frudemoo

As some of you may know, I have been trawling the Internet to find someone who might be able to copy their Phoenix Kl.250 manual for me. I'm in Australia and there are very few of these machines around (for sale, anyway) and they are much more common on eBay in Germany.

So... dutifully.... when I see one listed, I usually contact the seller to ask if the machine comes with a manual and offer to pay them separately for a scanned copy of the manual.

FINALLY I GOT A REPLY! I was so excited!!

He asked me how much I would pay for it... I said, well - you're the one that has to do the work. I don't know how many pages it is etc. I was eagerly awaiting his reply and noticed it had come through last night. .................$150!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the worst part is that I just don't know what to say. I think that any response I give won't be able to hide my hurt. Sure, I was offering to pay for it and make it a worthwhile exercise for them.... but I was not expecting such a blatant extortion attempt. There is also a part of me that feels tempted to try and reason with him and suggest ways of copying it more easily and then asking him to lower the price, but I feel instinctively that I shouldn't deal with him any further...

What would you do? - I am so disappointed to have lost this opportunity. I STILL can't figure out how to use the machine and I was so hoping that having the manual would help me figure things out

Judith1005

I do not think I would even deal with him. That is nothing short of extortion. (He/She should be ashamed of himself.) And after you pay, I'm not even sure you would get the manual. Keep putting out the request. Maybe someone her on the QB will be able to help you.

QuiltFaerie

I am so sorry! I cannot imagine how disppointing that was.

I think I would write back and basically say, I'm sorry, that is much more than I am willing or able to pay. Good luck with selling your machine.

Leave it at that.

francie yuhas

Sounds like extortion to me,unless he had no clue what it is really worth. Step back,take a breath,pretend you're a horse trader in the Wild West,and make lower than reasonable counter offer. Or,calculate the cost per page,and the shipping and offer to make him a nice table runner to go with it...ie,change the game and get him off guard. Good luck!

Monika

Oh my! That seems outrageous! I wouldn't want to deal with him either.

Mitch's mom

I wouldn't grace him with a reply.

wolph33

that is awful-he is not nice-trying to take advantage of you

frudemoo

Thank you so much Judith... and everyone else who's replied in the meantime! I knew that sharing my story here would make me feel better! It's so nice to be among people who understand. Sometimes I think when people start thinking about money, they forget about everything that makes life actually worth living; they forget they are dealing with a living, breathing person who actually has feelings and a sense of right and wrong.

I suppose I should be positive and think that if it worked once, it might work again and I may hear from someone else who will be more reasonable. I really wanted to share the manual with others on ISMACS and Needlebar, too (as well as here) so that nobody would ever be in the same predicament as me. Seriously, these machines are being thrown away because nobody wants them or maybe they are like me and just can't figure out something-or-other... It's the most beautiful machine with a simple mechanism to lower the feed dogs and a lovely long reverse lever. Sigh....

Tartan

I would email back that I only paid $25 bucks for the machine and will only pay half that for a manual or similar. Maybe he will send a more reasonable offer.

frudemoo

I had thought about this Francie and I'm not sure. I think he has listed the whole machine for about $30 more, so that would suggest he's simply trying his luck with me because I've contacted him and said I would pay good money for it. I suppose I would have nothing to lose by asking but I don't know... it's the principle of the thing I guess. I'll definitely give it some more thought. Thank you.