Here's a fun ebay story...

[MrBluGruv]

Situation:

> Order a piece of semi-old electronics (mid-90s)

> Receive package

> Open box to find unit is infested with roaches.


What do you do?

[lji372]

Feed your pets :dunno:

[L.Mark]

What kind of roaches...;)

[MrBluGruv]

What kind of roaches...;)


lol, if it was thems kinda roaches, this thread wouldn't be here. ;) :lol:

[Mebot]

Sue eBay

sent from my new Galaxy S4!

[Shaijack]

Roaches are good when baked or fried. You ordered old stuff and you got it. HAHA

[larryo340]

What kind of roaches...;)
That's the first thing I was thinking of :eek:

[RacerX]

Add moldy food, ants, spiders and drop a dookie in it, send it back...

[Spectragod]

Sue eBay

sent from my new Galaxy S4!

It's George Bush's fault, blame him.......:D

[guspech750]

Take a dump in the box and ship it back.


Sent from The White House on taxpayers dimes.

DTR + 4.10's + Eaton swap = Wreeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom

[MrBluGruv]

lol, well on a more serious note, I cleaned the unit out on my back porch, LOT of dead roaches out there now (it was like Starship Troopers when I lifted out the old main board.)

I want to file a claim of item did not arrive as described, but I'm afraid that if I win the claim I'll be asked to return the item, and since it's actually clean (relatively speaking) and working now, I'd hate to lose my hard work. :/ Maybe the guy will blink if I force him to pay his own return shipping if he wants it back?

[cat in the hat]

Put it in a plastic trash bag, spray a load of "Raid" in there, tie a knot in it and let it sit for a week. Do not bring it in your house until you have done this.

[MrBluGruv]

Put it in a plastic trash bag, spray a load of "Raid" in there, tie a knot in it and let it sit for a week. Do not bring it in your house until you have done this.


Unfortunately the box was opened inside my house. It was sealed tight, so I know whatever was in there made the trip from the original destination.

I'm thinking I'm probably gonna have to do something like this though, even after having fully disassembled it and reassembled it, cleaning everything nook and crevice, I keep finding one-and-two little ones scurrying across my desk. I don't know if these are coming out of the unit now or if they somehow got out earlier and I'm just now finding them.

I honestly haven't been this pissed in a while, there is NO possible way that the roaches couldn't have been noticed between pulling this out of wherever it was stored, testing it for functionality, and boxing it up to ship it. I can understand having to clean up the exterior of some older electronics for cosmetic reasons (in some ways, getting that little bit of wear-grime off is rewarding to a collector, getting it back to like-new condition), but this is ****ing ridiculous. This person literally shipped me a health hazard.

[Mebot]

maybe they were all larvae inside the unit and hatched in transit?

[IwantmyMMnow!]

This person literally shipped me a health hazard.

Do you have any way to prove there were roaches in the box? You are correct; it is a BIG health hazard, but it might be hard to prove, unfortunately. Have you posted feedback on ebay yet? If not, you could mention the roaches in there and see what happens, if anything.

I can't imagine what I would do in a similar situation...probably scream a string of *$&*$)##*!!!! I'll make sure I have a can of Raid in hand the next time I open a package from ebay....yyyuuuuuck!

[MrBluGruv]

I still have the box that the unit was shipped in, it's out in my detached garage. They were chip crumbs in it, I should've known right then and there that there would be trouble.

I haven't left feedback yet. Honestly even if I get a refund I'm pretty sure I'm gonna leave majorly negative feedback. I hate doing it, but this is simply absurd; it's one thing if you ship something out later than you said you would, but this?

I already sent the seller an email about the roaches, if I don't hear anything back within 24 hours of when I sent it, I'm opening a claim. I think the closest claim complaint I have as an option would be "item not as described" I guess. What does 'infested with roaches' fall under otherwise?

Since I cleaned the unit though, if I do get the refund and he wants it back, I'll tell him I want return shipping plus the charge to clean the unit; since I worked as an electronics technician for a while, I actually can produce hourly bench rate numbers that he would have been charged had he come to have it professionally cleaned (although admittedly, I don't think many shops would even want to touch an item that was known to be infested with roaches.) The combined value of my time, which I can verify against record, is considerably more than he actually charged me for the unit. The ONLY thing that makes this thing worth the hassle is the fact that they are somewhat hard to come by in working condition.

In the very least, I guess I can just hope that the fact that eBay tends to side with buyers will hold true for this situation. I don't think I'm out of line believing this is unacceptable behavior on the part of a seller.


EDIT Afterthought: (DISCLAIMER: the following may not be pleasant to read)Although the box itself doesn't have any obvious signs of roaches and the unit has been effectively purged of all live roaches before I took any pictures, there are numerous parts on the inside of the unit itself that do have signs of roaches having resided in it for a while (in particular, there are roach feces markings on spots.)

[RubberCtyRauder]

WWB@VD?

What would Billy at Vexcon Do? Roach bomb

[cat in the hat]

Put it in a plastic trash bag, spray a load of "Raid" in there, tie a knot in it and let it sit for a week. Do not bring it in your house until you have done this.


Unfortunately the box was opened inside my house. It was sealed tight, so I know whatever was in there made the trip from the original destination.

I'm thinking I'm probably gonna have to do something like this though, even after having fully disassembled it and reassembled it, cleaning everything nook and crevice, I keep finding one-and-two little ones scurrying across my desk. I don't know if these are coming out of the unit now or if they somehow got out earlier and I'm just now finding them.

I honestly haven't been this pissed in a while, there is NO possible way that the roaches couldn't have been noticed between pulling this out of wherever it was stored, testing it for functionality, and boxing it up to ship it. I can understand having to clean up the exterior of some older electronics for cosmetic reasons (in some ways, getting that little bit of wear-grime off is rewarding to a collector, getting it back to like-new condition), but this is ****ing ridiculous. This person literally shipped me a health hazard.

This is from eggs that are still hatching out. If it's been exposed to adults for any length of time, there are eggs, and this can go on for a long time. That's the reason for fumigating it.
Bag that stuff up and put it outside ASAP. I worked in some real ****-holes, take my word for it.

Edit to add - get that box out of your garage, too.

[MrBluGruv]

This is from eggs that are still hatching out. This can go on for a long time even if you killed all the adults. That's the reason for fumigating it.
Bag that stuff up and put it outside ASAP. I worked in some real ****-holes, take my word for it.

I had some spare clear plastic tubs that are air-tight in my garage, I sprayed a fair amount of raid in one, put the unit in the box and closed the lid. We'll see how it turns out after a day or two, being in a clear bin ought to make it easy to spot all the newly deceased. I'm hoping it'll drive some of them out of the unit if there are still any hiding, but I'm betting it won't, and even though it's not a super hard device to disassemble, I'm not looking forward to doing it again. :depress: That being said though, we were EXTREMELY thorough the first time around pulling it apart and putting it back together. It is still fully functional too, which is a blessing, I just can't be sure yet if the pest problem was fully taken care of or not. Of course I also have to work on a way to deodorize the damned thing; somehow I imagine that this thing sat in a garage, unprotected, for between 10 and 15 years, and so even though it is still fully functional (the circuit boards are still in pretty clean shape actually), it....absorbed...some things.

[cat in the hat]

I had some spare clear plastic tubs that are air-tight in my garage, I sprayed a fair amount of raid in one, put the unit in the box and closed the lid. We'll see how it turns out after a day or two, being in a clear bin ought to make it easy to spot all the newly deceased. I'm hoping it'll drive some of them out of the unit if there are still any hiding, but I'm betting it won't, and even though it's not a super hard device to disassemble, I'm not looking forward to doing it again. :depress: That being said though, we were EXTREMELY thorough the first time around pulling it apart and putting it back together. It is still fully functional too, which is a blessing, I just can't be sure yet if the pest problem was fully taken care of or not. Of course I also have to work on a way to deodorize the damned thing; somehow I imagine that this thing sat in a garage, unprotected, for between 10 and 15 years, and so even though it is still fully functional (the circuit boards are still in pretty clean shape actually), it....absorbed...some things.

I'd leave it in there longer IMO, but you're on the right track. I would definitely contact the seller about this, it might not even be their fault - stuff like this ships out of big commercial sites all the time. If they don't address it to your satisfaction, you can always lodge a complaint with Ebay later.
Good luck with this.

[Spectragod]

Take a dump in the box and ship it back.


Sent from The White House on taxpayers dimes.

DTR + 4.10's + Eaton swap = Wreeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom

I just shipped my box, lolz

[RacerX]

Yeah, but, did you box it in such a way that he'll need toothpicks to get the poo outa his teeth? :D