N8RZO Misrepresented Condtion - Abusive Subsequently

[KD9PQB]

Purchased a Begali Light Traveler key from Ken - he insisted on being paid by postal money order. He represented the key as being lightly used in excellent and almost like new condition with one small scratch near the jack. It is nowhere near that. This is not a disagreement about slight differences in condition as explained below. I would be happy to provide pictures of what I describe.

The body of the key is black and the finish is matte and the picture he used in the ad here was too dark to show any detail. I asked him to send me additional pictures and he did. Again they were dark and I had some questions about what I was seeing so we talked by phone. I could see the scratch by the jack in the picture. I have the key in front of me and I count five places on the surface around the jack where the metal beneath the finish shows through - small, yes, but easy to see just by looking at it. The matte finish has a lot of scuffs that do not go through the finish but which I could easily photograph - easy to see but not disclosed. I asked him about shine on some of the sharp edges, whether the finish was rubbed off there and he said no, it was just reflection. No, there are sharp edges where the finish is worn off - typical handling or transporting wear but it should have been disclosed.

The key came with the optional aluminum paddles and it appears Ken tried unsuccessfully to put them on. There are scratches on and through the finish around a fastener access hole on the right side, which I suspect he scraped off clumsily trying to get a hex wrench in. There are large screws on the bottom of the key which appear to be made of brass which are designed to be removed with a large coin as the bottom of the slot is rounded. Ken must have tried to remove and tighten these screws with a straight bladed screwdriver which was far too small for the slot and he galled the edges of the slots in both directions - again undisclosed.

I emailed Ken to tell him that the key had arrived and told him it was in nowhere near the condition he had described. His response was I should not buy used equipment on the internet and that the key is in "very good condition", downgrading it from his previous rating and said my complaint was "bullshit". He was really mad. He said he tried to call my number, apparently entered it incorrectly, so he emailed me again saying that my number was no good and asked if i was some kind of "wack job" (sic). I wrote him back with my number, the same number had I emailed him originally, unchanged for many years. He called me and I let it go to voice mail. I listened to the first couple of seconds and deleted it because of his angry, abusive tone.

There is no way I could advertise this key in good conscience without disclosing all of this.

[KD9PQB]

Think I figured out how to post images: