Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Muttley Snickers]

Warning, another disturbing case identified, it's not me either, just some other sicko.       



Gumtree Listing
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/1162823160

[bitseeker]

bitseeker, my 6289A has sharp corners, too.  What year is your 6200B?

I see. I guess the rounding was a modernization touch. Mine looked to be from '79.

[Berni]

Seller is clearly full of shit. Report him to ebay. Full refund! Keep the item! You can justify it because the state received was not the state advertised. It doesn't matter if it's for parts or not. I'd negative feedback the bastard afterwards. They tend to push for amicable solutions which are nice to agree to and then ruin their feedback

The seller is technically only obliged to give you a full refund upon returning the item and they are obliged to take the return.

Sellers already have it tough enough on ebay due to the whole "the customer is always right" concept. If the thing is sold as "non working/for parts" and the listing does not say anything about something working then you shouldn't really complain any about what you got unless you get something with missing boards and such.

If it comes damaged in shipping, talk to the seller and try to arrange some sort of partial refund and if it goes well give them positive feedback with a comment of what happened. If they don't want to sort it out, give them a negative feedback with what happened in bold letters and strong language.

I bought a lot of stuff on ebay and overall had a good experience with the majority of sellers. Happened a few times that there was shipping damage but in all the cases i got reasonable partial refund or even a full refund. However i did run in to the case of people selling something marked as "Used" while they clearly have not tested it to work at all. Such a thing is indeed a inaccurate listing, and should be reported.

[Mr. Scram]

The seller is technically only obliged to give you a full refund upon returning the item and they are obliged to take the return.

Sellers already have it tough enough on ebay due to the whole "the customer is always right" concept. If the thing is sold as "non working/for parts" and the listing does not say anything about something working then you shouldn't really complain any about what you got unless you get something with missing boards and such.

If it comes damaged in shipping, talk to the seller and try to arrange some sort of partial refund and if it goes well give them positive feedback with a comment of what happened. If they don't want to sort it out, give them a negative feedback with what happened in bold letters and strong language.

I bought a lot of stuff on ebay and overall had a good experience with the majority of sellers. Happened a few times that there was shipping damage but in all the cases i got reasonable partial refund or even a full refund. However i did run in to the case of people selling something marked as "Used" while they clearly have not tested it to work at all. Such a thing is indeed a inaccurate listing, and should be reported.

That's not untrue, but here the seller here neglected to package the shipment properly and then lied through his teeth to avoid any responsibility for it. This isn't a matter of the buyer being too protected. The seller is at fault and should pay for the damages.

[Cubdriver]

bitseeker, my 6289A has sharp corners, too.  What year is your 6200B?

I see. I guess the rounding was a modernization touch. Mine looked to be from '79.

That certainly sounds like a reasonable conclusion.  I have a 6209B from around '83 in the repair queue; just took a closer look at it (it has rack ears), and it too has the rounded corners.

-Pat

[Specmaster]

Warning, another disturbing case identified, it's not me either, just some other sicko.       



Gumtree Listing
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/1162823160

WTF too much space between them could get roughly 50% more in that case easily, flipping waster.

[Specmaster]

Seller is clearly full of shit. Report him to ebay. Full refund! Keep the item! You can justify it because the state received was not the state advertised. It doesn't matter if it's for parts or not. I'd negative feedback the bastard afterwards. They tend to push for amicable solutions which are nice to agree to and then ruin their feedback

The seller is technically only obliged to give you a full refund upon returning the item and they are obliged to take the return.

Sellers already have it tough enough on ebay due to the whole "the customer is always right" concept. If the thing is sold as "non working/for parts" and the listing does not say anything about something working then you shouldn't really complain any about what you got unless you get something with missing boards and such.

If it comes damaged in shipping, talk to the seller and try to arrange some sort of partial refund and if it goes well give them positive feedback with a comment of what happened. If they don't want to sort it out, give them a negative feedback with what happened in bold letters and strong language.

I bought a lot of stuff on ebay and overall had a good experience with the majority of sellers. Happened a few times that there was shipping damage but in all the cases i got reasonable partial refund or even a full refund. However i did run in to the case of people selling something marked as "Used" while they clearly have not tested it to work at all. Such a thing is indeed a inaccurate listing, and should be reported.

I don't think this is correct, yes it was sold as "non working/for parts only" is it unreasonable to think that one of the "parts" you needed it for was the casing? The seller should have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the item did not get damaged in transit. If he had taken sensible precautions and could prove it then he should claim against the carrier. I always take photos of anything I sell on Ebay that clearly shows the amount of packing material used and the method to ensure that it has more of fighting chance of arriving undamaged.

[URI]

Thank you all for your comments!

Roughly 40 minutes after his last answer he changed his mind (I was to bed then):
After all the seller refunded me 25$ "in good faith" pointing at the fact that he has no negative feedback. Yo.
Not much but as this has also a symbolic meaning to me I'll go on like Berni suggested: Take the refund, give him positive feedback and describe what happened in the feedback text.

My time is too precious to bother me any more than that.

I think I'll setup an ebay search for HP8110A spare parts. 

[Berni]

That's a great story and not untrue, but the seller here neglected to package the shipment properly and then lied through his teeth to avoid any responsibility for it. This isn't a matter of the buyer being too protected. The seller is at fault and should pay for the damages.

In this particular case yeah it was the sellers fault for not packing it properly, the damage to that thing is pretty horrifying. If he doesn't want to do anything about it then its a sure case to report him.

I always had sellers take responsibility for shipping damage. Sometimes even well packed equipment can sustain some damage due to the post office gorillas and i still got a partial refund. But i never seen this amount of damage, perhaps i was just lucky

[mavu]

My ebay Scope is in the hospital

I got a mail on sunday that the ebay seller is in the hospital, and will send my new old Hameg 208 when he/she is released as soon as possible.

Best wishes to him, and a speedy recovery from whatever, but i have to admit, this is a new one from murphy.

[bd139]

That's suspicious if you ask me. I had that once and never saw the item. That was in the bad old days of ebay around y2000 when you had to deal with cheques and take photos and get them developed and scan them though.

[AF6LJ]

Warning, another disturbing case identified, it's not me either, just some other sicko.       



Gumtree Listing
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/1162823160

That is a serious hand held instrument fetish. 

[bd139]

Looks like it's owned by Harry Tuttle: https://youtu.be/VRfoIyx8KfU?t=125

[Fungus]

But no flukes?

[bd139]

Owner couldn't afford one after that nice flight case!

[Specmaster]

Actually it looks like a sales reps sample case, could it be that the meters are all made by the same company?

[Cerebus]

Actually it looks like a sales reps sample case, could it be that the meters are all made by the same company?

I think you've got that one on the nose.

[bd139]

Good spot! Want to buy some hot meters?

[mnementh]

Cor this looks nice and skanky. Clean up ahead!

That... I'd take the meter and transformer out, then run the damn thing through the dishwasher on high-heat POTS/PANS with no detergent... rinse with distilled water, then blow dry with compressed air. Replace skeevy screws with stainless or better yet, hex cap screws from the hardware store. Scrub the knobs & binders with a toothbrush, a little nic-n-fix touch-up paint from the auto parts store and Bob's yer auntie.

You have no idea how many TV mainboards I did this with back in the day...

[EDIT]

Strike that... looking again, the pots & switches on the front panel look hard enough to replace that I'd feel the need to remove them too... that kindof tips the scales towards the "too-much-arseache" side.

NM. 

[/EDIT]

Gnarf!
ebay / hermes (?) have destructed my latest received buy -an HP 8110A. 

The instrument weighs 9kg and was wrapped up in several layers of bubble wrap (with small bubbles..) and the outer padding was lightly stuffed old newspaper in a cardbox measuring 61cm x 61cm x 17cm whilst the HP 81106 is 8,9 cm x* 42,6 cm x 52,1 cm without the rack mounts mounted it came with. With rack mounts on the HP 8110A is 48,6 cm wide. Leaving less than 6cm on every side to be filled with stable padding which the stuffed newspaper wasn't. Since I bought it from a US seller it was shipped going through the ebay Global Shipping Center in Erlanger, Kentucky. There it seems to be repacked into the package I received.

As the result the HP 8110A has now a beaten up face: The front panel lost all its mounting points and can be pulled off without loosening screws. 


The left Rack Mount was ripped of the chassis including the mounting points:



The display filter glass is deply pushed in and the PCB with the VFD on it hang loose behind the front plate. 


The VFD has not been damaged, fortunately. 

The seller -asked for a partial refund- responded he has nothing to do with it, he delivered it to ebay Global Shipping Center in Erlanger, Kentucky in on piece. That transport was done by fedex.
I don't think I have a chance to get ebay refund me any part of my costs. 

I hate it really when a mechanically intact instrument beaten up at transport due to poor packaging an inappropriate handling. 

On the plus side is a HP 8110A sold for parts/repair that's nearly fully equipped with two channels and reference PLL option that seems to be fully working (have not gone into deep but both channels work, trigger input works ).
For 350$ plus shipping and plus customs it does not really seem to be a bargain but if one looks at the ebay-offers over the last months it's not so bad for me.
I regret having to look for spare parts to get an also mechanically intact instrument in the end..

The vendor IS obligated to initiate a shipping damage claim on your behalf with the carrier, or you have the right to file a dispute and leave negative feedback. Whenever there is shipping damage on my fleaBay purchases, I lead out of the gate with lots of photos and a request that they start the claim process.

Often it takes a second PM to get a response; this should indicate what a PITA it is for most fleaBay vendors to even consider the process... most are much more cooperative once that dawns on them. 

Seriously... you'd be amazed at just how much careless shipping there is on fleaBay... I'd call it an epidemic, really. It amazes me anything gets through intact; I think many just play the odds and replace what gets borked.  I just got a glass screen protector for my phone that was sent in a regular letter-sized envelope and taped to a piece of corrugated plastic signboard. But it arrived in good shape. 

And then there's the odd one... seller takes care and packages it right, and it still gets smashed. I got a Weller WES51 Soldering handle off the bay a while back; double-boxed, padding between, and the box STILL arrived folded in half and the iron broken at the collar. It looked literally looked like it had been deliberately curb-stomped.

That said... that kind of plastic is notoriously brittle by the time it gets this old... it's really hard to protect anything like this properly for shipping. Tons of bubble-wrap packed too tightly in an oversized double carton maybe, but then the weight of the thing pops the bubbles anyways.


mnem
This space for rent.

[bitseeker]

Roughly 40 minutes after his last answer he changed his mind (I was to bed then):
After all the seller refunded me 25$ "in good faith" pointing at the fact that he has no negative feedback. Yo.
Not much but as this has also a symbolic meaning to me I'll go on like Berni suggested: Take the refund, give him positive feedback and describe what happened in the feedback text.

Beware: If you set your feedback to positive and then put negative text in it, eBay can remove the feedback as invalid. Also, if you say anything about your dispute resolution in the feedback, eBay can remove that feedback. Been down that road before.

If you're not satisfied with the outcome, post negative feedback, accordingly.

[mnementh]

Well, that depends on whether there was actual Dispute Resolution or just messaging back & forth. If the latter, you can definitely state that there was shipping damage & seller made partial refund as long as you aren't obnoxious about it. Problem is 80 characters limits how much detail you can leave.




BTW... did I mention I also suffer from Machinist Equipment Acquisition Syndrome? (it's genetic... my grandfather was a master machinist during and after the war)

I spotted this in my local Craigslist while sniffing about my usual searches...

"Bardons & Oliver #3 Turret Lathe No.3 been kept indoors and has a little surface rust Call Steve at : ***-****

cash only, local pick up only, and by appointment only."


 

Still well worth the $US950 he's asking by the looks of it... but bigger than my car, which already lives outdoors because of my "whateverEAS" and a bit too large of a project for this old man at this late in the game. 20 years ago though... I'd have totally pulled a Adam Savage on his arse.


mnem
"The older I get, the better I used to be."

[tautech]

BTW... did I mention I also suffer from Machinist Equipment Acquisition Syndrome? (it's genetic... my grandfather was a master machinist during and after the war)

I spotted this in my local Craigslist while sniffing about my usual searches...

"Bardons & Oliver #3 Turret Lathe No.3 been kept indoors and has a little surface rust Call Steve at : ***-****

cash only, local pick up only, and by appointment only."


 

Still well worth the $US950 he's asking by the looks of it... but bigger than my car, which already lives outdoors because of my "whateverEAS" and a bit too large of a project for this old man at this late in the game. 20 years ago though... I'd have totally pulled a Adam Savage on his arse.


mnem
"The older I get, the better I used to be."

Turret lathes are better suited to small production runs than general engineering work. I was offered one somewhat larger a year or two back and passed on it.

This site is quite handy for those needing more info on old lathes:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

[AF6LJ]

MEAS is life altering as seen by some of the folk in the YouTube Machinist Channels.

[mnementh]

BTW... did I mention I also suffer from Machinist Equipment Acquisition Syndrome? (it's genetic... my grandfather was a master machinist during and after the war)

I spotted this in my local Craigslist while sniffing about my usual searches...

"Bardons & Oliver #3 Turret Lathe No.3 been kept indoors and has a little surface rust Call Steve at : ***-****

cash only, local pick up only, and by appointment only."


 

Still well worth the $US950 he's asking by the looks of it... but bigger than my car, which already lives outdoors because of my "whateverEAS" and a bit too large of a project for this old man at this late in the game. 20 years ago though... I'd have totally pulled a Adam Savage on his arse.


mnem
"The older I get, the better I used to be."

Turret lathes are better suited to small production runs than general engineering work. I was offer one somewhat larger a year or two back and passed on it as it was bigger than this one.

This site is quite handy for those needing more info on old lathes:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

Oh, I'm no master machinist, but I am fully aware of what this machine can do. Unlike many purpose-built turret lathes, this one still appears to have a fully automatic cross-slide and threading gearbox, and I'd guess a good 30-40" between the centers so while it is just huge for the absolute size that can be worked it's still usable for general-purpose work. The chucks alone are worth what he's asking if the ways aren't euckered. I'd bet you a dollar if one rummaged around one could find the rest of the tool-post as well, unless it was "borrowed" for a smaller more manageable machine.

Could do a fair bit of contract work here in Houston with just this one machine if I wanted to get into that noise again...

MEAS is life altering as seen by some of the folk in the YouTube Machinist Channels.

That's putting it mildly. I had to send gross tonnage of old specialty machining gear off to the scrap when I liquidated granddad's shop on the farm. Most so old it was designed for overhead PTO, and many single-purpose machines that were either in the midst of being adapted to electric power or simply stored for 30 years awaiting such work. I kept his Machinist' box and his Craftsman 101 for years until it was destroyed in a house fire; have always wanted a similar-sized machine again. I'll find one.


mnem
The great wheel never stops turning...

[AF6LJ]

BTW... did I mention I also suffer from Machinist Equipment Acquisition Syndrome? (it's genetic... my grandfather was a master machinist during and after the war)

I spotted this in my local Craigslist while sniffing about my usual searches...

"Bardons & Oliver #3 Turret Lathe No.3 been kept indoors and has a little surface rust Call Steve at : ***-****

cash only, local pick up only, and by appointment only."


 

Still well worth the $US950 he's asking by the looks of it... but bigger than my car, which already lives outdoors because of my "whateverEAS" and a bit too large of a project for this old man at this late in the game. 20 years ago though... I'd have totally pulled a Adam Savage on his arse.


mnem
"The older I get, the better I used to be."

Turret lathes are better suited to small production runs than general engineering work. I was offer one somewhat larger a year or two back and passed on it as it was bigger than this one.

This site is quite handy for those needing more info on old lathes:
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

Oh, I'm no master machinist, but I am fully aware of what this machine can do. Unlike many purpose-built turret lathes, this one still appears to have a fully automatic cross-slide and threading gearbox, and I'd guess a good 30-40" between the centers so while it is just huge for the absolute size that can be worked it's still usable for general-purpose work. The chucks alone are worth what he's asking if the ways aren't euckered. I'd bet you a dollar if one rummaged around one could find the rest of the tool-post as well, unless it was "borrowed" for a smaller more manageable machine.

Could do a fair bit of contract work here in Houston with just this one machine if I wanted to get into that noise again...

MEAS is life altering as seen by some of the folk in the YouTube Machinist Channels.

That's putting it mildly. I had to send gross tonnage of old specialty machining gear off to the scrap when I liquidated granddad's shop on the farm. Most so old it was designed for overhead PTO, and many single-purpose machines that were either in the midst of being adapted to electric power or simply stored for 30 years awaiting such work. I kept his Machinist' box and his Craftsman 101 for years until it was destroyed in a house fire; have always wanted a similar-sized machine again. I'll find one.


mnem
The great wheel never stops turning...

My dad's father had a heat treating business and machine shop. The few times I was allowed to go over there it was fascinating to me. All kinds of good stuff including metrology benches I was not allowed to go near.