Rare Myford Lathe rebuilds.

[Yorkie]

I'm not commenting on this particular case but sometimes sellers genuinely don't know what they are selling as terms like "Good condition" are always going to be subjective.

- Joe

I'm sure that's often the case Joe.

The Hameg 203-7 dual beam scope that I bought on e-bay which I referred to in another thread was a case in point. It was described as 'in good working order, but with no probes', which aroused my suspicions as with no probes, how could the seller verify that it was in good working order? My suspicions were further aroused by the way that the scope was displayed on e-bay, in that only one trace was shown, and that wasn't even centred. Were I to sell a dual beam scope such as this one, which - like many scopes has built-in squarewave test points for calibration, I'd have displayed these waferoms on the two traces. Both square waves are 1kHz - one is 0.2V , the other 2V.

I bid for the scope on the basis that I'd inspect and collect it and pay cash if it worked ok. I took some probes and a signal injector - nothing on either trace, and nothing from the built-in calibrator. I spoke to the vendor on the phone (he was at work) to let his know that the scope seemed not to be working, and he was most apologetic, saying 'please keep it free of charge for the trouble you've been put to'. I didn't feel comfortable getting it for nothing, so I left a nominal £10 as it would have been worth that even for spares. I felt that if I did get it working, I'd send some more money. I've covered the repairs that I undertook in another thread - the scope now works fine and I enjoyed repairing it.

I phoned the guy to let him know that I'd got it working, and would be sending him some extra cash, which he was most surprised about and reitererated that he felt really bad about what happened, and that he didn't expect any payment. I sent him an amount which was two-thirds of the original price, and I know there will be those who will think 'more fool you for even giving him a penny' but I grew up in a different world, and it would have rested on my conscience. I place a higher price on my honour than getting something for nothing, especially when in my judgement, the vendor was genuine and didn't set out to intentionally mislead. From my perspective, perverse though it may seem to some, this outcome was 'win-win' for both parties.

He's a married man in his late 20s with a small boy, and he needs the money more than I do. I checked his other offerings on e-bay and many were small items of childen's clothing for a pound or so - the sort of stuff you'd see in charity shops or at car boot sales. I guess that his child had grown out of them, and the was doing his best to make ends meet.