MaxPower = "Buyer Beware"

B

Brian C

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Jan 22, 1999
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I just received a Black Bear Classic from MaxPower that he had described in his For Sale ad as "hardly used" & "mint". When it arrived this afternoon, I realized that it was not as advertised. Here is an excerpt from the e-mail that I sent MaxPower, Chris Robinson of Houston, informing him what was wrong:
There are a few minor chips on the primary edge and a few places on the sheath's welt where the finish is gone. Although these could be easily remedied, there are two other faults that cannot. There is a small chip in the micarta at the butt and, most serious of all, there is a deep scratch in the tang on the top of the handle. Scratch hardly describes it -- it appears to have been struck very hard with a sharp tool, possibly another blade.
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Here is a picture showing two of the places on the sheath's welt where the finish is gone and the deep scratch on the tang.
View

Given the condition of the knife, could anyone honestly describe it as mint?

I offered to pay return shipping to MaxPower but asked that he refund my purchase price plus the initial shipping charges that I paid. He refused, claiming that he "was unaware of the damage to the blade" when it left his possession. He went on to say,
"You did not ask for a detailed description... I too have dissapointed when buying knives this way but, I always remind myself, "Buyer Beware." After all you did buy the knife without seeing it(not that there were any way for you to do so). I did call the knife mint and when I wrote that I meant it. Besides the money has already been spent.
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I wrote back to give him one more opportunity to do the right thing & to tell him that I would be coming here if he did not. Here are a couple of excerpts from his next response:
If any further action were taken the I would have to claim that you inflicted the damage on the blade yourself out of not knowing what else to do... Although I did not give you a detailed description of the
knife I never lied.
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Well, I guess he found me out. The package was delivered at 3:47 this afternoon and I immediately went insane and damaged the blade myself. I worked quickly though because by 4:48 I was discussing the problem with my buddy, Blues, on ICQ & had already sent him a copy of my draft e-mail to MaxPower.

Sarcasm aside, I see that this guy has a couple of pieces up for sale right now & I wanted people to be adequately warned about the danger of doing business with him. On a positive note, I have been involved in countless transactions here on BF. This is the first one that has gone sour.

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Cheers,
Brian
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He who finishes with the most toys wins.


[This message has been edited by bcaffrey (edited 04-28-2000).]
 
This really pains me. Brian has become a good friend to me over the past months. Though we've never met in person I feel that I've come to know him well via the net and telephone calls.

In every post I've ever read about Brian he's been referred to as generous, honest and straight forward. He's even gone so far as to make leather strops for me out of pure generosity and kindness of spirit.

This afternoon, while I was waiting for the second knife I got from a fellow forumite this week, Brian contacted me to tell me about the situation he encountered with the aforementioned knife.

He told me what had happened and showed me the various emails that had gone back and forth. Personally, as an LEO, I think this guy should be arrested for mail fraud for his misrepresentation of the item. It's total BS if you can't have enough honor to tell someone the straight story on what you are offering for sale or trade. The two knives I received this week (thanks Jadis and RJ)were exactly as described. No such underhandedness.

I know it's hard to be sure of what the truth is in an internet matter, but I'd stake my honor and reputation on Brian without hesitation.

I strongly suggest that the offending party make this right.

Blues

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Live Free or Die

Some Knife Pix
 
Max, you would be well advised to make right what you have done. I have sold many knives on this forum. I do my best to describes every single detail of the knife, down to the last tiny scratch. If I said a knife was 'mint' and it wasnt, guess what?? I would have a heck of a time selling another knife. Another thing Max, when I get a money from a forumite, it stays safely in the back of my wallet until I get an email from him saying he is happy with the knife, only then do I spend it. If I sell a knife, and the buyer feels I have misrepresented it, I would tell him to ship it back asap, and I would return his money, plus all his shipping asap. You know why I have never had to do that?? Because when I sell a knife, the buyer gets a complete and accurate description!!! So, you lousy excuse of...well gee, you didnt ask for a detailed description, or, I already spent your money...thats crap and you know it. Do the right thing, you mislead him, and you should offer to do whatever it takes to make it right. Im sure you have read this thread...so, lets hear what you have to say for yourself. I for one will not be looking at any of your for sale posts.

Richard.

 
Hello, it seems that I have recently been the subject of slander due an unfortunate mishap when selling a knife here on the forum. I have dealt with others on this forum and have been cogratulated on the way I have handled the deals. Everyone else was happy with the way I described the knives and the way they were received.
I have no reason to cheat Mr. Caffrey, but there was no such damage on that knife when it left my home, none. I do not wish to point blame at Brian but, am I the only one who thinks it would be crazy of me to refund the money on a knife that came back in worse condition that it left.
I can provide no solid explanation for the damage. I am left only to think that it happed after it left my home, either somehow in transit or in Brian's hands. I understand his anger but, I think he fails to see my point of view. I sincerly doubt that if the situation were reversed he would handle things any differently.
I realize that this all boils down to my word against his, but I hope that I am not shun from the forums on account of this misunderstanding. Also I would like to draw attention to the post from someone else I sold a knife in this forum where he says, "I would definetly do bussiness with him again."
 
Just for the record, yes I did mention the money had already been spent, but to me that is irrelavent. I would do the same even if I still had the money. The point is there was no damage such as Brian describes on that knife when it left here and I honestly don't understand why his word holds more water than mine.
 
I would also like to add that I've always thought a lot of the people here on the forums. For the most part every member seems to be a good honest person that I enjoy conversing with.
I must say that I am dismayed that some members are so quick to believe one and totally disregard another. You are all making judgements and forming opinions on a situation that the only info you have is two oposing opinions. No one except me and Brian know what truly happened and I can't believe that you would make statements like "He should be arrested for mail fraud." What are you basing this on? His word? What about mine? My side of the story. Maybe I was raised differently but I was always taught to make rational judgements based on all available evidence.
 
I must apologize to MPower. Evidently he who shares a very similiar name with me also did business with someone with a very similiar name that I did business with, who told me that he had posted on this forum. For that I apologize. When the real one in my favor does show up I'll point it out
 
Well, lets assume their both right. That means it was damaged in transit. Hopefully it was insured. If not, Max should take some responsibility for not packing it properly and possibly could have been a little more amiable in his responses. Just my humble opinion.

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"May you live in interesting times"

AKTI - A000389


 
So are you saying the excerpts of your e-mails are a falsehood? If you say, "No", then maybe there's hope. If you unashamedly say, "yes", then well.....
 
The damage did not happen in transit. This was one of the best packed pieces I have ever received. The shipping carton is completely intact & undamaged. The knife was in its sheath & wrapped in several layers of heavy white paper. That, in turn, was wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap. Each end of the carton contained a plastic bag filled with shipping peanuts. The contents fit snugly. There was no room for them to shift.

As I said in my second e-mail to MaxPower,
Although the minor faults might have been overlooked during a casual inspection of the blade, the scratch on the tang is very noticeable. In fact, it is so deep that it is almost impossible to not notice it when handling the knife.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't even have to see it -- you'd feel the scratch in your palm by simply holding the knife. I'd ask everyone to look again at the picture that I posted and answer the question "could anyone honestly describe it as mint?" For this detail to show up in a low res picture, it had to have been noticeable when it was being packed.

MaxPower is now doing exactly what he said he would do in the quote I included above -- blame me for the damage. (I'd be happy to send the entire e-mail exchange to anyone who would like to see it.) I'm not going to get into a prolonged pissing match here. If you are trying to decide who is telling the truth, ask yourself why would I lie. How would I benefit? Then ask the same question about MaxPower.

He has just raised the issue of evidence. OK, here's some to consider.
[*] Go to http://www.ups.com/tracking/tracking.html and enter the tracking number 1Z 763 900 03 4029 1054. You will see that the package was delivered at 3:47 this afternoon.
[*]My ICQ log shows a message to Blues with a draft of what I was composing to MaxPower at 4:48 PM, one hour later. Ask Blues about his log if you are in doubt.
That's some collection of damage for me to have inflicted in under an hour's time. The suggestion is ridiculous.

He lied when he described the knife as mint. He lied again when he said he didn't notice the damage. He's lying now.
 
Paranoid: I must admit that those are my responses. I now realize that phrases such as "Buyer Beware", and that he didn't ask for a detailed opinion seem to incriminate me more than anything else. However I would like to point out that that I didn't say those things to indicate that I did in fact know about the damage. I'm not really sure why I did say them but the point is I'm sorry he's dissapointed but the described damage did not exist when that knife left my home, and I don't know what else to do. If I return the money, then I'm getting burned.
 
You're not sure why you said them, but Brian is quite sure he didn't inflict the damage. And since it was received in a very well packaged state, there is very little other conclusion to come to other than that the goods were misrepresnted.

Do the honorable thing and return the money.

Blues

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Live Free or Die

Some Knife Pix
 
On the other hand I am very sure that I did not inflict the damage, and that it was not there when it left.
 
MaxPower,

Whatever happens, this is almost for sure. If you return the money, then you rep will be saved, but if you don't, regardless if your right or wrong, your rep with be always questioned when you sell.

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A real knife collector is always broke.
 
MaxPower, from what you are saying I believe that you were at least unaware of the damage. Thing is, the conflict here is not doing your reputation any good here. If you could concede that perhaps you did not look carefully, you might salvage your reputation. I love dealing here on BF because I can get great deals here without the ridiculous bidding wars or shill bidding on ebay. Do not take this as a threat because I do not pretend to KNOW what actually happened here, nor can I effect a boycott. Still, you kinda put your foot in your mouth with the CAVEAT EMPTOR statements and YES you are man enough to admit it. I sincerely hope this situation resolves itself with the minimum of damage on BOTH sides.

paranoid9999
 
I think both parties agreeing to have an experts opinion on evaluating the knife and packaging as binding would solve the problem.
It's easy enough to determine if the damage was likely to have happened in transit.
If I was either party i'd accept those terms.
Have either of you anything to hide?
How about it?
 
I¡¦m the man that bought another knife (Randall #14) at the same sale article posted by MaxPower.
MaxPower told me the Randall has been used slightly and never re-sharpen. He also told me he bought that knife from another member and had the member¡¦s name on the blade.
I have no idea about another knife, but in my case, the knife looks just like what he said. And as bcaffrey stated, the package was professional. I live far away from U.S., MaxPower sent the knife out next day when he received my check.
For me, I think this deal is great. I don¡¦t know MaxPower and bcaffrey, just try to explain what I got.

 
Brian and I must have over a dozen or MORE trades back and forth.
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I can't say enough GOOD about him when it down to it. He is one of the BEST guys out on BF when it comes to trust and reliability PERIOD in the FS/FT department. I wouldn't hesitate recommending Brian to ANYONE for ANYTHING.
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For Brian to make such a post, I know he has got to be really pissed about the transaction.
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Since there was not damage to the box and the knife was packed well ---> it means that the knife wasn't damaged in transit and was NOT MINT as described.
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MaxPower: you should have refund Brian's money back including shipping to save face right now, or you will end up getting black balled. The BF guys are a pretty tight group of folks when it comes to trading, and selling.
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Ray 'md2020'

ATKI member #A001042
 
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