Alrighty, here's the trouble I had with hines in more detail. I bought a PS1 screen from him over a month ago. This is the original deal thread:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164809
Basically he said it works fantastic and had no dead pixels. It had a fair price, so I bought it. I paid him on Sunday 5/6/07. A few days pass by and I don't hear from him. So I send him a PM on Friday 5/11/07 to see if he's shipped it off. This is the response I get:
hines1515 said:
sorry i have been in and out of the hospital i got my wife to drop of some packages at the P.O. wednesday i will ask her if she mailed it.
sorry for the delays.
I understand, crap happens, and I say it's no problem and even ask if he is alright. So some more time passes by, and still nothing. So I send him another message asking when he mailed off the package. He responds:
hines1515 said:
it was mailed last week but it went to the wrong place.one of my ebay customers most likely got the lcd screen that sucks,,
i hope like hell it gets sent back to me if not i will provide a refund..
i get paid in two weeks if i dont get the package back i will provide a money order refund for the full amount or paypal whichever you prefer.
OK, stuff happens, no biggie. I give him the benefit of the doubt. Plus he's more then happy to refund me if it did get shipped incorrectly. Again, a few more days pass and I get a PM on 5/16/07:
hines1515 said:
just checked with the P.O. as promised and the package never left the Postoffice the address was wrong..thank god for that.
i got it today and its going to mailed out by DHL ground i will give you a tracking number on friday.
it sucks it took so long to get the goods to you usually i ship fast i would rather correct a mistake then get a negative feedback on here as i plan on listing most of my collection on here very soon.
i was a bit worried for a while but its cool now..
More delays. after a few days, I don't receive a tracking number. So I PM again asking for the tracking number. He sent me a response on 5/21/07:
hines1515 said:
i could do it by dhl ground but it did go out by priority mail you should have it in like 2 days..
this is brian castleberry right?
i mailed your screen and mattew's sega saturn stuff today.
let me know when you get it.
So it's has been 5 days since he said he would send it off DHL and he's just sending it off. It's now been 15 days since I sent the money and he's finally getting around to sending me the package. Again, I don't make a move, I just wait for the screen in the mail.
A couple of days later on 5/23/07, the screen arrives, but not as I expected. I opened up the package, and the screen was put in a Sega Saturn controller box. It protected it well enough, I guess, but I was disapointed that there was no padding to protect it. I did appreciate the fact that he did put a film over the screen to protect it while shipping, but that really was a small guesture.
At first glance, everything seemed to be fine, but after closer inspection, I found some disturbing things. Here are some pictures I took with my camera phone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/s7cbassplayer/173241638533.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/s7cbassplayer/173241678213.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/s7cbassplayer/173241776389.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/s7cbassplayer/173242329733.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/s7cbassplayer/173242368005.jpg
As you can see, there was some hard, almost concrete substance in the groves of the screws where the screen mounts onto. Also, the area around the AV input were terribly gunky and dirty. The left speaker grill was falling off and was pretty much useless. Add to that, there was a dead pixel when he expressly said there was no dead pixel. Also, he did not included the stereo cables. Not a biggie, but another strike against him. The screen itself was nice, but that was about the only good thing about it.
I really didn't mind the long wait, and I didn't mind that his wife didn't send it out until later. I didn't mind that it then got sent to the wrong person. He seemed to be honest the whole time. But when I got the screen, I was a bit ticked that I had been taken. Nowhere in his thread did he say anything about it being dirty and in terrible condiditon.
I asked for a partial or full refund for the item. I told him I was willing to send it back to him, minus shipping cost, and get my money back. I was really disapointed in the whole situation. It had been almost a full month since I paid for the screen and after being patient and understanding, I get a screen that looked like crap.
So after we discuss it, he sends me a PM on 5/23/07:
hines1515 said:
i tell you what..since i am broke at them moment i get paid next week how about i send you $25 paypal next friday.
and then you trash or use it the way it is.
as you may already know i visit this place about every day if i happen to the funds sooner you will be refunded..
if that sound cool let me know.
This all sounded good to me. I get a refund because of all this junk and everybody's happy. So next Friday comes around, and I don't hear anything from him. I message him to ask him what the status on the payment was and he responds on 6/2/07:
hines1515 said:
hey man can i get more time to pay you the $25??
i sold some games on ebay that were uninsured and a buyer has filed a paypal claim against my account stating the goods he receieved got damaged in shipping.
since i left my ebay return policy alone and left it to 5 days..i am obligated to pay him back which *SUCKS* because one game got broke during shipment,,not all of them.
sorry to go on and on about my personal life.
its just that i need more time to pay you thats all.
Yet again, I'm trying to be very patient and tell him it's no problem and to let me know when he has the money. So more time passes by. I PM him on 6/12/07 asking him if he has the money yet. He responds:
hines1515 said:
i know this may be pushing it but can i give you a partial refund as i am rather broke at the moment..lol
YET AGAIN, I tell him to send me the money when he gets the whole amount, not just some of it. So now it's been a month and a half since I first sent my money and still nothing from the guy. I think I have been very fair about the whole situation, I haven't even left him negative feedback, but this is getting old and fast. He had my $25 at one point, but now it must have been spent as he no longer has it.
I don't think he's a bad guy or bad seller, just a poor seller as he can't get his crap together and seems to be full of excuses. It's just sad that he really doesn't treat his buyers better. False advertising, slow shipping, and excuses don't really work for me. This is just a heads up for those who might be dealing with this guy.
