Is this grease or fungus on my microscope head?

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:00 pm

Well, I think I've decided to return the item. As per Pau's recommendations, and I agree there may very well be separate issues too.

Here is a photo of the packaging for posterity:

You can see that while the packaging is not beyond redemption, it is rather flimsy.

I will return it. Return shipping costs and insurance at my cost, unfortunately. Hopefully I am reimbursed for original shipping costs, looks like I am according to what I have read about the new shipping program.

Fingers crossed.

75RR · Post by **75RR** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:18 pm

Agree with Pau that condition it arrived in is unacceptable.
Now whether that means returning just the head or all of it, I can not say. Contact your local ebay rep and see what they say in terms of shipping cost compensation.
If you do agree to accept a trinocular head replacement, it should not cost you an additional penny.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:14 pm

I had a look at the condenser. I found that the iris lever does not fully open, it opens to a certain point, but does not open any further. The iris fully closes to the rightmost position, but does not fully open, the lever appears to stop about 70% of the way to what I assume would be the leftmost position. Since I cannot replace this condenser, as they are no longer produced, I am afraid this is most definitely a return.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:19 pm

What I fail to see is why people even ship microscopes out in this condition, even if they are used. I for one would never do it if I was selling a used scope. I guess they are just sitting there waiting to sell them and not really caring about the condition or quality of what they are selling. Just making assumptions, and maybe even knowing that there is something wrong but not disclosing that information.

The sad part is that I put too much faith into the words "used but in good condition", I was never expecting a nightmare like this and I have been scared away from buying used scopes for good, even if most of them are in working condition. And now, I will never be buying a used scope on eBay again, ever.

That more or less permanently locks me out of some potentially very good deals. But the word potentially is what's important here. Potentially. That's the key word.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:38 pm

Just an update.

The microscope has been returned. The cost to return this was about $210 AUD...which is not an insignificant amount of money.

However, the lesson learned here, is that one should never purchase a used microscope from another country. Sure, often you get lucky, but then again you might be one of the unfortunate ones.

I have faith in eBay and they do what they are supposed to but my days of buying used microscopes from overseas are gone for good.

75RR · Post by **75RR** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:06 am

my days of buying used microscopes from overseas are gone for good

Always a risk, to which you have to add the shipping costs and import duty.

If I may make a suggestion, go local, by which I mean very local.
Australia is a big country and buying something from the other side of it is almost like buying from abroad.
If the seller is say, within a couple of hours drive, it can make all the difference in terms of customer service and support.
Good Luck.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:28 am

I'll definitely be staying local. There are some very nice scopes on eBay here in Australia. One being an Olympus, with 160mm objectives, but all decent quality.

I've seen some very good microscopes in Europe, but they are not on eBay, they're on a specific website that was mentioned sometime when I spoke to a well known microscopist in an email.

Those microscopes would definitely be trustworthy. Yes, they're expensive, but I think the moral of the story here is one gets what one pays for.

In hindsight I would have never bothered with eBay...but the lesson has been learned and that will stick in my mind forever.

I even looked at some Chinese/Indian scopes...just for some idea...wondered how the optics and mechanics would be...and thought to myself...seriously, can they make a microscope with a quintuple head with phase contrast objectives for USD $1000? Um...

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 3:31 pm

Well, I should hear back from eBay within a day or two.
I already sent the item back on Tuesday last week, and I believe it has been delivered back to the seller. It cost me about $200 to send it back, so that's very annoying. I followed the instructions.

But this thing being up in the air has me frustrated. I really do hope that I get my money back - even if they said I will get my money back. I really don't care what they think. The seller seems determined to have their way. But I'm not going to let them get away with this. You can't just sell equipment in that condition and expect everything to go away. It won't go away, well at least not with me it won't.

Nowadays I find it extremely difficult to put trust in anyone. This experience has left my feet and hands very, very cold - and that is if I end up getting my money back - I am still very much in doubt. Until I get that refund it's going to be a very anxious wait.

Can you imagine the possibility of throwing away more than $2000? Can you imagine the microscope being gone and the money being gone? I can imagine it, and it feels extremely bad.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 5:44 pm

Still haven't heard back. Maybe since I'm out of the general USA time zones I won't hear from them until tomorrow. What I find interesting is that the seller now has my microscope back for sure, so I get a feeling that unless I get my refund, things will be very bad.

What I'm really scared about is that the seller will spin up a story to try to make me look bad and and I won't get my money - and the fact that I spent $200 to send the microscope back to the USA, that money would be surely gone too.

Good thing I know I have the pictures to prove my case. Funny thing is that eBay supposedly can't see pictures, only read messages. Now that is funny. Yes, I know eBay more or less promised a refund. But how can I be so sure that this will happen. I find it so hard to trust anyone these days regardless of what they say.

The cold hard facts are, I have done absolutely nothing wrong here. Nothing. All I did wrong was receive a microscope where some parts were not in good condition. If the price I have to pay for the crime of thinking that I would receive something that could make my life more interesting, is a lot of money, well, then I guess so be it. But none of this is my fault. Not one bit of it is my fault.

I guess this is what you get when you trust people too much. I sure won't do that again.[/i]

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 5:50 pm

As suggested in a PM much earlier, you should speak to your local eBay customer Service. They will advise you.

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 6:02 pm

Ben,

As you may know, here in the U.S., we are just now nearing the end of the Thanksgiving holiday period. Many businesses closed early last Wednesday, and will not open until Monday. Millions of people have been traveling or entertaining family from out of town. It would not be surprising if a U.S.-based eBay vendor has been taking this time off.

--Chris

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:34 pm

ChrisR wrote:As suggested in a PM much earlier, you should speak to your local eBay customer Service. They will advise you.

That is what I did, I received instructions to send the item back, which I did.

So it's now a waiting game.

But I am pretty sure that I should have an answer by tomorrow.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:41 pm

Chris S. wrote:Ben,

As you may know, here in the U.S., we are just now nearing the end of the Thanksgiving holiday period. Many businesses closed early last Wednesday, and will not open until Monday. Millions of people have been traveling or entertaining family from out of town. It would not be surprising if a U.S.-based eBay vendor has been taking this time off.

--Chris

True, I wasn't aware of that. But when I spoke to eBay I asked if my item had been delivered back to the seller and it was, and the seller hadn't responded to me, they didn't even acknowledge that I gave them the tracking number, no response from them since, so I escalated the matter and got them to step and help, so I am not entirely sure what is happening right now. I only have 13 days to make a PayPal claim if something screws up on this eBay escalation matter. I thought eBay was taking care of this matter, at least that's what they told me...unless they were lying to me.

Not only that but the seller told me off. As if I was wrong! No way in hell I am handing over $2k+ for something that was in the condition that I received it in. No way.

I'm so terrified of losing well over $2k...I just can't believe it. Really I can't.

I really should have just forgot about this Zeiss obsession altogether. Getting a brand new Zeiss is just too expensive, thus why I looked at 2nd hand options, which now I feel are too risky. I should have instead gone for something like Bresser TRM or maybe something along the middle range. This idea of buying used equipment has been much, much more of a headache than it was ever worth. It has been terrible luck so far.

I can assure you that there will not be a next time. This just will not happen again. Not ever.

benjamind2014 · Post by **benjamind2014** » Mon Dec 01, 2014 4:07 pm

Update:

Things are very bad now.

The seller is basically denying that the pictures I sent her are of the microscope she sent me.

I am going to contact eBay ASAP.

This thing isn't going to go away. No, it isn't!

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Mon Dec 01, 2014 4:09 pm

Sorry to hear that Benjamin. Good luck.