adamae

I worked in customer service for a long time and later on ebay for years. I was very careful with descriptions however, what one person sees and another hopes to see may be different. Here is one of my experiences at local auctions...I have bid on objects seeing them as perfect and the minute I got it in my hand the defects or condition were evident. Like I mention, sometimes it is the buyer whose condition expectations are a bit distant to the reality. It happened to me even after 20 yrs of buying and selling antiques. On the side of the seller, this seller IMHO, failed to be entirely honest regarding the condition and then made an error by saying they didn't see this. If I had been the seller and a complaint came like this I would make a full refund with the contingency of not getting a negative feedback. That would be my position with many apologies. Customers will remember a negative transaction over and over and replay and tell it again and again while positive transactions never get told. I was in customer service work for years and once headed up a committee on resolving customer complaints when I was much younger. My reputation as a seller was far more important to me than one transaction gone bad.

jlhmnj

Only thing seller did wrong was poor description by ommission. Hard to believe seller could have missed this but they might suffer from poor eysight.

Cecilia S.

Ron and Rodney,

Having taken another look at the photos I agree with you (and defer also to Christy, who just had her own unfortunate experience!) about the damage being likely a lot worse inside than out. So, I re-think and retract my idea of saving the base... it very well is likely too far gone. Sad, that.

Anyhow, good luck. I must say, it is really nice to have such a resourceful bunch here! I really enjoy all he various takes on things.

-C.

manicmike

Yes, definitely not worth the risk of those insidious little worms eating your home. Burn it up and make a beautiful new one (I'd take lots of measurements and pictures of the infested one first).

Fuzzykittenbutt

Absolutely! From the pictures you've posted, that damage (even if the seller didn't know what it was caused by) should absolutely have at least been mentioned in the listing...though I would also expect a picture to be posted as well! If you saw actual powder there is also a fairly good chance the worms are still active, which means they will need to be treated...please keep it very far away from any other wood furniture you have before it can be treated. I'm not sure the cabinet is salvedgable...hard to tell from your pics. I'm really not sure what I'd do to be honest, but in my opinion Ebay does need to know about this, though to be fair to the seller I do think it's a good idea that you're including their reply in your complaint. Asking Ebay how they suggest that you should proceed would be my first course of action. I would reply to this effect to the seller, but in maybe a bit softer a tone than your intended mail. Particularly this part is a bit aggressive: "You did not see this deterioration or mention it in the description? Seriously, you want me to believe that." And I totally understand why you want to answer this way, believe me! But I think it might only make the situation worse. Something along the lines maybe of, that you would have expected the damage to have atleast been mentioned, since it is rather extensive, would probably be less confrontational. And then inform them that youre going to let ebay handle the situation.

Good luck!

indymta

I agree...if you leave it to e-bay doubt you will be happy with their response. The seller should have posted more pictures to show the true condition and you would have realized a problem before bidding. I think the fact that the person was willing to take it back for full refund shows he is trying to maintain a good business reputation that it wasn'r his intention to deceive.

KalamaQuilts

we have no way of knowing at this point what the listing said and what photos there were....

Vridar

For anyone interested in the original listing it is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Turned-...vip=true&rt=nc

Like most things there are so many differing opinions and all are right. The board is toast, the buyer feels the seller knew it and didn't disclose it and seller is willing to offer full refund. Buyer would only be out $43.40 in shipping and a lot of time. Buyer's intentions are to keep everything as is, give negative feedback explaining the lack of description and seller's offer to refund total price. That is exactly what happened and buyer has the option of give honest feedback as a buyer. Other buyers should be aware of sellers whom do not fully disclose condition. Thanks everyone for the input.

jlhmnj

Aggravating stuff but you still did well for a handcrank and at least the head was not damaged in shipping. Hopefully building another base is an enjoyable project for you.

Jon

sewready

This has been a learning experience for me, I am 65years old and have never heard of powder worms. Hope you can get this resolved to your satisfaction.