• vendredi 18 mars 2016

    A rope please!


    You want a story? It begins very well. Last year, my brother realizes a trade on a French web site (le bon coin). He trade all his collection of old role play books of cthulhu (200€) to an old player of role-playing games in revival crisis.

    My brother trade to this person his collection of books for a huge lot of 80’s medieval miniatures. They are quite painted, based and conditione in splendidly small custom-made wooden boxes. This sale is realized from hand to hand, my brother meets this person who presents him his numerous Dragrons and the rest of the lot.
    The rest … It’s a huge lot of Citadel miniatures from  the 80s, including  the Giant CITADEL. You understood … It’s the deal of the century. A real treasure as you can see on these pics which illustrate that a single part of the lot. Ends of the beautiful story.
     
     
     
      
     
     
     
     
     
    Indeed, a few months later, on the forum Oldhammer a person puts a message " SEEKING: The Citadel Giant, with yet(now) without spare parts ". I speak about it to my brother because he wished not to keep this enormous figurine. I suggest to my brother taking care of this sale, I agree with the buyer on the price, then I pack the Giant and I send him to the buyer.

    A few days later, I receive an email by paypal who asking me to refund this buyer. The buyer informs me that the torso of the Giant is in plaster and he wants to get back his money.

    As you can imagine, I am in shock. Very embarrassed by this problem, I answer to the buyer that I am going to refund him (unconditional) . The buyer (probably under the shock) decides to share publicly this affair without trying to return in touch with me by private message to solve this problem. Graver for me, it seems persuaded that I tried to swindle him, with my own Name, on the forum of the Oldhammer community, with a grotesque but effective copy of this collector's item.
    Nothing could indicate me that the torso of this miniature was in plaster, its weight seemed correct 1,6kg (the parcel weighs 2,7kg). The giant was painted, I went not scratched the paint …
    I obviously refund the buyer. But the buyer seems very irritated and threatens me with legal pursuit… A very bad day for me!

    8 commentaires:

    1. To Nicolas' credit, he has indeed refunded me. The model is obviously a partial fake. Now from my point of view, given that I was originally asked to pay by 'friends & family' you will imagine what the possible outcome could have been? Not a good day all round, because somebody out there is copying one of the rarest models and has taken us both for a ride.

      RépondreSupprimer
    2. Nico...I'm sorry to hear about this unfortunate turn of events. But you have handled it like a gentleman and you certainly will not lose credibility in my mind. Kudos to Mark for stepping forward and acknowledging your quick refund of his money. I'm sure it was a troubling day for both of you.

      RépondreSupprimer
    3. You have my sympathies Nico - what a nightmare. Not a pleasant experience for either party. Hope you can both sort it all out amicably.

      RépondreSupprimer
    4. That sucks!
      Has your brother checked out the other figures to see if any of them are ersatz as well? Might save future grief.

      RépondreSupprimer
    5. From where I am standing you have done nothing wrong at all. It wasn't even a mistake - just one of those things that happen when dealing with 'vintage' items. I hope you get the 'proper' giant pieces returned to you, as even without the torso piece they are quite valuable in their own right.

      RépondreSupprimer
    6. Plaster recasts... Poor world...
      On a more serious note i hope everything end without grudge between you and your buyer. You're a great guy i was so happy to meet and share gaming time with, and hope to do it again.

      RépondreSupprimer
    7. Thank you all for your support, the buyer and me will try to close this file as gentlemanme. The return of the giant gets organized at the moment, I'll let you know!

      RépondreSupprimer
    8. One can't help but think the Garden Gnomes have struck!

      RépondreSupprimer