Brian Todd
Experienced Member
Crap, hope you get it sorted Dave. Scammers are the worst ... whether on FB or any other media.
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Just paid for my first BBC Micro computer!
- Thread starter VERAULT
- Start date
VERAULT
Veteran Member
I appreciate the offer. I was only trying to act on this as my wife was only going to be visiting a week. Believe it not I tried at lease 50 sellers. All refused to ship or refused to do anything besides a bank transfer. I guess I will keep searching ebay for international sellers.
Have you looked to see if there are any re-shipping services in the UK? I know several folks outside the US that use re-shippers here.
- Alex
- Alex
VERAULT
Veteran Member
I honestly didnt know the UK had re-shipping services? Do you happen to know the names of those services?
I don’t have any experience with any of them, but I found:
www.shippn.com
- Alex
Shippn
Shop online from more than 30 countries and get it delivered to your doorstep! Sign up for free and start shopping from anywhere in the world with Shippn.
UK International Shipping to Your Country
Get your UK address, shop UK stores, and ship to your country!
ship.skypax.com
- Alex
VERAULT
Veteran Member
Well it took 20 days but I received all my money back from Paypal. The "seller" didnt even chime in once since I paid him. They just let the time run out and I received my money back on the claim I filed. I tell you I am not a fan of the fees but paypal is pretty on-top when it comes to resolving claims.
Gary C
Veteran Member
Thats a decent result.
SiriusHardware
Veteran Member
Verault, which area in the UK (roughly - which county?) is / was your wife due to be visiting? Not asking for door number / street name, just wondering if it might be possible to find you a BBC B in the area she's coming to, if indeed she is still coming.
VERAULT
Veteran Member
Shes there right now and leaving tomorrow for the airport. Shinfield/Reading. I will be picking her up when she arrives tomorrow. I didn't want to burden her week visiting her mother and sister looking for an old computer. I was hoping she would just ship what arrived back to us. But scammers and facebook are just a poor, poor situation for shopping.
SiriusHardware
Veteran Member
Unfortunately that is what we Brits would consider to be a vast distance (hundreds of miles) away from me, sorry - had she been somewhere up in the north east of England I might have been able to put out feelers for one available locally. It would obviously be too late now anyway.
I will say that if you are looking for an early 80s era British computer which is actually conventional, well designed and usable, certainly the BBC B is the machine you need to be looking for. I was a Sinclair man myself but as for most of us, that was really on the grounds of affordability, the BBC machines were superior in terms of architecture and build quality but the price when new meant that really only kids with more affluent parents could aspire to owning one.
I will say that if you are looking for an early 80s era British computer which is actually conventional, well designed and usable, certainly the BBC B is the machine you need to be looking for. I was a Sinclair man myself but as for most of us, that was really on the grounds of affordability, the BBC machines were superior in terms of architecture and build quality but the price when new meant that really only kids with more affluent parents could aspire to owning one.
VERAULT
Veteran Member
Its ok. It turned into a disaster before she even left for England.
I bought my wife a Spectrum 48KB (since she grew up with one) a couple years back.. In fact I just bought a 128KB upgrade for it which has yet to arrive: https://www.tindie.com/products/goloskokovic/128k-ram-expansion-for-zx-spectrum/
But I want a Beeb for myself since its build and architecture seem really impressive for the time. Maybe one day.
I bought my wife a Spectrum 48KB (since she grew up with one) a couple years back.. In fact I just bought a 128KB upgrade for it which has yet to arrive: https://www.tindie.com/products/goloskokovic/128k-ram-expansion-for-zx-spectrum/
But I want a Beeb for myself since its build and architecture seem really impressive for the time. Maybe one day.
SiriusHardware
Veteran Member
I wasn't even aware that +128K upgrade existed - I own two Spectrums, my original 48K rubber-key specimen and also a Spectrum 128K+2 which I bought during the dying months of my long love affair with Sinclair which had begun with the MK14, but I was finally seduced away by the Atari ST not long afterwards, so the +2 doesn't really have many hours on the clock. I unboxed it for a while a couple of years ago to make sure it was still working, and while I was at it, replaced the cassette unit belts.
I don't really consider the 128K +2 to be a 'real' Sinclair machine since it was produced by Amstrad and they even had the audacity to change the "(c) Sinclair 1982" prompt to "(c) Amstrad 1986" which not only irritated the hell out of me but broke some fancy protected tape loading routines which worked by reconstructing the encrypted code on tape by XORing it, etc, against the code in the ROM.
However, looked at with a less jaundiced eye it is by far the better of my two Spectrums - a nice usable keyboard, a proper, if still quite basic three channel sound chip, and RGB video out for a much cleaner and more stable picture than the original machine ever managed to produce.
I do own a BBC B myself, bought when they were merely very old and no longer wanted and their value was at rock bottom - 5 GBP with a disc drive which on its own would have cost the purchaser a three figure sum when new. To my shame I have not had it turned on for many years, to do so now I would have to swap out the famous exploding RIFA capacitor in the PSU first.
I don't really consider the 128K +2 to be a 'real' Sinclair machine since it was produced by Amstrad and they even had the audacity to change the "(c) Sinclair 1982" prompt to "(c) Amstrad 1986" which not only irritated the hell out of me but broke some fancy protected tape loading routines which worked by reconstructing the encrypted code on tape by XORing it, etc, against the code in the ROM.
However, looked at with a less jaundiced eye it is by far the better of my two Spectrums - a nice usable keyboard, a proper, if still quite basic three channel sound chip, and RGB video out for a much cleaner and more stable picture than the original machine ever managed to produce.
I do own a BBC B myself, bought when they were merely very old and no longer wanted and their value was at rock bottom - 5 GBP with a disc drive which on its own would have cost the purchaser a three figure sum when new. To my shame I have not had it turned on for many years, to do so now I would have to swap out the famous exploding RIFA capacitor in the PSU first.
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VERAULT
Veteran Member
The seller of that ram card upgrade for the 48k Spectrum just added the card Edge pass through because I asked him to because I wanted to add the div MMC SD card. He literally just did this a couple weeks ago when I bought it so he said it may or may not work he doesn't have one to test we'll find out I guess the prices fair if it doesn't. I understand what you're saying about the amstrad machines quite honestly I'd love to get an amstrad CPC 464 but I tried couple weeks ago as well it's hard when you're an American buyer.
SiriusHardware
Veteran Member
My then friend over the road had both a BBC B and an Amstrad CPC 6128 (CPC with a disk drive) - his family had a little bit more money to throw around than mine did 
. I do like the Amstrad machines when they aren't masquerading as something else. Fun fact: In the Shetland Islands, Scotland, there is a bus shelter in a remote area on one of the smaller Shetland islands which is famously 'furnished' with a sofa and other home comforts. On the occasion of my last visit quite a few years ago (probably late noughties) it was also 'equipped' with a computer in the form of a CPC 6128 and matching monitor - not powered, just there as decoration, like the items in a display cell in an IKEA store or a room in a doll's house. It broke my heart to see it there and I have to admit I was tempted to 'liberate' it for its own good. (But I did not). Does anyone else remember having seen that there, I wonder?
I've never had a CPC myself but I gave a related item, a GX4000 game console - basically the game console equivalent of the CPC - to one of the regional computer museums last year.
. I do like the Amstrad machines when they aren't masquerading as something else. Fun fact: In the Shetland Islands, Scotland, there is a bus shelter in a remote area on one of the smaller Shetland islands which is famously 'furnished' with a sofa and other home comforts. On the occasion of my last visit quite a few years ago (probably late noughties) it was also 'equipped' with a computer in the form of a CPC 6128 and matching monitor - not powered, just there as decoration, like the items in a display cell in an IKEA store or a room in a doll's house. It broke my heart to see it there and I have to admit I was tempted to 'liberate' it for its own good. (But I did not). Does anyone else remember having seen that there, I wonder? I've never had a CPC myself but I gave a related item, a GX4000 game console - basically the game console equivalent of the CPC - to one of the regional computer museums last year.