A few weeks ago fellow blogger Dominic M1KTA wrote that he was selling off some unwanted projects from his shack, including some unbuilt or part-completed kits. A little while ago he wrote: "I have decided to stop selling off project builds now and I am keeping hold of everything until a rally when I can sell them in person as I have had a complete nightmare after selling one of the projects over the internet to someone I believed was capable of finishing it and has demanded I rebuild and re-align it after they hacked about with it themselves to the point where it no longer functions, they melted the pcb connectors and filed away part of the pcb and at least one track in the process to attempt to squeeze it into a box that was too small and demanded a paypal refund. I am never again selling a 'built' project over the internet it is too risky for me."
I have bought things before, either at rallies (hamfests) or from ads in RadCom, that were found not to work and sometimes revealed some astonishingly ham-fisted handiwork inside. The purpose of some modifications defied understanding. I either fixed them myself or wrote it off to experience.
The idea that someone could buy an unfinished kit and then try to make the seller liable for their inability to complete it just beggars belief. It seems some members of this hobby have no shame and no pride.
I told Dom he should publish the callsign of this so-called amateur as a warning to other sellers to steer clear. I know I would.
4 comments:
So would I. I don't understand why Don didn't just refuse to take it back or return the money.
I bought a pre-built tnc2 - what a mess there was a direct short across the +12v line a new fuse, diode and a bit of solder sucking and all was well.
Just the fact that just the fuse had been replaced even though part of the board had fried!
Buyer beware!
G0EMM
The words "constructed by a monkey with a blowtorch" springs to mind. Some of the soldering I have seen over the years must take a special type of skill because try as I might I can not get that much solder to stay in a lump while setting fire to the circuit board. Fortunately that company no longer makes rigs.
In spite of having formal training in soldering, my skills are rather rusty and quite poor (in part due to unsteady hands, perhaps early onset of Parkinsons disease or something similar). But I know my own limitations and stay away from kits. I generally purchase fully assembled items. I have no hesitation to "pay the man" to build it for me. And I have no embarrassment for my limitations. It is what it is.
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