Bad purchase experiences!

[daryltan]

Hi there,

I've been on soft for around half a year, and within this half a year i've had 2 bad experiences when dealing with people. Both are of similar nature.

I've had people telling me that their pedal is 100% working condition, and some even go to the extend of bringing out the input jack to show that the led will indeed light up when plugged in, which i really appreciated. However when i brought the pedal home, i found out after a few days that the pedal was slightly faulty e.g. some buzzing sounds when turning the volume knob/ the channel gets cuts off once awhile when on-ing and off-ing the pedal.

Although these are minor faults (which i think i can still live with them), i feel that it is unfair (or perhaps suay) for me to have made such deals. There was this one case where i contacted the person back, and he claimed the pedal was working perfectly well, and accused that it was me who spoiled the pedal instead. He refused to take the pedal back, nor to pay for the repairs needed to fix the pedal. However i'm pretty sure i did not spoil it as it was just lying on my table for a couple of days.

Whether or not the sellers were being dishonest or that it was a truly innocent mistake i do not know. However, is there any way to avoid such situations? What should i do about the previous cases? Anyone with similar experiences?

Please give me some advice.

Thank you!

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

1) To avoid, do not get anything from the used market. Its not a joke, since theres already situations which wasnt the best, theres prolly no other way to avoid(even for brand new items) other than not buying at all

2) To minimise such, buy only from people whom you know in the forum. Still there is no any other way to avoid when things doesnt work and sellers doesnt want to communicate. The problem is not with the gear but with how human behave at times. There is nothing that can be done as long as seller not willing take back and refund the money (can try making police report for scam and see if they wanna investigate) .

3) To minimise, save up more, buy brand new from shop/online merchants and get back to them for thw warranty if theres any. Still that doesnt mean nothing will go wrong or the shops will do a 1 to 1 excahnge or money back guaranty.

Anyway, the point imho, as long we want to buy, there will be no 100percent situation that nothing will go wrong.

 

[mightyboy88]

I believe the charm of buying second hand is that you are not only buying an item cheaper but you are also buying the fact that it is a used product and there are probably gonna be some reasons why the item is being sold cheaper than the original.

In some cases, a slightly faulty pedal may also be a good thing as it could lead you to do some troubleshooting with the electronics and from the process you could probably gain more from what you've lost.

Having said that, i think that it is the sellers responsibility to state the true condition of their items. If the bypass switch is faulty, say so and charge 20-30 dollars cheaper than market rate so that the buyer can buy the flawed product and replace the bypass switch and have a full functional product again. If the pots are worned out, charge 10-20 dollars cheaper than market rate so that the buyer can use the savings to fund a pot replacement etc.

 

[junkiemanxl]

Rule of the thumb to avoid such cases are to test before buying. This way you will avoid any unwanted misunderstandings on faulty gear.

If no testing is done, ask the seller to provide you a 1-2 day personal warranty for defects. Test the gear immediately when you get home and not wait a few days later. Have to be fair to the seller as well.

Remember that what you are buying is used gear at a lower price so some necessary steps are needed.

 

[daryltan]

hey yeah thanks for the responses! i know i have to take some responsibility on my part as well, but just disappointed and shocked that such incidences do happen. Really hope that sellers would be more honest. As in if the thing is spoiled then just say so, just charge a slightly lower price. Instead of insisting that the pedal is working fine and then a dispute breaks out.

 

[Nicholasim]

I kena too many times already. Trust me, I've been there and done that countless of times. From totally dead guitars to damaged guitars which te owner tried covering up using marker, faulty pedals etc

So now, I make it a point whenever o buy something to go down to the sellers house to test it thoroughly before buying. Make sure you check every single thing there is to check ( knobs, fret damage, finish damage, input jack etc). I don't care how far away the seller stays, better I travel there an teat rather than buy already and realized that it's spoilt.

But through this course, there were sellers who were screwed up like the one u had an experience with and also some sellers that are really nice and genuinely didn't know of the problem which they then try their best to work something out with you or give you a full refund.

So yeah, bottom line is to check before you buy

 

[Godsmen]

Just bring a portable amplug or something with ear phones and try it out on the spot if it's a guitar than. Safest best for the buyer I feel.

 

[relinquish69]

testing is the most important thing to do before making any purchase. that way everything is clear cut.