Hi Guys
Nice to read of all the good outcomes in this here 'intimate' forum (I like that
).
Please keep what I have to say within the forum. I't going to be real ugly and not yet over for me. Some of you are also members of other forums where I hang and indiscretional posts elsewhere may severely prejudice me.
The story:
I've decided to make my life less complicated and make more space by disposing of 'junk' I may never get around to restore. So, I decided to sell one of my 401's to a buyer outside South Africa.
I took the pics as it came off the shelf from any possible angle in with good lighting. The bloke very quickly sent me a mail "I Want!!" and we agreed on the price, which included shipping by EMS. I sent him also a lengthy mail with comments and pics of every single item which will have to be attended to, being unsure of his diy skills and the facilities in his country.
The sale was unusual in the sense that it was the first Garrard idler I convinced myself to let go, and also the first turntable where I did not do any cosmetic improvements to.
Anyway, while I waited for his payment to appear in my account, I did a whole lot of work on the 401 over nearly a week - all as a bonus to the buyer and completely outside my obligations to him.
For example, I chucked the idler wheel in my lathe and renewed its edge surface, I made the turntable spotlessly clean (It was already presentable but I did the job again), The strobe light was missing and I ordered one from RS which arrived ex UK very soon (Thanks to a gentleman here!), I made an exact replica (two, in fact) of the 401's strobe light cover, I re-routed its mains cable according to its correct routing, I rinsed out the bearing and replaced the still clean oil with new twice to get the unit to run exactly to speed and finally I remade the old felt ring oiler around the spindle and probably a few other things I left out.
All the while, keeping the buyer informed with pics and text while I waited for his payment.
On a recent Sunday night, I started packing the now transformed plug and play beast and finally finished the Monday morning and strapped the quadruple layered carton shut.
Later that day, I received a disturbing mail from a mod at another forum. The buyer complained that he had dealings with me regarding the purchase of a 401, that he sent the money and that I have defrauded him, that I am an international scamster and crook and that the forum should be warned against me.
In the meantime, the buyer and I still exchanged pleasantries and emails but after almost 10 days of enquiries with my bank, there was still no payment.
I then asked the bloke to send me proof of payment on my bank's advice forms mt103 or mt199.
After another delay, I finally got a 'document' from the buyer with all particulars which are usually on such EFT docs - except it had no bank name on there, and my account number acquired an extra digit "1".
Of course, the money (if sent) has never been found. My bank went far beyond what I could expect from them to trace these funds. They have sent email upon email to the 'buyer' without reply and even telephoned him several times within his country's time zone to ensure he picks up his phone. The line is active as both Telkom International and I tried it.
As I write, there are two teams at my bank's forex investigations department working on the case.
Hopefully (and I have asked my bank to do this), would be to present the 'document' to the buyer's bank (the name is known) and ask them to verify it for authenticity.
Fortunately, the mod at the other place I go, has long ago more or less let me know not to worry, but this bloke (the buyer) has now really stepped over my own private 'line in the dust'.
Hopefully my bank would have made contact with the buyer's bank during the course of the week and truth will prevail.
Btw, I also tried to get the buyer's country's trade consul to convince the buyer to cooperate with my bank, but the bloke said it's not part of his 'consular duties' - I always wondered what these po@phols actually do for a living.
Please guys, the matter is not yet over. If you find what I wrote of interest, lets discuss just here.
Beware and be safe!
Intimately yours
mafioso
