Battery Meltdown?? Seriously??

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bbedsole

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Ok, so I sold this PSR-500 on Ebay to a seemingly competent person in West Virginia. (maybe that was my mistake??) She receives it, says it is scanning, but a few days later says it is not working.

I'm like "whatever", and I tell her to send it back.

When it arrives back, it's wet... greasy, actually. At first, I thought the box must have been rained on, but the box itself was fine. No damage.

Then I realize it was a battery meltdown! She had basically tried to charge non-rechargeable batteries! The acid was all over and was starting to eat away some of the face. (photos were taken about a week later after all the acid had dried out)

Here's the worst part... Ebay initially said it was MY FAULT. In my ad, I very clearly said that I was including regular alkaline batteries, and that the buyer should NOT have them in the yellow cradle while using the wall plug. This person obviously did that, but two Ebay reps felt that it was my fault, because I included a set of regular batteries in the yellow cradle when I shipped it. In other words, Ebay felt that I set her up for failure by including a new set of batteries as a courtesy, EVEN THOUGH I PUT THE WARNING IN THE AD.

I finally talked to an appeals person with Ebay, and he agreed to refund both me and the buyer, so it all worked out, but be warned, if you ever sell a scanner on Ebay, think twice about putting batteries inside when you mail it.

#BatteryFail #WestVirginiaScrewedMe #WastedScanner
 

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mmckenna

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Yeah, you just can't trust some people. I sold an old Icom 2 meter radio on e-Bay. I posted photos with the radio transmitting through a Bird 43 watt meter into a dummy load showing that it put out the full 65 watts.
Sure enough, a -month- later, I got the dreaded challenge message from the guy. Turns out his "friend" and him had hooked it up, and the power was erratic. I went round and round with the guy, he accused me of fraud, knowingly selling him a bad radio, falsifying the photos, etc. etc. Finally, when I walked him all through it, it turned out his buddy didn't know how to crimp connectors on wires. Crappy connection of the power feed was causing the radio to do all kinds of weird stuff. Never got an apology, nothing.

I've been kind of turned off of selling stuff on e-bay for a while. I've got a few old Motorola's I want to sell, but just don't want the headache of dealing with jackwagons.
 

cherubim

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The whole drama could have been avoided by not including the alkaline batteries in the first place. One can't always assume that a buyer is competent and intelligent - many are just plain ignorant of the facts regardless of how one tries to educate them.
 

joeuser

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Ok, so I sold this PSR-500 on Ebay to a seemingly competent person in West Virginia. (maybe that was my mistake??) She receives it, says it is scanning, but a few days later says it is not working.

I'm like "whatever", and I tell her to send it back.

When it arrives back, it's wet... greasy, actually. At first, I thought the box must have been rained on, but the box itself was fine. No damage.

Then I realize it was a battery meltdown! She had basically tried to charge non-rechargeable batteries! The acid was all over and was starting to eat away some of the face. (photos were taken about a week later after all the acid had dried out)

Here's the worst part... Ebay initially said it was MY FAULT. In my ad, I very clearly said that I was including regular alkaline batteries, and that the buyer should NOT have them in the yellow cradle while using the wall plug. This person obviously did that, but two Ebay reps felt that it was my fault, because I included a set of regular batteries in the yellow cradle when I shipped it. In other words, Ebay felt that I set her up for failure by including a new set of batteries as a courtesy, EVEN THOUGH I PUT THE WARNING IN THE AD.

I finally talked to an appeals person with Ebay, and he agreed to refund both me and the buyer, so it all worked out, but be warned, if you ever sell a scanner on Ebay, think twice about putting batteries inside when you mail it.

#BatteryFail #WestVirginiaScrewedMe #WastedScanner
lol, I just saw that on eBay... I couldn't help but chuckle on your description...

It did deserve better!
 

ScannerSK

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Batteries can leak at any time especially if they get hot during shipping.

When I worked at Radio Shack, there was at least one occasion in which I saw brand new batteries we had just received to put on the shelf leaking inside the packaging. They must have gotten hot at some point in route to the store.

Shawn
 

Xray

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Not advisable to include batteries selling any 2nd hand electronic item, for sure.
 

joeuser

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Batteries can leak at any time especially if they get hot during shipping.

When I worked at Radio Shack, there was at least one occasion in which I saw brand new batteries we had just received to put on the shelf leaking inside the packaging. They must have gotten hot at some point in route to the store.

Shawn
Well, were they Radio Shark rebranded batteries?
 

Ensnared

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Run Forrest Run

Ok, so I sold this PSR-500 on Ebay to a seemingly competent person in West Virginia. (maybe that was my mistake??) She receives it, says it is scanning, but a few days later says it is not working.

I'm like "whatever", and I tell her to send it back.

When it arrives back, it's wet... greasy, actually. At first, I thought the box must have been rained on, but the box itself was fine. No damage.

Then I realize it was a battery meltdown! She had basically tried to charge non-rechargeable batteries! The acid was all over and was starting to eat away some of the face. (photos were taken about a week later after all the acid had dried out)

Here's the worst part... Ebay initially said it was MY FAULT. In my ad, I very clearly said that I was including regular alkaline batteries, and that the buyer should NOT have them in the yellow cradle while using the wall plug. This person obviously did that, but two Ebay reps felt that it was my fault, because I included a set of regular batteries in the yellow cradle when I shipped it. In other words, Ebay felt that I set her up for failure by including a new set of batteries as a courtesy, EVEN THOUGH I PUT THE WARNING IN THE AD.

I finally talked to an appeals person with Ebay, and he agreed to refund both me and the buyer, so it all worked out, but be warned, if you ever sell a scanner on Ebay, think twice about putting batteries inside when you mail it.

#BatteryFail #WestVirginiaScrewedMe #WastedScanner

Yes, I'm never surprised by the stupid things people do, even after being warned against such. I can see where having the alkaline batteries in the yellow holder might have implied that these were to be used in that capacity, but a careful reading of the description could have shed light on this.

Even with the alkaline batteries installed in the yellow holder, it would have been safe to use provided that no power was connected.

So, I'm happy Ebay was fair to all involved.
 
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