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Worst E-Bay buy EVER: GPO 776. Good project for demonstration purposes though.

Started by andy1702, February 06, 2017, 03:53:39 PM

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andy1702

I've just received one of my worst E-Bay buys ever! It's a mid-brown GPO 776 with the bell set in a wall mounting bracket. The seller said it needed rewiring and possibly a new cord. They didn't mention anything about the massive crack down one side of the case, filthy dial that doesn't want to return, broken locating lugs on the insiode of the case, bug piece broken out of the base of the phone, corner broken off the wall mounting bracket, missing screw that should hold the two halves of the handset case together or damaged handset internal wire where it has been trapped between the two halves of the casing!

I'm getting fed up with E-bay not resolving cases properly and also not letting me leave negative feedback once a case has been opened. So this time I decided not to waste time and left VERY negative feedback straight away.

Anyway, I guess this is going to be a major restoration project, so I thought I'd document it before I start.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

mentalstampede

My name is Kenn, and I like telephones.

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." --Robert Heinlein

twocvbloke

Definitely looks like it's been through the wars that one!! Did they use a crowbar to get it off the wall or something??  :o

andy1702

Not sure about getting it off the wall, but they must have used a crowbar to get the cover off the phone.

The seller has now been in touch. I told him he needs to either find replacements for the broken parts and forward them, find some of the correct colored ABS to enable me to do the repairs or refund me the money. I'm certainly not going to return it because why spend my time re-packing and posting stuff back? I'd rather just spend a couple of seconds leaving negative feedback. Sellers should get stuff right first time or suffer the consequences. A simple return and refund effectively just restores the situation to square one and is not enough of a punnishment.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

twocvbloke

I know what you mean about returning things, I hate having to go through with it, especially when the seller's being a PITA, been a while since I've had a seller issue on ebay though, last one was a Trust branded UPS that arrived with it's casing broken, seller admitted they screwed p with packaging and as the UPS still powered up and worked so they gave me a 50% refund, I kept the UPS and used a lot of glue that day to out it back together, and it's still there, powered up and looking like a wreck, but it all worked out in the end... :)

andy1702

Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

twocvbloke