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Tandy 6000 destroyed in shipping - keep it or refund?

G

greyski

New Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2019
Messages
6
Location
upstate ny
My first post with a tldr. Do I return it and keep searching? See how much checks out and go to town with PVC repairs? These machines are soo rare. I'm kinda torn and super bummed out.

Lets say you'd been collecting the tandy machines... your last one was either a 16b or a 6000.... A 6000 finally shows up on ebay, ups shows up and it looks like it went through a Gravitron... no snapped crt neck and I'm about to tear it down to make sure the boards are ok.... I totally get the plastics are brittle, but this was packed with paper and bubble wrap thrown in the box.

sigh.jpg


My off beige whale. Oh the horror! So VCF, do I keep it or send it back? What happens to it's poor remains when I do?
 
I think it's all about how much you paid for it. Obviously the seller screwed up, but did you "steal" it or pay serious collector money for it?

If you really think it's worth something to you as a pile of parts I'd probably try negotiating a partial refund with the seller; they're not going to want to pay shipping for getting this junk back and they're probably not going to have a lot of luck selling it as it is now so I'd think they'd be highly motivated to salvage *something* from the disaster.
 
it was a little south of a grand... but for the rarity, it's not the end of the world. I have all the plastics in the box, I'm just digging in to see if there's any further damage. First I need a stiff drink and a dark room. :) Fixing plastics would prob be the only option. I never see the 16b or a 6000 for sale. I'll check back in and let you fine folks know!
 
The only one to recently sell went for $560. Shipping to me would have added another $176 (only 900 miles away).
I would be REALLY upset after dumping that kind of cash.
 
that would be the one. don't forget 58.93 in tax!

popped what was left of the lid. shockingly the crt is fine. missing half it's mounts but fine. I'm sending it back. thanks for the sanity check all!
 
I wouldn't if the damage is cosmetic, it can be repaired. If, on the other hand, the thing is a rattling box full of nonfunctional loose parts, yeah, I'd give the thing back.

However, I do see a lot of eBay auctions with the line "Accepts returns: NO". If this is one of those, you may be in for a bit of a struggle.
 
There was a model 16 or 6000 at the vfc swapmeet on the 8th. He was asking $250. I didnt see a keyboard but so what. My model II didnt have a keyboard when I got it.

File the return, he may just let you keep it and you get your money back. The frame can be repaired and painted. I am confident I could fix that. Soldering iron to fix the plastic, bondo and sanding.. Plastic work is easy. I just finished repairing two cracked up apple IIc's. I think @bladamson got a model II in the mail broken as well. Its fixable.. but the smart thing to do would be filing a claim folr the full amount. ITs his Fu$kup.. make him pay..

Christ people are stupid these days...
 
Ah jeez, I want to cry. :(

I'll buy the hard drive controller off you if you decide to keep the pieces and part it out though.

You might contact Pete Cetinski and see if he has an enclosure he'd sell you, and CRT if yours is busted. He is probably the world's preeminent big-tandy collector, and also lives in NY. DM me if you want me to put you in contact with him, or you can also probably get in touch with him through http://www.tandyassembly.com/team.html .

I know it doesn't make you feel any better, but I had a similar experience with my Model II. Those big tandies are just too fragile to ship I guess. I waited around a long time with bookmarked ebay searches and finally paid too much for a new enclosure for it. The 6000 may be harder to find one for though. :/

I don't know now much you paid for it, but I'd try to keep it if I were me unless there was a really huge wad of cash involved. There are solutions out there to hook them up to VGA and HDMI displays, PS/2 keyboards, etc, so if worst came to worst you could probably beat the card cage back into shape and transplant it all into a different box or something. I assume you were going to unhook the 8" drives and use a gotek anyway, but if you start trying to get it going remember that the 24v rail on those PSUs has to be loaded by the disk drive for the power supply to even come up. You can put a big resistor across the 24v rail instead to give the switcher enough load to start up, if the drives are too far gone to use for a load.

Remember that if you return it, UPS will probably take it and put it in a warehouse somewhere until their investigation is over and then send it to the dump. It would be a shame for it to go to the dump, even with the case mashed up......
 
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The flimsiness of the casework was a bit shocking on the Model 16 that I had. I gave it away for local pickup rather than trying to squeeze some cash out of the transaction and dealing with shipping. Better to give it away intact than turn it into a wreck.
 
I guess thats true with the big tandys. Mine was a local pickup from another forum member so I lucked out not having to deal with shipping.
 
Ah, another one bites the dust. :(

I understand your dilemma of risking the shipping but I hoped we could learn from history and not ship these anymore. I am guilty myself as I shipped a few of these early in my collecting career to a similar ending. Please folks, learn from our mistakes! Don’t ship 8” Tandys. They are more than worthy of a 1000 mile trip in your backseat safely belted and cushioned like a child.

Tough call on whether to keep it. I’d at least try to get a partial refund but probably would not give it up even in that state. I do have a spare 16B or 12 shell I might be willing to sell if you are willing to pick it up.
 
Surely there is some kind of high end courier service one could use in lieu of the usual shipping apes?
 
sure .. but unless its wooden crated and wrapped with love they will employ "people". And people generally dont care about YOUR stuff.

You want it done right.......
 
I think if you took the cards and drives out, and shipped them separately, everything double-boxed, the big tandies could be shipped without damage. The replacement Model II enclosure I had to buy, it included the CRT, video analog board, and metal frame. I requested that he have it professionally packed by a UPS or FedEx store and that I was willing to pay the extra required for that. It arrived properly double-boxed with zero damage.

But fully assembled I think they are just too heavy and that old plastic is just too brittle.
 
Reminds me of the way I shipped very valuable musical instruments. Crated and palletized, shipped truck freight. Expensive? You bet, but I never lost one.
 
Joel on the tandy discord says he has a 6000 case he'd sell you, but iirc he's in texas so it would have to be shipped.
 
Packed with paper and bubble wrap thrown in the box? People are just so special thinking that crushed paper and a tiny bit of plastic will protect something heavy and fragile. Would they ship a heavy antique glass vase the same way? Do they really think postal workers are going to handle their package more gently than others for some reason?

I'd simply ask for a refund and see what the seller says, but I'd be hesitant to ship it back as that would mean either spending more money on packaging or letting it get destroyed even more, or as mentioned tossed in to the garbage.

That is the problem with eBay, many of the sellers on there these days are just "junk" sellers that don't care if the stuff gets smashed as they don't lose anything when they have to refund for something they obtained for little or nothing.

Pro-tip: The purpose of packaging is not just to make it brown.
 
Unfortunately I just knew that would happen, which is why I didn't bid on the system. Still, one of the saddest sights I've laid eyes on as of late.

If you decide to part it out and it has the 8Mhz. CPU board I will gladly take that off your hands.
 
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