Purchase breaks well within 30 days


Hi,

I purchased a $3750 dac used from a member and within a few weeks one of the two channels stopped working inexplicably.

The dac is under warranty but because the authorized repair shop recommends the entire dac board to be replaced it may take 4-6 month to get the part as the manufacturer is way behind because of covid and has limited capacity to manufacture things.  At minimum will be 3 months.

I would think
If repair estimated to be free and within 60 days or so the buyer should just be patient and not ask for refund.

But if a very lengthy repair timeline I am of the mind that a refund is appropriate but wanted input of others.

For sake of discussion lets assume seller had no idea there was problem and buyer did not contribute to problem

Thoughts?
atwatervillagelawyer
atwatervillagelawyer
I guess you guys think the deal part of buying it used means you lucky it works at all.
No on here has suggested that at all. There seems to be universal agreement that if the item hadn't worked properly when you first received it, then a refund would have been in order.
I will focus purchases from dealers especially now going forward as the prevailing sentiment here seems to be that you got a deal so you lucky it works at all ...
That's your sentiment, not the prevailing sentiment. It probably is best for you to work with dealers in the future, though. It's a dealer's job to work with customers who have an issue.
I have been hesitant to buy used components because of experiences I have had that are simiar to the OP’s.

Bought an expensive amp - it worked for 2 hours and then began to buzz loudly through one speaker. Bought a power conditioner - its built in circuit breaker kept tripping soon after I bought it. Bought a universal disc player - it would not play hybrid SACD’s.

In each of these cases, I suspect the seller knew something was wrong and did not make full disclosure of the history and condition of the unit that they were selling. They offloaded their problems to a sucker, who happened to be me. But I understood that I was buying "as-is."

Buying used can cost less, but because of my poor experiences buying used, most of my system now consists of stuff that I have bought new, demo, or from a respected dealer.

The exception is my speakers, which are kind of rare and something I really wanted. I vetted the seller really well and crossed my fingers, and it worked out. But vetting did not work for the amp that buzzed - I bought it around the same time that I bought my speakers, from a seller who had 100 percent positive feedback and thousands of posts. His ad said nothing of the repair history of the amp - I learned after buying the amp and deducing from some of his posts that it had been to the repair shop many times. Live and learn.

Fortunately, the manufacturer stepped up in the first two cases. I bought a Square Trade warranty for the disc player. Shout out to Nick Doshi who fixed my amp for free, and to PS Audio for offering a brand new power conditioner for 50% off, and to Square Trade for a hassle free experience in getting my disc player repaired.
So most of you guys are gung ho pro sellers that is fine just wanted to get a pulse for the crowd here.

Now excuse me while I go clear out my audio closet to list here.

Seriously though timing and price matters to me....if buy $500 dac would have low expectations but 4K different.

I also doubt some of you would be whistling dixie if broke after 48 hours but at couple weeks it's cest la vie.

I can wait till 2021 to get dac back and recalibrate my expectations of how I would treat my fellow man if situations are reversed
Did you call the seller to inform him as to what happened? 
If yes, what was his response?

If no, what is stopping you? He may very well be willing to take it back.
You won't know unless you contact him.


Seriously though timing and price matters to me
So according to you, each buyer gets to decide the price level of their comfort and the amount of time a USED piece of gear is required to work or a refund is due? This is where on-line scams come from and why the line gets drawn where it does. In case you hadn't noticed, scamming is pretty common on the internet these days. What proof does the seller have that you didn't accidentally do something that damaged the piece? 
I also doubt some of you would be whistling dixie if broke after 48 hours but at couple weeks it's cest la vie.
You make an awful lot of assumptions, based mostly on the fact that people aren't agreeing with your first assumption. If you weren't being made whole by the manufacturer, maybe the response would be more sympathetic. But you are being made whole, just not in the time frame that suits you. 
I can wait till 2021 to get dac back and recalibrate my expectations of how I would treat my fellow man if situations are reversed
Maybe you should. In your shoes, I would have never asked for a refund let alone come here to incessantly whine about not getting my way. Add that to all of the bad mouthing of the members here and you get the reaction you have received.