My first ebay horror story

[sebbel]

Last November I saw a pair of lamped candlestick.. From the pictures they looked liked the actual phone had not been damaged in the process and that both had #2 dials. They were being sold by a new user with 0 rating. Unfortunately being a sucker for candlestick I took a chance anyway. Of course I got caught up in the auction and ended up with a pair of candlestick lamps for 300$ (including all shipping and duty). While 150$ is not completely insane for a stick it's far from a deal.

Whenthe first box arrived (still haven't received the shades) I opened the box to find the 2 candlestick wrapped in 5 pages of news paper. At first glance they looked ok so I started immediately taking the apart to remove the cracker wiring on them them. As it turns out I was right, both had 2AB dials and were intact and only needed a paint job. However as started putting the pieces on the table bakelite bits started falling. Both receivers and one of the transmitter had damage.

I contacted the seller who offered me 30$.  I replied stating that I estimated the cost of ordering replacement would run around 90$ otherwise I could put back the wires and send back the lamps but since the auction state "absolutely no returns no exceptions will be made" he would have to cover the cost both ways at about 145$ since I did not agree to paying returns when I bid.

I got pretty much the following answer: "I am sorry but I will not give you 90.00 you can do what ever you would like you are crazy to think you would get those for free."

At that point I left negative feedback stating that the item arrived broken and the the seller was calling me "crazy" and opened a case and his final answer was:

"Ok first off don't leave feedback saying we called you crazy ok because that wasn't said like that ok so grow up. Also I explained to you about the lamp shades so stop being lazy and so Complicated and immature and log into your Paypal and get the 2nd. Tracking number that simple And wow you think I am going to refund you after you took the items apart and removed the wiring who knows what you did to them. Honestly if they were broke then you should have contacted me right away before you took it upon yourself to remove parts and wiring and then contact me and say there broke and now you want a $145.00 refund so no refunds or returns you knew that when you budded on them, so I will not be refunding you and I Will not accept a refund as you stated that you have taken the items apart, you stated what you did in your messages and I will not accept something back that has been taken apart and I will not so sorry, not trying to be rude but you have not been reasonable at all. "

Now I agree. Next time I'll be very careful to inspect things before I touch it. But have you ever had an ebay seller whom you just gave 230$ to, talk to you like that?

Was I completely crazy in asking to settle for 90$ in damages or to return the item in its original condition and send it back?

[LarryInMichigan]

Seb,

I am sorry to hear about that, but under the circumstances, I doubt that you have much recourse.  I know how easy it is, in the excitement of receiving an item, to start dismantling things before checking everything. 

I don't think that you came out all that badly here.  The WE bulldog transmitters are not so difficult to find, and neither are the 706A receivers.  Do the dials have non-notched number plates?

The seller here is obviously not an especially intelligent person.


Larry

[sebbel]

Nope I don't. And ebay just sided with the seller. I have the parts so I'm not worried but It's an extra bit of money from my own pocket in restoring them

[LarryInMichigan]

As long as you have to replace parts, you might want to go out and get the older types of transmitter and receiver to fit chronologically better with the #2 dials.  You could combine the non-broken parts onto one of the phones, replace the dial with a #5, possibly paint the phone black, and sell it to recover some of your costs.  You could also sell one of the dials for $70-$150, depending on the number plate.

Larry