A very interesting story, as it highlights an idea I had about some sellers. As a seller, you have a lens that is defective in some mechanical way. You advertise it for sale as a perfect item, insisting on insurance for transit. It arrives "broken", the insurance company pays for it to be fixed and you are the recipient of funds for a perfect lens rather than a broken one. All it costs you is the insurance premium. Not moral or legal but some people won't worry about that.
I wonder how many times you could pull it before the insurance company cottoned on? > > From: Brendan MacRae <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I thought I'd relay this story to you all. > > Back in July I was looking for a long lens for the 67 > since the longest lens in my bag was the 165mm f4 LS. > I was thinking about buying a new 300mm and a > teleconverter (from the results posted on Luminous > Landscape this seemed like a good option) but I saw a > used 400mm ED on Ebay at a good price and jumped at it > with the Buy It Now option. The description said the > lens was well used but "optically perfect." > > So, the lens arrived about a week later and boy was I > not happy. The lens was shipped in its dedicated trunk > case but in a box with packing peanuts and > miscellaneous scraps of styrofoam. The trunk was not > packed snuggly and it shifted around inside the box. > When I took the lens out of the truck case to inspect > it I had it tilted slightly on end and my heart sank > when I heard a loud "thud" from inside the lens. Yep, > the IF helicoid was stripped and was just sliding back > and forth. And that wasn't the worst of it. Upon > looking into the lens from the front element I could > see that one of the internal elements was scratched at > the edge, a fairly large scratch, maybe 4-6mm long. I > was wondering if there was a screw loose inside that > caused it but I never saw or heard one. > > So, I contacted the seller and explained my dismay and > told him that he needed to claim it (yes, I insisted > on insurance) and that even though the box had no > obvious damage it should've been more carefully packed > (the box wasn't even marked 'fragile'). I told him > that even if the focus was operable I would insist on > a refund since there was no way I was buying a lens > with a scratched element, especially one described as > "optically perfect." After a few terse emails the > seller told me that the claim was going through and > that UPS would be by to pick up the lens for > inspection. > > In the end, UPS decided to pay to have the lens > repaired at Pentax in Colorado. I told the seller to > have them fix everything, including replacing the bad > element, and I'd be happy to have it. Suprisingly, I > got the lens today, over two months later from the > close of the auction, packaged nearly the same way as > before, but this time in good shape, no focusing > issues, no scratched element and freshly aligned and > CLA'd from our friends in Golden, Colorado. Even so, > when I went to fit the lens on the camera, well to be > honest, with this lens you fit the camera to the lens, > it wouldn't present flush. I tried it again and still > no luck. When I examined the lens mount In noticed > that one of the six screws holding the mount to the > lens hadn't been fully tightened and was proud of the > surface. I tightened it down and then mounted the > camera with no trouble. Finally, being a cautious guy, > I checked the focus scale against a tape and it > matched almost exactly. > > In eight years as a seller and buyer on eBay this was > first time I had a major issue with a seller. I > suppose I should count myself very lucky in that I was > dealing with a seller who was committed to making the > transaction work one way or the other. But, then, > before I bid I did what I always do which is check his > feedback rating, read a few comments (especially the > negative ones, if there are any) and look at the > seller's eBay store if they have one. In this case, > the guy was camera retailer from Florida with a good > rating so the purchase seemed very safe. In the end, > I'm happy with result but wondering if I'll be buying > gear like this off eBay in the future. ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.ntlworld.com Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software Visit www.ntlworld.com/security for more information -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
