WARNING: DO NOT BUY ZITO WHEELS - Scammed by Tony

[917K LM]

DO NOT BUY ZITO WHEELS - as the title says we were scammed by Anthony Amato, AKA Tony.

We are previous Zito Wheels customer, but only bought the wheels in Europe (Import from Taiwan). This time around we could not get the wheel specification for our vehicles. So, we were recommended to contact Zito Wheels USA. We were contacted by Anthony Amato, AKA Tony. He didn’t respond to the email we sent directly to their company email-address, but for unknown reason he rather contacted me on WhatsApp. We then agreed on ordering (April 8th, 2021) the wheels to our specifications. The payment was transferred by bank wire to Tony’s personal/business account. He did not accept PayPal. So, we assumed as Zito Wheels USA is worldwide company, and have many followers all around the world, it should be no issue (BIG mistake)

We were mistaken. Tony acknowledge/confirmed that he received the agreed amount of $3000 from Bank of America. We have written proof and documentation by messages and bank confirmation that Tony did received the amount we agreed on (see the attached pictures from the conversation). We were looking forward to receiving the wheels as we had planned a car and coffee event in June/July. But sadly, and disappointingly Tony stopped answering our calls and messages completely. The last massage he sent was an excuse that they had major issues and delays with their machine and powder coating facility. Which is completely incorrect as other customer don’t report this issue in the States. So to conclude, we have been waiting for approximately 4 months now, and Tony has stopped responding completely, and we have been patiently waiting, but unfortunately we have to accept that we have been scammed by Zito Wheels USA and Tony.

Tony never intended to ship the wheels to Europe. This is unfortunate as we were loyal Zito customer for years, and previous had good experience, until we started dealing with Tony. The Irony in this situation is that Tony is promoting one of my cars on their Instagram-page with Zito wheels, but simultaneous scamming us. Finally, we will be reaching out to other organization on all social media to create awareness of this case and how Tony is misleading and taking advantage of paying customer. In the last few days we have been in contact with at least five other Zito customer (from both Europe and US) who have been scammed like us. Same pattern, Tony receive the agreed amount, makes excuses, lets you wait for a long time and then stops the communication. We will be updating this post as the process continue. BTW: Tony/Zito disabled the reviews on FB-page and deleted all negatives review from other customer. Most likely because he clearly can’t handle the truth or any form of criticism. Fortunately we have all the backup of the conversations and uploaded pictures. Please see the attached pictures and documentation from our case.

Short timeline recap/summary for the readers:

April 8, 2021: We contacted Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels USA to order the ZF15 wheels.

April 9, 2021: We transfer by bank wire the agreed amount of $3000 to Tony’s (Anthony Amato) account – Bank of America.

April 10, 2021: Tony (Anthony Amato) claims wheels will be finished approximately between 3-4 weeks.

April 13, 2021: Tony (Anthony Amato) confirms that he has received the agreed amount ($3000) and wheels are being machined to our selected specification.

May 9, 2021: 4 weeks after ordering, we ask Tony (Anthony Amato) about progress regarding finishing the wheels. Tony (Anthony Amato) claims the wheels are getting finished soon and he will contact them (unknown) on Monday (May 10, 2021).

May 18, 2021: We request again status and timeframe about our prepaid wheels.

May 19, 2021: Tony (Anthony Amato) claims the wheels will be shipping end of next week. Which means by May 28, 2021. We have now patiently been waiting for 7 weeks.

June 1, 2021: We request again status and shipping information about our prepaid wheels. Tony do not respond for another 8 days. We even send an email to Tony (Anthony Amato) at their company email-address. We try several times to call Tony (Anthony Amato) on his company phone number, but no response.

June 9, 2021: Tony (Anthony Amato) finally responds. He is calming that they are having major technical difficulties.

June 11, 2021: We request again status and shipping information about our prepaid wheels. Tony (Anthony Amato) respond (you can read his statement and claims in the previously posted screenshot). Tony (Anthony Amato) claims that latest shipping date for any order cannot be later than June 28, 2021. We patently wait, again.

June 28, 2021: We again request status and shipping information about our prepaid wheels. Tony (Anthony Amato) would now not respond to our WhatsApp messages, iMessage, email and phone calls.

Going from wheels being machined and ready to be shipped – to wheels never have been existed. Everybody who can read this report and understand the context from our conversations with Tony (Anthony Amato) can clearly see the strong suspicion towards defining this case as a fraud/scam. Next our legal teams gets involved, and this is the first time we try to locate other customer who have dealt with Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels USA. We have communication with five other customers, and we start collecting testimonies and communication history/records.

July 5, 2021: Thanks to one of the customers our team had contacted previously, we received legit information and suggestion to contact Mr. Eric Peng, Zito Taiwan. So, we wrote a lengthy email to Mr. Eric, explaining the situation and the lack of communication from Tony (Anthony Amato). We also sent all the documentation and conversation history collected so far. Another significant point here is that shortly after this communication happened the review/rating system on Zito Wheels page was disabled, and the reviews dating 6-12 month back, also before we came in the picture, was also removed.

July 6, 2021: Mr. Eric Peng replied the day after and said he will investigate it when he would return to California. Unfortunately, we never did get a response.
But we are almost sure that he communicated with Tony (Anthony Amato) as he suddenly, out of nowhere, replied to our email for the first time in 9 days (July 6, 2021). We replied, requesting status on the wheels or we would be requiring a refund. Complain regarding this case was also submitted (July 5th, 2021) with Better Business Bureau. We gave Tony (Anthony Amato) until next week to answers or give us some update.

Below is the latest update and development in this case:

July 10, 2021: Tony (Anthony Amato) answer us for the first time on WhatsApp since July 11, 2021 (4 weeks later). He explains his reasons and claiming he has never not fulfilled an order and so on. He apologies for the situation and waiting for valid tracking number and so on. But here is the significant part of the case. Tony (Anthony Amato) only contacted us after the knowledge of this thread and the review/reports we have been posting regarding this case.

So, for the first time Tony (Anthony Amato) is communicating with us through WhatsApp, to our big surprise from July 10, 2021 – July 14, 2021. In our opinion if he had put the same amount of effort into actually fulfilling our prepaid order, rather writing to us about this and that, perhaps we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. It is what it is. We have also opted out of respect (what little is left) not to post the complete conversation between us and Tony (Anthony Amato) from July 10, 2021 – July 14, 2021. Let’s just say it would not put Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels in a good light. But then again, we won’t hesitate to post those conversation publicly if he doesn’t keep his word in the last message sent July 16, 2021. In short, the conversation is about accusation without any basis, dragging out the time without giving us any updates on the wheels and shipping information. We also stated we will only, when upon receiving our prepaid wheels, delete and withdraw our reviews/reports + forum threads. As we told Tony (Anthony Amato) we will also post pictures of the wheels as proof of evidence and finally closing this case once and for all. The burden of proof rests solely on Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels now. If he fails, disappear and ignore us again, then the car community will for sure know what to call this case.

July 14, 2021: Lastly, we sent Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels a final notice to provide us with a delivery date/tracking information within
Friday (July 16, 2021). And that the next communication will be through our legal team. Below is a screenshot from Tony (Anthony Amato) last response. The readers here can make up their own mind how to interpret this message. Tony (Anthony Amato) is now claiming that he will ship our prepaid wheels within 30 days (August 15, 2021). Now Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels have the golden opportunity to prove to us and the rest of the world, now for the third time, or was it fourth time, lost the count, that he intent to fulfil the prepaid order.

Do we believe his claim that he will ship the wheels to Europe after 18-19 weeks from first ordering? Only time will tell.

We will keep you guys updated on this case and will definitely be posting again soon, depending on if we actually receive the wheels, either pictures of the wheels or something completely different.

 

[hshm]

The payment was transferred by bank wire to Tony’s personal/business account.

I don’t mean to victim blame here, but that should have been a major red flag.

There is virtually no buyer protection when it comes to bank wire transfers. Only use payment services (i.e. PayPal, credit card) so you could get your money back—whether it’s a scam or the company goes bankrupt.

Thanks for sharing so others don’t get scammed.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

well, the guys last name is on the wheels. My guess is that he has had major supply-chain issues (not uncommon with COVID and manufacturing dealing with employees who can make more off of enhanced benefits than with working).
That said, I think his pride got in his way and he thought he could 'handle it' without giving all of the details and to not cause concern.
My guess is that he will deliver......when is a different story. He won't be able to survive not delivering and keep a business. The aftermarket game is a small one, word will get around and he won't have a business if he doesn't come through. As I mentioned, his name is on the wheels, he has all the incentive in the world to deliver.
Should he have shown all of his cards and gone into detail of what he was dealing with? Maybe, but if he pulled it off he would have caused concern for no reason. He didn't pull it off, so hind-sight is 20/20.
Here is what I am sure of, not responding is the quickest way to take a bad situation and make it worse. At some point, he should have come clean, got on a video call, showed you the new facility, a brief overview of the paperwork of him placing the order with the old sub-contractor and the new to alleviate concerns that he was actually working in good faith to deliver. He chose to pull his head into his shell and 'hope' that it worked out quickly....hope is not a strategy. My guess is that he has learned from this and will communicate more now.
It is unfortunate that it took litigation to get to this point. Companies need to realize that problems don't 'go away', they have to be handled and dealt with. Now he has to deal with the additional hit to his brand that was self-inflicted from his own actions (or lack of action) and has no one to blame but himself.
The good news is that he doesn't want litigation to occur. This tells me, he plans on keeping his business and growing back his reputation and company once he gets his supplier worked out. If he put up a wall and didn't care about the law suit, I would be more worried.
Look, supply-chain issues happen, suppliers can't deliver in the US like they use to due to never-ending 'enhanced' COVID unemployment benefits....it is a real issue in the US right now, heck 'fast-food' has become slower than a dine-in restaurant because they can make more sitting at home playing play-station, then getting up and working. I have no doubt he ran into issues. However, I also have no doubt he went about the communication in the worst way possible......he stopped communicating.
Best of luck and will be following to see how this turns out as I have a lot of friends who are looking for new wheels and this brand has come up a lot......I personally know of 7 friends actively looking to purchase a set of rims......it will depend on what Tony does on if his company remains in the running, or that money goes elsewhere.

 

[917K LM]

I don’t mean to victim blame here, but that should have been a major red flag.

There is virtually no buyer protection when it comes to bank wire transfers. Only use payment services (i.e. PayPal, credit card) so you could get your money back—whether it’s a scam or the company goes bankrupt.

Thanks for sharing so others don’t get scammed.

I don’t mean to victim blame here, but that should have been a major red flag.

There is virtually no buyer protection when it comes to bank wire transfers. Only use payment services (i.e. PayPal, credit card) so you could get your money back—whether it’s a scam or the company goes bankrupt.

Thanks for sharing so others don’t get scammed.

Totally agree with you on that. Have been doing business and buying wheels, car part etc from the States as long as I can remember. Never been a problem.

Obviously we should have used a different and most importantly a secure payment method. But then again, we trusted this guy (Tony), and the company (Zito Wheels) is known on Instagram and we were also previous customer here in Europe. But clearly a big mistake from our side trusting Tony. Hopefully this thread will create awareness.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

I don’t mean to victim blame here, but that should have been a major red flag.

There is virtually no buyer protection when it comes to bank wire transfers. Only use payment services (i.e. PayPal, credit card) so you could get your money back—whether it’s a scam or the company goes bankrupt.

Thanks for sharing so others don’t get scammed.

Why is this a red-flag? There are many small companies that are LLC's and go to the owners personal account. The guys last name is on the wheels. It may be in his name, but hope that he has his actual personal account (for groceries, etc) in another account under his name.
Many choose bank-wire to avoid the extra fees. I would think that if you have a purchase order or another form of contract, the actual payment method would not matter. Not to mention, it is weeks before they are produced on the correct timeline and not sure if even my AMEX platinum would simply 'stop payment' as the transaction has already been adjudicated and funds transferred.

I think this is common with custom wheels. As I am negotiating with Vossen, my understanding is that they want payment up front. I am not even sure if there is a partial-payment option to cover costs and then pay the profit upon delivery??? Either way, these are small shops and dealing with comparatively large dollars. They can't be out the production costs for 10+ sets and run the risk of cancellation where they hold all the risk. Pre-payment for bespoke goods is the norm, not the exception.

 

[917K LM]

well, the guys last name is on the wheels. My guess is that he has had major supply-chain issues (not uncommon with COVID and manufacturing dealing with employees who can make more off of enhanced benefits than with working).
That said, I think his pride got in his way and he thought he could 'handle it' without giving all of the details and to not cause concern.
My guess is that he will deliver......when is a different story. He won't be able to survive not delivering and keep a business. The aftermarket game is a small one, word will get around and he won't have a business if he doesn't come through. As I mentioned, his name is on the wheels, he has all the incentive in the world to deliver.
Should he have shown all of his cards and gone into detail of what he was dealing with? Maybe, but if he pulled it off he would have caused concern for no reason. He didn't pull it off, so hind-sight is 20/20.
Here is what I am sure of, not responding is the quickest way to take a bad situation and make it worse. At some point, he should have come clean, got on a video call, showed you the new facility, a brief overview of the paperwork of him placing the order with the old sub-contractor and the new to alleviate concerns that he was actually working in good faith to deliver. He chose to pull his head into his shell and 'hope' that it worked out quickly....hope is not a strategy. My guess is that he has learned from this and will communicate more now.
It is unfortunate that it took litigation to get to this point. Companies need to realize that problems don't 'go away', they have to be handled and dealt with. Now he has to deal with the additional hit to his brand that was self-inflicted from his own actions (or lack of action) and has no one to blame but himself.
The good news is that he doesn't want litigation to occur. This tells me, he plans on keeping his business and growing back his reputation and company once he gets his supplier worked out. If he put up a wall and didn't care about the law suit, I would be more worried.
Look, supply-chain issues happen, suppliers can't deliver in the US like they use to due to never-ending 'enhanced' COVID unemployment benefits....it is a real issue in the US right now, heck 'fast-food' has become slower than a dine-in restaurant because they can make more sitting at home playing play-station, then getting up and working. I have no doubt he ran into issues. However, I also have no doubt he went about the communication in the worst way possible......he stopped communicating.
Best of luck and will be following to see how this turns out as I have a lot of friends who are looking for new wheels and this brand has come up a lot......I personally know of 7 friends actively looking to purchase a set of rims......it will depend on what Tony does on if his company remains in the running, or that money goes elsewhere.

Thanks Will keep you guys updated

 

[GG77]

This is very unfortunate and I'm sorry for your trouble. That said, there were so many red flags here. Anyone who says things like 'Zelle is the besstttt!' (?!?) and wants to do large transaction details over a WhatsApp msg thread is an auto red flag. Seems like he's still stringing you along as well...or will end up sending you some subpar stuff. Lastly, I don't understand what the official response to this is from Zito Taiwan?

Hope you get this resolved.

 

[917K LM]

This is very unfortunate and I'm sorry for your trouble. That said, there were so many red flags here. Anyone who says things like 'Zelle is the besstttt!' (?!?) and wants to do large transaction details over a WhatsApp msg thread is an auto red flag. Seems like he's still stringing you along as well...or will end up sending you some subpar stuff. Lastly, I don't understand what the official response to this is from Zito Taiwan?

Hope you get this resolved.

Thanks

Mr. Eric (Zito Taiwan, head), for unknown reasons he never got back to us about the situation with Tony. Will be updating next week as it has been 30 days since he first promised to send us valid tracking information. But wouldn't hold my breath…

 

[CxM]

Sorry to hear.. that sucks. So never order Zito wheels, thanks for the tip.
At this point, I'd ask for the funds back and go with another brand. What happens when you need a spare wheel? or some service?

Are these are flow formed wheels? Should be much less time then making a full forged set. Also Does Zito own their factory, most likely not, and are just made from another manufacturer. They place orders and wait.. and they're all facing supply chain issues, with delays, but this is way too long of delay.

I've purchased aftermarket parts, deals done on what's app.
My latest set from BCForged, required wire transfer, half up front, rest when ready for shipping. Took 9 weeks to custom make.

Hope this works out for you.

 

[917K LM]

Sorry to hear.. that sucks. So never order Zito wheels, thanks for the tip.
At this point, I'd ask for the funds back and go with another brand. What happens when you need a spare wheel? or some service?

Are these are flow formed wheels? Should be much less time then making a full forged set. Also Does Zito own their factory, most likely not, and are just made from another manufacturer. They place orders and wait.. and they're all facing supply chain issues, with delays, but this is way too long of delay.

I've purchased aftermarket parts, deals done on what's app.
My latest set from BCForged, required wire transfer, half up front, rest when ready for shipping. Took 9 weeks to custom make.

Hope this works out for you.

Thanks If not, then will be looking to order some BC Forged - only heard positive feedback on BC wheels ?

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

Sorry to hear.. that sucks. So never order Zito wheels, thanks for the tip.
At this point, I'd ask for the funds back and go with another brand. What happens when you need a spare wheel? or some service?......

This! It is time to cut bait and ask for a refund...you won't get it in time for the car show and do you really want to rep them?
Many other manufacturers that are happy to take your money and deliver on their promises....Vossen, BC Forged, HRE, BBS, the list goes on..........

 

[917K LM]

Update: As stated previously Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels removed all reviews on their FB-page and deleted all negatives reviews from other customer. Most likely because Tony clearly could not handle the truth or any form of criticism. So, 4-5 weeks ago when we suspected scam/fraud when Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels started ignoring our messages and phone calls, we wrote our review and experience on Google review. This was the only option as everything else was disabled.

But now/today, Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels, have disabled the Google review system as well, and completely disappeared from Google maps. As promised, will updating next week. Don’t expect our pre-paid wheels to be sent (Last date: August 15, 2021) or any form of refund.

Few weeks back we also submitted a complaint with BBB (Better Business Bureau). Clearly from the response we have received from BBB, Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels are ignoring them as well.

At this point its’s looks more likely to confirm this case as a scam. We will be updating next week.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

call the police, file a report, call BBB....file a report, call bank and file a fraud charge and ask for audit and recoup the wire transfer.
Get banking information, WhatsApp, phone, address, and all info you can and put in both reports, since you have a lawyer have them write a formal letter demanding return of funds for services not rendered, contact AG in the state that they conduct work, contact the vendor that you have the information from and demand information about Zitto from them (from your lawyer) or they will be responsible for the refund (may not get it, but could get you one step closer), post on wheel forums about experience and see if anyone has current info, go to the car show and tell everyone what happened with a sign "do you know about Zitto wheels? Ask me about my experience", I could go on and on, but they have thrown down the gauntlet and this is when they would find out that they should not have mistaken my kindness for weakness.
You own a Porsche Taycan.....money is not the issue, it is the principle of things. Whatever you do, don't get complacent due to it not having a big impact on your life. It may have a big impact on someone else and you have the resources to have a lawyer on retainer and should use it! I would spend whatever it took up to about 4x the cost of the wheels, to simply prove a point. I can let a lot go, but when you betray my trust...that is where I draw the line.
Be relentless! Or, chalk it up to bad judgement, crawl back in your shell and don't worry about posting how mad you are/were if you aren't going to follow through when times get tough
What are you going to do? Go take back what is yours, or slouch and go back home and hope they won't like what mom packed for lunch tomorrow?
Yes, I am trying to get you fired up
If I can help, let me know (don't know how), but as a society we need to get back to some form of ethics and behavior of a functioning society.

 

[Greenmachine]

Update: As stated previously Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels removed all reviews on their FB-page and deleted all negatives reviews from other customer. Most likely because Tony clearly could not handle the truth or any form of criticism. So, 4-5 weeks ago when we suspected scam/fraud when Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels started ignoring our messages and phone calls, we wrote our review and experience on Google review. This was the only option as everything else was disabled.

But now/today, Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels, have disabled the Google review system as well, and completely disappeared from Google maps. As promised, will updating next week. Don’t expect our pre-paid wheels to be sent (Last date: August 15, 2021) or any form of refund.

Few weeks back we also submitted a complaint with BBB (Better Business Bureau). Clearly from the response we have received from BBB, Tony (Anthony Amato) and Zito Wheels are ignoring them as well.

At this point its’s looks more likely to confirm this case as a scam. We will be updating next week.

I had a similar story in the UK and managed to get my money back by getting a freeze on their bank account. They changed their back details so I got a friend to contact them as a new customer to whom they eagerly responded with their new back details expecting for him to transfer money. Instead we worked with the small claims bureau to freeze their new account until I received my £850 refund. The amount was small but I was so angry at getting scammed it was worth the weeks of effort to get it back. Not sure how it works in the US but if they are still taking new business you should be able to get your money.

 

[F16HTON]

@917K LM

I'd agree with you that Zito Wheels is pretty sketch. I tried to contact them yesterday to see how they would react to an order inquiry and this is how it went...

Called the 800.483.0153 phone number on the website. Phone rang and rang, then went to voicemail. I hung up.

Immediately I received a SMS message "Sorry we missed your call. We will get back to you as soon as we can. You can also email us [email protected] or text / WhatsApp us directly (310) 633-0845!"

I called the (310) 633-0845 number and immediately got a SMS message that they were on the phone and they would call back later.

Received a call approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes later where I had asked a couple of questions about getting a custom set of wheels made. Tony proceeded to send some pictures of one of the styles that he was recommending and said that he had in stock. I asked him about how long it would take and he said that there was a business call coming in and he would call me right back.

I never received a call back yesterday, and this morning I did get another SMS message apologizing for not getting back to me. I responded to that message that I chose to go with a different vendor and deleted the conversation off of my phone.

I got another reply a few hours later asking if it was because of the design and I replied that I was on the internet and read you are slow to reply and deliver goods paid for. I said I was able to complete a transaction with another vendor and would have given him the benefit of the doubt but he did not earn it.

He then proceeded to call and I did not pick up. I got another SMS message that he called me in error.

/end of story.

I'll cross my fingers for you that you product is delivered. Hopefully it will be soon.

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