Warning for those attending Parramatta Fair

[bowspearer]

I posted this in the meet thread, but I thought it was worth mentioning here in case someone missed it.

Just one thing that's worth mentioning to those going to the fair, if you encounter a stall-holder called Michael Pilak, be extremely careful when dealing with him.

At the November fair last year, which is the most recent one I've been to, I bought a supposedly mint in box Skyquake from him.

No sooner had I got it back to my girlfriend's place in Canberra that I discovered that the launcher was snapped off at the post, it was missing missiles and one of the rear landing gears was broken.

When I got hold of his details a day later and spoke to him about it (including supplying photos of the damage to him), he demanded I take store credit and refused to issue a refund. It was only when I spoke to Glenn (the fair organiser) about it and he told Micheal he was to give me a refund (he apparently was very reluctant to do so), that he complied.

I'm not saying to avoid him entirely, just be EXTREMELY careful if you are dealing with him and be prepared to go above him if there is a problem.

[bowspearer]

I hate having to do this, but I would hate for anyone to be stung the way I have. At the end of the November Parramatta Fair, I'd arranged to pick up a TF train set which was supposedly in good condition and complete for $200 which I was happy to pay.

When I picked it up at the Hornsby Fair in April (I hadn't been able to make the Feb Para fair), I discovered that the post to the turret on the gondola had snapped off at the turret post and one of the wings on the caboose was snapped off.

I showed Jamie then and there at the fair as soon as I discovered it, only to have him swear blind "I'll sort it out". In hindsight I should have demanded a refund, but I stupidly trusted Jamie would come through.

A few weeks passed and nothing. Got worried, especially after a friend of a friend mentioned his own bad experience with Jamie. Jamie's phone kept getting errors or going to missed calls and I never heard back from him. Azrael, who has been an amazing friend through this, managed to get hold of him, at which point Jamie at first told him he was sure he had them and then he was told he'd found a spare coal car (gondola) and was still looking for the other one. Now it turns out that was a total load of crap and he "can't find" either the caboose- the one car I wanted the set for, the one part of the set that I really care about and the reason I've wanted the set since I was 6.

Admittedly Azrael is now buying it off me for what I paid for it, so the money isn't an issue, but that's not what pisses me off with this.

In all this time I was waiting, there was a glut of tf train set auctions which have since been and gone, which I could have gotten which could have sorted out the problem, only I held off because I trusted Jamie. Big mistake it seems.

I was warned by a friend of a friend that this is what "I'll sort it out" can mean based on his own experiences with Jamie. As much as I hoped he was wrong, it seems like he was right.

I'm not saying to avoid dealing with him entirely. However if you discover a problem with anything you buy off him; based on my experience I would recommend insisting on returning it for a refund right then and there.

This experience has proven that he cannot be trusted to do the right thing, especially on larger purchases, as this has been an unmitigated disaster in terms of him keeping his word and coming through on this one and his communication (I shouldn't have had to have been doing all the follow up work here and even if his mobile was playing up, there's nothing stopping him getting on a landline).

Understandibly, I will never be dealing with him again.

[Deceptic_Optic]

hmmm?

[griffin]

Merged these two topics, as there is no need for this to be mentioned in four different topics. The point has been made, and if anyone else has had a problem, they can respond to it in this topic.
I didn't merge it with the version in the meet topic, to keep it on-topic, and left the version in the Vent topic as well.