Thread: Smashed Coticule Help

Hi all. Apologies if this is in the wrong area.

Going back a couple of months I won a pair of vintage coticules labelled 'soapstones' on ebay. They were to be my first finisher(stone and slurry stone) so I was pretty excited, especially so considering the bigger was said to be around 10 inches long! Anyhow, the seller was based in the USA and after many thousands of kilometers travelled they arrived. Astonishingly under packed by the seller in just a cardboard box lined on the bottom with a piece of felt, the larger stone had the yellow coticule side completely smashed from the blue side See attached photos. The slurry stone was fine.
After apologies and requests for photos from the seller I have been completely ignored by them.
I have made a claim through PayPals cover system. Of course, this was never going to be easy. I have now been asked to:

Please provide documentation to confirm that the item you received is damaged or significantly not as described.

This documentation should be from an unbiased third party, such as a dealer
or repair shop, and should detail the extent of the damage or confirm that
the item you received is significantly different from what the seller
advertised. This third party should be someone who is qualified to appraise
the item you received.
The information should be on letterhead that includes the name, address,
and phone number of the appraiser so that we may contact them if we require
additional information. We are unable to reimburse you for any cost
associated with obtaining this documentation.

Has anyone any advice or can anybody help me with this? Being based in Adelaide, Australia there are not too many(ie NONE) dealers or repairers of either smashed or complete vintage belgian coticules!
Any advice or help would be very much appreciated.
I wish you all great shaves.
Mykel.

I would contact whomever delivered it to you. I'm not certain who does your postal carrying or if it was sent via a different courier, but I have a couple of friends that are packaging engineers. They can document and assess the damages. Make sure you have the original packaging including any padding, foam peanuts, etc. I would say there's no need to check with a coticule specialist to verify the damage, as it would be fairly obvious to any postal inspector. a simple comparison of the item you bid on vs the item received would show that it is not in it's original condition. My best guess is that the somewhat fragile stone was improperly packaged for an overseas journey and the service that delivered it could easily verify this.

Please give us the name and address of the person who did you this total injustce so the rest of us won't fall victim at some future date.

Breaking a natural stone is sort of like a death in the family...........

Jerry
~~~

The two big pieces still have value which needs to be upraised by someone who sells whetstones.

If it were me I'd include the photographs in the online claim with paypal, and then call them and ask to speak with a supervisor.
I would love to hear the reasoning of Paypal as why they cannot make the judgment from the provided photographs and need a third party evaluation. It is obviously broken item.

Well it was a glued coticule and it can be glued again to salvage some of it if you cannot return it for your $$. Definitely PM Bart and while you're at it ask him or Rob at Ardennes what the best glue would be.

I dropped one once and the yellow separated from the blue and broke into two pieces. I used epoxy and put weight on the stone. Unfortunately the weight shifted the pieces just a hair and there is no getting it apart to redo it.

So if in the end you're stuck with it and reglue it make sure it is with a glue that you can undo if you want to.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I dropped one once and the yellow separated from the blue and broke into two pieces. I used epoxy and put weight on the stone. Unfortunately the weight shifted the pieces just a hair and there is no getting it apart to redo it.

For precisely this reason I always use clamps instead of a weight. You can check that the pieces hold tight where they're supposed to.

Depending on the size of the hone, those large alligator-style paper clips work very well.

Was that the only packaging it was in? It looks like a case of someone not knowing exactly what the stone was and improperly packing it. You did say they were listed as soapstones. As far as the remaining chunks value, it could be more than the original purchase price in reality. It would do you no good to send the broken stone back and get your money back if the stones are worth more to you than the money spent. Those are some good sized chunks.

...with Paypal is that you should not expect them to satisfy any "guarantee" they claim to have with you. They sent me also on a wild goose chase for a "qualified appraiser" (the only one was a business 150 miles away) at my own expense, and even though I had emails from the seller acknowledging the item purchased was not as described on the ebay listing, they denied any action in my favor, or against him. I no longer have a Paypal account, and will not reopen one. I'm happy to provide personal or cashier checks for items purchased and wait for the shipping, and now I only deal with vendors I trust (including everyone on this site).

I'd beg sellers here who use "Paypal only" to reconsider. A cleared check is secure payment, and PP will get you sooner or later.

I can't believe the horror stories I'm hearing about Paypal. Have they changed their policy? I mean, Almost 100% of the time, they side with the buyer. I've disputed a few in my day, and have always got my money back and did nothing more than write a statement that the item was not as described. I'm sorry to hear you guys have had this trouble. I consider my self fortunate. I've always felt secure buying with Paypal, in case I get screwed by the seller....