Polk432,
OK, I'll go ahead and post the details here to warn others -- in case it might help.
I bought a Quantum Symphony tweak about a month ago from joe0506jj. He had one negative feedback but the positives looked legit. He was shipping the item from Australia to me in Asia by EMS courier. The item arrived at the EMS office here a few days later but since I live in a remote area I could only pick it up a couple of days ago. According to the seller, since it took me a month to complain my complaint has no validity. I explained to him that I live in a remote area and it took me that time to pick it up. I didn't mention being holed up with bronchitis which added to the delay this time. I have to wait for pick-up of all the audio equipment I have shipped here so a delay of several weeks is normal for me.
The item arrived in a single flimsy cardboard box -- 1mm to 2mm thickness -- that was placed inside a thin plastic postal envelope with no padding. There were a few pieces of Styrofoam popcorn in the box but the AC adapter was sliding around freely on top of the black box. The adapter was cracked. In the ad photo there was scotch tape around the adapter and I assumed it was to keep the spec label attached to the adapter since this is an old item -- rated 7/10. But now I suspect the tape was possibly to keep the adapter from falling apart because there was an all-the-way-through crack in the adapter on the side that never appeared in ad photos -- where the two halves of the adapter join together.
Also, the jack in the back of the box was not aligning with the hole in the black box. I found this odd. I shook the box gently and the contents were rattling around inside. I took a close look. It was clear the back of the unit had been removed and replaced back-to-front. The item had been tampered with in some way. I plugged the AC adapter in the wall and the light in the front of the unit did not come on.
I emailed the seller immediately. He said the item was mint when he shipped it -- not 7/10 as stated in the ad. His response was everything from "you're kidding me" to "are you nuts". In fractured English he responded "To have someone like you insisted on $200 10year old packed in a box filled with styrofoam and yet you insisted "must be double box" You obviously have no common sense of commercial ..."
The seller started to make outlandish statements. He said because I live in a third world country that must be the reason for the damage -- the post office must have abused the package. Next he said the tampering must have been dome by EMS. I pointed out to him that the package was flimsy and that in all the years I have been receiving EMS packages I have never had a single problem. We have FedEx and DHL here and I have never had a single problem with them either. Of course, the seller needed to find SOME reason to dismiss the validity of my report. Anything he could make up would do.
When he started to write insults I filed a PayPal dispute. He upped it to a claim. That's it for now. The $246 will not kill me if I lose it. That's not the point. The point is that he is saying I am responsible for the damage and the loss and that if I had wanted it double boxed I should have asked. Does this mean sellers are not responsible for proper packaging and that the onus is on the buyer in this department?
When I ship audio equipment -- and I ship all lover the world -- I make sure to double box and to put ample foam, bubble pack and/or Styrofoam peanuts in the boxes. I never ask the buyers what they want. They sometimes ask about boxing and I let them know the item will be carefully double boxed. In all the years I have never had a single problem with buyers regarding packaging.
OK, I'll go ahead and post the details here to warn others -- in case it might help.
I bought a Quantum Symphony tweak about a month ago from joe0506jj. He had one negative feedback but the positives looked legit. He was shipping the item from Australia to me in Asia by EMS courier. The item arrived at the EMS office here a few days later but since I live in a remote area I could only pick it up a couple of days ago. According to the seller, since it took me a month to complain my complaint has no validity. I explained to him that I live in a remote area and it took me that time to pick it up. I didn't mention being holed up with bronchitis which added to the delay this time. I have to wait for pick-up of all the audio equipment I have shipped here so a delay of several weeks is normal for me.
The item arrived in a single flimsy cardboard box -- 1mm to 2mm thickness -- that was placed inside a thin plastic postal envelope with no padding. There were a few pieces of Styrofoam popcorn in the box but the AC adapter was sliding around freely on top of the black box. The adapter was cracked. In the ad photo there was scotch tape around the adapter and I assumed it was to keep the spec label attached to the adapter since this is an old item -- rated 7/10. But now I suspect the tape was possibly to keep the adapter from falling apart because there was an all-the-way-through crack in the adapter on the side that never appeared in ad photos -- where the two halves of the adapter join together.
Also, the jack in the back of the box was not aligning with the hole in the black box. I found this odd. I shook the box gently and the contents were rattling around inside. I took a close look. It was clear the back of the unit had been removed and replaced back-to-front. The item had been tampered with in some way. I plugged the AC adapter in the wall and the light in the front of the unit did not come on.
I emailed the seller immediately. He said the item was mint when he shipped it -- not 7/10 as stated in the ad. His response was everything from "you're kidding me" to "are you nuts". In fractured English he responded "To have someone like you insisted on $200 10year old packed in a box filled with styrofoam and yet you insisted "must be double box" You obviously have no common sense of commercial ..."
The seller started to make outlandish statements. He said because I live in a third world country that must be the reason for the damage -- the post office must have abused the package. Next he said the tampering must have been dome by EMS. I pointed out to him that the package was flimsy and that in all the years I have been receiving EMS packages I have never had a single problem. We have FedEx and DHL here and I have never had a single problem with them either. Of course, the seller needed to find SOME reason to dismiss the validity of my report. Anything he could make up would do.
When he started to write insults I filed a PayPal dispute. He upped it to a claim. That's it for now. The $246 will not kill me if I lose it. That's not the point. The point is that he is saying I am responsible for the damage and the loss and that if I had wanted it double boxed I should have asked. Does this mean sellers are not responsible for proper packaging and that the onus is on the buyer in this department?
When I ship audio equipment -- and I ship all lover the world -- I make sure to double box and to put ample foam, bubble pack and/or Styrofoam peanuts in the boxes. I never ask the buyers what they want. They sometimes ask about boxing and I let them know the item will be carefully double boxed. In all the years I have never had a single problem with buyers regarding packaging.