The Q-Meter Correspondence - how not to act on ebay
20130309 An update to http://everist.org/tales/20130215_The_Q_meter.htm
Seller: rpiscansys
Sale date: 02/07/13 (Auction ended ~11am Friday 20130208 Sydney time)
I won three items from this seller on ebay.com.au:
130843935249 Q meter $355
130843931081 GR precise cap $108
130843940154 lock-in amp $64
They were packed in a single carton and shipped by TNT courier soon after, and arrived in Sydney the next day.
Unfortunately, the packing was very poor. The Q-meter, which is a very rare and precious instrument, was damaged, and the other items could also have been damaged if the carton had been impacted differently. For instance the GR precise cap was wrapped in merely 2 layers of re-used bubble wrap, and wedged between the heavy Q-meter and the carton side wall. It was just luck they were OK.
With considerable trouble and expense I was able to repair the damage to the Q-meter, however the seller flatly refused to discuss even a small compensation payment to make good my lost time and money that resulted from his negligent packing.
Here's the story of the Q-meter shipping damage and repair.
I ended up giving the seller a negative feedback on ebay - only the second I've ever given in many years of ebay membership.
The following is all the correspondence between the seller and I.
--------- Sent via ebay on Friday, right after auction -------
Hi. I won three items:
130843935249 Q meter
130843931081 GR precise cap
130843940154 lock-in amp
I am in Sydney NSW. I'd prefer Auspost to my PO Box (ie hold at post office) which is my listed ebay address. But I could arrange to be at home for courier delivery. What shipping options can you offer?
How would you prefer to be paid? Paypal is easiest for me.
I notice you haven't sold much on ebay before. Are you aware of how much boxes often get thrown around in shipment? And therefore the need for solid boxes with a lot of padding around the items? Especially the rare HP Q meter, with those fragile banana posts sticking out on top. I don't mind paying what's necessary for a really secure packing job.
All the best,
Guy Dunphy
--------- Shortly after, same day --------
Hi again,
About these I won:
130843935249 Q meter
130843931081 GR precise cap
130843940154 lock-in amp
I forgot to mention, my contact is guykd at optusnet com au
Personally I prefer direct email. It's so much better than ebay's horrible control-freak messaging system. But whatever you prefer is OK.
Regards,
Guy Dunphy
--------- 20130211 Monday 1pm. Still no reply. I resent --------
Hi. I contacted you on Friday the 8th, but haven't heard from you.
I won three items:
130843935249 Q meter
130843931081 GR precise cap
130843940154 lock-in amp
I am in Sydney NSW. I'd prefer Auspost to my PO Box (ie hold at post office) which is my listed ebay address. But I could arrange to be at home for courier delivery. What shipping options can you offer?
How would you prefer to be paid? Paypal is easiest for me.
Regards,
Guy
--------- 20130211 --------
Good afternoon,
Congratulations on winning the auction :)
I apologize about the delay in response as we only operate on normal business hours M-F 9am - 5pm
Pick up is more than welcome from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Port Melbourne during the times of 9:30am - 4:30pm
OR
Please send me your address and I'll get an accurate quote for postage and will than send the invoice (item cost + postage)
If pickup is chosen payment on pickup is fine, otherwise direct bank deposit is accepted
Thanks
-rpiscansys
--------- 20130211 --------
Hello,
Thanks for putting those nice things up for auction!
I won three of your items:
130843935249 Q meter
130843931081 GR precise cap
130843940154 lock-in amp
I'd sent you a couple of queries about postage, but I guess you didn't get them yet.
The timing is a bit unfortunate, as I'm driving down to Melbourne from Sydney around the 7th or 8th March.
It would have been great to pick them up in person, thus avoiding postage AND the risk of shipping damage.
But it would be painful to wait that long to get the items! And I don't expect you'd like to have them sitting around that long either.
How would you feel about waiting that long? If we did that I'd pay cash on pickup.
If shipping them, I'd prefer Australia Post parcel delivery to my PO box, ie local post office.
But perhaps the Q-meter would be too big and heavy?
Two address options:
Guy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Sydney NSW. (Prefered)
Or my home address:
Guy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sydney NSW.
Phone xxxxxxxxx
Mobile: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The problem with the home address is I'd have to know when the delivery would be, in order to be there to receive it. Often no one home.
I'm OK with a direct bank transfer.
If we post the items, I'd want insurance and a tracking number.
Incidentally, I think you mentioned selling them due to moving premises. Does that mean you've been using them,
and so might have some of the manuals? I can get a manual for the HP and GRC units easily, but if you have anything
for the Lock-in Amp I'd like to discuss buying that.
Kind regards,
Guy
--------- 20130211 --------
Dear guy_d,
Good afternoon,
Ive Processed the invoice with +postage included using TNT
Road express
Please notify me upon payment so when money is received item
can be dispatched immediately.
If pickup is chosen payment on pickup is
fine, otherwise direct bank deposit is accepted
Thanks
-rpiscansys
--------- 20130211 --------
I received ebay invoice.
--------- 20130211 --------
Hi,
I'm happy with your shipping quote, I was just asking about the possibility of
delaying pickup till early March when I'll be in Melb. But I understand you don't
want them sitting around till then.
So we'll go with TNT.
Please give me your bank account details, I'll do the transfer either today or
at latest tomorrow.
I suppose TNT will only deliver to a street address. So, when you ship I'd appreciate
a tracking number and a phone contact for them, so I can arrange to be home when it arrives.
Please could you also give them the following delivery instructions:
Address: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Courier: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Regards,
Guy
--------- 20130212 --------
No worries at all mate, I can provide a tracking number for postage and
provide the details as delivery instructions
Our bank details
are
Account Name; xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BSB; xxxxxxxxx
Account No; xxxxxxxxxxx
Just let me know when you've made the
payment and ill send off you items asap
Thanks
-rpiscansys
--------- 20130212 --------
I paid the invoice, $560.07
--------- 20130212 --------
Hello,
I have made the transfer.
Amount $560.07
Payer name GUY xxxxxxxxx
Description "ebay purchase, guy d"
It's a little sad to hear you probably had the manuals for these but
"Manuals are more than likely gone we have been disposing of alot."
Disposed, as in binned? Oh well. If you do spot them, please let me know.
The Lock-in amp in particular. I anticipate a some difficulty finding a manual for that.
Thanks,
Guy
--------- 20130213 Wed --------
ebay notified the items are posted
--------- 20130214 Thur --------
Hi,
The package arrived Thursday, thanks for your fast send.
However... The first time I contacted you (don't know if you received that, you didn't answer)
I'd mentioned that I was worried about those banana posts sticking up on top, and how I hoped
you'd pack it carefully to avoid any chance of them being damaged in transit.
So what happened?
You packed the Q meter in the bottom of the box, upside down, actually resting on those banana posts
on the bottom of the box. I can't believe you did that! That's really thoughtless.
Of course the box was thrown around the typical amount. Ie a lot.
See pics attached. If ebay lost the attachments, they are also here: http://everist.org/
You can see the box was dropped at least twice, with the posts punching into the cardboard once,
then the unit moving, then impacting again.
Well, by sheer luck the posts mostly survived. Only one is bent, and then only a bit.
Trouble is it's bent enough to be annoying, and enough that I'm worried it may break off while being straightened.
The bent part is the threaded hollow post - highly prone to breaking.
Have you any idea how impossible it will be to get a replacement? Those are not ordinary banana posts.
Not to mention the loss of calibration due to being mangled.
I'm pretty annoyed. That was just extremely careless packing. $355 may not seem enough to you to be
worth taking care, but it's a lot to me.
If you're going to use ebay much, you're going to have to do better than that. This carelessness
in packing deserves a negative, and in your first few sales.
I'm going to wait till I work out what to do about the post. Hopefully it can be straightened OK.
Also I need to open it up and evaluate whether there's been any distortion of the underlying mechanism.
Which is a precision variable vane capacitor. If that's bent too, the instrument is effectively ruined
without a major repair.
Guy
--------- 20130215 Frid --------
Good Morning Guy,
the information you have informed me about is terrible.
One of our junior personnel took care of this and was given specific
details were required when packing these items due to being highly
sensitive. Regardless whether the items purchased cost $0.99 - $500 correct
packaging/ posting is a must! in saying that this employee will be dealt
with accordingly.
I apologize sincerely and hope that the items are
repairable.
If you still feel the need to leave negative feedback so be it
that's totally understandable
Sorry again
-rpiscansys
--------- 20130228 --------
Hello rpiscansys,
It's taken me a while to resolve the problem with the bent connector on the HP Q-Meter, but that is now complete.
I didn't feel there was any point discussing recompense for your inadequate packing, until I knew what it would take to restore the damage.
In actual cost the damage repair wasn't so bad, but a little difficult to quantify since I made a new post simultaneously with doing other restoration work on the unit - which obviously is not your problem. However, the post _was_ damaged irrepairably, and I had to spend time making a new one. Also if the post hadn't been damaged I very likely would have just used the unit as it was, rather than bothering to fully restore the test port structure.
Costs:
$30 - two button thread dies (I would not have had to buy these if not for making a new post.)
$98 - brass rod stock (though only a tiny amount used for the new connector post.)
$200 - gold plating (several pieces for restoration; only the new brass post was a direct requirement of the shipping damage.)
You're probably not interested, but there's an online pictorial diary of the repair & restoration process here:
http://everist.org/tales/20130215_The_Q_meter.htm
http://everist.org/tales/20130228_repairing_Q_meter.htm
I'm writing to say, that your astonishingly ill-considered packing cost me a significant amount of time and money, to repair a historic, rare and useful piece of equipment.
The normal way to deal with such unfortunate situations after ebay sales, is for the seller to offer a suitable partial refund of the sale price. Saying "this employee will be dealt with accordingly" doesn't make good my losses. Which is the only thing that concerns me.
The init sold for $355. What do _you_ feel would be a fair refund?
I can accept transfers by paypal to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
or bank transfers to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Name: Guy xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BSB: xxxxxxxxxx
Acc: xxxxxxxxxxx
Regards,
Guy
--------- 20130303 --------
Good morning Guy,
Once again I apologise about this mishap, we are not a
regular seller on eBay and were simply disposing of unwanted equipment. So
I am sorry to say but all sales are final.
I read your online repair &
restoration process and it seems you are enjoying the items you had
purchased, amazing pictorial diary!
Once again my apologies
Thanks
-rpiscansys
--------- 20130304 Monday --------
I'm not asking to reverse the sale, or for a full refund.
I am asking for a some return, to compensate for costs and time spent repairing damage in shipment caused by _your_
ridiculously incompetent packing.
Putting the item upside down in the carton, with those delicate posts touching the bottom of the box - unbelievable!
It doesn't matter how often you sell, or why you sell. The fact remains you sold a fine piece of equipment, and
packed it inadequately. Yes I am enjoying it, and am glad I got it. But would be a lot more happy if you hadn't
effectively ensured it arrived damaged.
Are you refusing to even discuss this?
I was thinking $100 would be fine. For a $355 item, and the trouble caused, I believe that's reasonable.
Think of it as a learning experience. In future when you sell on ebay, bear in mind that the process isn't over till
the buyer receives the goods, undamaged. You should make the effort to ensure that happens.
You'll notice that my ebay rating is over 400 (both buying and selling), with no negatives. Most of that was in the
days when sellers could give buyers negatives too. I've only ever had to give a negative rating once before - some
idiot in the USA shipped an oscilloscope in a considerably larger box, with absolutely no packing materials inside.
The scope was totally destroyed, and he ceased communicating.
Your Q-meter packing wasn't as bad as that, but still far short of sensibly packed.
Regards,
Guy
-----------------
As of 20130309 (Sunday) I've heard nothing more from him.
He's lucky I've only given him one negative, instead of three for the three items I bought from him that were all shipped in the one badly packed box.