I'm really stewed about this.

I have a Sony DSC P1 that I love - it's easy to use, and doesn't have buttons all over the geewhiz. I also have the MPK P1 housing, but it is starting to get a little tired I think. I thought I'd try to get a back up, just in case.

Sony doesn't make them anymore, so I went on eBay. I found one, and it was being sold by a seller with really good feedback points.

This is how it was described:

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We bought this a couple of monts ago, really cool! Case is in perfect condition no scraches or marks. Worked GREAT right up until the day my wife dropped the camera (without the case) on the tile floor, No more SONY P1! So I figured I'd sell the dive case. I will include the DOA camera for partc if you would like.
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Sounds good, right? I contacted him and asked if it had ever gone in the water, he said 3 times and never deeper than 30'. Wow! So, since it's no longer available new, I decided to take a chance on it.

I bid and won the auction. I paid immediately. A week goes by, no word. I tried to contact him twice (once on the Monday after the end of the auction, again on the Thursday after that), just asking when or if the shipment had been made. No answer.

Finally, I received the thing this past Monday. I open it up, and... let's just say this is NOT in perfect shape.

There is rust in the springs of many of the controls. There is corrosion on the on-off button. The o-ring, still inside it, has sand and grit stuck in globs of silicon. This housing is not anything I'd risk my good camera in.

Now, since I've tried to reach him and gotten no answers whatsoever, and since I'm pretty mad at this point, I leave negative feedback.

Well, THAT get's a response, let me tell you. The email I get is completely deranged - he even makes sure to use Rich Text format so I can see the fonts get bigger, darker, and redder as his spelling gets worse and worse. You can imagine him starting to drool and spit as you read it. He denies that the housing is questionable, he claims that of course there's sand in it - it was used! He rails about the negative feedback - THAT'S PERMANENTE!!!!!! (sic) He then calls me a "moron" and a "jack**s".

As far as I'm concerned, this piece of crap should have been sold as-is, if sold at all - it should have been junked. I paid a premium price for what should have been a useable item, not for a paper weight.

We're now in "mediation", but I want my money back and he can have his camera back AFTER I get the money. He wants me to retract the negative feedback, which may be the only way I get my money back.

So, if anyone wants to use eBay, here's a warning: don't trust those "Feedback" entries as far as you can throw them. This is the last transaction on eBay I'll ever make.

Oops. "He can have his HOUSING back".
Actually, he did include the camera. The jury's still out on how it broke, since he removed the battery I can't say. It doesn't look as if it was dropped, and the LCD screen still works but it's definitely broken. He can have that back too.

Susan I don't blame you I'd be sorely P*ssed off too... please keep us informed as to the resolution.

What a horrible experience!!! I hope it has a happy ending for you!

Not fun.

If you do get your money back, you might just misaddress the return. Or just 'misaddress' it to a circular file, in the vein of 'turnabout is fair play' or 'what comes around, goes around'. Then he can't 'do' someone else. I know, your own honesty, but balanced against consumers banded together for self protection. :–)

Susan, Im sorry you had such a bad time! I have bought numerous underwater items on Ebay and never had a problem. Im assuming you have Ebay involved in the mediation...they will help you.

Ah well - now he says he doesn't care about my one piddly negative comment. He won't refund the money until I ship it to him, and I won't ship it back to him so that he can sell it again.

The mediator suggested something I felt was unreasonable: I return the housing, then give him 10 days to refund the money after he received it - not a chance. I paid for it before I saw it, he can refund the money in the same manner as far as I'm concerned.

Ultimately, if he hadn't gone incommunicado for over a week after I won the auction and paid, I'd have contacted him through email rather than done the negative feedback thing, and this may not have escalated to this point.

Geoffrey at first suggested the guy was just ignorant and didn't understand the importance of maintaining a housing, and maybe even believed that it was in perfect shape. But then he'd start saying things like "Sony tells me the springs are an alloy like stainless steel, so they CAN'T rust!" (Sony? Is there a Mr. Sony he talked to?) which is just bull, so we decided he was not all that ignorant - he just didn't want to admit the thing wasn't worth dogpoop.

I have also purchased a few things on eBay before, though not that many. I never experienced this kind of idiocy before. It's an expensive lesson, and one I'm taking to heart.

So eBay loses a customer, and again I say Buyer Beware when using eBay.

One thing: a fellow-BTer sent me an email about a webpage explaining how to refurbish your own housing.

I thank him for that, and maybe this won't be a total loss: we can experiment on this crappy housing and then once we know how to do it right, work on mine.

Hi Susan, could you post the web page address for refurbishing a housing, just for future reference? Thanks.... Denise

Hi Denise,
This is what I got from BTer squba:
http://www.digitaldiver.net/lib_docs/PT--015_service.pdf

It's a different model than mine, but the principals are the same.

thanks Sue

I suspect the 'Sony' he might have talked to was a Sony service rep. 'Stainless steel' doesn't rust like iron but it does rust; 'Stainless' was originally just a hype word, for want of a better term, not a technical definition. I doubt 'Sony' would say it 'wouldn't' rust. Sea water will corrode almost any metal but gold.

There are rust removers that work well and leave the remaining metal good; used one years ago and can't recover the name. Related, at least, to something called 'Naval Brass', I think. Someone here surely can suggest a current product.

Removing all the saly is harder than one would think-- it doesn't like to just wash away. As we all know from rinsing our gear and ourselves after diving. Salt-X is a good product for that-- it chemically changes the salt so the new product does wash away. It doesn't damage gear if used according to instructions (like so many things, read the instructions!). The worst I have heard of is a clouding of camera ports if they are left in a Salt=X bath for a long time. Underwater PhotoTech in New Hampshire gives all incoming cameras a five minute dunk to remove salt from deep o-rings. Good product for your app and for general use on all salt-immersed gear. It has been available from mail order dive gear houses. Can't recall the name of the one I am thinking of.

I think the rust remover you are thinking of is "Naval Jelly". I don't know how/if it would work on small ss springs. When I was a kid my father would use it on my swing-set every couple of years before painting.

Sorry to hear about the ebay fiasco. I have bought many items from ebay, including a two year old Harley Davidson, with little to no problem. I always check feedback, but also what they have sold in the past and how long ago the last sale took place. Generally, unless I am very comfortable with the seller, I don't bid. I also look at major misspellings as a possible give-away. I know this is too late to help, but I thought I would give my 2 cents. Don't give up on ebay because of one bad experience, it would be like giving up on Bonaire because your rental truck was robbed - and that is not going to happen.

Best of luck.

Ah, yes, Naval Jelly. That name even sounds better than mine. 'Brass' in the name for a rust remover didn't sound right. Worth a try on the springs. :–)

Thanks, everyone. That naval jelly stuff sounds good - my housing (not the ebay one) has a tiny bit of rust on one of the controls (I guess I didn't freshwater dunk it long enough at least once, too) and with this, and the info on servicing it (and with a camera-less test in water afterwards), I may be able to continue to use my camera for a few more dive trips.