Ethical or unethical........

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boatdrinks77

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Ok guys, gotta unburden my conscience......

Last weekend I went over to a local small electronic repair shop to buy a belt for a Proton CD player... Standing at the counter waiting for the owner of the shop to grab me a belt, I look to my right and on the shelf is a Pioneer SX-3900 with a repair tag on it and the word "DISPOSE" written across the tag. When the owner of the shop came back with the belt, I paid for the belt and I asked him "whats the story on this Pioneer" and he said "its too expensive to fix and the owner doesn't want to pay to have it fixed". I asked him "what are you gonna do with it? Do you want to sell it?" He just ignored me. So I asked him again and he turned around and walked to the back of the shop.

I stared at the repair ticket hanging on the receiver and the owners name and phone number was staring me in the face, so I memorized it and called the owner when I got home. I asked him if he'd like to sell it and he said "sure, I told the shop owner to throw it away, apparently its not worth fixing" I offered to pay the diagnostic fee and whatever he wanted for it --- he said I could have it for free if I thought I could fix it. He already paid the shop fee. I insisted to pay him for the receiver and he finally said "send me $20"

He called the repair shop and told the owner he was sending me down to pick up his receiver..... I mailed him a check and picked it up.... Here it is....

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My question......Is what I did ethical ??? I feel kinda guilty. Dan
 
It’s fine as it turned out and you’re saving one from the landfill, but both the owner and shop guy could just as easily have been unhappy that you stealthily procured the owner’s phone # as that info was between those two parties.

But in this case, it worked out.
 
Not a bit as you're buying a pig in a poke. As far as anybody knows, repairs may well exceed the final value. There's parts value of course, but again there's a lot of hassle involved in that as well.
A non working Pioneer SX 3900 has very little "street value".

Good luck with it.
 
It’s fine as it turned out and you’re saving one from the landfill, but both the owner and shop guy could just as easily have been unhappy that you stealthily procured the owner’s phone # as that info was between those two parties.

But in this case, it worked out.

Yes I guess maybe it WAS unethical for me to memorize the owners name and phone number. But I did not do it "stealthily" as you suggest. The Pioneer was sitting on the shelf on my side of the sales counter and literally 12 inches from my face as I stood there waiting for my CD player belt....... I guess what I did was steal someones personal information... in my defense, I had nothing but good intentions by obtaining the information.
 
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A tightrope walk for sure. The owner could've been offended you sneakily got his info, but you lucked out. Fortune favors the bold. Nice score!
 
Owner should be more irritated that the shop left his personal info out for the world to see than at you for getting in touch.

I don't think saving it from the landfill was bad. The shop owner was either going to actually throw it away or hawk it on eBay, which is just as or more questionably ethical as you getting it after telling the owner it wasn't worth fixing.
 
Not a bit as you're buying a pig in a poke. As far as anybody knows, repairs may well exceed the final value. There's parts value of course, but again there's a lot of hassle involved in that as well.
A non working Pioneer SX 3900 has very little "street value".

Good luck with it.

I don't think the "street value" has anything to do with the ethics of this discussion. Are you saying that if the unit had been a McIntosh MC-275 worth thousands, it suddenly becomes unethical ?? I don't really think what I did was unethical ---- I always try and follow the Golden Rule..... Dan :music:
 
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I look at it this way, the shop owner didn't want to answer you when you made a simple inquiry. This tells me he had other things in mind and didn't want to divulge them
to you or was just being rude. In any event if he didn't want anyone to know anything about the unit he shouldn't have had a tag with the info on it in plain site.
I think you saved the owner of the unit from maybe getting the short end of the deal and you paid him what he wanted even after trying to give him more.
No worries I would say..........you lucky devil, enjoy!

Although you may have to go elsewhere for parts now.
 
A tightrope walk for sure. The owner could've been offended you sneakily got his info, but you lucked out. Fortune favors the bold. Nice score!

In my defense, I did not "sneakily" get his information. The repair ticket was staring me right at eye level as I waited for my part....
 
Yes I guess it WAS unethical for me to memorize the owners name and phone number. The Pioneer was sitting on the shelf on my side of the sales counter and literally 6 inches from my face as I stood there waiting for my CD player belt... Jesus, now I feel kinda slimy --- I guess what I did was steal someones personal information... in my defense, I had nothing but good intentions by obtaining the information.

From a strict standpoint, yeah, maybe unethical. But from a practical standpoint, getting a name and phone # for the purposes of trying to find a win/win isn't a big offense. Had either/both been upset, you would have to understand their point of view though.

The way I see it, companies are buying, selling, trading so much of my personal information without my consent that it personally wouldn't bother me to have someone contact me with your intentions and having gotten my info the way you did.
 
Once running the 3900 are wonderful receivers.
Not an easy fix for the inexperienced if amp related.
I would of liked to know more about the conversation between the original owner and the shop owner and what he had said about repairing it. No offer to buy it? That might be unethical bepending on the repair.
 
The way I see it, companies are buying, selling, trading so much of my personal information without my consent that it personally wouldn't bother me to have someone contact me with your intentions and having gotten my info the way you did.


Yes thats true.. information is traded all the time without anyone's consent.... Thanks for making me feel better.
 
Once running the 3900 are wonderful receivers.
Not an easy fix for the inexperienced if amp related.
I would of liked to know more about the conversation between the original owner and the shop owner and what he had said about repairing it. No offer to buy it? That might be unethical bepending on the repair.

Apparently the repair shop did not offer to buy it from the owner, he told the owner he would dispose of it. When I asked the shop owner what he was going to do with it, he simply ignored me. I told him I'd buy it-- and again, he ignored me. Then I said to him again "i'll buy it from you" and he turned around and walked to the back of his shop without saying one word to me.

A few years ago, I pieced two SX-3800's that my friend had into one good working unit. As I remember they were not fun to disassemble.
 
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I don't think the "street value" has anything to do with the ethics of this discussion.

It's not the buyer's responsibility to educate sellers of what their wares may, or may not be worth. It doesn't matter whether it's a MC275 or a Ferrari.

If there's any aggrieved party here, it's the shop owner who had a transaction occur in his own business premises (while paying for insurance, lights, rent etc) without seeing a dime. If anyone is owned anything, it is him.
 
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I don't think it was unethical at all. It's not like you had to sneak around the counter to get the owner's contact info. Good save, IMO.

The SX-3900 regulated power supply and amplifier boards run pretty warm. Both are going to have many cracked solder joints and dried out caps. It is absolutely mandatory to immediately replace the trimmers for setting the bias. Any diagnostics should be done with the unit on a DBT.
If you don't do your own work, find someone who is specifically familiar with these units. They aren't really rocket science, but they are tricky, and can throw a tech who is unfamiliar with them for a real loop.
 
Apparently the repair shop did not offer to buy it from the owner, he told the owner he would dispose of it. When I asked the shop owner what he was going to do with it, he simply ignored me. I told him I'd buy it-- and again, he ignored me. Then I said to him again "i'll buy it from you" and he turned around and walked to the back of his shop without saying one word to me.

A few years ago, I pieced two SX-3800's that my friend had into one good working unit. As I remember they were not fun to disassemble.

I'd find a different tech. That's dickish behavior, period.
 
Tech may have been silent as the unit was his by the possession rule. Sure the owner could pick it up with the diagnostic fee paid but the tech might not have expected that and was looking at the unit as a parts donor for future work. Maybe he was not willing to 'sell' a unit that still had the possibility of the owner dropping in looking for it. In this case he would have to say it was disposed of...or sold, but that was part of the verbal agreement between the owner and the shop following payment of the diagnostic fee and the results of that evaluation.

I don't think there were any fouls on this one all around.
 
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