I also posted something similar to this on Reddit, but I'm particularly interested in this forum's opinion. TL;DR: The stylus I received wasn't in the box, it was floating loose without the cap on, in a clear plastic bag, in the large box my turntable was packed in, the cantilever was damaged during shipping, and I'm not sure what to do because up until now I've been really lucky with eBay. I won an eBay auction for a barely-used Denon VL 12 Prime turntable for only $365; I’m ecstatic. Original boxes, all accessories, not a scratch, like new. The seller also included a scale and, more excitingly, an Audio-Technica AT-VM95SH/H (cart, styuls and head shell, about $230), also with the original box, stand, and paperwork. Sort of… Although everything else was packed perfectly, when I opened the cartridge box it only had paperwork and the plastic stand inside. I thought the seller just forgot to include it. However, I found the cart at the bottom of the turntable box, inside a small clear bag, with the stylus protector off, loose. Ugh. The cantilever looks a tiny bit crooked to me; it was definitely knocked around during shipping, without the stylus cap on. I'm afraid to try it out. Am I being too anal? I’m not a complainer and I got an incredible deal on the turntable, which I set up yesterday and works perfectly. But if I’d ordered a cartridge and the seller shipped it to me outside the box, not in the little stand, with the stylus protector off, I’d immediately ask for a refund. But I’m not sure what to do here? I hate to complain but it appears the seller probably just threw the cart in after they had packed everything up, as an afterthought. Would you guys ask for a partial refund? Maybe just let them know what happened, but just enjoy my new TT that I got for a $500 discount? A new shibata stylus is $179, would it be out of line to request a $179 refund so I can replace it? Or, part of that? Bottom line is, I didn't get what I paid for. I could really use your advice here. thanks. [Images aren't showing but if you right-click on them and choose something like "open image in new tab" you can view them, sorry!]
At least you have good photos if you do decide to hit the seller up for partial refund. I'm no expert on TT's but I agree it just doesn't look right/straight. It might not be worth the risk to your Vinyl to just try it out is my thought.
Before you start asking for a partial refund, consider how good a deal you did (or didn't) get overall. I don't know the market value of what you bought, but if you got a steal on just the TT alone, and the cartridge was icing, then you risk the seller telling you to send it back. Are you going to be happy with that? If you only bought it because it was a good deal WITH the cartridge, this is easy. If you bought it because it was an amazing deal on the TT, with or with out the cartridge, then tread carefully.
Yep, I got a great deal on the deck, which usually goes for between at least $500 - $800 used these days because they were discontinued. That's why I'm hesitant to whine about this. But the eBay auction was for the whole package and the cart was featured in a couple photos by itself as a selling point, and was one of the reasons why I chose to bid on this listing, instead of going with another one instead. The other seller wanted $500 but told me he'd sell it to me for $400 if nobody grabbed it within 10 days. I guess I'm just trying to wrap my head around why someone would put the retail box for the cart in the turntable box, then throw the fragile cartridge with the stylus completely exposed into the turntable box instead? If the cart box was opened during shipping and the cart fell out, I could understand it, but the cart box was sealed and the cart was willfully thrown in the big box loose, without the cap on the stylus, in a plastic bag. So either the seller couldn't be bothered, or they're a novice who doesn't know that styli are super fragile, I guess? If it's the former, I would really like a refund. If it's the latter, then I got a great deck out of it and we've all made noob mistakes too, right?
Update: I spoke to the seller. I think he's a novice. He said he taped the bare cartridge— with the stylus protector off — to the foam protecting the turntable. He didn't know it was fragile. He seemed worried about it and I felt bad for the guy so I offered to help him if he ever sells audio gear in the future, and I said that we could just call it even because of the great deal on the turntable, as long as he promises to never do that again. I offered to help if he ever had questions about anything audio-related. I think I mentioned before that we were all wet behind the ears at some point, and I sure would've liked someone to help me out back then, too. Thanks, everybody and have a great weekend. PS: Time to research if I can fix that twisted cantilever.
Thanks but I'm kinda disappointed with myself because my brain immediately went to "this guy's messing with me, what's his problem, who would throw a $230 cartridge loose in a box full of 30 lbs of gear and ship it 10 states over???" and, in return, I wanted to be compensated for my "trouble." After I posted it here and read it back to myself, I realized I was overreacting. I'm glad I waited to cool down before acting on it. I guess that's a good thing about getting older; knowing when to shut your mouth and use hold on a minute before you say or do something you'll regret. Today, on a very special episode of Steve Hoffman's Music Forums; a jaded audio enthusiast learns that not everyone is out there to get him.
Listen, I've been there, done that. Same thing: First response is to think, "WTF". Then you calm down. Then, if the person is reasonable and you convince yourself it was an honest mistake, you see it differently. As they say: "Never attribute to malice what could be explained by incompetence" But it's hard to remember that at first!
