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Author Topic: Scam artist(s)  (Read 3759 times)
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KD6VXI
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« on: October 05, 2018, 12:21:09 AM »

Not sure if this is the appropriate place, but thought I'd offer up a buyer beware, as these two seemed to be working together.  Anyway, I opened a case w PayPal today, we shall see if I have a bunch of inoperable parts or it gets resolved.  PayPal has rescued me in the past, so here's to hoping.


I purchased this radio:

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/kenwood-ts-850sat-low-audio.628074/#post-4803835

When it arrived, I expected a radio with a functioning transmitter and receiver, just low audio output on receive.

What I got was a radio with no transmit (fuse wasn't in the back of the radio), the receiver receives 60 over 9 static with your finger in the so239.  Yes, the receive output is low, but it also has no agc action, the bandpass filters have been heated so bad there is discoloration on the metal above it.  The gas tube / neon / lightening protection / static discharge bulb in the input has been removed and reinstalled with what can only be described as a 100 watt American Beauty having done the job.  Someone tried replacing the leaking electrolytic capacitors on the boards, doing a horrendous job.

I took a chance in a radio with a known problem.  I HAVE capacitor kits for the ts850 here, as I repair them.  But, I'm not going to take a radio that has been sold by one ham in Chicago (Dan Cotsirilos) to another ham in South Carolina (Gary North or Gary  Pichette, he uses both names) who then uses his friend Joe Green to sell the equipment when he decided he didn't want it.

Joe was a nice person, responsive to my emails, etc. until the point I got the radio and was unhappy.  Then I needed to deal with his friend directly (whom Joe said earlier didn't have a computer, but he was able to produce an email address for this friend, and said friend was also able to purchase this radio from Dan in Chicago with no internet as well).  Well, now nobody answers their email and I've opened up a case with PayPal.

To be sure, these are the people involved.

Joe Green. WB0MMZ (I sent him the money) 
Gary Pichette or Gary North. AE1CT (He sent me the radio).

From what I can gather, it was originally sold as a Ts850 with low audio and HOT!!! Receiver from Dan in Illinois.  Gary wasn't happy with his purchase and wasn't able to recoup his money or didn't try, just attempted to dump the radio in someone else. So, he employed Joe to try to get rid of the radio.

I have full email trails of the incident.

Just want to make sure nobody else gets it like I did.

--Shane Youhouse
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w3jn
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« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2018, 04:51:52 AM »

Shane, sorry you got bit.  Believe there's also a forum on QRZ to discuss radio ripoffs, suggest you post your experience there as well.

AE1CT has been banned from this forum for some time for questionable sales practices. 
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KD6VXI
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« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2018, 05:46:10 AM »

I have a long post on qrz as well as eham.  I'm waiting for 'moderator approval'.

I paid via PayPal, and I do expect them to get the funds back for me.  I flatly refuse to do friends and family.....  Except here.  Never been burned on this board.

The thing that stinks to high heaven is it seems AE1CT is now using his 'friend' WB0MMC to do his selling for him.
 That should be enough to get my money back via PayPal as I do believe they frown upon you selling for other people.

Funny thing is, AE1CT got burned by Dan Catsirilos for this same radio.....  Whom  also has a long line of fire behind him.  So karma did come back to bite him as well.

Thanks for the 'condolences'....  Lol


--Shane
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KA0HCP
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« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2018, 01:06:27 PM »

Sorry you got burned. However, AE1CT has a bad history going back a decade. Not hard to find out.  Do your research people!  And NEVER use Paypal Friends and Family, Western Union, Walmart money transfers, etc.
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« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2018, 05:48:45 PM »

I don't know the history of this guy, but it's pretty bad if you get a reputation for selling bad ham gear. I mean, if I decided to make a living at or supplement my income by reselling questionable products, I'd choose cars or computers. Plus, polyester suits aren't that expensive.

Jon
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KD6VXI
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« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2018, 08:50:24 PM »

As stated before, I didn't KNOW it was being sold by AE1CT.  The ad was from someone else, 'selling for a friend with no internet'.....

Just trying to let others know the scam artist is using other people now.

I'm confident I'll get my money back....  And if history is any type of indication....  I'll probably end up with the radio as well.

Shame, as the case is pristine. 

Jon, if you Google AE1CT, you'll find he has been doing the scam thing for years...  You're right....  It really is a shame.

--Shane
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K1JJ
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« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2018, 12:54:35 PM »

I feel your pain, Shane ... :-(



Part of the reason this stuff happens is because today's modern ham equipment is so hard to fix - only a small handful of hams can repair it correctly. If this guy could have fixed the rig in 10 minutes, he would have and spared himself a lot of trouble - but he obviously couldn't. I mean really, how many of us can fix these solid state rat nests using specialized skills - and CPU/LSI parts that are often no longer available? Like your Kenwood 850ST, etc.

BUT...the difference is that most good hams will eat the loss and not sell it to the next victim. Once they realize the rig is beyond repair due to being "totaled" cost-wise, that should be the end - sell it as a parts rig and take the loss. But then there are a few who will continue to sell the problem rigs for full value hoping they will get away with it - or just don't care.

Similar, but not exactly…. It reminds me of a popular ham store in Hartford during the 60's.  They traded and sold a ton of USED ham gear.  Hams (like me) just tried rigs out and traded-in these same rigs over and over, testing out the latest gear on the shelf. (To their credit, the store gave FULL trade-in value each time)  The problem was that there was no repair shop there and the rigs were never checked for proper operation. Little did I know (12 year old novice)  that many of the rigs turned over like musical chairs and did not work well. My first rig as a novice was a Ranger. It worked on CW but I later found the AM mode was dead.  I traded it back in for an Apache, then a Valiant, etc.  I rarely found a rig that worked right and over those few years they never checked my purchases, my trade-ins or other peoples' trade-ins. The only rigs you could depend on there were the new Collins, Swans and SBE rigs.  

Occasionally some bad rigs ended up with someone who knew the score and fixed it, (these were mostly all tube rigs) but like a good penny, the good ones disappeared, and the bad pennies were on the shelves for sale.  The USED hot potatoes circulated for years...   It still amazes me today when I think about how naive I was.  After a few years I started to realize what was going on, but still, I always took a chance on the next used rig anyway, thinking this time might be different....  :-)

T

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« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2018, 08:56:37 PM »

red flags
1.) selling it for a friend (who has no computer. really?)
2. ) for sale on QRZ -many goofuses and crafty ol buzzards there.
3. ) seller is a QRZ 'volunteer' moderator. assume respectability not in evidence!
 or has the ad been modified?
but then I'm the suspicious type.

I quit fixing things for business a long time ago. No one wants to pay what it cost to repair gear full of obsolete parts and guarantee it.
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