[Coco] Buyer beware

[Roger Taylor]

At 08:38 AM 2/23/2009, you wrote:
>Well, I'm among the (probably) thousands who have been bilked on eBay. I an
>effort to find an affordable Coco, I bought a 16K 26-3002 machine. The body
>is in great shape, but it won't even boot up. Garbage on the screen. And
>there is a piece of something rattling around inside. The "tamper hole" has
>had a replacement seal put very carefully over the damaged one, and the
>buyer MADE SURE that it was sold AS-IS-no refunds.
>
>I know I'm not the only one to fall for something like this, and I "puts
>down my money and takes my chances" along with everyone else.
>
>This is just a reminder to those who have never bought from eBay: BE
>CAREFUL. You too, could get screwed.


It's an online rummage sale full of risks and lots of sellers who 
don't mind what they do and can still well that night.  A parts 
pusher "kinda" took me for a little ride a few weeks ago.  200 1488 
ICs, 200 1489 ICs, 400 1.8432 mhz crystals.  But guess what?  Yep, 
there was a catch.  The ICs were replacement types, not the actual 
chips.  Sure, they might work, but the ad didn't mention 5788 or 5789 
versions of those chips anywhere, and I paid for the actual chips by 
the ID advertised... nor did the seller mention that the crystals 
were the old and ancient HUGE can type.  The legs on those things are 
thicker than a string of solder.  Sure, they might work, 
too.  :)  His pictures showed what appeared to be the standard 
crystals, so don't let those eyes play tricks on you.  The typical 
ebay seller is going to doctor with the images anyway to get the best 
exposure and then tell you "you get exactly what you see in the 
picture", but what about what's behind the object if it's rotated 180 
degrees, etc.?
I got a little revenge when I noticed that there were no 1488 (5788) 
chips anywhere in my package?  He sent two bags of 1489/5789's, 
instead.  After 2 weeks of bugging the guy and postponing the unsure 
feedback rating for a bit longer, he sent finally sent me the missing 
chips and said he didn't want the others back.  But still, no actual 
1488 or 1489 chips.  If someone here can assure me there's no 
electrical difference, I guess I'll cut the guy some slack.  :)








>This is just one that I will have to accept and move on.
>______________________________________
>*Square One Christian BBS
>Web access: http://www.sq1bbs.com/index.php
>Telnet access: telnet://sq1bbs.com
>
>A Taste of CoCo Forum
>http://www.sq1bbs.com/coco/index.php
>
>Live chat room - Ventrilo 3.x required
>Host name or IP: www.sq1bbs.com
>Port: 3784
>
>
>
>--
>Coco mailing list
>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

-- 
Roger Taylor

http://www.wordofthedayonline.com