I've been had

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

I normally don't buy TVs or monitors anymore because people in this country ask outrageous prices for broken sets, and there's very little profit to be made.

However, i found a 32" Teletech LCD for an okay price ($50), owner said he bought it used, it started turning off by itself and now it no longer powers on. I asked if he went to get it fixed anywhere and he said no. He sounded like a honest guy, both on the phone and in person.

Well, i picked it up. And i've been had. Real good. Now i understand why my boss never pays more than $5 for anything unless he can test it on the spot. Live and learn i guess.

The power supply had been butchered. It probably works after fixing the 100 cold joints, but there's nothing left for it to power. Read on.

There's some soldering work on the mainboard too, and an ages-old Rubycon cap bodged somewhere on there. Other than that it looks alright but it's probably broken too, as the standby LED doesn't come on although the power supply does have standby voltage.

The left-side inverter is missing and THE PANEL HAS NO CCFLs. Yes, that's a panel in "perfectly good shape", just as described. Fucking bastard.

There's one thing left tho... in the ad he said he's got the remote too. And i forgot about it. I'll give him a ring if i could have the remote too and i'll throw the set in his face. He deserves it.

[diif]

Re: I've been had

Damn, it's always a gamble buying broken things, but the odds are heavily skewed if someone has been inside first.
I've just fixed up a power supply in a Bush TV i picked up cheap only to find the signal through HDMI is all messed up. No mention of that in the advert, but i only paid £10 for it.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: I've been had

Another thing is that for me it's always the real cheap stuff that's got the best returns. For example, i got a Compaq CQ62 mainboard for $5.80, complete with Sempron CPU, power jack and a ribbon with one USB. Board is faulty no video, but it's in perfect shape and no repairs have ever been attempted on it.

I sold the power jack for $8, and i still have the board which can sell for $60 once i get around to reballing the NB chipset, which will certainly fix it.

[Clydeuk]

Re: I've been had

I made same mistake a couple of years ago and paid £70 for a 42 inch LG reported fault screen lights up but no picture. Took a chance on a main or t-con fault, only to discover a cracked screen when I powered up, no mention off the crook of that. Couldn't say much after all it did "light up" still I left bad feedback (he already had a bad feedback which should have triggered alarm bells. Hope the knob reads this forum, I have the exact same set in working order so parts may be useful in future, not worth 70 quid but I may part it out someday if I don't need the boards any time soon.

[diif]

Re: I've been had

Nice.
Maybe the Compaqs are lucky ?! I've got a CQ61 here that just needs a couple of keys and a base plastic to get finished off. It came in pieces along with a boot full of other laptop and computer parts i bought for £25.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: I've been had

I normally don't buy TVs or monitors anymore because people in this country ask outrageous prices for broken sets, and there's very little profit to be made.

However, i found a 32" Teletech LCD for an okay price ($50), owner said he bought it used, it started turning off by itself and now it no longer powers on. I asked if he went to get it fixed anywhere and he said no. He sounded like a honest guy, both on the phone and in person.

Well, i picked it up. And i've been had. Real good. Now i understand why my boss never pays more than $5 for anything unless he can test it on the spot. Live and learn i guess.

The power supply had been butchered. It probably works after fixing the 100 cold joints, but there's nothing left for it to power. Read on.

There's some soldering work on the mainboard too, and an ages-old Rubycon cap bodged somewhere on there. Other than that it looks alright but it's probably broken too, as the standby LED doesn't come on although the power supply does have standby voltage.

The left-side inverter is missing and THE PANEL HAS NO CCFLs. Yes, that's a panel in "perfectly good shape", just as described. Fucking bastard.

There's one thing left tho... in the ad he said he's got the remote too. And i forgot about it. I'll give him a ring if i could have the remote too and i'll throw the set in his face. He deserves it.

Sounds like you were the victim of an eBay con artist!!

And the prices you were talking about, sounds typical of eBay listings, many eBay'ers can suck my dick!!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: I've been had

This was from a local classifieds site, not ebay. What's very bad is that on this particular site and a few others, there is no feedback so you never know what you're getting. But don't worry, he'll get what he deserves.

While he deleted the listing (i checked), it should still remain in the browsing history at work where i found it. I've got the guy's number, and whenever he'll post something new i'll ask a friend to arrange a meeting where my friend will never show up. And i'm still pondering what should i do tomorrow about that remote for this TV...

[tibimakai]

Re: I've been had

Imi pare rau de ce sa intimplat.
I had my share of these kind of people myself, but I'm learning.
Soon, I will have in inverter in my car. At least, some issues I will be able catch on the spot.

[tucocaps]

Re: I've been had

No offense, but I think the first problem was paying $50 for ANY broken set, let alone a 32 inch LCD?

Admittedly, the typical sellers of broken and/or cracked panel sets from Craigs list are insane. They'll ask something crazy like $100 or $50, and then realize that nobody is calling. You can blame ebay for this. Any fool can search "completed listings", which do not tell the story at all about what it takes to actually make money selling any tv parts on ebay.

Lately, I pick up working cracked panel only sets for no more than $15, and I'm beginning to think that's too much for just about any of them.

[mmartell]

Re: I've been had

Go easy on him as he said slim pickings where he is unlike the US or at least where you are located.

[tw2005]

Re: I've been had

Hopefully the good out weighs the bad. Somewhere along the line, we all get a dud. that's the risk.

[retiredcaps]

Re: I've been had

I normally don't pickup TVs as I have no room for them and there are people who do it for a "living", but a RCA 32 inch LCD TV came up for free and I knew it was likely just bad capacitors.

I didn't get my hopes up seeing how 130+ people had already viewed the ad, but I followed the poster's instruction to call and not text. 48 hours later, I get a call later to pickup the set. Another 48 hours later, I had a working TV. I haven't tested everything yet, but it is obvious the previous owner did not open the TV.

Today, I got my flyers and noticed Wal-Mart Canada is celebrating 20 years of business in Canada. They are selling a 32 inch RCA LED TV for $169 CDN. Buying to fix and resell and make money requires a lot of discipline and market knowledge.

As I realized a couple of years ago, Moore's law is alive and well in the TV consumer space. Unless it is completely free or money I'm willing to lose (under $20 is my limit depending on the item), I don't buy a lot of broken things anymore.

[retiredcaps]

Re: I've been had

The power supply had been butchered.

Pictures?

[tucocaps]

Re: I've been had

Go easy on him as he said slim pickings where he is unlike the US or at least where you are located.

I actually just noticed he is in Romania! He also said people there ask outrageous prices for broken TV's. Truth is, they do here in America too. 98% of these people are (of course) not TV technicians nor sellers of TV parts. They also seem to "know" a negative amount of information about TV's. For example, "yaa parts and labor on replacing that 50 inch panel should be about 100 bucks! so, $150 is a fair price for this cracked screen set". Even completely non-technical people know these statements are ridiculous, but the sellers of broken TV's do not. I think in most cases it's a case of "The economy is bad, so I'll see who I can ripoff". Unfortunately, the kind of people that actually buy broken TV's are usually smarter than the average bear. They should be anyway. It's a risky business.

[retiredcaps]

Re: I've been had

For example, "yaa parts and labor on replacing that 50 inch panel should be about 100 bucks! so, $150 is a fair price for this cracked screen set".

Or the classic, "it is probably just a fuse - easy fix for someone".

In the same Wal-Mart flyer, a 50 inch RCA LED is selling for $398 CDN.

[tucocaps]

Re: I've been had

Yeah, local sellers of "broken tv's" are a tough lot in my limited experience. I've had a few get down right nasty and almost violent when they don't get the money they think they are going to get for whatever reasons. Even in a fairly large city, there are few people even willing to buy broken sets, let alone pick them up , let alone pick them up for some ridiculous price north of $15. I think that frustrates them, but of course the problem is clearly with them, and not the rest of us offering them money for things that wind up in the curbside trash 98% of the time.

When/if I buy a broken set now, I won't meet them at their home or property for safety reasons. I meet in a public and visible parking lot or gas station. I carry an inverter in my truck to test. Only problem is the 750W inverter won't power a plasma However, so far I've been lucky in that if the plasma throws the overload on the inverter , the PSU has been OK when later plugged into household current.

[tom66]

Re: I've been had

I've been bitten a few times now. It sucks, but overall, I'm a lot more careful with what I buy. Recently had a bad one, got a 42" LCD which had a bad panel. Seller had bodged power supply so it did not turn on, but was able to fix it. At least in the end, I got a load of parts, and only paid £25 for it.

[alas3376]

Re: I've been had

so u r lucky

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: I've been had

Just so you can make an idea, the lowest prices around here are $70-$80 for TVs with cracked screens - people here are indeed crazy. While $150 or so will get you a working TV in perfect condition...

Yes there will be pictures.

I also found the guy from his phone number, he also has an account on a local computer gaming forum, which DOES have feedback in its trading section. And what do you know, some negative feedback to be seen. He burned another couple other people as well in the past.

[tom66]

Re: I've been had

You need to knock some sense into people, won't they take lower offers? Do people actually buy the sets at $70~$80 apiece?