CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

whats6x7 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 5924

the_avguy · Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Edmonton, Alberta

penticton102 · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 137 Location: penticton B.C

zaphod · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 2002 Location: Cloverdale

whats6x7 · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 5924

I was just referring to the "After all we are all stiff's." thing he seemed to be agreeing with.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject:

Actually Walter the Sony had ONE problem with it, and you parted it out before we did any parts swapping, 18 months after you bought it. I was ready to troubleshoot with you, and you announced on avs that you parted it out, much to my surprise.

Unfortunately I do not have any of our old emails back from March/April when you bought the Panasonic set, but my attitude is the same. I'm happy to look at the set at no charge, just get it here and cover the shipping charges to me. All I remember is that you said you wanted a set on a budget, a really low budget, and I do distinctly remember emailing that the reason the Panasonic was less than the other sets is because I had no spare parts for it. I suggested an ECP, you didn't want to spend the extra money.

I'm done with this thread as well frankly, but I'll keep responding just in case a newbie reads it and thinks for a nanosecond that I abandon customer.

Stonefool · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 253 Location: Sweden

penticton102 · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 137 Location: penticton B.C

stone fool (what an appropiate name) listen fool curt said in a e-mail that before the set went out some of the controls did not work and his mentioning that he tried to up grade me to a ECP is just nonsense it never happened and curt as for abandoning a customer you sure did and to the rest of you guys i understand your penchant for kissing his arse because he is the only crt guy around and you guys need parts but taking every thing he says as gospel is laughable, good luck with that...............

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject:

Walter, you can't even quote me correctly. The earliest email that I have between us is when you were saying that some controls didn't work. I replied: (cut and paste)

Some of the controls are only for the video inputs, then others are only when you use RGB inputs. This set is a bit of a pain to set up, but careful playing with the controls should do it.

I've told you this about 10 x now. Not all convergence controls work all the time, some work with video mode and some with RGB. THat's completely normal and that's why I'm wondering if it was a setup/user issue all along. I won't know until I see the set, if I ever see it.

Stonefool · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 253 Location: Sweden

scoobydoo · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Victoria BC

All I can say about Curt is that he's been super great to me.
I've made the time, effort and $$ to come across the water and drive out to his place to buy not one but two PJ from him ($100 for the frickin ferry each trip)
He showed me the unit was working before I left and helped set some of the controls while I was there plus spent the time showing set up short cuts and listened and answered my many questions.

When my unit was down..he sent parts to me free of charge, I just had to send the old ones back..which I did.

He answered my call when I had problems and sat on the line while I went through things with him..ahhh 45min.

He answers my email very quickly.

ohhhh one bad thing..he tried to up sell me when i first came over and bought my Barco data 800. Said I would be back and I should spend more money now than later.
hmmmmmmmmm did I mention I bought two pj off of him? Yeah...should have listened the first time.

What i have learned through the years is that you pay for what you get. Everyone is out for deal but people aren't idiots for the most part. If they were..I would be glady give the idiot down the street $10K for his $250K ferrari. its not going to happen.

Stonefool · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 253 Location: Sweden

wallace123456 · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 2236 Location: Northwest VA area

penticton102.

hhmmm.. that names sounds (smells) familar. were you the grab ass in the chat room a while ago?? hhmmm big boy?? I thought it was Phil, but, now I know...

Shocked

penticton102 · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 137 Location: penticton B.C

hahahaha thats quite amusing no it was not me i heard it might of bean you offering a round of head for the guys..........

PJMoore · Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 99

Curt - You can stop turning off the spell checker. You can stop remapping the apostrophe key. You can fire the 4th grade children that edit your sentence structure. You can stop pretending now. YOU are penticton102! You are trying to manipulate us to shower you even more than usual with our blind adoration. Isn't it enough that we send our children's college savings to you? Isn't enough that we hang on every word posted on your site? Get help, Curt - before it is too late. Laughing

Mr. Green · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:57 am Post subject:

It really is too bad this has started to get ugly.

OH MY GOSH! I'M A CRT Newbie AND I'M SHOCKED!, well no, not really. - I just sent Curt payment!!! MWA-ha-ha-ha!!!! Razz

It's been a while since I posted so let the long winded speech begin... Smile

Oh, and for the punctuation police for this post... <IF> = "STRONG" IF.

Penticton102,

I'm really am sorry you didn't have a good experience. Unfortunately, I think everyone (other than yourself) would agree that $350 for an 18 year old set with worn tube(s) AND no spare parts is a roll of the dice for longevity as it is. How long would you expect a used 18 year old tube television to last? My 10 year old TV died last year and I thought that was a good run. My point is, CRT (especially the cheaper CRT's) for the most part are really old machines, if you want a set to last you'll have to pay a little more for it. "You get what you pay for" comes to mind. The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is how long did it work before you had a problem? It must have worked for a while because you figured out that the controls didn't work the way you thought they should.

I would suggest (only a suggestion) that it would be best for you to pay the shipping that you COD'd. We've already established that this "I shouldn't have to pay shipping" idea has gotten you nowhere, so we must now look for a solution. You have 2 choices:

1: leave it to rot at the shipping dock and lose your $350+ shipping you already spent OR

2: Pay the outstanding shipping bill, then have Curt look at it and after he determines what's wrong; discuss it with him and take it from there (I think pretty much everybody here wants to know what's wrong with it at this point). <IF> it turns out to be a dead set (and assuming that it wasn't tampered with) I'm sure Curt will help you out with a more reliable set that he actually has spare parts for. Smile

NOW HOLD ON a minute and read me through, hear me out... whatever. I know it's not "my" money to spend, but think about it. You will be out even more money if you don't complete the transaction as you will lose the original $350 and original shipping if you "abandon" it on the shipping dock. Seems silly that for $150 more you could have gotten yourself a nicer Sony 12XX or ECP or Barco 800 set and we would be back on track helping Curt with his bar guy. Just based on what Curt is going through with the bar guy should tell you he has a lot of patience and is willing to work with you. The one thing this string has proved is that You, Curt and everyone here would appreciate is that everybody treat everyone with respect and everyone returns the favor. Please don't start putting down the forum members. If it weren't for Curt, Kal and others, this wonderful forum wouldn't exist and that would really be a shame. THIS FORUM ROCKS! Thumbs Up

I read here that you had a sony 12XX and now the infamous Panasonic. Have you ever had any other experience with CRT? The Sony 12xx series based on the research I've done indicates that it should have been a nice projector that would have lasted you a long time... if you had repaired it instead of parting it out. Confused

Curt seems to have a never ending supply of them, so you know there will be parts around for years. Also, if you look at most of the guys on the forums, most still have a Sony 12xx series in their arsenal if not as their primary projector.

My question is why did you go with an older/ lesser set for your 2nd projector? Did you ask the people here for an opinion before you bought? It doesn't even appear on the best/worst projector list which would and did make me not want to even consider that one (yes, I considered buying it early on before you grabbed it). I decided not to buy it based on what all the great people here had to say and I've been saving my pennies ever since.

If you are fed up with CRT and really want a "no quibble" return policy, then I would suggest buying a digital projector from Costco (there's one in Kelowna) http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10294369&whse=BCCA&Ne=4000000&eCat=BCCA|79|22377&N=4009848&Mo=34&No=14&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&cat=22377&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-CA&Sp=C&topnav= . It's cheap, shiny and new (but a potentially short life span). This way, you get a new projector, new warranty and if anything goes wrong with it, you can take it back for a FULL refund. I took back an LCD monitor for my computer that died 2 years after I bought it and they refunded my money no questions asked. To get that kind of "customer is always right" service you will have to buy from Costco for the rest of your life, but they will take it back... <IF> and only if you take it back yourself, I don't think they would appreciate it if you shipped it back to them COD either. Nobody ever does and nobody ever has. My friend just had to pay 1/2 the cost of his video card to get it repaired 1 month after the warranty ran out. Wink

<IF> you decide to buy CRT again, I would seriously recommend that you do some research and ask questions as to what is going to be the best bang for your dollar.

For a bargain projector the Vidikron VPF-50HD: NEW SD-187 tube set installed! for $600.00 sounds pretty good. Honestly though, I think you need to do as I have and save up a few months and go right into the intermediate projectors. On Thursday I finally ordered (and paid for) my first CRT (a near mint NEC 9PG+). I had to wait a whole year to save up for it (my original budget was $500), but based on all the wonderful help I got here, I think I've picked out a winner and it's still cheaper than a 50 inch plasma and if I'm really lucky it'll be here for my birthday! Thumbs Up

The customer in theory might be right (if only in their own mind), but remember "Caveat Emptor" (Buyer Beware) is an equally common saying, but much older and more correct.

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST!

Curt, as far as your hotel/bar guy, lots of great advice has already been given, but I would suggest in the future, get a bigger deposit. Cover at least your costs and then the customer pays the last 10-25% upon completion of the install. That way you at least break even. Then you are only chasing them for your profit. Previous payment offenders (like bar-man) 100% up front! Ideally, everything should be up front. You aren't a electronics superstore and can't afford a "don't pay for 12 months" deal, so make them pay up front. If they want it, they pay for it, then they have to chase you... and I will! MWA-hahahaha!

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:08 am Post subject:

OK, an update on the original customer:

As I mentioned, I got stiffed for $3750 and the customer ended up sending me the 8500 back and put a stop payment on his final check. The 8500 wasn't packed in anything, so the BNC connectors got all bent out of shape on the input module. So I checked with small claims court, and there was a minimum 6 month wait period. I could lien the place, but I'd get no resolve unless the owners decided to sell the hotel. So I decided to go to Vancouver Island to go repo some equipment.

I set out to on the weekend of Sept 29, but after driving the 45 minutes to the ferry, it turns out there was a 2 hour wait to get on board, so I went home and booked a reservation (an extra $17.50 each way) for this past weekend. I got on the 11 AM ferry, swung into the Ramada parking lot at about 1 PM this past Sunday.

Now, I've repoed about 5 X in the last 5-6 years, and my heart is always a couple of pulses short of a heart attack due to the adrenalin rushing through my veins.

So the underground parking lot right at the pub is locked. Damn, have they shut the place down already?

No, I walk into the pub, it's open. I decided to wear a shirt and shave that morning so I look presentable. I go in, there's one couple in the corner playing pool, and the 27ish year old bartender that's reading the paper. That's it. No wonder they were looking to reduce their costs, it seems that the (nice looking) pub isn't doing anything. So, they'd installed a wooden shelf where the Marquee was, and bought some Epson LCD piece of crap. Of course they didn't check the throw distance, so the Epson was shooting an image that covered about 1/2 the screen. Lovely!

So I go to the bartender, point at the door that's more or less invisible due to the wood panel covering it where the sound system is located, and I say that I'm there to look at the sound system. Obviously I had worked on the system before since no one else would know that the sound system was located behind the invisible door. So the bartender says to go ahead, and I go in the room. My preamp and volume control panel is missing. Damn! I freak temporarily, but start loosening the cables to the 8 way RF splitter that controls all of the distribution to the projector and all of the plasmas and cable music box that I'd connected.

I decide to go to the screen, and it turns out that they had built a valance around the screen, so the screws holding the pulldown screen in place are inaccessible. Damn again! SO luckily Draper had switched to plastic mounting frames instead of the metal ones some time ago. I put both hands on the screen frame and twist. SNAP! The mounting screws pop out of the case as the case distorts, and I've got an intact screen in my hands. Out to the truck I go. I come back in, the bartender is still reading his book. I bring in sidecutters, and cut the cable lines to my splitter. Dead silence as I kill the music receiver. All TVs and the projector that's now projecting on a mirrored wall that's behind the now missing screen are blank. Bartender is still reading his book. I go to the truck again.

I come back in for the 3rd time and ask the bartender if he has control of the music volume behind the bar. Sure, he says, there's a unit back here. Oh, someone had moved my preamp and volume control panel to behind the bar after I'd done the install. Fine. I grab a screw gun and unscrew the volume controls and preamp from the rack. I cut said wiring and take the preamp and controls to the truck. I say goodbye to the bartender and tell him that I'll be back in 5 minutes. I drive off. 3 minutes out, I realize that I'd left the AA transcoder at the bar that the customer didn't send back with the Marquee. I turn around and go into the storage room in the kitchen, I finally find it and the breakout cable behind the bar in a cubbyhole. I grab it and leave. Forever.

About 2 hours later, 1/2 way back on the ferry I get a phone message. From Sargeant Stadenko (Cheech and Chong reference) of the Victoria Police Dept. I freak a bit, since I'm envisioning the RCMP (police) waiting for me at the Vancouver end with submachine guns drawn. So since cell reception was spotty on the water, I wait an hour to get to port to call him. He's all really nice, wanting to hear my story. I tell him what I outlined throughout this thread, and wait for a reply. He tells me that my story makes a whole lot more sense than what the Ramada told his that happened, that some guy from Vancouver would come over to Victoria, pull out random parts of sound and video equipment and leave, while leaving the more expensive gear behind. I told him that I didn't vandalize anything, only took what was mine, and only for the remaining amount due of the stopped payment check. He thanks me for calling, and advises me not to do business with 'dodos that don't have money'.

I've heard nothing since.

Smile

Oh, and a word of advice to anyone that has employees. In the 5 repos that I've done, I've never been asked for ID or a business card or what I was doing, in each case the jr employees always let me into their place and watched as I removed electronics. Never was I stopped or questioned. Bizarre. I know that I would have probably done the same thing when I was in my 20s working at the TV shop, but now I know better.

zaphod · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 2002 Location: Cloverdale

me: knock knock

curt: hello?

me: i'm here, to, uhhh "look at" the G90 here. ok?

curt: nice try

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:13 am Post subject:

Yeah, the bad thing is you know the alarm passcode: Doggie biscuits!

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 4:46 am Post subject:

So what do you figure is your total losses? Or did you break even?