Long range rip off

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Author Message Jack (Jack) Posted on Friday, September 26, 2003 - 7:57 am:    i just today received a studio bass from the u.s.a st-924 i got it on ebay (here we go)i live in australia.to my complete horror it is nothing like the description.the pre-amp has been ripped out and the worst wiring job you ever saw is left in its place,one of the tuning pegs has been crushed(like my heart)and the headstock has been resprayed. has anyone had a simmilar experience that can help me with what to do next Johns (Johns) Posted on Friday, September 26, 2003 - 11:43 am:    Jack: You have my sympathies. I have never been in the same situation, so I can't give you too much first-hand advise. Could you provide a little more information? Do you have a link to the ebay auction so we can see how it was advertised? Jack (Jack) Posted on Friday, September 26, 2003 - 10:53 pm:    http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38080&item=2557986002 this is where it is.today i am so mad as i read the discription again and cant beleive how misleading it is, how can he say it is excelent and that all the knobs work when it hasent even got the pre-amp in it!!!!!.i also asked him directly if the machine heads were ok and he said yes .i will post some pictures when i can work out how.i have tried to contact him but so far no reply. Jack (Jack) Posted on Friday, September 26, 2003 - 10:55 pm:    http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38080&item=2557986002 this is where it is.today i am so mad as i read the discription again and cant beleive how misleading it is, how can he say it is excelent and that all the knobs work when it hasent even got the pre-amp in it!!!!!.i also asked him directly if the machine heads were ok and he said yes .i will post some pictures when i can work out how.i have tried to contact him but so far no reply. Jimdsinger (Jimdsinger) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 12:34 am:    Oh man, I saw the Ebay auction. This guy has a great rep as far as feedback. I did notice how the headstock wasn't shown in the pictures. Ouch! Have you tried mediation? And how could he ship it to you for that cheap? I feel your pain... jimdsinger Jack (Jack) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 3:31 am:    i tried yesterday and today to contact him via email no response yet.the shiping+tax(gst)+duty cost me as much as the bass did!!you may be asking why go to that trouble for this bass?well this is going to kill you,i had one of these basses from 1985 when i bought one from a pawn shop in wollongong australia until 4 weeks ago when it was stolen out of my car just before i was going for a jam with my mates.i have been looking high and low for one since then until i spotted this one on e-bay and took a punt(please dont cry no more its gona be o.k)so now it appears i have been done over twice!how do i put pictures on so you all can have a look at this bass in excelent condition? Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 3:52 am:    Jack, Bend is only a couple hours drive time for me. You want I should head over there and rough him up a bit? Cheers Steve Jack (Jack) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 4:36 am:    Thanks for the offer but I will try negotiation first, then iam cumin over! And then I gona! @!!@#@!@## yea right he’s probably 6.4 and 200 pounds you blokes are big units over there, he will probably break both my hands and ill need to learn to play with my feet! Jack (Jack) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 5:02 am:    Jack (Jack) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 5:17 am:    Jimdsinger (Jimdsinger) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 2:46 pm:    Jack, It's relatively easy to put pix on. all you need to do is put a tag in your message. Click on Formatting on the left of this page, then "Other Formatting", then "Images" and follow the instuctions. It's not as confusing as it looks .When you post, the system will place a browse button next to a text box. Click the button and go to where you have the pictures stored on your computer, assuming you do, and double click the picture name. ex: beatupbass.jpg, the system will load it up for you. you can put more than one tag in you message, but you must upload an image for each tag. You must also size your image correctly or you will get an error message. Size it at 72dpi, 200 pixels high and you will probably be safe. you can check out my pix on this forum under the string "Help me identify this bass".If you don't have an image editing program on you computer, send me the pix via emai and I will rezize them for you. Best of luck, Jimdsinger Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 3:42 pm:    Jack, Gimme a holler before you leave OZ. We'll meet in Portland. Unless, of course, negotiations are sucessfull. If you need/want a little local back-up, I'm ready and waiting. A phone call from some one local might just encourage him to make right on this deal. Cheers Steve Ericibanez (Ericibanez) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 6:50 pm:    Jack, You should definitely file a fraud claim with eBay. Fraud would be his representing the item as excellent and it was grossly misleading. The item was not damaged in shipping? eBay put some heat on this guy and perhaps you can get some of your money back. Email him first and tell him you are going to file a fraud claim with eBay. Additionally, let him know that since money did changed hands (I hope you have some record of the purchase)over US state borders this particular Fraud could be classified as a violation of US Federal Fraud law and could be seen as a possible Federal wire fraud offense as well. This sort of communication to a non-responding seller should not be one of your first. I would: 1. email him letting him know that you want a refund and that you are considering filing negative feedback and going to eBay to file Fraud charges. Give him a deadline to respond and use the eBay email routing as well (comes in handy as a 3rd party has record of your trying to resolve situation). 2. If he does not respond by deadline. File eBay Fraud report and go through the mediation steps. That usually resolves this type of situation. Most likely you'll should hope to get your purchase price back and not the shipping amount. Try for that in the mediation. Also, MAKE A COPY OF THE AUCTION PAGE! For your records. Print one out and keep a digital file, if possible. Take a few digital photos of the bass as well. You will most likely not have to proceed further, as his auction is clearly misleading from what you can prove have received. I really don't like it when people take advantage of others like that. Go get him, but do it in a smart way. You should prevail. Johns (Johns) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 8:40 pm:    Jack: Did you have any correspondence with the seller via email during the auction? Except for the crushed tuner, his description is just vague enough to be technically true. "All knobs and switching working" doesn't necessarily imply that they are the "original" knobs, switches or circuitry. No, if he said "all original" that would have been a blatant case of fraud. The oversprayed headstock is just another convenient ommission of the facts. I think it's worth following up as Eric suggests. Jack (Jack) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 9:08 pm:    Yes I did I actually asked him if the machine heads where original to witch he said to his knowledge they where, I didn’t think to ask him about their condition or the active circuitry as from the pictures I could see it was a st-924 (battery compartment, selector switch, passive to active switch) or if it had Ibanez on the headstock I guess I blew it. he said that he had owned the bass for 6 years !I am really starting to doubt that now I don’t think he knew what he was selling me what do ya think? I just hope he contacts me so we can clear it up before I need to do what ericibanez suggested. Ericibanez (Ericibanez) Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 10:34 pm:    Here is a link to eBay's Buyer's guide tips. It is very helpful regarding safer ways to purchase. Hopefully this does not happen to any more of us. I've been burned a couple of times, very unpleasant. I'm sure we all feel for Jack. So, if any of you guys bid on eBay this may be a good thing to check out. http://pages.ebay.com/help/buyerguide/bidding-tips.html Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 1:26 am:    Jack, No need to wait around for him to contact you. Get his contact info from eBay. As the buyer in a completed auction, eBay will send you his phone number and registered address. He will get an e-mail from eBay imforming him that you have requested this info. I had to do this a while back because a buyer had changed his e-mail address. My deal turned out okay, fortunately. Cheers Steve Jack (Jack) Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 3:39 am:    I have just now received an email from him asking if I got the bass o.k. I have given him a serve and am waiting for his response hopefully he will be reasonable,apparently he has had computer problems. Jack (Jack) Posted on Friday, October 10, 2003 - 5:26 am:    I got my money back for the bass (and get to keep it) but lost out on the shipping I have learned a hard lesson and will be more questioning if there is a next time .now I have a hole new problem where to get a pre-amp and 1 r/h or a set of velve tune b2 machine heads? Any ideas. Thanks to all members for support and input. kind regards Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar) Posted on Friday, October 10, 2003 - 12:21 pm:    Good to hear, Jack. I suppose that was the best possible outcome under the circumstances. Good luck with the repairs. Cheers Steve Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2003 - 6:39 pm:    Jack where Do you live? I live in Sydney.. I may be able to help you get this bass in some sort of order... send me an email.... Jack (Jack) Posted on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 5:43 am:    Just an update guys on the bass repairs i hooked up with Spiro who it turns out lives only a stones throw away and he is very kindly putting this thing back together for me. A pre-amp is in the process of being made and we will change the machine heads to the btb type, might even put the Ibanez logo back on the headstock! Anyway any of you guys down under that have Ibanez issues or repairs Spiro is the man for you. I will keep you all posted on the progress and get some pics up soon. Once again a big thank you to all members for your kindness and concern. Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 12:56 am:    UPDATE!!!! A single tuner was found by CAMERON in his box o Goodies.. I pulled this tuner apart got the post out to replace it in the existing tuner (as they were from the Oppsoite side) fitted and tightened the post and CRAAAACK! it broke so Jack and I put our heads together and realised that Jack be nimble jack be making a new post on a lathe and getting it chrome plated and its a perfect fit!!! better than the original post so "Jack be nimble jack" be making another 4 posts as spares or even to replace the ones the other tuners... But we are still in the process of making up the circuit board for the preamp section.. more news to follow in a few weeks Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 12:58 am:    PS: Also figured out a way to pull those Smooth tuners and velve tuners apart without damaging them.. let me know if you want an in depth with pic's :D Munch (Munch) Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 5:45 pm:    Way to go Spiro!!! That is the spirit. I am blown away by this discussion page's power to right the wrongs of this world. I would be interested the process for pulling apart tuners. Perhaps you can post it under its own heading in the Miscellaneous section so it will be easy to find in future. Or better still, maybe John can set up a Technical Discussion topic. Cheers, Mark

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