Regulators and corrosion: more fleabay misery

[poisonorange]

Hi SB,

So I made the mistake of buying regs on fleabay. (I know - my fault - but I'd bought second hand regs before and they're brilliant.)

The listing explicitly said they had been serviced before being packed away for 18 months and had not been used since. Now, I know they should be serviced anyway before using, however, they have corrosion spots on first and second stages that look to me like they weren't serviced at all. Leads me to question the integrity of the seller and just leaves a bad taste in my mouth -- if I sell something that has something wrong with it, I'm pretty upfront about it and it's never backfired.
Presumably if the reg bag they were stored in wasn't in a puddle, they shouldn't have accumulated corrosion like that even over 18 months of non-use. 18 months of heavy use in fresh, pool, and sea water and my regs don't look like that.

I submitted a return request and he's refused, saying that they must have accumulated the corrosion after servicing and having never been used and that I should have asked more questions/asked for more photos and that I have to have them serviced anyway...

My question is, do I have a leg to stand on? Does it seem like the Seller is obscuring the corrosion in the photos?
I'd appreciate feedback from any techs who service regulators as to what regs are supposed to look like after not being used...

I'm attaching the photos that the Seller put on fleabay and will follow up with the photos I've taken in a comment.

 

[poisonorange]

The photos I've taken - is this a set of serviced regs and these corrosion spots can just spontaneously appear?
I'm reluctant to open it up further to see what else might be corroded...

 

[Yellowdog]

Can you post the actual ebay description. If the pictures in your original post came from the ebay listing I would say the seller did a fairly honest job of showing the actual condition. I always say " look at pictures for best description " when I list something.

 

[BoltSnap]

The pictures you took certainly show corrosion on the regulator on the outside. It may have been serviced but not serviced/cleaned properly.

You are/should have them serviced from scratch anyways and if you got a dirt cheap deal on them, then I'd just bite it and have them serviced and not worry about it. The issue here isn't them being serviced or not but is if there are more serious issues with the regulator that would require service and parts replacement going beyond what annual service requires. In this case you may have to pay much more than regular service and the benefit of buying cheap would be gone and worse. These issues can include cracked second stage case, irreparable issues with the first stage body and other similar defects rendering the regulator useless or having to pay what it would cost to buy new. It is a gamble.

 

[Bigbella]

I have worked on regs since my college days; and there is no way in hell that I would allow anything to leave my bench in that condition. Was there any documentation of when it was previously serviced? If there is that much verdIgris on the surface, you can just bank on some internal corrosion.

I store a good amount of equipment that is used on a seasonal or irregular basis -- and there is absolutely zero corrosion on them, upon unpacking -- or that would entirely on me. The regulator below was stored, properly, well over a year.

You do have protection through eBay and Paypal; it's built into the transaction. If you had followed my recent thread on the same subject, refunds can be had, even if the seller offered no returns in his or her listings.

More often than not, the seller is well aware of the existing issues and won't even bother with the expense of having the equipment returned, as was the case with a friend who recently found himself in a similar position -- who, surprisingly enough, found himself buying items from overseas . . .

 

[2airishuman]

What did you expect?

It's ebay. You buy regs there, and then you service them, and during the service you clean off any accumulated corrosion.

If you want a reg that's been serviced, and you're going to dive it without doing anything to it, then buy it from a dealer or a diver who you trust.

 

[runsongas]

unless if the seller provides a written service record from a dive shop, i always assume regs on ebay/craigslist are unserviced and bid accordingly. only gotten burned once following that rule (internal corrosion, externally was in good shape).

 

[Scared Silly]

I think you have a case. Regulators that have been serviced should not have signs of corrosion. Even if stored for 18 months. Servicing means removing the corrosion.

Basically the photos provided by the seller do not show the "defects" As such, the item is not as described. My suggestion is to take the reg to you local shop with a 6 pack of beer and ask the tech to provide a quick inspection evaluation. If that were brought to be my evaluation would be something to the affect of regulator shows signs of exterior corrosion which indicates that a full service should be conducted.

 

[JackD342]

You will probably never know for sure, but one likely possibility is they were serviced about 18 months ago, then used once or a few times more with a poor job of post-dive rinsing, and then put away for 18 months.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, I did use them once after I had them serviced...."

 

[poisonorange]

Thanks very much for all the replies.
I guess I'll wait until I can ask eBay to get involved as it's probably a waste of my energy to try to reason with the guy when I've explained my case pretty clearly (with the photos I posted).