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Saxonia Issue 01 Part 019
Fraud
By Rumrunner/VOID
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a long time I used a TV as monitor on my Amiga. Then, I found out
that I should get a monitor in order to get better pictures. I have never
needed higher resolution than the pal ones, so I quickly discarded the
idea of buying a scandoubler with flickerfixer and using a peecee monitor.
A real Amiga monitor seemed to be the best choice for me.
So, I decided to look at an auction on internet to see if I could make
a bargain there. I found one Commodore 1940 monitor which sounded good
enough for my use. So I ended up with the highest bid and paid for the
monitor, the seller was supposed to deliver it after he got the payment.
Well, he did deliver the monitor, but the disappointment came as soon as I
opened the package. What was this shit? It looked like it had been bombed.
Well, as long as it worked, I could make do with the horrible sight of a
monitor that probably had been used to test the strenght of different
explosives.
After waiting some weeks for an adapter plug to arrive from DataKompaniet,
which is the only company in Norway left dealing with Amiga products, I
think, I connected the monitor to my Amiga 1200 and turned all the
equipment on. And guess what. The monitor didn't even display pal pictures
clear. The screen flickered even in noninterlace resolution, and everything
from half of the picture to all of it went on and off the screen whenever
it wanted to. I HAD BEEN FOOLED.
I don't have to tell the seller's name here, because if he reads this, he
will know that I'm talking about him. THANK YOU so very much. You managed
to fool me. I had hoped for such a thing to happen for a long time,
because I simply love being fooled. You know where you could have put that
monitor instead of sending it to me. And you could have shoved it up
there until you nose itched, you stinking bandit. I wonder why no one
still use tar and feather on people like you, because that's what you
deserve.
Enough about that. After I had put the misery behind me and calmed down,
I wrote in a letter to a swapping contact not far away from where I live
that I was looking for a monitor. He wrote back that he had a Commodore
1942 monitor he didn't use, so I drove to him and took a look at that
monitor. It worked very well, and I bought it immediately.
So, from all of this, I'll never ever again buy something used which I
can't try before I buy it. It's much better to find something local. That
way you also save the expences of sending it by mail. The post office here
in Norway is VERY expensive. Also, the service is usually very bad.
It seems like most people working in places owned by the state here in
Norway have forgotten who pays them and what service really is. Most of
them would have been better suited to stand out on a field acting as
"monsters" to scare the birds away (if you didn't know, it was common in
past times to put up a figure on fields to scare away birds so they would't
eat the crop before it was harvested). Most governmental employees have
exactly the right attitude to perform that task. I don't know if this is
the situation in other countries as well. Maybe some of you readers would
like to write an article about your experiences dealing with governmental
employees? Send the articles to us, and we'll print it in the next issue.
And if you too have had bad experiences with buying computer equipment
unseen write about that too. We'll gladly spread the word.
Well, that's about it. I thought I should write this article, just as a
warning to others who would like to buy something unseen. Think about
it before you act. If it's not long from where you live, it's better to
go over there and take a look before you place a bid. Unfortunately, the
times where a word was the truth is gone, so we have to act suspicious.
Also, you might have already read the article "bought and sold" in this
magazine. I hope that everyone who places ads here are decent minded
and honest about the shape of they want to sell. I don't think this should
be a problem though, as the remaining Amiga users probably have no interest
in making another user mad. I think the reason for all equipment sold that
doesn't work is some shits buying hardware cheap and then sells it just
to make some easy money.
