With an Ebay handle titled 'goodmansandsons' one could imagine that the seller has a lot to live up to. Well, this good man - although I use that honorific with some hestitation - or indeed one of his offspring, is well on his way to being nominated for our Dr Franken Hall of Fame.
I'll leave it up to you to decide whether Goodman, or his sons, are worthy of such illustrious nomenclature after you check out this listing.
It screams Franken watch! Does it not?
So, I decided to advise diplomatically Goodman of the status of this piece of Connie crud. But before we go into email quotes, here is the description offered by this good man or one of his good sons:
"Original 1960s Gents Omega Chronometer Officially Certified automatic "Constellation"S/S, Case size without Crown 33mm.Pertfect working order you can only expect this to keep good time. "Collectors Item""
Yes, I agree, because we can only expect that and nothing else!
Well, now, now, My Good Man or Sons, keeping good time is the least of our worries. As to your claim of "Collector's Item" I can only say that the piece of rubbish that you are touting in listing 330216836681 is collectible only by those who are masochistic enough to need to buy a lemon so as to self-flaggelate with barbed wire after they disovered they had won a Frankenwatch!
Below is an exchange of communications between Goodman, or his sons, and myself. First the query I sent him (or one of his sons)
Me:"Hi, This is an interesting watch. It should have either a cal 561 or 564 movement and yet the train bridge is showing cal 751 which is the day-date version of the watch. It looks as though either a 751 train bridge has replaced an original bridge or a 751 has been modified to show only date. Either way it may be problematic. I Thought I'd let you know"
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Well let's see how this Good Man or one of his Sons responded:
"Hello, If you know so much as a horologist you should not ask this Question. Thank you"
Well, I must admit, it's nice to receive a thankyou, but, I'm just a tad concerned that you chose not to respond to the points I put, Mr Goodman or one of your sons.
The fact that you have allowed this listing of a Frankenwatch to continue places in serious doubt as to whether you are indeed a 'Good Man'.
The lesson here is buy the seller and the watch. With only 24 positive feedbacks, the canny eBay buyer will avoid this seller like the plague. But, with such obvious pique at being disovered to be selling such a piece of crud, I would upgrade one's avoidance strategies to that of eschewing the Ebola virus.
POSTSCRIPT: I'm pleased to say that this auction was terminated early.
Desmond,
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see a good blog ruined by juvenile name-calling and mockery. It would be far better if you could stick to reporting the facts without resorting to unnecessary character assasination. None of us like to see watches misrepresented by sellers nor do we condone sellers who would intentionally mislead the public. However, your latest post could have been done with a lot more maturity and grace.
Please, report the facts and leave out the attacks.
A Reader Who Cares
Hmmm, I'm inclined to agree with you. Instinctively,I favour the maturity and grace route.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is that from time to time I get swamped with emails from buyers whose collecting experience has been marred or sometimes ruined by those who do misrepresent what they are selling. And its hard not absorb the injustice of it all, particularly those sad cases where a lot of money has been involved or where the offending watch was a special gift.
Sarcasm and mockery does keep me on the right side of our defamation laws, but I agree the facts speak louder than anything.
I disagree with the first comment. I think this post is amusing but also accurate. These fraudsters need to be made a mockery of, just like they try to make a mockery of potential buyers.
ReplyDeleteMel
Mel,
ReplyDeleteThere's always going to be a certain percentage of the readership that enjoys watching Jerry Springer, but you have to decide whether those are the readers you really want to cater to. Personally, I'd rather not see Desmond lower himself to the level of the people he reports about. I'd rather see him take the high road and report just the facts, leaving the childish remarks for others to make elsewhere.
While I can certainly understand the frustration that comes from reading and hearing daily about people who have been wronged (I experience this, also), it diminishes the professionalism and credibility of the blog when the author loses self-control and resorts to name-calling and mockery.
A Reader Who Cares
Desmond,
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work. I had no problem with your comments when taken in the larger context of the blog and the service you provide in it.
Chris
Desmond,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100% The fakers need to called out for their deceptions, and if some name calling results so be it. The seller had a snide response to a legitimate question- he/she deserved what came next.
Desmond
ReplyDeleteKeep up the name-calling and mockery - it's good for a laugh.
It's a shame the auction was ended prematurely, I don't think we will find another 751 day-date with only the date again! Something that rare must be worth something :-\