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My Latest Phone Mistake

Started by LarryInMichigan, March 10, 2016, 06:44:26 PM

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LarryInMichigan

I just received this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/182040861867.  I had been wanting to get one of these because they look like something from a Disney cartoon.  These were sold at obscene prices by Russel Johnson Imports.  I am seriously disappointed at what I got.  The phone was originally black, and the green and ivory paint job looks like something one would expect from a 6 year old child.  The transmitter and receiver elements were replaced with more modern types which don't fit the handset well, so there is crumbled plastic behind them holding them still.  The worst thing is that the internal parts are all missing.  There is no network, just a capacitor.  I expect that the base was probably the same as the Argentinian version of the BTMC 2724, except for the top part of the hook switch.  Does anyone here have a 2724 base that they can spare?

Thank You


Larry

TelePlay

And the seller does not offer a return and not well described in the auction. The bottom auction photo shows no gongs but hard to tell everything else is missing. Too bad . . .  Are you going to take it back to black?

LarryInMichigan

I hope to strip off the horrible paint and make the phone look decent to whatever extent possible.  I knew that I was taking a gamble, but I thought that my luck might be better than it has been.  I don't blame the seller, but if I had paid $300 or whatever the price is to Russel Johnson Imports, for this mess, I would be quite angry.

If I cannot get a proper 2724 base, I might sick some sort of network into it.

While I was typing, a large insect crawled out of the shell!!!!!

I am now facing several very large medical bills (which my new "affordable" health insurance) will not pay, so it would be a good time to stop buying things.


Larry

Babybearjs

live and learn...... this is why I don't do foreign models....
John

Jack Ryan

I wonder if that is the Standard Electric version of the 5302 - a new case for an old base.

I the dial real? It's not the original Standard Electric (or Entel substitution) - it looks like the dial used on modern reproductions where you press the finger stop to recall the last number (or some other function). It recognises dial movement optically and converts to DTMF.

Jack

Jack Ryan

Quote from: Babybearjs on March 10, 2016, 08:22:56 PM
live and learn...... this is why I don't do foreign models....

Actually, that's not how you live and learn.

In any case, it was bought in the USA and it was probably "refurbished" there.

Jack

LarryInMichigan

I believe that these were "refurbished" in Argentina, obviously as cheaply as possible.  The dial is real but unlikely original.  It is marked "ENTEL-FACE" and dated 1975.  It was held to the shell by a couple of short sheet metal screws which were obviously wrong.  The wires from the dial were spliced and the wires which come out of the splice were crudely soldered to terminals on the broken terminal strip.

I wasn't expecting much, but this is worse than I imagined.  I fell sorry for the victims of the seller of these phones.


Larry

Jack Ryan

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on March 10, 2016, 08:42:41 PM
I believe that these were "refurbished" in Argentina, obviously as cheaply as possible.

Interesting. Do you know where and by whom? I haven't seen them - but then I don't always look.

I wonder why anyone would pull out what works and replace it with what doesn't (at least not very well)? Hard to see how this would be an industry rather than a one-off.

The world is full of surprises...

Jack


LarryInMichigan

Here is the site where these are advertised: http://www.russelljohnsonimports.com/component/virtuemart/category/17/vintage-telephones.  I have other phones which came from them, but this is the worst.

Larry


Jack Ryan

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on March 10, 2016, 11:01:10 PM
Here is the site where these are advertised: http://www.russelljohnsonimports.com/component/virtuemart/category/17/vintage-telephones.  I have other phones which came from them, but this is the worst.
Larry

Thanks for that - I see how it works. Not really an Argentinian company then and that's one sure way to denude a country of perfectly good collectible telephones.

Just my opinion of course.

Jack

Fabius

Even if the seller states "no returns" you can still put in a "not as described" claim. eBay usually sides with the buyer. The question is if you want to go through the whole ordeal for $20 bucks minus return shipping.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

LM Ericsson

That telephone probably looked like this one back in its better days unrestored.
Regards,
-Grayson

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: LM Ericsson on March 11, 2016, 01:07:38 AM
That telephone probably looked like this one back in its better days unrestored.

That would have been it.  They were apparently also made in colored plastic, and the dial on mine would have come form one of those.

Larry

poplar1

Quote from: Fabius on March 11, 2016, 12:39:16 AM
Even if the seller states "no returns" you can still put in a "not as described" claim. eBay usually sides with the buyer. The question is if you want to go through the whole ordeal for $20 bucks minus return shipping.

I'm not sure, but I believe EBay requires seller to pay return shipping for a "not as described" item. If so, seller may decide to write it off, giving you a full refund including what you paid for original shipping, rather than have to pay out even more to get the item back.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

LarryInMichigan

Realistically, in this case, the seller didn't claim that it was a complete phone, so I do not really have a valid claim on him.  He probably bought it at an estate or yard sale to resell and had no idea about what he had.  I can probably make it back into a working phone if I can find the missing parts.  I see that there are plenty of these for sale in Argentina, but shipping from there to the USA would be $50 or more.

Larry