Hi all!  I'll be be honest and say I have dealt with this individual in the 
past.  I guess I'll provide a contrarian view to those experiences posted thus 
far.  I purchased an Edison machine from him and it was packed relatively 
well.  It could have been better, but all was safe.  The machine was exactly as 
stated, but came with some extra mounting screws and springs to mount the motor 
to the motor board, so I'm sure someone got screwed (pun intended). I must 
agree that he was somehat a rude individual, but not so much that it really 
bothered me as he shipped very fast and everything was actually great!  I just 
thought I'd provide another view of just my experience.  I would not necessaril 
recommend him, but my transcation ended well thankfully after reading these 
posts.  I do not recall his name, but I looked his phone number up and found 
the following information for those who wish to dig deeper.
 

Antique Edison
(412) 257-8926 
301 Murray Ave 
Bridgeville, PA 15017 
antiquedi...@aol.com


--- On Sat, 12/4/10, Andrew Baron <a...@popyrus.com> wrote:


From: Andrew Baron <a...@popyrus.com>
Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Seller's Name was/ Frankenreproducer alert
To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l@oldcrank.org>
Date: Saturday, December 4, 2010, 4:07 PM


Hi All ~

A customer of mine bought an Edison cylinder player and horn from this seller.  
It was packed extraordinarily poorly with minimal and haphazard filler -- may 
have been crumpled newspaper.  The machine arrived with a broken cabinet top, 
and the horn had some end-to-end compression damage.  He asked me what he 
should do and I told him to bring everything over so I could see it, with the 
boxes and packing just as he received them.  I wanted to get a sense of the 
extent of the damage, the relative task of repairs, general reduced value so he 
could try to get some compensation, or if he should just send everything back 
and be done with it.

I couldn't believe how the horn was packed -- one large box that could only 
contain about 2/3 of the horn, with a small box taped on top to cover the 
narrow end.  No inner box, just these two taped together like a two-layer 
cake.  Just imagine how an arrangement like this must get toppled and battered 
during the typical UPS transfer station and stacking situations.  In emails 
that my friend bcc'd to me, the seller claimed that he has shipped horns for 
years packed like this and has never had one damaged.  Yeah, right!

I advised that the machine and horn should be sent back, which my friend 
reluctantly did.

The seller made promise after broken promise to compensate, benignly at first 
and persistently evasive as to how much or when, but never came through.  And 
time was passing.  I pointed out to my friend that he was entitled to buyer 
protection, but was in his last couple of days before the deadline to file a 
complaint.  My friend is a nice guy -- not good with confrontation, was 
allowing this seller to take advantage of him, and was giving the seller every 
possible benefit of the doubt, much to my frustration.  The seller had managed 
to string him along, I'm sure while counting down the days until his own 
liability disappeared.  It was maddening to helplessly watch from the 
sidelines, and so clear what the outcome was shaping up to be.

Finally on the last day he could do it, my friend filed a complaint with Ebay.  
At this point the seller turned vicious and accusatory in private emails to my 
friend, blaming him for damaging a perfectly good machine and horn, while at 
the same time claiming to eBay that the horn was packed properly, etc.  The 
eBay mediator my friend talked to apparently told him that the seller even 
tried to claim that the buyer had kept the perfect phonograph and sent back a 
damaged one.  It was just bizarre.  The guy would say anything.

To make a long story short(er), eBay paid my friend in full, shipping and all.  
I must assume that this is far from an isolated story with regard to this 
seller, and it chagrins me that he's still able to sell.  I believe that when 
eBay pays a buyer protection claim it precludes a negative feedback being left 
for the buyer (correct me if I'm wrong on this, if anyone knows better).  
Something wrong with the system?

A final note is that I too was wondering what the guy's full name was, and 
recall looking at the "from" name and address written on the box flaps.  He was 
using someone else's name, a woman's name if I recall, and using a different 
shipped-from address.  I think he might have signed one of his emails "John".  
Who knows if even this is his name?

Andy


On Dec 4, 2010, at 1:17 PM, clockworkh...@aol.com wrote:

> 
> 
> Greetings Dave:
> I actually don't know the Pittsburgh Phonograph Pirate's name.  Whenever I 
> have tried gently to enlighten him he responds with nasty responses telling 
> me I don't know what I am talking about.  Luckily he has never had anything I 
> need for my collection.
> When I started collecting in the early 1960's there were more crooks around.  
> Today we are far more educated thanks to MAPS, CAPS, Phono-L, etc., and that 
> makes it much more difficult to con us.
> Regards to all,
> Al
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Phono-L mailing list
> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
> 

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