Page 1 of 1

KA1SU: What ever happened to a man's word?

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:14 am
by NS6V
4/26 1630 PDT: Made offer on his Flex Radio 5000A that he had just listed on QTH.com (and another site)
4/26 1711 PDT: He makes a counteroffer (just a couple of hundred higher) and says since I was the first to make an offer, I had right of first refusal
4/26 1715 PDT: Agreed 100 % to his counteroffer, told him to consider the radio sold. Needed additional info to get him a cashiers check the next morning
4/26 1958 PDT: Followed up with another email to make sure he got my acceptance of his counteroffer.
4/27 0603PDT: Received email that he has sold the radio...but to someone else. I never said no, couldn't have acted much faster to agree to his offer (4 minutes). He said he never got my 4/26 1711 email (yet all others seem to get to him)
4/27 0800 PDT: reminded him that he said I had first right of refusal and felt that the radio should be sold to me.
4/27 1100 PDT: Sent email telling him I was very disappointed after finding that he had pulled his ads, marking the item sold.

Haven't heard a peep from him since his early morning email telling me it was gone. Geez, I respond within 4 minutes and then even followed up less than three hours later.

Not the way it used to be, hopefully not the way it will be in the future. I'm sure someone offered more $ for the radio and he didn't have the intestinal fortitude to tell me such or give me an opportunity to match the offer.

If you have any dealings with KA1SU, or perhaps even his ham radio company Quimby Mountan Radio in NH, I would strongly suggest that you deal elsewhere with someone who stands by his word. As far as I'm concerned, you can put this guy on your "never buy anything from him" list.

I've got all the emails, but no radio. Bummer. :x

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:16 pm
by k5yy
Simply put, if you sell something do your research from dozens of sites to find out the reasonable asking price. Best to start a bit higher initially and THEN go lower if needed, based on inquiries or lack thereof... If you get a LOT of offers to buy and feel you were too low in your advertised price, you have two choices >> (1) sell it at the advertised price or (2) renig and make excuses or say sold when it wasn't ... the latter choice is a big reflection of your lack of integrity. Do your homework FIRST, then advertise appropriately. Otherwise, stay off the For Sell sites and take your stuff to a hamfest and bicker and barter in front of the guy, eye-to-eye.

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:03 pm
by NS6V
Couldn't agree more. In this case he set the negotiated price, then apparently backed out. I guess the right of first refusal that he gave to me was also rescinded. Just poor business any way you look at it. Unfortunately, this seller is prolific on the websites. Hope he doesn't do unto others as he did unto me. Bottom line, I keep on looking for the right radio. The hunt is as much fun as the new rig!!

Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 12:27 pm
by lhk0pd
I understand your frustration as i've had it happen to me before. But i noticed that E mails from people i've gotten hours after they sent it and even wnen i've advertised a item for sale. So what i'm saying is it is possible your E Mail did not get through the first time.

Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 8:21 pm
by N9LCD
Email gets lost as frequently, if not more frequently, than "snail mail". It all depends on your email service and the servers (correct term?).

If you want to be sure your email was received, set your email program to automatically request an "electronic" receipt. If the recipient won't give you one, [b]WELL[/b]...


N9LCD

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 1:10 am
by NS6V
No disagreement with your suggestions, but....he did get my follow-up email and it was sent less than 3 hours after he sent me the counteroffer. Not to mention that he gave me first right of refusal (as I was the first to even give an offer) and he never did allow me to match whatever offer he decided to accept. Plain and simple, I dealt in good faith and he did not and I felt strongly that the ham community should be aware of his sales practices as he posts a lot of equipment on various ham sites.

It isn't like I never followed up with him, and it's very suspicious that the ONLY email he didn't get was the one that confirmed I would buy at his discounted price.

That's the rest of the story.....

Follow-up from KA1SU

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 2:51 pm
by NS6V
Jiim sent the following to me as he states he was unable to post his response. I am happy to do so...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul;

I am sincerely sorry for messing up the Flex 5000A transaction on QTH.COM. I tried to leave a public feedback for you but could not login to the Feedback Forum.

I was in the process or changing DOMAIN hosts and missed literally hundreds of emails. Some from customers who could not reach me. They called on my shop phone or cell phone instead. I wonder why you didn't do the same? I thought you had become disinterested in the deal. Anyway,....once the DOMAINs were switched and the new server began downloading emails from the old server (days later), I had received the missing emails, yours included, but by then I had sold the Flex to the second interested buyer who lives within 40 miles of me.

Once again, my sincere apologies, but as you can see from the QTH and eHam feedback forums, I don't have a track record of doing this to buyers. I did send you and email stating the Flex had been sold once I received your emails days later.

FYI, I do not sell new radios, only radios I have owned. My "retirement" business is repair of only Amateur Radio Equipment (please see my website below). Also, you may post this response to your comment on QTH.com as I have not been able to access Scott's Feedback Forum.

                  
73,
Jim Fowler - KA1SU

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I said to Jim in my response to him this morning, if one makes a counteroffer, includes the right of first refusal in that counter offer, I believe that the onus is on him to make sure that I have the right to decline the offer before he sells it to someone else. Or at least an honest attempt to make contact. No attempt was made. With that said, I'm done, the matter is closed, both sides have voiced what they see as facts and you may make your own opinions from the contents of this feedback forum. I would consider dealing with Jim in the future, BUT...it would be by phone, which most likely would have eliminated this problem in the first place. 73, Paul NS6V