Statute of limitations

tester007

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Wondering what others opinions are on the following story. I'm a little on the fence over it due to the time, but the principle of it is a little irritating.

Around 2 years ago I decided I should probably get off my duff and put together the zvg setup I had had sitting around for probably 2 years at that time. I wanted to leave my original Gravitar cp intact (zvg was going into an amplifone Gravitar cab), and pick up a Space Duel and Gravitar CP to make into all the various configurations to play all vectors.. swappable. I had an Archer's cpo for Gravitar, so I needed a Grav cp, and a SD cp as well as SD cpo which is simple to source.
Now I can't remember if I posted somewhere for this, or if I saw a posting and it had both of these cp's, but I ended up doing a deal with a well known KLOV'r for both cp's and a SD cpo. A large, flat box came with all the parts in a pile of peanuts, and I opened it up and removed the cpo to lay flat since I was not going to be starting on this right away, noticed the 2 cp's were inside, and then closed the box and put it on a shelf with a hundred other parts waiting to be put on cab restos at some time... when I have time. I remember seeing the Gravitar control panel and thinking I had never seen a control panel in such horrible shape cpo-wise, but since I had a repro cpo didn't really care beyond that...the fact I bought 2 cp's, and 2 arrived was good enough.
So as everyone knows 2009 didn't turn out to be the best year for everyone and I had many other issues to think about relating to my business, dept on pieces of land I had bought the previous year, new baby boy..etc..etc.. and getting by until the economy started to move half decently again. At the start of 2010 I bid on, and single handidly built a bank in a city 3 hours away from home. So needless to say with a new child, only being home on weekends, all the arcade stuff (except buying more parts for future restos addiction) got put on the back burner for those 2 years. But due to the fact I was now out of town in a condo by myself and had a lot of free time, I took advantage of it and did 2 pinball playfield swaps since I would never have time to do that at home. Then I remembered those 2 control panels and decided that maybe since I had the time at night I would do those and finally get this 4 year zvg project done. This was about 2 months ago.

So I went home, opened the box and pulled out the control panels. The Gravitar was as nasty as I remembered artwork-wise, but I immediately noticed an issue with the Space Duel control panel. It turns out there was a huge dent in the side of the control panel where the surface curves down below all the buttons. The dent is not on the surface, but like the cp was dropped and hit on its edge, right on the bend. And its not a small dent.. I doubt even dropping it normally would reproduce it, and to make matters worse makes the entire panel useless to put on a cab. Upon further inspection the edges are also rusty, but not fresh, dry rust... like its been rubbed over time and blackened a bit. Keep in mind I have just built a heavy steel-framed bank so I know metal work. The panel sat in a dry box, in my heated garage that houses nothing but my games and is used by no-one but myself. Due to the fact the dent is on the edge bend, and 'only' that area, it is impossible that that damage point could occur while in a box since the entire flat edge would have taken any blow from dropping..etc. and probably have been fine with that guage of steel. Add the rust and I figured this had to have been shipped that way.

Now I guess this is where the original question comes in... I sat for a few weeks thinking that since it was a long time (I had not looked back to see how long it was at that time.. which turned out to be 2 years) maybe I shouldn't bother saying anything and eat it. But then the more I thought about it I believed if it was shipped like that (like I think it was) I should probably take it up with the seller, and did. He said he only sells things with pictures and would look for the original picture and get back to me, which he has not for a couple months.
So I dunno.. what does everyone think on this? Usually I inspect everything I get in right away, but this is a well known guy so I didn't think it necessary, and had a lot else on my mind back then... and I have stacks of used/new parts and repro items I have had for years on shelves and have never had an issue, so out of habit just filed it like everything else until the day I have time. The cp is useless and I would need to get another one to replace it now. I will post a pic later on.
 
I think the fact that you did not check the item when you first got it and waited two years to do so means that the seller is no longer obligated to do anything at this point. Although it may be likely that the seller sold a damaged item, it's pretty much impossible to prove at this point. If you buy from most retail sources or even use pay pal you have a limited time to return or dispute an item with an issue. I think 2 years if far beyond that time and unfortunately you take the loss.
 
I had a similar situation on ebay.

I bought a board for my Playchoice. At the time, I didn't have a proper way to test it, so I just left good feedback when it arrived. It was described as tested and working on the auction.

Well, a few months later, I finally got the stuff I needed to test it (proper power supply) and it didn't work.

I tried contacting the seller, just to tell them that it didn't work. They didn't respond. I took it as a loss and made a deal with someone for another one.

It sucks, but 2 years is a long time.

At my old store, I had a few times where someone bought a game, didn't play it until after the warranty expired (90 days on used) and tried to get it replaced for free.
 
if i were you id would look at it like this:what would be happening if you bought this from a department store and you put it away, unopened, and 2 years later opened it up... i would have to say your SOL. that's too long a time regardless of what happened in your life. asking the seller to look just for your own piece of mind is one thing but if your going to imply something deceitful would be wrong
 
Yeah, I'd say the Statute has ran out on this one. Basically you're the one who made the deal last 2 years. It's not the sellers wish to make every deal take two years to get resolved. He was done with it about 2 weeks after you paid for it, anything over that you're kind of being a pain. He's probably laughing about it somewhere right now, lol.

and Hell, you don't know, he could have told you about the dent and you completely forgot about it. I've forgotten about bigger things than that. This is a good reason why you shouldn't wait two years to inspect things you buy, it's no longer fresh in your mind what the hell the deal was to begin with.
 
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