[Hershon2000]

After anticipating this for the past week, the Vintage Pioneer PD-65 CD player I purchased on Ebay from a reputable seller, arrived today from Fed Ex at my private mail delivery service (when I used my regular address a few years ago, these numbskulls, at UPS & USPS, would leave packages in front of my apartment door without me being there & there are like 80 apartments, with a bunch of tenants people you wouldn't want to know so I don't get any packages sent to my residence any more. It doesn't occur to these geniouses that people can steal packages if you leave them unprotected & unguarded!). Anyway, to get back to the subject at hand, the 23 pound box was of course put down by FED EX Vertically instead of flat- a sign of things to come. The unit was advertised being in perfect cosmetic & playing condition with remote, instructions, etc. So I go home & I have to admit it was packed perfectly, double boxed in the original packing. The CD player was in perfect beautiful condition, just as was advertised. So I put the CD in the player (this is one of the players where you put the CD in upside down) & what happens it doesn't play. I figure OK, maybe there CD was bad. I try 2 more. Same thing. I then read the instructions, do a million stupid trial & error permentations & it still don't play. I also tried different sockets in my place too with the same results. The player would power up, open & close the door, let me select a track number but as soon as I pressed play everything would read 0 again & the wheel wouldn't spin. I called the guy who I bought it from & he insisted he tried it out but said he'd give me a full refund & shipping if I sent it back & everything was on the up & up. He sounded sincere & as I said he had good feedback & he had given me good customer service. In fact, I just tried to make a deal with him then & there for him to pick up some repair costs as long as they didn't exceed $100 on his part & I'd get it fixed & send him a receipt & pick up the difference. If the unit wasn't in the cosmetic shape it was, I wouldn't have offered this. He basically wanted me to send it to himself before he did anything else, fair enough.

Anyway, anyone have any guess what this could be- obviously was some internal damage caused by Fed Ex- that's the second time they've screwed up a delivery to me- I haven't gotten burned that way by UPS or USPS. I'm guessing a laser went out ot was misaligned during shipment. Sorry for venting.

 

[SK138]

Any insurance on the shipping? That might help cost for the fix.

 

[Yikes]

If there is no physical damage to the package showing signs of abuse the insurance won’t cover anything. Otherwise what would stop people from shipping a broken piece to a friend and making claims that it happened in shipping?

 

[Hershon2000]

I should have mentioned that this was insured for $400 but based on my experience with FedEX in the past (I got my money back in full from the seller there was no problem but FedEX wouldn't give him a dime), I'm afraid Yikes is generally correct at least in regards to FedEx. It seems like your better off if you have the packaging visibly damaged & physically abused then something caused internally. Weird thing is this has never happened to me with UPS or USPS- they just leave packages unprotected & unguarded in front of apartment doors! My gut feeling is, this can probably be repaired easily for $150 or so & I just don't want to pay that entire amount out of pocket. Right now, the seller isn't giving me a hard time or anything but I truly believe he didn't actually play a CD on it before he shipped it out. As I ordered this from Ebay & paid by Paypal, if push comes to shove, I have somewhere to go to if there should be a dispute, which I truly don't think there will be. This is why however, I will not pay by anything buy paypal to a seller, especially outside the US, unless it is an established "physical company"in which case I pay by credit card.

On the plus side, a few years ago, I had some valuable autographs which I collected at the time, lost by UPS & they paid me the full insured amount, $1900, within 2 weeks of my claim with no hassles whatsoever.

 

[Herandu]

Any decent CD player comes with a set of CD tray or CD arm locking clips. They hold the arm or tray securely in position for during transport. They have to be removed before you can play a CD. Have you checked that the seller didn't in fact install these clips so he could ship it to you securely?
Of course, if that CD player was originally sold by the manufacturer with those locking clips, and the CD player was shipped to you without them, then you could have a problem.
Other thing to consider is whether the unit was shipped to you by air. It can be very cold in the cargo hold. Condensation can settle on the laser lens,and once that dries on the lens no CD is going to be able to get played. So try a CD lens cleaning disc as well. Of course, if you have a laser power meter, you can measure the CD output. I have one of them, but I guess you aren't next door to me, or won't know how to use the meter.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

I've read stories about some of the older Pioneer stable platter mechanisms not likeing being shipped, and having problems with the laser unit coming adrift when moved. Might be related to that.

 

[Hershon2000]

I think Mr. Sukube is probably right. I had also bought a year ago a Pioneer PD-65 shipped from Cincinatti to LA in the winter via Fed EX & it was screwed up as well & because it was a bit worn anyway, I just got my money back on this. I've a feeling that was caused by condensation. This current one was shipped from San Jose.

I checked with the seller & no he didn't put any locking mechanisms on the player when he shipped it & he insisted he had tried it out before shipping & he had regularly used it before.

If its the problem Mr. Sukube says, then it sounds like it can get repaired at a reasonable amount. I just made the mistake of getting another rare Pioneer CD player I had repaired because I hadn't seen one online for quite awhile so I could justify my $150 repair bill. Of course, the next day one was listed on Ebay for around the same price.

 

[velogreg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hershon2000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I should have mentioned that this was insured for $400 but based on my experience with FedEX in the past (I got my money back in full from the seller there was no problem but FedEX wouldn't give him a dime), I'm afraid Yikes is generally correct at least in regards to FedEx. It seems like your better off if you have the packaging visibly damaged & physically abused then something caused internally. Weird thing is this has never happened to me with UPS or USPS- they just leave packages unprotected & unguarded in front of apartment doors! My gut feeling is, this can probably be repaired easily for $150 or so & I just don't want to pay that entire amount out of pocket. Right now, the seller isn't giving me a hard time or anything but I truly believe he didn't actually play a CD on it before he shipped it out. As I ordered this from Ebay & paid by Paypal, if push comes to shove, I have somewhere to go to if there should be a dispute, which I truly don't think there will be. This is why however, I will not pay by anything buy paypal to a seller, especially outside the US, unless it is an established "physical company"in which case I pay by credit card. On the plus side, a few years ago, I had some valuable autographs which I collected at the time, lost by UPS & they paid me the full insured amount, $1900, within 2 weeks of my claim with no hassles whatsoever.

Do not even bother with FedEx insurance, they will not pay. This summer I had a pair of speakers shipped to Southern California from Louisiana via FedEx (insured) and it looked as if the speakers were dragged the entire distance behind a FedEx trailer. I have never seen a box so damaged. When I contacted FedEx insurance claims, which took eight telephone calls, they informed me that I would have to ship the speakers, each weighing 85 pounds, to the mid west for "evaluation" to determine if they were at fault or the packer of the speakers. How can you evaluate the original packing of the speakers when they so arrived trashed? Not to mention how do you repack an 85 pond speaker in it's original (trashed box) for shipping safely 1800 miles away? The point is obvious I think.

 

[Ruach]

The PD-65 is a nice player.

You can drop me an email and I will try to help you get it up and running again - assuming that the seller did sell you a working set.

Let's hope that the issue is a mechanical one.