Bought from the classifieds and it arrived with issues...

Hey all,

I'm not gonna name names or get specific for the sake of privacy, but I recently bought a Mesa/Boogie amp from the classifieds on TB and it arrived with issues. There is a strange crackling/popping noise coming and I've tried everything to fix it. Took it to my local shop and they told me I'd have to send it to the Mesa factory. Mesa told me the repair would be in the neighborhood of $500 when I only payed around 900 for the amp in the first place. Tried contacting the seller, haven't heard back from him. What can/should I do about this?

Thanks

 

I'd rather not say, as to protect the identity of the seller.

I did, but that did nothing. It seems only Mesa has the resources to fix it.

 

I messaged him first a month or so ago telling him that it was experiencing problems and he denied knowing about it before selling. I messaged him two days ago telling him it would be $500 to fix and have heard nothing back from him.

What help would it be to tell the model? Mesa has already told me they're the only ones that will fix it, as did the music store that I took it to originally (who was an authorized Mesa dealer). It's a model that they only fix in-house.

1. Just a couple days
2. Just that once, don't wanna send him the wrong message because I'm not freaking out *just* yet
3. He may have been offline, his profile doesn't say the last time he was online.

For those interested, it's a Mesa Boogie Big Block Titan V12. The guy who runs repairs at MB told me they only fix those in-house.

And yes, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because he seemed sincere and asked me to keep him updated when I originally told him of the problems. Just trying to get some info on what I can do if I never hear from him again.

 

It is a bit more complicated than that. He first said he wasn't aware of any problem and to keep him updated. I told him I'd give him an update after I had the issue diagnosed by a tech, because I assumed it was just a faulty preamp tube or something simple.
Then, going through the process of taking it to an authorized Mesa dealer took a while as they kept it in the shop, and then getting in contact with Mesa was a nightmare. After a long and tedious process I finally found out that I would have to ship it back to Mesa to get $500 of repairs on it if I want it to work right. No specifics, no statement of what exactly was wrong with it, just "it'll probably be 500 bucks or so, and we can only service the Titans in house."
So after finding this out, I send him a message a couple days ago, not saying that he owes me anything explicitly, but that it would cost $500 to fix the amp, because he asked for updates. And he hasn't replied, but I don't know if he's been online or not.

Nothing against the guy, he was very pleasant to deal with up until I sent him a message so it's probably nothing, but I am starting to get worried about this one.

 

I'm not sure. Maybe they don't know themselves what's wrong, they just have an idea of how much it typically costs to fix it? I don't know at what point the shop decided to redirect the amp to Mesa, could have been upon hearing that it was simply a Titan model, or they could have looked at it, determined it was only fixable at the Mesa Hollywood shop, and told Mesa about it? I have no idea, really, but I agree that it is very odd and quite frustrating. I think in the worst case scenario I'll just sell it cheap or for parts. I need to sell either the Titan or my M9 soon anyway.

 

Yeah I think I will have to call Mesa again this week and ask them what's really going on here. I had a good amount of confidence in buying as usually Mesa's are built like tanks. I think it may have happened in shipping, but I can't know for sure. Worst case scenario I sell it for what I can and walk into the world wiser than before.

Yeah, Mesa will do all the upgrades possible for an amp if you send it to them, and if it's not under warranty it ends up being really pricey. Kinda sucks.

 

Hey guys, just an update: Seller was out of town for a couple days, but he got back to me and is being really cool about this whole thing. All is well, no worries.