baddboybill said:
DO NOT AND I REPEAT DONT BUY FROM HIM!!! I received a $2000 JVC 550 from him all the way from Germany with 1 small layer of bubbles.
Just by the way. I went down from my original price by a lot to make Bill the happy new owner of this unit of which only 5 are known in existence so far. Secondly, I did pack the unit with only 2 layers of bubble wrap but what Bill does not mention is that there was a lot of padding in the box as well and it was packed better than any of the two 550s I received.
When I opened unit I heard a sad sound of broken pieces inside.
Yup, to quote your PM: "Nothing that I can see broken on outside though."
I looked at outside and it seemed to be something inside. Well I was partially right. A post cracked off and due to stress the back of unit had hairline crack. His response was it's no big deal.
I still do not see any visible damage to the outside. It is funny how that was invisible to you at first. A post that you glued back in place is no big dea in my opinion and for sure not worth a 300$ refund. I understood your frustration though so I offered to get you a replacement back cover.
But I just spent $2000 on the most expensive unit I ever bought and I got treated like crap. Then he says he will find and ship a new back.
Since all 550 backs are the same, it would have just been a matter of time until I would have gotten you one. The decal with the "LM" suffix can easily be swapped.
Yeah right last time he shipped a J1 to me our deal was to get get some parts so I could repair it. Well over 3 months went by and still no parts. It took Peter telling me he had no parts for me.
I sent you a 30$ refund because one antenna was 5mm too short which I never noticed. I put up with that for the sake of piece but you made a pretty buckk on the unit in the meantime by selling it to Bill Tracy. I guess that is why you were pushing me for parts. Whatever, you can do what you want with the box but still, it is quite irrtating that you sold it on so quickly. If someone has the time to go back to the feedback section you can see Bill praising how happy he is with the J1...funny how his opinion on a deal so long ago changed all of a sudden.
Oh and I'm suppose to believe your going to find me a back for exact model which is so rare. I don't fn think so.
Well, if you don't think so that is your problem and clearly not mine. All I could do was offer it to you. Once again, the back covers are the same...black and not silver.
He wouldn't even give me a partial refund knowing that value went down the instant it broke.
No, because there is no visual damage to the unit.
So if you don't want to get screwed DONT BUY FROM THIS GUY WHO DONT KEEP HIS WORD OR CARE ENOUGH ABOUT COLLECTOR BOXES TO PACK PROPERLY!!!!!
I wonder how I still got 100% positive feedback on eBay (and Boomboxery) after having screwed so many people with my poorly packed boxes...
P.S I could care less about getting kicked off forum for this post. In the 6 years I've been a collector I've never been this pi$$ed!!!!!
I've rarely made a similar experience with a buyer either but going into rage mode doesn't solve a thing.
Bad Bad Bill
So, after answering every accusation in detail, I would like to add some information that Bill apparently did not want to reveal.
First of all, I sent the unit express for approx 280$ which have to be taken off those 2000$ because he wanted it in time for his meeting. I was happy to do so but at the same time he shipped his RX-5700 to me with regular shipping ( I beieve the box said 60$). Just something to keep in mind.
As I said, apparently the 550 got gradually worse. At first everything was fine and then the unit suddenly was so severely damaged that he claimed a 300$ refund.
I refused that judging by the picture of the broken post he sent me. Just to not leave any information out of this. The RX-5700 he sent me was far from what he described it to be. The tape is playing slow and one channel is way louder than the other one. I did not make a big deal out of it but I guess now is the time to write it here after being put in this situation. After him criticizing my packing job, I should have taken pictures of how his 5700 was packed. Two layers of big bubble wrap are no better to me than 2 layers of thin bubble wrap and additional padding.
Well, as everything seemed to have settled, I got an email from PayPal saying that Bill actually opened a case for the full amount of 1600$ which is what he paid on top of the 5700. That immediately blocked my PayPal and made it unusable for weeks.
While this case was open, he listed the RC-550 on eBay. I was beyond shocked to see that and that was the point where I was refusing any refund or helping him in any way with it.
especially since the pictures in his eBay listing do not show any damage to the unit. It looks just fine. [ebay]181391474437[/ebay] Here is the original listing if you want to check it out. Of course, I sent that info to PayPal to let them know the buyer was playing a strange game here.
Bill was given 10 days to hand in an examination report of the unit from a neutral profesiional at that point. Fine, I guess if someone neutral thinks that the damage is severe, I might be mistaken here.
After a few days, I saw joe's post on FB that he picked some boxes up from Bill's place because of his huge sale including the silver 550. That meant that Bill had actually sold the unit that he opened that PayPal case about before the case was closed. How on earth would you justify that? Getting a refund on something that you do not even have anymore but sold on just does not make sense at all.
What if PayPal had decided that he should return the unit to me? Just a thought.
But PayPal as a neutral ground that always decides in the buyer's favor when in doubt as we all know closed the case in my favor because apparently Bill was not able to supply an examination form from a third party that stated that the unit was damaged.
It seems like a very bad joke to me that he posting this feedback now right after losing the case. What would he have posted if he had won the PayPal case? I don't know.
By the way, what you get here is a very, very light version of what he is saying in his PMs. Each and every one of them contains at least one major insult and he threatened me multiple times telling me I would get what I deserve in foll fold.
In retrospective I am really sorry. Not sorry for Bill but sorry for letting this unit go to him. I did not sell it because I felt like it but because I needed the money at that point. I really hope it will not become the travelling trophy from now and and that the new owner who Bill sold it to is more caring and appreciates having one of the rarest if not the rarest box.
I am not going to do any more business with Bill but I won't tell anyone not to do so. I am sure his discolite and repainted M90 are both great boxes for example.
Well, that was my two cents. Of course it won't be possible for anyone here to judge the situation objectively but I thought it could not hurt to describe my point of view.