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The CRPF "Bad Packing" awards

Started by Dan, March 01, 2009, 04:54:43 PM

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Etienne

#510
I won this auction (only bidder). Austrian Kapsch Tragring, dated 1937. Wrong W28 handset but these do not appear too often on ebay.fr.
I e-mailed the seller how to pack correctly.
She replied, all right, I'll get the right box to make sure everything goes fine.
Received the phone today. Box is the same size as the phone. The handset was not sitting on the cradle, but placed against it and forced on the side. What was to be expected happened: cradle broken!

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/225025157767
?hash=item34648b6a87:g:rs0AAOSwblhio21L

FABphones

I was watching that listing, a nice unusual design.  :( 
Have you contacted the seller?
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

tubaman

That's very sad as they are hard to find as you say.  :(
I picked one up a few years ago - http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=22039.msg223865#msg223865 - and it was the first time I'd seen one.
I have had success with superglue on diecast parts in the past so if you want to try and mend it that's what I'd use.

Etienne

Thanks, I'm sure it can be repaired quite easily with superglue. The repair should even be barely noticeable as the breaks a clean and there are no missing parts. I e-mailed the seller again, asking for partial refund. Wait and see. I'll keep the phone anyway.
I don't know how come they are so hard to find. After all, they were ÖPT's standard telephones 1929-1949. Produced 20 years and so rare? Even in German, it is hard to find information. They are said to be "famous" on the german forum, but with only 1 occurence.

countryman

It apparently even misses in the Austrian collections I can find online. This book (p. 36) says it was introduced by Kapsch 1931.
Google translation:
"In 1931, the Kapsch company brought out the first device made of cast zinc with an integrated dial. This device soon became popular under the term "Tragringapparat". The background to this nickname was the finger ring placed under the handset, with the help of which the device could be easily taken along while speaking."
Sad that it was broken, I hope the repair will come out OK. With the rough surface of the crack there should be enough "grip" for the glue.

TelePlay

Quote from: Etienne on June 23, 2022, 03:27:12 PMThe repair should even be barely noticeable as the breaks a clean and there are no missing parts. I e-mailed the seller again, asking for partial refund.

That should be a full refund including shipping and you still get to keep the phone. If returned, she won't be able to sell it. You're going to put a lot of time and effort into "fixing" her mistake, time worth a full refund.

tubaman

I would certainly be pushing for a full refund, but the risk is that if the seller held their ground you'd have to return the phone, with the seller paying the return postage.
In the few unfortunate cases I've had like this I've got a full refund or significant partial one as the seller knows there's no point in them paying for you to return it.

countryman

In this special case the seller might even get 35 € when she glues the cradle and puts it for auction again...
I'd take a deep breath, maybe ask for a refund once, and then forget about it just for peace of mind.

Etienne

The seller made a partial refund (12,50€).

MMikeJBenN27

Such a shame when the seller refuses to pack it CORRECTLY.  Hope you left bad feedback against her.

Mike

RDPipes

Ya Know I've had some real nightmarish packages show up at my door, even one packed in a Kleenex box in the 40 some years I've been collecting. I make it a habit nowadays when ever I deal with a new seller on a online website such a eBay etc. I always send them kind a message.
I try not to sound like I think their idiots but, to just say they may already know but, I just wanted to check, and then say how fragile the item is and would they be so kind as too.......
It seems to work and some even reply positively while others don't reply at all, which isn't anything out of the ordinary nowadays but, all the same they arrive well packed and undamaged.
I've even had some items that I didn't send a message to the seller before hand show up safe but, packed sadly where I have let them know nicely and after I left them positive feedback and they have replied positively thanking me.
Surprising how far a kind word can go to keep an item from being damaged sometimes.

tubaman

I too always send a polite message with packing instructions but still get some phones turn up in undersized boxes with barely any padding, even from people who've acknowledged the instructions I sent.

RDPipes

Quote from: tubaman on June 28, 2022, 03:13:49 AMI too always send a polite message with packing instructions but still get some phones turn up in undersized boxes with barely any padding, even from people who've acknowledged the instructions I sent.

Well I reckon some people no mater how you communicate with them are either too stubborn to listen or think they know how to do everything already. And really both are the same and show's sometimes they may want to listen ever so often.
I reckon I've been lucky these past few years and better knock on wood, LOL!

Etienne

I always send polite packing instructions with the payment, so did I this time.
Too often they are ignored.
When I bought 2 WE302s, the seller put them in a strange box with an old destroyed polster. I was very lucky, both came home undamaged.
Or the 1931 Siemens GPO 164, sent with handset on the old style cradle, broken handset and plunger, possibly housing too
Or the ivory W48, perfect condition, which was wrecked due to very poor package (the seller was german, the phone was in France, I asked him to send my phone from France, but he preferred to send it from Germany because stopping at the post office that stand on his way before crossing the border "would have cost [him] too much time and gas" (about 5 minutes and 500 meters, I checked on the map).
Most people just seem not to understand what "the phone must NOT move in its box" means. Fortunately most phones survive this treatment. Good stuff.

RDPipes

I do understand, some are just interested in the money and could care less about anything else, and some I suspect get mad that their item didn't bring enough and are just childish enough to pack it haphazardly as revenge, as if its the buyers fault. Yes there's all kinds out there and I pray I don't have to deal with all of them, LOL!