Dissapointed buyer, item malfunctions experience?

You always need to try and decide the integrity level of the buyer once they complain. I have only had one bad experience as a seller on a $4000 ARC Ref-1 pre amp I sold to a guy in Japan. It was shipped in the ARC boxes with all their packing material which included foam tube holders placed (as they do) inside the preamp. The guy said a couple of resistors were broken when it arrived yet no damage to the boxes. This is virtually impossible and I was certain he pulled out the foam improperly which would grab the resistors and break them off.

He wrote an outraged feedback comment about me saying that I sold him a defective unit and he had no way of contacting me about it. When I wrote him back an email telling him what I thought happened and reminded him that he had my home number, my cell number, my home address and my email address as well as audiogon email he took back the negative and left me a POSITIVE comment!

I had the same situation happen to me but I was the buyer. If I had to do it all over again, I would have promptly shipped the unit back to the seller for a refund and allow the seller to arrange for the repairs to be made, as per Audiogon buyer/seller recommendations.

In my case, I bought a DAC from someone who is no longer here on Audiogon. When I received the unit, I connected it to my system and found that one channel was dead. I immediately contacted the seller who was surprised to here of the dead channel which was later found not to be from shipping damage. The seller then asked that I have the DAC repaired by the DAC's manufacturer and send him the bill. To make a long story short, I did as he asked, and the bill, which shocked the heck out of me, was over $800.00, but the seller decided the he would only pay me $500.00 for the repair. All and all, I guess that I'm lucky to received that much, since seller could have told me to take a hike.

Again, if you read the Audiogon recommendations, somewhere in there it is stated that if equipment is receive by the buyer in a condition that is not as advertised (i.e.: doa, dead channel, etc.), that piece should be promptly shipped back to the sell for a refund. At that point, the seller takes control of the situation. Which I think would be a good thing in your case.

gentlemen:

if people are reasonable, then most problems can be solved.

it might be a good idea to have a "what if" discussion between buyer and seller before the sale. the contingencies of damage and other events could be discussed as well as how to deal with each possible event.

No we are not dealers, but we should be fair. If a unit has malfuctioned when it was received by the buyer than I think a refund is in order. If the buyer wishes to keep the item and have it repaired, and you agree. Than I believe a repair or work order be faxed to seller in order to make a determination about your responsibilty as the seller. In many cases it is the container that the item is shipped in that causes many problems, and without the original box no matter how secure it looks it still is not being properly protected.

I happen to be the unit's buyer. When buying a used piece of equipment, as someone stated, one assumes the risks involved in the process. Obviously, one doesn't look forward to the hassle of repairing the unit, playing the phone-tag with the tech and being in the limbo, but that's what buying used gear sometimes involves. From now on, however, I will be buying new and covered by warranty equipment only (it's clear to me that not having to deal with the gamble aspect of used equipment is worth the extra investment).
Has it ever happened to me as a seller? It did. Due to some cosmetic damage, the buyer got half of his money back and then stated that he could live with some dings and dents.
Obviously, I find amusing the Sc53's statement about the seller not having any responsibility for the unit's proper operation upon arrival. It's one thing when it goes bad after some time of usage, another when it doesn't work properly from the start. It's called DOA. A claim with a shipping company would've been legit if there was a sign/evidence of mishandling or damaged packaging, which wasn't the case in this instance.
So, what one has here is the unit that doesn't work as advertised. I am not interested in speculating about whether it was operational when shipped, or something undetectable happened during transit. Based on the seller's perfect feedback and my gut-feeling I made a decision to resolve it the way I did. It's not because I am a "nice" guy, but rather because it seems to be a sensible way do it, and keep this site and our relationships civil and responsible.
That said, had I detected in this seller even a trace of Sc53's attitude(it's your problem now!), rest assured, this situation would have taken a totally different direction.