Today I was contacted by a fellow Saabist who ordered one of those steering wheels from a seller called saabtun-parts. Since on ebay it said the item was located in Germany but the parcel was sent from Poland he got suspicous and contacted me to verify if it was genuine Hirsch. A quick check with Hirsch brought to light what we had already expected – those steering wheels were not made by Hirsch (and not by MapTun either just to mention).
A bit more investigaton brought to light that saabtun-parts was the new name of the seller zeliftpl, who as it seems left a rather bad impression at saabers in the uk and elsewhere when they sold silicone hoses.
While it does not mean the wheel is bad when not made by Hirsch using a false name to promote it and justify a price tag of well over 500 Euro is not what an honest businessman would do in my opinion. Another point is that they exclude the customer’s right to return the item within a certain period of time is, ehem, kinda suspicous, given the legislation in most EU countries.
Feel free to share your experience with saabtun-parts or their alter ego, zeliftpl, in comments. The more info the better I’d say.
