too.

It should had not took over four months to get this straighten which why I will not be ordering any future bushings from them. First they shouldn't had lie that they had them in stock when they didn't. And lies about having refunded me just didn't cut it as PayPal does have a record of my account transactions.

Also I just checked and they are claiming to have 10 of these bushings in stock when they probably are the ones that I return which are the wrong length.

And here the final cost each.

Originally it was 4.28 ea with shipping. Parts were 3.48 ea and shipping for 26 was 20.75.
Now it is 7.32 ea. as I only received 16 instead 26 and the shipping went from 20.75 to 26.70 for the 16. So instead making a small profit at a lower cost to the customer it is now zero profit at 7.32. I normally markup things at 35% GPM when no list is noted.

[KE4AVB]

Update: I have since found two alternate sleeve bearings Diabo Metal 10K5B16 and Isostatic Industries 10TU16. Both are about half the cost of the QBC bearings.

Both are available thru https://www.motion.com/