Ripped off by "ccrider" in BT

"ccrider" listed a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver in BT that was represented in the ad as "serviced," "near mint," and "beautiful-sounding."
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=599852

In a private message, he also told me that it had been cleaned inside and out. Expecting to receive a clean, trouble-free vintage item, I paid the premium price that he was asking.

When I opened the shipping carton, I immediately noticed how musty and dusty it smelled. Even more seriously, when plugging it in I immediately noticed that the meter and tuner lights were all dead. I went ahead and hooked it up, and found a number of other serious issues, which I will describe in a second.

Another AK'er in the next town conveniently had a perfectly working CR-1020 for comparison, and the two of us did a diagnostic on the one that I had received:

• The tuner dial on the left side was slightly pushed back on the left side
• FM strength was very poor; impossible to pull in a stereo signal
• Meter and dial bulbs are all burned out
• Several cabinet dings, on the lower left and upper right edges - not 'near mint' as advertised
• The power section worked fine with headphones, but the left channel became extremely weak (barely audible) when there is a speaker load

I was willing to give ccrider the benefit of the doubt and assume that the unit had been damaged in shipping. I immediately contacted him about the problems, and he responded that he was leaving on vacation and would be back in 10 days, which is kinda fishy in this age of instant communication via smart phone… but OK. I was still willing to be patient and assume that he would demonstrate some integrity.

I attempted contact several times after his supposed return, by both email and PM, and got no response, so I escalated things to a Paypal claim, which finally got a response. He had the nerve to state on his Paypal claim response that "good sound" was subjective and that I was merely attempting to return it because I "didn't like it."

The story has a happy ending… Paypal sided with me and will get my money returned (although I will have to pay $50 or so out of pocket to ship the thing back). I was also able to buy the working CR-1020 from the local AK'er who helped me evaluate the other one, and it sounds terrific.

ccrider has a number of other "serviced" items listed on BT presently, and I urge anyone considering buying his stuff to avoid or else risk being ripped off like I was.

I have not bought from "ccrider" but have sold to him. My transaction was flawless.

I am saddened to hear that your transaction went poorly.

elusive said:

I have not bought from "ccrider" but have sold to him. My transaction was flawless.

I am saddened to hear that your transaction went poorly.

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Thanks.

Selling vs. buying is a very different equation.

Unless you have had direct dealings with this seller please do not post per AK forum rules!
Regards,
Jim

I bought a receiver from ccrider at roughly the same time as the thread starter. While my experience wasn't nearly as bad, I do feel like the item I received was not in the mechanical condition I was led to believe it would be. The receiver I bought was supposed to be deoxited, bias and offset adjusted, basically refreshed and working great.

The unit I received is in decent physical condition. The tuner was sort of a mess - the tuner knob had significant resistance (very dirty, I believe) and the sound out of the tuner was terrible. After moving the knob back-and-forth 50 or so times, the knob became more loose and the sound improved, although it's not great. And in doing so, I believe I must have dislodged the tuner string, as the dial no longer moves with the knob. This isn't a big deal to me, as I don't listen to radio.

The volume knob has some scratchiness to it and slight resistance as well, as if it needs a cleaning. It's no big deal and I can do it, but again, I don't think this is exactly what was marketed to me. I thought I was getting a plug-and-play item where someone else had done all of the DIY maintenance short of getting into recapping. I haven't checked the bias or offset yet and I hope it's on spec, but if it's not, I won't be overly surprised.

My item is ok and I'm satisfied given what the cost was and I believe I can do what is necessary to get it working to my total satisfaction. But I thought I was getting something that was more "gone over" than what actually came.

I don't think this is exactly what was marketed to me. I thought I was getting a plug-and-play item where someone else had done all of the DIY maintenance short of getting into recapping.

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Yup, same here. That is exactly what was implied in the listing I responded to. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I hope the AK mods will consider revoking ccrider's selling privileges.