flyfisher
Flyfisher
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2007
- Messages
- 93
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CAVEAT EMPTOR ââ'¬â€œ Let the buyer beware!
(If it looks and sounds too good to be trueââ'¬Â¦ it probably is)
Although I do buy on ebay, it is mostly CDs and a past indulgence of tube rolling, nothing that has every caused me a problem. That was until a couple of months ago.
I have always bought my hi fi from a UK retailer and occasionally directly from the manufacturer. However whilst looking for some more CDs, I stumbled across a brand new 2008 never been used Bel Canto S300iu, with a very low 99p starting price. I tracked the amplifier and decided on my maximum bid of £1,120 which was a great deal considering list was £1,699.
I won the Bel Canto S300iu at £1,117 and that was where my problems started. The vendor did not want me to use Paypal to settle up. When I declined and paid using Paypal, the funds were transferred from my account but not collected due to problems at his end. I was given the option of cancelling the payment and should have done so at that point.
There was a delay of a week and a lot of chasing up until the amplifier finally arrived. Initially everything looked well, and the Bel Canto S300iu worked just fine.
I had another reason to call my Audio retailer Coherent Systems over a possible pre amp upgrade and I mentioned my ââ'¬Å"bargainââ'¬Â Bel Canto S300iu. What is the serial number, he asked as there are a few spurious imports around in at the moment. I gave him the serial numbers and he asked me the question again. He told me that what I had read out was not a proper Bel Canto serial number!
A few days later, I had a home visit from Coherent Systems, who are also well known Bel Canto retailers, to look at this particular amplifier.
The first thing noted was that the original makers marking labels had been removed from both the exterior case and internal packing cases.
The serial number was nothing other than a piece of Dymo label (although to the untrained eye a good label!) with some numbers on it. When the tape was lifted at one end, there was NO serial numbers on the back of the amp where it should have been screen printed by the factory in a box provided on the back of the amp.
Whilst the Bel Canto S300iu most certainly worked, I had something which was not the real product, and as such was worthless.
I confronted the vendor who was less than happy and disputed my findings, and after a week of heavy weight communications and questions, he still refused to say where he had bought the Bel Canto S300iu, but reluctantly agreed to take it back and refund me subject to certain conditions, and he would pass it back to his vendor.
The only speedy thing my vendor ever did during the six weeks plus, was to get the transaction cancelled on ebay so he did have to pay the fee.
Following almost another fortnight when the vendor was not available to receive the amplifier back, it was retuned to him. What then followed was a chain of communications giving reasons why he should not give me a full refund.
At this point I personally got in touch with Aanvil Audio, the official UK Bel Canto importers and together with Coherent Systems, sought help from both of them to counter all the ridiculous claims made by the vendor in order to avoid repaying me.
In the end I had to resort to some very long and explicit communications to get my vendor to realise that he was not in a position to negotiate, and that whilst he was holding both my money, and the Bel Canto S300iu which was a fake, the implications were obvious!
At the end of the day, the vendor actually got in touch with a senior Director at Bel Canto in the US who also confirmed to the vendor that the ââ'¬Å"serialââ'¬Â number was a fake, what we had been saying all along.
It was only at this point that the vendor informed me of his source, and at the time, I checked their web site. There were quite a few Bel Canto S300iu for sale plus a load of another well known US manufacturer's amplifiers on their web site.
What I find quite a choker is that all of this could have been avoided in the first place.
It has taken me nearly SEVEN weeks to get my money back.
My email communications amount to 82 items and that does not include all outward ones, as I have monitored the proceedings. Hardly quiet enjoyment of an Ebay purchase.
If I had bothered to ask Coherent Systems, he would have sold me an ex demonstrator Bel Canto S300iu for £1,200 delivered to my house WITH a full warranty and everything else one can expect from a UK retailer, including ongoing support and back up.
So I saved £1,200-£1,137 = £63, bought a fake, had seven weeks of total grief, and lost my own funds for that period of time.
If you don't ask you won't get. Yes not everything is sold at list these days, and most dealers have trade ins, ex demonstrators etc so you CAN buy from proper suppliers and avoid all the grief that I endured.
So if you see a 99p bargain on Ebay and it looks too good to be true, remember my experience, unless you do some serious detective work yourself, you could be buying a worthless fake with no resale value.
Pick up the phone and ask your own hi fi retailer for a deal, I am sure that you will get a pleasant surprise!
(If it looks and sounds too good to be trueââ'¬Â¦ it probably is)
Although I do buy on ebay, it is mostly CDs and a past indulgence of tube rolling, nothing that has every caused me a problem. That was until a couple of months ago.
I have always bought my hi fi from a UK retailer and occasionally directly from the manufacturer. However whilst looking for some more CDs, I stumbled across a brand new 2008 never been used Bel Canto S300iu, with a very low 99p starting price. I tracked the amplifier and decided on my maximum bid of £1,120 which was a great deal considering list was £1,699.
I won the Bel Canto S300iu at £1,117 and that was where my problems started. The vendor did not want me to use Paypal to settle up. When I declined and paid using Paypal, the funds were transferred from my account but not collected due to problems at his end. I was given the option of cancelling the payment and should have done so at that point.
There was a delay of a week and a lot of chasing up until the amplifier finally arrived. Initially everything looked well, and the Bel Canto S300iu worked just fine.
I had another reason to call my Audio retailer Coherent Systems over a possible pre amp upgrade and I mentioned my ââ'¬Å"bargainââ'¬Â Bel Canto S300iu. What is the serial number, he asked as there are a few spurious imports around in at the moment. I gave him the serial numbers and he asked me the question again. He told me that what I had read out was not a proper Bel Canto serial number!
A few days later, I had a home visit from Coherent Systems, who are also well known Bel Canto retailers, to look at this particular amplifier.
The first thing noted was that the original makers marking labels had been removed from both the exterior case and internal packing cases.
The serial number was nothing other than a piece of Dymo label (although to the untrained eye a good label!) with some numbers on it. When the tape was lifted at one end, there was NO serial numbers on the back of the amp where it should have been screen printed by the factory in a box provided on the back of the amp.
Whilst the Bel Canto S300iu most certainly worked, I had something which was not the real product, and as such was worthless.
I confronted the vendor who was less than happy and disputed my findings, and after a week of heavy weight communications and questions, he still refused to say where he had bought the Bel Canto S300iu, but reluctantly agreed to take it back and refund me subject to certain conditions, and he would pass it back to his vendor.
The only speedy thing my vendor ever did during the six weeks plus, was to get the transaction cancelled on ebay so he did have to pay the fee.
Following almost another fortnight when the vendor was not available to receive the amplifier back, it was retuned to him. What then followed was a chain of communications giving reasons why he should not give me a full refund.
At this point I personally got in touch with Aanvil Audio, the official UK Bel Canto importers and together with Coherent Systems, sought help from both of them to counter all the ridiculous claims made by the vendor in order to avoid repaying me.
In the end I had to resort to some very long and explicit communications to get my vendor to realise that he was not in a position to negotiate, and that whilst he was holding both my money, and the Bel Canto S300iu which was a fake, the implications were obvious!
At the end of the day, the vendor actually got in touch with a senior Director at Bel Canto in the US who also confirmed to the vendor that the ââ'¬Å"serialââ'¬Â number was a fake, what we had been saying all along.
It was only at this point that the vendor informed me of his source, and at the time, I checked their web site. There were quite a few Bel Canto S300iu for sale plus a load of another well known US manufacturer's amplifiers on their web site.
What I find quite a choker is that all of this could have been avoided in the first place.
It has taken me nearly SEVEN weeks to get my money back. My email communications amount to 82 items and that does not include all outward ones, as I have monitored the proceedings. Hardly quiet enjoyment of an Ebay purchase. If I had bothered to ask Coherent Systems, he would have sold me an ex demonstrator Bel Canto S300iu for £1,200 delivered to my house WITH a full warranty and everything else one can expect from a UK retailer, including ongoing support and back up. So I saved £1,200-£1,137 = £63, bought a fake, had seven weeks of total grief, and lost my own funds for that period of time.If you don't ask you won't get. Yes not everything is sold at list these days, and most dealers have trade ins, ex demonstrators etc so you CAN buy from proper suppliers and avoid all the grief that I endured.
So if you see a 99p bargain on Ebay and it looks too good to be true, remember my experience, unless you do some serious detective work yourself, you could be buying a worthless fake with no resale value.
Pick up the phone and ask your own hi fi retailer for a deal, I am sure that you will get a pleasant surprise!
