Thursday, May 19, 2011 — It must have been a weak moment — here was a beautiful, original condition 1955 Vibroplex Champion sitting there in the closing moments of an auction, the low bid making it just impossible not to bid on. I sniped it and won (this was before I rediscovered the 1968 Champion key show in my last blog post).
The key arrived today in the mail (even my kids know the size and shape of a bug packed in a box now; they can predict without fail when I get a new key). I love getting keys in the mail, its like Christmas in (fill in the current month). This key was indeed very mint, and arguably was in better shape that the same model key I own that’s 13 years newer.
Or so I thought.
I opened the box (a large, flat-rate USPS Priority box) to find a smaller box inside. The seller had some loose wads of paper in the box padding the inner box, which was moving around quite a bit.
I opened the smaller box and my spirits sank: more newspaper packing the key, wrapped in layers of newspaper. The key was not securely packed in the inner box, but had ‘wiggle room.”
Not a good sign.
It took a couple of minutes to cut away the tape and plastic that was wrapping the key. Unfortunately, the plastic, tape and newspaper offered precious little padding. When I got down to the key itself, my fears were realized: The thumb piece (the oval paddle) was shattered; the finger piece (the black knob) had taken a serious hit or two, which bent the threaded portion of the knob (!); the bouncing around in the box also slightly bent the business end of the keying lever. Not really bad, but I know it didn’t have that bend in it when it was packed in the box.
I was very unhappy with the damage, and I decided to write the guy and complain. I wanted to keep the key, but I felt I shouldn’t be responsible for the broken/bent parts. I asked if he would consider paying for a replacement paddle and knob, which amounts to about $20, including shipping of the parts.
He seemed to be amazed that his packing job was inadequate, and that the key could have suffered damage due to any fault of his packing job. Well, I’m sorry, but when I 4 pound hunk of cast iron has room to bounce inside a box, its gonna cause some damage, there’s no way around it.
The seller reluctantly agreed he would replace the plastic pieces; I had offered to send him photographic proof of the damage (hence the photos posted here), but he said it wasn’t necessary.
Maybe now it is.
He wrote another note that I received late tonight about the key; since he hadn’t heard from me, he suggested that I send it back and he’ll file a claim with insurance and fix it. Fortunately for him, I’ve tossed all the wonderful packing he used; I would love to ship it back to him in it (actually I wouldn’t want to risk further damage to the key). It’s an entertaining thought 😉
I have not yet responded to the seller; maybe he had a change of heart and figures I’m out to scam him. I still want the key; in the photo above you see the key with a well-worn paddle installed on it for the photo, and a knob off another key. I’ll sleep on it tonight … if I send it back, I’ll be out the cost of shipping it too, with will cost me $20 or more. The parts alone will be about $20. Given a choice, I’ll keep the key and replace the thumb piece and keep the knob, even though the shaft is badly bent.
The poor key had one hell of a ride in that box. The seller seems to believe he couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong. We’ll see about that …