Major Bummer

[gringobill]

So I won a Chase Pattern Osborne splitter on ebay a week ago last Sunday. It looked pretty rough in the photos with rust and crud all over it but seemed to be intact with all the parts. I figured with a little love and a lot of elbow grease and TLC I could restore it to working condition and have a very cool old working tool.

So to start with I have never had any communication from the seller (who has 99.9% positive feedback,) inspite of sending him emails after winning the item, paying for it within an hour of winning and to check to see if it had shipped. Never heard a peep out of the person.

So the big day arrives this past Monday 9 days after the auction closed, and it arrives and the box is in tact and looks good. I open it and it's packed in that "styrofoam popcorn," and some empty boxes, it looked like it was well packed. It was sent by USPS Priority Mail. I don't know if it was insured because I can get the seller to respond.

So when the splitter came out of the box it was in four pieces, it is totally trashed. The cast iron frame is broken in four places and I am just sick!!!

I immediately start emailing the seller to figure out what to do and I sent photos of the carnage. It is now Wednesday morning and I have not heard word one from the seller.

I should say here that I think the thing started out in one piece and that the good ol "Postal Service," threw the box off a 10 story building and when it hit.....that was it!

At this point I'm really torn about what to do. What I'd like to do is get all or most of my money back and keep the splitter and see if I can braze it back together and use it. I'm a decent hand with an oxy-acetylene torch and I am semi confident I can put it back together. However brazing cast iron and keeping it from cracking is a bit of a trick and I'm not interested in a $255 experiment ending up with a pile of junk pieces.

Of course trying to talk to a human at ebay is like calling Obama and getting through. They have all the "FAQ's" and their other handy dandy automated systems that we are supposed to use to solve all of lifes problems.

I'm trying to maintain my composure about the seller not responding to any of my emails, giving him the benefit of the doubt it is right in the middle of the Christmas/holiday season and he may have gone to grandmother's house or may be in Hawaii or something. But my patience is wearing thin.

My pragmatic logical brain is saying "box it up send it off, get my money back (maybe) and there'll be another splitter like it again on ebay sometime!" My emotional side is saying "keep it, hopefully fix it and have a great story to tell."

Dang it's always something!!!!

Bill

[dirtclod]

If you paid with paypal or used your credit card file a claim/stop what ever it's called with paypal or your credit card company. Save the boxes and take pictures of every thing save your emails showing that you have tried to get in touch with the seller and print the auction out. Keep a paper trail along with pictures. Paypal or your credit card should put a hold on the payment. If you sent a money order i'm not sure what to tell ya.

[Luke Hatley]

THAT JUST SUCKS...........I had the same problem with a 5 'n'1 machine...no response from the seller and e-bay was NO HELP...i will not buy any mechinal items there now,

what the saying "buyer beware"

[bruce johnson]

I have only had to deal with an Ebay problem once and they got right on it. There should be some protection through Paypal also.

Dealing with postal insurance is not pleasant and the shipper's responsibility anyway. They are the ones who paid for the insurance. For the claim they will want you to save everything - box, packing materials, and all the pieces. The catch is that the the post office can claim the item was not properly packed and deny the claim. From another experience, packing peanuts around cast iron is not proper packing so it wouldn't surprise me to see it denied.

[Art]

Hi Bill,

I have welded cast iron with good, bad, and ugly results. You need to tap the welds pretty hard with the peining end of a ball pein hammer, takes a lot of practice. Brazing might be more successful.

I would make a claim through eBay and PayPal. I always use PayPal with eBay and the few times I have had problems, I let them fix it. They usually guarantee transactions and in my instances they came through, usually a full refund. They like to take some time to let things clear, but they do come through. They (both eBay and PayPal) get their vig on the other end, but as a buyer, it works.

If you really want a Chase splitter, have Bruce Johnson keep an eye open for one in the condition you want, Bruce has probably forgot more about those than anyone else knows, and he seems to find them pretty regularly.

Art

So I won a Chase Pattern Osborne splitter on ebay a week ago last Sunday. It looked pretty rough in the photos with rust and crud all over it but seemed to be intact with all the parts. I figured with a little love and a lot of elbow grease and TLC I could restore it to working condition and have a very cool old working tool.

So to start with I have never had any communication from the seller (who has 99.9% positive feedback,) inspite of sending him emails after winning the item, paying for it within an hour of winning and to check to see if it had shipped. Never heard a peep out of the person.

So the big day arrives this past Monday 9 days after the auction closed, and it arrives and the box is in tact and looks good. I open it and it's packed in that "styrofoam popcorn," and some empty boxes, it looked like it was well packed. It was sent by USPS Priority Mail. I don't know if it was insured because I can get the seller to respond.

So when the splitter came out of the box it was in four pieces, it is totally trashed. The cast iron frame is broken in four places and I am just sick!!!

I immediately start emailing the seller to figure out what to do and I sent photos of the carnage. It is now Wednesday morning and I have not heard word one from the seller.

I should say here that I think the thing started out in one piece and that the good ol "Postal Service," threw the box off a 10 story building and when it hit.....that was it!

At this point I'm really torn about what to do. What I'd like to do is get all or most of my money back and keep the splitter and see if I can braze it back together and use it. I'm a decent hand with an oxy-acetylene torch and I am semi confident I can put it back together. However brazing cast iron and keeping it from cracking is a bit of a trick and I'm not interested in a $255 experiment ending up with a pile of junk pieces.

Of course trying to talk to a human at ebay is like calling Obama and getting through. They have all the "FAQ's" and their other handy dandy automated systems that we are supposed to use to solve all of lifes problems.

I'm trying to maintain my composure about the seller not responding to any of my emails, giving him the benefit of the doubt it is right in the middle of the Christmas/holiday season and he may have gone to grandmother's house or may be in Hawaii or something. But my patience is wearing thin.

My pragmatic logical brain is saying "box it up send it off, get my money back (maybe) and there'll be another splitter like it again on ebay sometime!" My emotional side is saying "keep it, hopefully fix it and have a great story to tell."

Dang it's always something!!!!

Bill

[glockanator]

I would contact pay pal if that is who you payed through. As far as fixing it ( I am a welder by trade) I dont know if you have ever done any brazing on cast iron before but you will need to heat everything up at an even temp. Dont jut try brazing it! It will just make it worse. If you dont have to proper tools to pre heat it the way it needs to be done I would take it too someone who can. Thats my two cents. I would try and get my money back first before trying repairs though.

[King's X]

I just shipped an item back that I won on eBay that was broken when it arrived. I just opened complaint where the transaction is listed. It was handled between the seller and I since I purchased through Paypal. It totally sucked and I know how you feel. I hope things work out for you!

[electrathon]

Challenge it through Paypal, they will refund your money. Paypal will almost always side with the seller, no matter the circumstances or who is at fault. They will not care if you send it back or not, that will be between you and the seller.

Aaron

[gringobill]

Hi Bill,

I have welded cast iron with good, bad, and ugly results. You need to tap the welds pretty hard with the peining end of a ball pein hammer, takes a lot of practice. Brazing might be more successful.

I would make a claim through eBay and PayPal. I always use PayPal with eBay and the few times I have had problems, I let them fix it. They usually guarantee transactions and in my instances they came through, usually a full refund. They like to take some time to let things clear, but they do come through. They (both eBay and PayPal) get their vig on the other end, but as a buyer, it works.

If you really want a Chase splitter, have Bruce Johnson keep an eye open for one in the condition you want, Bruce has probably forgot more about those than anyone else knows, and he seems to find them pretty regularly.

Art

Hey Art, Amazingly I filed a claim with ebay this morning, mainly telling them that I had been trying unsuccessfully to contact the seller of the splitter and in about 30 minutes I got a message from PayPal saying the seller had refunded all of my money and I got an email from him confirming that he agreed that the splitter was sure torn all to heck. He didn't mention me sending him the pieces back so I tied into it today and brazed it back together and I think it's going to work. I sure wasn't going to attempt to weld it. I have done a little bit of welding of cast with nickle rod and it's pretty tricky with the peining and all of that. I just went ahead and brazed it with brass rod and I think it's going to hold together. I will try to post some before and after pix of it.

I know Bruce is a fan of Chase pattern splitters and I may try to see if he might have a better blade for this one. The one on it is pretty pitted and at minimum needs to be reground and sharpened to be useable.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bill

[glockanator]

Hey Art, Amazingly I filed a claim with ebay this morning, mainly telling them that I had been trying unsuccessfully to contact the seller of the splitter and in about 30 minutes I got a message from PayPal saying the seller had refunded all of my money and I got an email from him confirming that he agreed that the splitter was sure torn all to heck. He didn't mention me sending him the pieces back so I tied into it today and brazed it back together and I think it's going to work. I sure wasn't going to attempt to weld it. I have done a little bit of welding of cast with nickle rod and it's pretty tricky with the peining and all of that. I just went ahead and brazed it with brass rod and I think it's going to hold together. I will try to post some before and after pix of it.

I know Bruce is a fan of Chase pattern splitters and I may try to see if he might have a better blade for this one. The one on it is pretty pitted and at minimum needs to be reground and sharpened to be useable.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bill

Glad it worked out for you