Repair Shops in Orlando Area

[Chris F.]

I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive, I've suggested he take it to a local shop
and I'll reimburse him for the cost of the repair (I doubt it's anything
serious). The buyer however is wary of taking it to a shop, and rightly so,
because of the tarnished reputation of that industry. He's going to ask
around, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask if anyone here knows of a
reputable shop in the Orlando area, that would be able to service Beta
VCR's.
Thanks.

 

[Adrian C]

On 15/04/2010 15:58, Chris F. wrote:

I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive,

Please do some research on your purchaser, and if necessary take
measures to prevent a PayPal chargeback. You'll want to be entirely sure
that there actually is a problem and you are not about to be scammed :-(

--
Adrian C

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:58:03 -0700, "Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive, I've suggested he take it to a local shop
and I'll reimburse him for the cost of the repair (I doubt it's anything
serious). The buyer however is wary of taking it to a shop, and rightly so,
because of the tarnished reputation of that industry. He's going to ask
around, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask if anyone here knows of a
reputable shop in the Orlando area, that would be able to service Beta
VCR's.

There's something wrong with this picture. I suggest you ask the
buyer to make a video of him inserting a Beta tape into the VCR and
send it to you. If it looks like there's a failure, then continue
with the repair suggestion.

As for the cost of repair, my shop time (for computahs and 2way
radios) is about $75/hr. That means it will cost up to half that for
just an estimate. I don't know what you're expecting in charges, but
repairing old hardware might be pricy because of the lack of parts and
service info. Get a repair estimate first.

Also, I've never had this happen to me, but it did happen to an
aquaintence.
<http://reviews.ebay.com/New-buyer-related-scam-effecting-sellers-Return-Fraud_W0QQugidZ10000000004227183>
The buyer bought a laptop on eBay at the buy-it-now price. The seller
shipped it and was paid with Paypal. However the buyer decided that
it was somehow defective, wanted to return it, and wanted is money
back. This was duitfully arranged. However, when the laptop arrived,
it was a totally different laptop, and you guessed it, was seriously
broken. eBay dispute center got involved. The buyer sent eBay all
his documentation including the return shipment info. Since there was
no way for eBay to verify that it was the same laptop, eBay credited
the buyer the full amount (excluding shipping).

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[circuit]

Unfortunately, this is a pretty common occurence, and as this poster said,
it could be a false accusation to begin with, or the user may simply not
know what they are doing. Ask for more details of the problem, what kinds of
noises it makes when trying to insert the tape and weather it tried to grab
the tape or not. You can usually tell is someone is making things up by the
answers they provide...or its quite possible they merely are not doing
something correct on their end. Theres also the possibility it was damaged
during transport since Canada to Florida is a great distance. Otherwise, you
can check this list for a shop in Orlando to serve as a 3rd party unbiased
opinion maybe:

http://www.yext.com/tvrepair/search?zip=32831

There's something wrong with this picture. I suggest you ask the
buyer to make a video of him inserting a Beta tape into the VCR and
send it to you. If it looks like there's a failure, then continue
with the repair suggestion.

As for the cost of repair, my shop time (for computahs and 2way
radios) is about $75/hr. That means it will cost up to half that for
just an estimate. I don't know what you're expecting in charges, but
repairing old hardware might be pricy because of the lack of parts and
service info. Get a repair estimate first.

Also, I've never had this happen to me, but it did happen to an
aquaintence.
http://reviews.ebay.com/New-buyer-related-scam-effecting-sellers-Return-Fraud_W0QQugidZ10000000004227183
The buyer bought a laptop on eBay at the buy-it-now price. The seller
shipped it and was paid with Paypal. However the buyer decided that
it was somehow defective, wanted to return it, and wanted is money
back. This was duitfully arranged. However, when the laptop arrived,
it was a totally different laptop, and you guessed it, was seriously
broken. eBay dispute center got involved. The buyer sent eBay all
his documentation including the return shipment info. Since there was
no way for eBay to verify that it was the same laptop, eBay credited
the buyer the full amount (excluding shipping).

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[PeterD]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:58:03 -0700, "Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive, I've suggested he take it to a local shop
and I'll reimburse him for the cost of the repair (I doubt it's anything
serious). The buyer however is wary of taking it to a shop, and rightly so,
because of the tarnished reputation of that industry. He's going to ask
around, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask if anyone here knows of a
reputable shop in the Orlando area, that would be able to service Beta
VCR's.
Thanks.

Refund his money, (all including shipping), appologize for the
problems, and tell him to keep the recorder.

 

[PeterD]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:05:25 +0100, Adrian C <email@here.invalid>
wrote:

On 15/04/2010 15:58, Chris F. wrote:
I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive,

Please do some research on your purchaser, and if necessary take
measures to prevent a PayPal chargeback. You'll want to be entirely sure
that there actually is a problem and you are not about to be scammed :-(

Doesn't matter. The seller has no choice, if the buyer wants his money
back, that is exactly what will happen. The only way to prevent a
PayPal charge back is to refund--the buyer has a legal right to demand
that the item be in the stated condition *when he receives it* and has
no obligation to do anything else.

Of course one could close their PayPal account, close their eBay
account and retire, that might work...

 

[PeterD]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:46:45 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:58:03 -0700, "Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com
wrote:

I recently sold a Beta VCR on Ebay, it was in perfect shape when I mailed
it but the buyer says it won't take a tape. Since the return shipping to
Canada would be super expensive, I've suggested he take it to a local shop
and I'll reimburse him for the cost of the repair (I doubt it's anything
serious). The buyer however is wary of taking it to a shop, and rightly so,
because of the tarnished reputation of that industry. He's going to ask
around, but in the meantime, I thought I'd ask if anyone here knows of a
reputable shop in the Orlando area, that would be able to service Beta
VCR's.

There's something wrong with this picture. I suggest you ask the
buyer to make a video of him inserting a Beta tape into the VCR and
send it to you. If it looks like there's a failure, then continue
with the repair suggestion.

As for the cost of repair, my shop time (for computahs and 2way
radios) is about $75/hr. That means it will cost up to half that for
just an estimate. I don't know what you're expecting in charges, but
repairing old hardware might be pricy because of the lack of parts and
service info. Get a repair estimate first.

Also, I've never had this happen to me, but it did happen to an
aquaintence.
http://reviews.ebay.com/New-buyer-related-scam-effecting-sellers-Return-Fraud_W0QQugidZ10000000004227183
The buyer bought a laptop on eBay at the buy-it-now price. The seller
shipped it and was paid with Paypal. However the buyer decided that
it was somehow defective, wanted to return it, and wanted is money
back. This was duitfully arranged. However, when the laptop arrived,
it was a totally different laptop, and you guessed it, was seriously
broken. eBay dispute center got involved. The buyer sent eBay all
his documentation including the return shipment info. Since there was
no way for eBay to verify that it was the same laptop, eBay credited
the buyer the full amount (excluding shipping).

Yep, that's exactly what can happen. Especially for international
sales (such as this one was).

 

[Chris F.]

Doesn't matter. The seller has no choice, if the buyer wants his money
back, that is exactly what will happen. The only way to prevent a
PayPal charge back is to refund--the buyer has a legal right to demand
that the item be in the stated condition *when he receives it* and has
no obligation to do anything else.

Exactly right - if the buyer decides they want their money back, whether
they have a good reason or not, they can basically take it out of the
sellers hide. No wonder so many sellers have left Ebay, and I'd leave too if
I wasn't so hard for money.
I have no reason to suspect this guy is dishonest, his feedback is good and
he hasn't been rude or demanding in his communication. But these days, who
knows.