Well, a couple of weeks ago, I had ordered a Thorens turntable from an e-bayer. The table (from the pics) looked to be in good order. I "sniped" the table at around $150.

I was filled with excitement!

I pleaded with the seller to disassemble it for shipping. But, alas, I guess to save money, he did not. When the table arrived, everything seemed alright. But I immediately noticed the idiot refused to listen to me when I pleaded with him to remove the platter from the main unit and pack it separately. Having room to move about, the platter completely sheared off the pulley system from the motor.

I was both angry and sad.

Worst of all, the table was sold AS-IS. Now I have all those records I bought at a garage sale just sitting there.

My vinyl listening has been put off for some time. Luckily, I have found some faith in Dave over at vinyl nirvana. I explained my situation to him. After some going back-and-forth in e-mails, he has found a table that, according to him, suits my needs perfectly. I might ship him the busted thorens so that he can use it for parts (and as some credit to the purchase I will make from him).

Lesson learned.

I should have listened to you guys.

In my book the table being sold "as-is" in no way excuses the crappy shipping. I'd insist on a refund and file the appropriate paperwork with paypal if you get the slightest hint that he's dicking you around.

I concur

so say we all.

I had already contacted the ebay seller. Took some days to respond, but he seems complacent enough to make amends, so I'm not worried anymore.

The good thing of all this is that the new table I will get from Dave a couple of weeks from now (he is working on its restoration, so that I do not have to meddle with lubricating, positioning, etc) is a black version Thorens 160. So it will match my gear better.

Also, in my search for what a black 160 looks like (I didn't know a black version existed!), I found the following, and now I can't get the song out of my head:

I'd swear that TT is running a tad bit slow

Similar thing happened to me with a Dual table. They don't make the replacement part any more..

Well, it's already been said, but "as-is" should be interpreted as "as-is at time of auction", not "as-is at time of receipt", so...I mean, if I sold something as is, then trashed the hell out of it before shipping, I think I'd still be held liable for the trashing, and a dishonest representation of the auction item.

eBayer is cooperating. Nice guy.

Too lazy to follow instructions, but nice guy nonetheless.

I will get part of my money back. I could have gotten all of it, but the table has enough salvageable parts for me to keep it to try to build something later. I figured the best way to learn about turntables is to gut one anyway, so might as well...

It'll make for an interesting (albeit expensive) lesson while the aligned, leveled, perfected Thorens arrives from vinyl nirvana.