Pics that will make you cry (halfnote)

[Showlaser.dk]

Well... i guess the end of the story will be that Jim pays me £800 as compensation for the broken laser..
Not really a great deal for me to get that little for a great whitelight (which i btw. spent a whole afternoon packing and palletizing to make sure that it would arrive safely, and which was sent as fragile and insured (so that was another £120+ for shipping)

It will be hard to get another 2.5W of green for that amount of money.. :-( But i dont think Jim has any more money to pay..

I am really starting to hate this laser business.. it is nothing but fraudulent sellers, shipping damages, and non-payers.. over the last 5 or so years, i have lost 7.5K$ in a bad deal on a DPSS kit, €5000 on two copper vapour lasers that have never worked like they are supposed to, a lot of other small deals, and now this.. + i have more than €10.000 out in missing income because of non-paying customers etc.

Crappy business..

Do you guys also feel that this busines is a lot worse than others, when it comes to those kinds of problems ?

Regards, Simon

[Laser Ben]

That seems wrong that Jim's oversight in paying for insurance results in you losing money. The whitelight was clearly worth more than £800 seeing how fast it sold at that price. Perhaps if he has no money he could sell something else of his to pay for his mistake...

[smogthemog]

I paid you this morning Simon

It's pretty crap for me to, OK partly my fault but you did agree on £800 payment. I did, many times, ask you if you where happy with that Simon.
You said you wanted to pay for my time and petrol in delivering the WL, effectivly selling it for you.
You also said that you wanted to purchase the diode from your HN and I also offered you the other o0ne I have here.
It's correct, I have no further money to part with.

Ben, please keep you opinions to yourself. None of them help.

[greenalien]

I have to say, I feel sorry for both parties in this debacle, as it looks like both will lose out.
Having worked for the Post Office as a Christmas holiday job in my student days, all I can say is that you should assume that anything sent through the post at this time of year is liable to be kicked, dropped, thrown from one pile of parcels to another, chucked into, and out of, various vans, and so on. The joke at the time was 'if it's marked 'Fragile', throw it gently!'.
Now, I know that there are many hardworking and diligent postal workers out there who take great care of all the items in their charge; however, at this time of the year they are pretty much outnumbered by casual staff, who often don't give a shyte about anything - and are sometimes light-fingered into the bargain...
The only answer is to make any packing as bulletproof as possible - as a minimum, for this kind of shipment, I'd use a sturdy box, lined with 2" foam, at least 3 layers of bubblewrap around each item and then enough packing to ensure that nothing can move. If it's valuable, take photos as you pack it. And preferably, don't send anything valuable during the Christmas period if it can wait a few weeks.

[roddenberry]

I've had my share of damaged goods that arrived to me via UPS, including Pyrex lab glassware that arrived to me in the form of pointy confettis... but this is indeed heartbreaking. I guess there's nothing that can be done to repair the laser (new optics and recalibration)...

It is indeed a sobering thought when you think how many packages go through these courriers... I'm sure many of them are consciencious people who do a good job, but the few who don't give a damn can do serious damage to company... I suggest you make that claim as public as you can so that it puts a bit of pressure on the carrier...

Sad images to start my morning...
- Robert

[Laser Ben]

Ben, please keep you opinions to yourself. None of them help.

I love this quoting function!

If I want to air anything on the forum then I dam well will and don't you ever think that I wont!* I too would really appreciate it if you didn't ever ask me again to not post what I feel is relevant, in the circumstances, to post.

[mccarrot]

Or trade everything back, the 200 pound of insurance will cover most shipping costs.

[-bart-]

Or trade everything back, the 200 pound of insurance will cover most shipping costs.

yeah right!
showlaser will get his whitelight back; happy camper!
Jim will get his opsl back; jolly fellow!
Ben gets a box full of shards,!

[Laser Ben]

The deal between Jim and I is already done. The deal between Simon and Jim is what is in question. It would be smart for Jim to buy back the whitelight from the person who got it from him and ship it back.

[norty303]

Does it not strike anyone that trades are doomed to fail?

You have 2 (or more) pieces of kit getting shipped either way, so it only takes 50% of things to go wrong in shipping to screw the whole thing up - especially when the value of goods exceeds the level of funds either party can muster in the event of a mishap.

Surely it makes more sense to just agree a price, then pay for each item as you would a proper sale. At least if the inevitable happens and insurance can't be paid out, its already covered for the person who may lose out. Otherwise there will always be a loser, usually the wrong one....