My eBay tragedy
 

I recently took the plunge with my first antique television purchase: an RCA 8-T-241, won at eBay. Unfortunately when it arrived this afternoon I discovered that the seller chose to ship it packed in nothing more than two layers of cardboard, an old blanket, and some crumpled-up newspaper. There were no warning labels or shipping instructions on the outer cardboard box. Naturally, the picture tube was smashed in transit. It seems likely there is further damage inside; I haven't had the heart to open it up.

Am I right in thinking the set is now beyond repair? I'm deeply upset about the loss of what would have been a great vintage television set.

Did the shipper have the initials UPS or USPS? Seems folks have been having trouble with the both of them. Turned a couple of good CRTs into duds. Sorry for your and our loss.

polaraman

Welcome to the Forum!

I'm sorry to hear about your loss :(
This is why I rarely bid on heavy sets or Bakelite sets that will have to be shipped..

Sometimes you have to tell the seller how to pack it or just have them take it to a professional, costly but better than a broken set.

The last big set I had shipped was packed by The UPS Store, it cost $100 for packing and shipping and still wasn't done perfectly but the set arrived intact and I still had less in it than it was worth.

If it's just the picture tube that's broken you can still find those, it might cost as much as the set though.

Open er up and let us know what's broken, we might be able to scrounge up the parts you need.

Eric

No, it was FedEx. To them it was just a big heavy box, with no indication that anything fragile was inside or should be handled with one side facing upwards at all times.

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I'm sorry to hear of your problems as well. :( As at least one other person has said here, such things as "fragile" labels and the like are meaningless to barcode readers. However, I think the seller should have packed that set a lot better than he did, using styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, anything to keep the TV from moving in the box during shipment (and to protect it from bumps, jars, etc). Seems to me as if he was in a hurry to ship it; that or he didn't know much (or anything) about correct packing methods when shipping fragile items.

The seller is also guilty, IMO, of failing to put the proper warnings and shipping instructions on the box. Any time anything fragile like that is shipped, the shipper should put several "fragile" and "this end up" warnings on the box in large letters so the item isn't banged around, thrown carelessly (I've heard of that happening with carriers such as UPS and others) or otherwise mishandled in transit.

If I were you, I'd file a damage claim with FedEx immediately. They should reimburse you at least for the cost of the CRT (and of course for the value of the chassis if it was damaged as well, as it probably was if the CRT imploded), as was also mentioned in another post to this thread.

I have received two antique radios (won in ebay auctions) via UPS in excellent condition, but then again the sellers of both units packed the sets exceedingly well, using bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts. (It took me perhaps 15 minutes to get the packing material off one of those sets when it arrived here, but it was worth it: the radio played the minute I plugged it in [no broken tubes, etc.] and there was no damage to the walnut cabinet.)

Again, I am very sorry to hear of your loss. :( Hope you settle things with FedEx quickly and are able to get your "new" old RCA working again.

Good luck and very kind regards,

Many thanks to all for your words of support - they are much appreciated.

I pulled off the rear cover and can't see much damage beyond the picture tube...which did indeed implode...and a vacuum tube that was near the rear of the set. Is the picture tube replaceable? If so, how would I go about finding a replacement and what might it cost?

I also discovered about a dozen half nut shells, possibly acorns, and what looks to be some couch stuffing. Not sure if the stuffing belongs, but the shells make me think the set was home to a rodent at some point.

The parcel turns out to have been insured, which I didn't know until this morning. I'll visit FedEx tomorrow and see what they have to say. I assume I will need some expert advice on the cost of the damages. If anyone can recommend someone in or near Los Angeles to appraise the damages for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Actually, if the set is repairable I'd rather entrust the task of restoring it to someone with the proper skills and experience, so any suggestions in that arena would be welcome as well.

I also received a fascinating email message from the seller in which he not only admits to packing the set improperly, but also indicates that he will be taking legal action against me for having left negative feedback about him at eBay. What fun.

Finally, I'm attaching scans of two labels that are on the rear panel. Does anyone know if these are just selling points dreamed up by RCA, or do they really certify some sort of technological accomplishment contained within the set?

I have a complete and working chassis for that set.....if you can find a picture tube and the case is worth saving, perhaps we can make this thing pretty again :)

Whoops, we posted at the same time!

Although only somewhat related (shipping woes)...

I bought on e-bay a used NEC XG-852 8" CRT projector, seller in Baltimore, MD. The unit weighs 200 lbs and Fedex and UPS said it exceed their weight limit. It was trucked from Baltimore to Los Angeles, then shipped by boat to Hawaii.

When it got here, it was just sitting on a wooden pallet, with a blanket and a what used to be a cardboard box fabricated from other boxes held together by masking tape. The box remnants were sitting next to the unit, the case was cracked and missing some cosmetic pieces and wet from sitting in the rain. After drying it out for several days, i was surprised the unit fired up with no problems at all... weird...

:dunno:

Kamakiri, mentioned having a complete and working chassis. I have an 8T-243. Wouldnt that be the same chassis? I'm the guy who has been tormented trying to figure out about 10BP4 ion traps and find a set of knobs. A working chassis would make things easier if yours is for sale. Another idea that has crossed my mind is selling off my set to someone who is really into 40s RCA roundies. I dont like the looks of the set enough to really get into the fix up job. I want an early 50s roundie table model with the "double d" look to the screen. Maybe between all of us someone will end up with a real nice old RCA...or two.

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Fed Ex will most likely deny your claim, they did mine when my Zenith portable CRT got busted.

The set may not have been handled too badly but the CRT in that set is only supported by some clips on the front of the cabinet and the yoke, it's almost guaranteed to break if it's dropped even a little.

Sure, we can work something out if you like, in either direction :)

That's the first time I have ever heard of anyone threatening to sue someone just for negative ebay feedback. Sounds to me as if the seller figures he'll never get negative feedback at any time. What did he expect? The set was received very poorly packed, with a broken CRT. If I had received something I had won in an ebay auction in the same condition, I would not hesitate to leave negative feedback, the seller's reaction to it be darned. People who pack things for shipping that poorly have only themselves to blame if they get yelled at later because the item arrived broken or smashed.

I agree as well with the comment that there may be little or nothing to be concerned about as far as a lawsuit goes, considering the fact that the seller and buyer reside in different states--especially if those states are hundreds or thousands of miles distant from each other.

RCA Golden Throat/Eye Witness - just advertising hype?
 

I don't know about RCA's claims as to its "Eye Witness" picture synchronizer (never saw any set with that feature actually operating), but the "Golden Throat" label on some of their radios and TVs of the '50s does sound to me like just so much advertising hooey. In the '70s I had an RCA table model radio with that so-called "Golden Throat" certification label on its back cover; the set sounded fairly good, but looking back now, I think my Zenith K731, which has a much larger oval speaker and a high-frequency tweeter, not to mention being housed in a heavy walnut cabinet and having a tone control, sounds much better than most small bakelite RCAs, the latter's "Golden Throat" label notwithstanding. Zenith, moreover, did not make any fantastic claims as to the sound quality of its radios; I think they let the sound of their units do the talking, so to speak.

Zenith's "Long Distance" claim on the back covers and tuning dials of most of its radios from the '30s to the mid-'60s, however, IMO, was justified. The company's sets from that era were extremely sensitive and selective, which was almost a necessity in radio's early days through the '50s since not every city or town had a radio station then. My 731 (and my 1951 H511) gets many distant stations in the daytime using just a built-in loop antenna, and the AM dial is full of stations at night--so I believe the sets lived up to that "Long Distance" claim.

Today, however, advertising is more overblown than ever, and not to be blindly trusted. Just look at some of the claims made for TV sets these days. RCA's "XL-100", used for their line of all-solid-state televisions beginning in the mid-1970s, used to mean the sets were 100-percent solid-state, but not today. Now, that label, which Thomson does not use on its current sets (it *is* on a line of sets made in the '90s, including the one in my apartment, however), means nothing. The sets are, for the most part, very troublesome, often winding up in service shops very shortly after they are purchased (and in the trash within a year or two, in many cases), although they do have good pictures when they are working, as mine does.

Zenith no longer uses its former signature slogan "the quality goes in before the name goes on", but then again, maybe it's just as well since today's "Zeniths" are anything but quality products. It's a good thing Zenith doesn't use that slogan any longer, as I don't think anyone would believe it now.

Thanks for the info, Jeff. I was pretty certain the labels were more or less advertising. I still have no idea what the "picture synchronizer" is or what it's supposed to do. Hopefully I can find time to research RCA's advertising from the period and solve the riddle.

I've had a bit of good new this afternoon. I contacted a man named Bob Dobush, found via the Early Television Foundation web page, who stocks and sells vintage vacuum tubes and other electronic parts. Mr. Dobush said he thinks the picture tube may be part number 10BP4, and if it is, he's got one. So, contrary to initial expectations, the set may yet live again!

RCA's "Eye Witness" picture synchronizer was the name given to their phase lock loop (PLL) horizontal hold system.

Chuck

I learned something new tonight
 

Well, I'll be darned! I didn't realize there were such things as phase locked loop systems in the 1950s. I was always under the impression that PLLs were fairly modern inventions, first being used as FM multiplex decoders in the '70s and not showing up in TV sets until the solid-state era.