OEM parts on Amazon?

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PPV_2018

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Of course you have obviously counterfeit items, but then you have counterfeit items that look more legitimate than the actual legit product!

The obvious counterfeits aren’t much of an issue to the trained eye, but nowadays some clones are virtually undetectable from aesthetics alone. They look like the real deal but are indeed poorer quality clones.

I’ll give you a perfect example. I ordered a soccer jersey online, it was branded as authentic. When I got it, I immediately realized it was a knock off. But that’s because I have a keen eye for detail in everything. Frankly I wear the jersey because despite being a knock off, only I know it. It’s basically indistinguishable from the authentic, the quality of product, the tags, and packaging all looked 99.99% legit. It’s crazy to think that someone out there produced this knockoff because it makes me wonder how they were able to do it and be so close. But that’s just a shirt. If the jersey snags a thread and falls apart, who cares? It’s just a piece of clothing. But if you have a subpar part on your automobile, it could damage your vehicle and even worse, put your personal safety at risk in the event something goes left.

For this reason, Amazon would be a good place to avoid buying things like parts that need to be or should be close OEM quality. The QC checkers that stock the items on behalf of Amazon for vendors may not have the eye to detect counterfeit items in any given department or they fakes might be so good, that they don’t get flagged.
 

Stbentoak

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(Assuming that the microchip was not for location monitoring or purchase tracking,)
what is the purpose of putting a microchip on this filter?
Just 'cause the box is OEM, doesn't mean the contents are.

We are living in the age of caveat emptor.
They put a microchip in GE refrigerator filters so that you can only use ice and water through them for 6 months. It functions 180 days after activation. After that, the ice and water feature in the door just shuts down if you don't replace it. Of course, they don't tell you that when you buy the refrigerator. If a new filter doesn't have this chip or a fake one, it will not dispense anything, PERIOD.
That's how I found out with the new one I bought from Amazon. It simply would not work. I went to Lowe's and bought the exact same item from a factory box., put it in and it worked immediately. At that point, I knew.....
 

Marky Dissod

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They put a microchip in GE refrigerator filters so that you can only use ice and water through them for 6 months. It functions 180 days after activation. After that, the ice and water feature in the door just shuts down if you don't replace it. Of course, they don't tell you that when you buy the refrigerator. If a new filter doesn't have this chip or a fake one, it will not dispense anything, PERIOD.
So, GE poached a product development specialist from John Deere? Or Hewlett Packard?
 
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diezelraccoon

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Be safe, rather than sorry. Purchase your OEM replacement parts from either RockAuto.com or GMPartsDirect.com.
I have a local auto parts chain where I live called ABC Auto and they sell OEM/AC Delco. They charge a little more but that’s fine.
 

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