Anybody Bought From great-estate-pipes on the Bay?

[Chasing Embers]

That is a great looking pipe.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have no concerns at this point based on the feedback I’ve seen on this thread. Thanks to all. I wanted to understand before going off half cocked and causing the seller problems with eBay.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

That is a great looking pipe.
Thank you. I really like it, was surprised to see it sell for that price.

 

[gnarlybriar]

If I remember correctly, Chance mentioned to me about a month ago that he was going to the St. Louis show. believe that he drives to shows (with pipes to sell), and therefore is probably completely out of town. However, as much integrity as Chance has, he SHOULD have enlisted some way to have the pipes sold whilst away to be sent. Or, not listed pipes at all until returning. Or, perhaps included a note to the effect that he would not return to send pipes won until such and such a date, all in my opinion.

 

[georged]

Yup. That's ^^^ it. The St.Louis show is happening right now, and it's three days driving each way from CA.
In other words, no worries, Guy, Hoosier type, Pipe version, one each.

 

[daveinlax]

Chance mentioned to me about a month ago that he was going to the St. Louis show.

He was at the show today and it was very busy pretty much all day and I saw him doing buying pipes too. 8O

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Okay, mystery completely solved. LOL I’ll drop him a third message letting him know all is good thanks to his friends at the forum.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Chance responded today. Payment was received, pipe shipping today. All is good, thanks for the feedback.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Got one communication from this guy, said he was traveling but had taken the pipes with him and was shipping it out. That was last Tuesday. Still no pipe. I sent him 3 messages at Ebay asking for a status and a tracking number. No response to date but a tracking number number showed up yesterday on the item. It was delivered. Unfortunately, it appears to have been delivered somewhere in Cave City, KY and I live 200 miles North of that near Indianapolis, IN.
I'm glad those who spoke up for this guy had positive experiences. I would never purchase from him again. He has shown himself to be totally negligent with very poor, almost non existent communications. I guess the traveling is a good excuse for not communicating, perhaps he doesn't have a smart phone.

 

[doctorbob]

Man, now I am sorry I vouched for the guy. I'll remember this going forward. I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction, because the situation does sound pretty unacceptable.
Doc

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Doctorbob, you could only respond based upon your own experience. If the guy would simply make a good faith attempt to properly communicate, I could be very patient with him. I can’t help but wonder if he’d show equal patience to someone who won one of his auctions then failed to pay or communicate for almost two weeks.

 

[georged]

I know Chance. He's been in my shop. He's been in the pipe resale business a long time, and is quite dedicated and serious about it.
Based on this thread it appears something has gone sideways in his personal/family situation, or in a technical one. He does everything related to the business himself, meaning EVERYTHING is a single point of failure. Multi-person businesses can adapt to and cover for unforeseen circumstances, a soloist can't.
In short, if the purchase described by this thread is now Chance's "new normal," I will be astonished. I think it is far more likely either some sort of perfect storm of technical/procedural errors, or a personal emergency.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I sincerely hope it is not a personal or family catastrophe, a pipe is rather insignificant by comparison. It’s just that his only response did not involve a family catastrophe and was quite tardy. I have refrained from reporting this to EBay as I don’t wish to cause the guy a bunch of grief. Just hoping someone here who knows him better reads this and reaches out to him to take some positive action.

 

[ssjones]

Thats disappointing and uncharacteristic of him, sorry you had to be the one guy. Keep us posted, it better be good explanation and not "I was busy". We're all busy.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Thanks Al. In my last message today, I told him I was filing a complaint with eBay if I didn’t hear from him. Mysteriously, he found an internet connection again and responded. The package is apparently moving again but now is in Oklahoma. He somehow saw that as a positive. On my end, moving from 200 miles to 800 miles away isn’t very positive. LOL The guy has a family and apparently makes some fair amount of his income from eBay. So I’m hesitant to cause him a lot of grief there over a hundred dollar pipe. Hopefully, the pipe will eventually arrive in my hands.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

The pipe arrived today. It shipped on 2/21. It is addressed properly but it is impossible to tell why it ended up taking the circuitous route that it did. I suppose a screw up by USPS.
I must say, the pipe is gorgeous, the picture doesn't do it justice. It passes a pipe cleaner with zero resistance. Appears to be drilled perfectly. I am looking forward to smoking it but if it smokes close to how it looks. Todd Johnson will be seeing more of my business.
All of this drama could have been easily avoided with a little planning by Chance and a little more conscientious effort at communicating. However, no harm, no foul and no damage to Chance at eBay.
Thanks to those who helped fill in the gaps on what was going on with Chance. That gave me the confidence to have the patience to give this thing a chance to play out. It's also good to know that Chance did not have an accident or serious problems with a family member.

 

[georged]

It is addressed properly but it is impossible to tell why it ended up taking the circuitous route that it did. I suppose a screw up by USPS.

I once watched the tracking of a package I'd sent from Kansas City to Indiana first go to Florida, then to Texas, and then sit for several days. Then it came back to life and proceeded normally to Indiana.
The USPS is astonishingly good and reliable when you consider the volume they handle. When a parcel strays outside their system's procedural/automated boundaries and requires special "recovery handling" (for lack of a better term), it can take a while to set right, though.
It sounds like something similar happened to your pipe at exactly the wrong time, when Chance was on the road & etc. A perfect storm of sorts.
Glad it turned out OK in the end. (I knew it would. 8) ) And yes, he does good work, doesn't he? "Better than the pics!" indeed... If only someone would show him how to up his photo game. :wink:

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

If only someone would show him how to up his photo game.

The only good news is that I would have never been able to purchase the pipe for the price I did if the photos had been presented properly.

 

[ssjones]

A good outcome! Sometimes bad pix does equate to a good buy.

 

[joeman]

I've learned this same lesson. We all want our pipe quickly...we expect good communication from sellers...and quick payment from buyers. As a buyer / seller since 2001...I've watched as the USPS took my item (both sending and receiving) for a wild ride before it was finally delivered. And after all of these years...still not a single one permanently lost. But, I've had to learn patience. And to echo George...most of us estate sellers do it alone...the entire process. So the "single point of failure" rings very true. If something happened to me...not even my wife would know who's waiting on a pipe.