Sellers Who "Didn't Know" or the Convenient Excuse


I was about to purchase a BAT VK60 amp from a very nice guy who only owned it a month. He advertised it as a Rev. E. There were six versions of this amp, and it is important to know which one you are getting for reliability, hum, noise & upgradability factors. When I told him how to double check the version by looking through the bottom rear slits for the letter on the corner of the circuit board, he discovered it was a Rev. C. The seller he bought from represented it as a Rev. E. He then contacted the original seller to tell him, and the seller's reply was, "I didn't know. The dealer I bought it from told me it was a Rev. E."

Hogwash! If you buy a piece of this caliber and have the intellect to deal with a tube amplifier, I find it impossible to believe that you would buy an amp like this, and not even verify the version on the unit itself, or call the manufacturer to have the serial number looked up. I have experienced similar situations where sellers "didn't know" there was a problem, i.e. tubes that were noisy or on their way out, wrong versions, incorrect manufacture dates, nicks and scratches, etc., ad nauseum. Always the convenient excuse of "I didn't know," serves to disavow the seller of any responsibility. I realize things do happen randomly, but quite frankly, it is clear to me that there are sellers out there who just want to dump their problems onto someone else.

The Rev. C cannot be easily upgraded because it has older boards. To revise it is prohibitively costly, and BAT informed me that no one has chosen to do so on the older versions.
Unfortunately, the sale to the Audiogon guy was not done on Audiogon, so he has little recourse. The maxim, "Caveat emptor" (Buyer beware) is certainly as applicable in high end stereo purchasing as it is in buying anything else.

Audiogoners, let's hear your similar experiences.......
kevziek

Showing 3 responses by sugarbrie

It could be worse. A few years back I purchased a new version of an imported amplifier that I bought from a dealer, but it was shipped directly to me by the U.S. importer / distributor. The U.S. distributor shipped me the old version. Both the dealer and I contacted the distributor. We were both told by the distributor, and the distributor's sales rep. that there was only one version of this amplifier, which of course was incorrect. I promptly returned it and bought something else. Pretty scary when the distributor and their sales rep. don't even know what they are selling. I should have notified the manufacturer, but I didn't. I thought they could have had old stock they were trying to dump, which would be fraud, but who knows?
I had a more than happy ending with a golf club. Bought a used Taylor Made Burner Bubble Driver a few years ago for only $75 shipped. They cost new about $250++. The shaft was loose in the club head (obviously not shipping damage).

I took it to a local golf dealer who sold Taylor Made. They said this should not happen, so the store sent it back to Taylor Made for a warranty repair, no questions asked, not even where I got it. It ended up that it could not be repaired; and since that model was discontinued, Taylor Made sent me a brand new Burner Bubble II for free.

I laugh because the guy who thought he was ripping me off selling me his broken club, must have dished out hundreds for a new driver, when he could have gotten a newer model as a replacement for free.

The ultimate claim is "XX years left on the warranty". Many companies do not have transferable warranties, so the claim is not valid.

Regarding Bryston's 20 year transferable warranty, if you email Bryston the serial number, they will tell you how old the amp is. Just remember purchase date is later than their record of manufacture date, but it shows they back their warranty even without the receipt, and lets you get a rough estimate on a sellers claim.