SERIOUS ADVICE NEEDED for issue with EBAY buyer who bought my SVT

naughtry · #1 10-29-2007, 12:37 AM

I sold an amp on ebay a few months ago and just got an email from the buyer that is leaving me clueless to how to respond.

It was a SVT-AV with JJTesla KT88 tubes and it sounds like the buyer did not realize you can not set the bias with the factory bias lights when using KT88's. Note the line where he mentions he had trouble setting the bias. I am not that knowledgeable about tube amps but I trust my local shop that did the work, Music Technology in Springfield, VA, an Ampeg Authorized repair shop.

Payment was received August 6th. He used buy it now but paid in two payments, the 2nd one after he got payment from auction items he was selling a few days later.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260143133049

Quote:

I bought your Ampeg SVT-AV head through eBay a few months ago. Last week, one or more of the tubes in the head started getting microphonic. This bothered me because only worn-out tubes get microphonic, and you said you had "recently adjusted the bias and looked the whole amp over, everything is in perfect working order" and "invested in professional installation of upgraded tubes". Before the tubes got microphonic, I had been having problems with not being able to correctly set the bias on the amp, but it sounded fine to me, and I never really thought about it. I have not been able to set the bias correctly since I received the amp.

I took the amp in to my local repair shop and they told me that the bias could not be set because the power tubes were not matched. I had them write out the plate current for each tube, and they aren't even close to being matched. They told me it is impossible to set the bias when the power tubes are not matched. The tubes were becoming microphonic because the amp could not be biased correctly and some of the tubes were burning out already. I have documentation of all of these problems from the repair shop.
I had to invest $400 in new tubes and tech fees to fix this problem. I was not prepared to do this, and according to your description of the amp, this should not have been a problem. You claim that the amp was correctly biased, but setting the bias would have been impossible with the tubes that were in the amp. I hope that this is a problem with your tech and that you didn't sell this amp to me with a known problem. I did not want to pay $400 to fix my $1200 amp that would not be having problems if it were properly cared for. If I knew that this amp would wind up costing me $1600, I would not have bought it.

Please get back to me with how you would like to resolve this problem. I hope that you will pay for my new tubes and tech fees. If you do, I will send you back the tubes that were originally installed in the amp. If you decide not to pay me, I have received legal counsel and am prepared to report you to eBay and to your local authorities for fraud. If this occurs, I will be seeking punitive damages in excess of my new tube cost and tech fees.

You were a fair and reasonable person when I won the auction and you allowed me to pay you in installments. I hope you understand my frustration and know that I'm not trying to come after you for money, but that I have a genuine problem that you or your tech should have known about and prevented.

Thank you,
[name deleted]

How should I respond?

I have documentation (barely legible tech notes on a repair order) of the work I had done to the amp but I moved and it's in storage hundreds of miles away. No receipts for the tubes though, those were bought from Eurotubes awhile ago. I moved and the amp was in just sitting at my parents house for a long time before I took it into the shop to have the input jack fixed and have the amp looked over and bias adjusted.

MoD_Scotty · #2 10-29-2007, 12:44 AM

If you don't have a receipt from the shop you had work on the amp, go back to them and see if they can provide you with a copy of their receipt. Send him a copy and just be honest...as far as you knew the amp was cool. It's very possible the tubes were messed up during shipping, or the shop you had work on it messed up. Regardless, if you are being honest in this case, you shouldn't have to reimburse him.

bongomania · #3 10-29-2007, 12:51 AM

I would contact the repair shop that did the work for you and see if they have any record of the work performed. Explain to them that it is a critical situation and you need a copy of their record or receipt if they have one. If they don't have any record, and you don't have any record, then your position becomes tougher. If they are able to get you some record of the work they did, you can then show that to this guy and say "look, an authorized Ampeg repair shop did this work, they should know better than anyone how the tubes should be installed and biased in this amp, and that is the basis of the auction description."

Did your auction use the words "as is" or any other expression which could get you off the hook? Would you be able to get a note from another tech explaining the way the KT88's were biased and the ways they can't be biased?

Edit: +1 to the idea that if you were honest, there is no need for reimbursement.

naughtry · #4 10-29-2007, 12:56 AM

could anyone tell me if its possible that he caused the tubes to go microphonic himself?

he obviously did not know the bias lights are useless with kt88's and tried to set the bias himself therefore throwing it way off, then playing on it for two months... would that do it?

Quote:

Before the tubes got microphonic, I had been having problems with not being able to correctly set the bias on the amp, but it sounded fine to me, and I never really thought about it. I have not been able to set the bias correctly since I received the amp.

what he said his shop said:

Quote:

The tubes were becoming microphonic because the amp could not be biased correctly and some of the tubes were burning out already

**cheezewiz** · #5 10-29-2007, 12:59 AM

I'd tell him to F off. The whole threat of legal action would be all I needed to hear to realize he's a dickweed. If you had the bias etc. done by a reputable dealer, he has no leg to stand on.

naughtry · #6 10-29-2007, 01:01 AM

i will give the shop a call tomorrow but i somehow doubt they will have a copy. it was just a handwritten order on ink paper , i remember i could honestly not even make out a word of the techs handwriting on the copy i got.

luckily i will be playing a show in the area on nov 3rd so i may be able to get something sorted but right now i am very far away.

naughtry · #7 10-29-2007, 01:05 AM

yeah i thought the same when i read that line.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

I'd tell him to F off. The whole threat of legal action would be all I needed to hear to realize he's a dickweed. If you had the bias etc. done by a reputable dealer, he has no leg to stand on.

Tim Cole · #8 10-29-2007, 01:25 AM

Ask him what technique he used to bias the tubes when he was messing with it. Did you go by the manual on the instructions to bias?

Then say NOTHING more until he replies. Let him hang himself. Then explain to him the obvious problem, and wish him the best of luck. Regardless....tubes are like light bulbs, and are expendable items. Any claims I have come in months after the deal, they are on their own. I sell used stuff, and am not a dealer.

Then, tell him to pound sand, and block his email.

bluestarbass · #9 10-29-2007, 07:00 AM

so 5 monthes later he emailed you. Try that at a retail store and theyd tell you the same thing, go F yourself. 5 monthes on tubes is technically long enough to wear them out given you are playing on them A TON. That guy cant prove he wasnt playing on them. Tubes are meant to be replaced. Show him the receipt of the work and tell him tough.

TrooperFarva · #10 10-29-2007, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naughtry

could anyone tell me if its possible that he caused the tubes to go microphonic himself?

Right here, from his own e-mail

Quote:

Originally Posted by goon

Before the tubes got microphonic, I had been having problems with not being able to correctly set the bias on the amp, but it sounded fine to me, and I never really thought about it.

If the tubes were not yet microphonic, and it sounded fine, and he was told the bias was set properly, why was he messing around with it? This is his own doing, tell him to drop dead.

mjolnir · #11 10-29-2007, 07:14 AM

5 months?

Man needs to be slapped... What a jerk.

+1 on letting him hang himself.

lefty007 · #12 10-29-2007, 07:52 AM

"Before the tubes got microphonic, I had been having problems with not being able to correctly set the bias on the amp, but it sounded fine to me, and I never really thought about it. I have not been able to set the bias correctly since I received the amp."

Regardless if your shop put matched tubes or not, he's saying that the amp sounded fine, yet he still was trying to set the bias himself, obvously without knowing what he was doing. . .

I wonder what prompted him to set the bias. . .

**Ryan L.** · #13 10-29-2007, 02:58 PM

He's on his own, IMHO. 5 months have passed??? You have no idea what he has done to that amp in that time frame--this is NOT your problem.

If the amp was in working order when he recieved it, and he admitted that he thought it all sounded fine, then why is it now your problem that the tubes are messed up. Complete bull.

MakiSupaStar · #14 10-29-2007, 03:04 PM

5 months later!!! Forget it. You're done with him.

Vandelay · #15 10-29-2007, 03:17 PM

According to eBay policy, buyers are supposed to open these kinds of disputes "between 10 and 60 days after the purchase date".

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/inr-snad-process.html

**Thor** · #16 10-29-2007, 03:25 PM

And given that, you owe him no other explanation.
He bought used equipment, and had adequate time
to inspect and use it. Further issues and wear and tear
are the responsibility of the owner, him.

MoD_Scotty · #17 10-29-2007, 03:25 PM

^^^ OH SNAP!

Spector_Ray · #18 10-29-2007, 03:28 PM

IIRC, ebay's standing motto is caveat emptor. He's screwed and has no leg to stand on especially after 5 months of possible abuse.

fenderhutz · #19 10-29-2007, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vandelay

According to eBay policy, buyers are supposed to open these kinds of disputes "between 10 and 60 days after the purchase date".

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/inr-snad-process.html

+100000000000

Say he should have brought it to your attention earlier, unless due to him making installments he has only had it 2 months. Whether he messed up or you messed up MORE than enough time has passed.

Advise him of this as well. He has more than enough time to test the amp. Did you specify a return policy. Just because he throws up the words legal counsel it's just him barking.

He should have advised you of the issue well before he paid his techs to fix it.

iamlowsound · #20 10-29-2007, 07:33 PM

Legal action on something that cost him $1600? Laughable, he will spend more on a lawyer that will tell him that he has no bases for legal action.

lowsound