Would this anger you
 

General question as I’m not sure how to proceed.
I’ve been looking for an AMC magneto for awhile now, at least a year. About 2 weeks ago a guy on a different forum a frequent mentions in a post he’s putting one up for sale on eBay. On the eBay listing all of the pictures show a basically brand new Vertex mag with a new tag on it from Joe Hunt. I call Joe Hunt with the serial number of the mag and confirm it was recently rebuilt by them and given a clean bill of health.

The eBay listing goes unsold so I message the guy on the forum and we come to an agreement to buy it. I PayPal F&F him the money as he is a well known parts seller both on the forum and through a business he runs selling amc parts.

It comes in last night well packaged and I open it up. Immediately upon picking it up I hear something loose inside the mag. And once I begin inspecting it I find a literal hole in the side. Removing the cap I find the rotor broke off the shaft of the magneto. There’s also 2 small cracks at the top of the magneto where the cap sits. And the cap rotation stickers are backwards leading me to believe this is not the original cap.

Looking at the photos on the eBay listing it looks like he used the Joe Hunt tag to cover the small hole and didn’t disclose any damage. Saying it was freshly rebuilt(which again, I confirmed myself)

What I believe happened is someone was screwing around and zapped themselves with it by spinning it, then did what they could to hide the damage.

I messaged the guy on the forum with pictures. He’s read it but hasn’t responded and I paid F&F as he is a known guy who’s also a club president. I haven’t posted anything on that forum yet as I’m going to give him until tomorrow to respond.

I paid good money for this. Damn near the price of having Joe Hunt build me a new one without the wait.

In my personal opinion I think the fair thing to do is to pay for a new rotor, and to have the mag tested. As long as it checks out good cover payment for testing and have us part ways. I have a feeling that’s not going to be what happens and by the time this is done I’ll end up spending more than the cost of a brand new Magneto to get this one to 100%.

Pictures are the ones off eBay, then some of the damage when I opened it up.

Would this anger me? Yep, provided the seller doesn't step up and make it right in a reasonable amount of time.

Yeah, I'd be angry.

I would be angry too. I would give a reasonable amount of time to make it right. If he didn't I would out him on the other forum

For sure. I think your compromise is very fair.

Update:
Guy sent me a long message about how UPS must’ve damaged it and I should put in a claim with them. Problem is there is literally no damage to the box. And to his credit it was insanely well packaged. He said if I get a claim going with UPS I can send it back and he’ll have it fixed. And I can buy it back after that.

I counter offered what I put in my first post. I already contacted a racing ignition company and am taking a ride there Friday morning to have it tested. If it tests good cover the cost of the test and the rotor and move on. If there’s something wrong with it we’ll go from there. I’m waiting to hear what he says.

Again, to his credit. He did respond to my message but is claiming he didn’t do it and wants to blame the shipper.

I always give the seller a few extra bucks to cover fee when I purchase via PayPal Goods/Services.
At least then you have recourse in such a situation.

I thought the sender had to initiate claims.

Yes, they do, if Matt calls them, they will tell him to have the shipper file the claim. The ONLY way it would be considered is if he were to crush the box sufficiently to be believable it was UPS that damaged it, because he is going to need to provide pics of all 4 sides for the claim. If the driver took a pic of the box at delivery with no damage, which they do now, the claim will be instantly denied.

The sellers dishonesty to try to blame UPS and get a refund is already a second red flag to me. Be ready to fight on the other forum where he is "well known".

I can post an update today. I ended up bringing the mag out to PA to be rebuilt by a gentleman who worked for Vertex until they were sold to Taylor in 1992. He rebuilds vertex mags almost everyday.
This mag was a gigantic piece of shit that never would’ve run in installed. For several reasons actually.
The hole I first saw is housing porosity. It’s there because Joe Hunt used a basically junk bottom and top housing to assemble this used hodge podge magneto. The bottom and top half of this mag aren’t pressed together properly because they’re machined as a matched set and these weren’t matched. It should’ve been noted when I bought it, and it was definitely dropped and the housing has another small crack in it. But isn’t anything keeping it from running.
What was keeping it from running is the fact that Joe Hunt assembled this magneto to turn the wrong direction. They built it as a counter-clockwise mag when AMC mags turn clockwise. After inspection it was also found the driveshaft and spindle were too long vs their spec drawing and would’ve bottomed out into the oil pump drive before ever seating into the timing gear case.
Also of note was that the whole magneto was dry. Joe Hunt assembled it with zero lube on any component or bushing and it would’ve burned up if it had been run.

Ultimately I’m not sure who to blame on this. The hole in the case was there and hidden by the seller. But I’m not sure I can blame him for the horrendous assembly job done by Hunt.
Luckily I ended up in the right place with a knowledgeable guy. He swapped all the parts to clockwise rotation, machined a new shaft from a Chevy shaft since he didn’t want to cross drill the gear pin, and reassembled and checked the mag while I waited and hung out with him. He also removed the Joe Hunt tag and installed an old Ronco tag to match the time period I’m building for.

The two pictures I’m posting are of the gentleman machining the new shaft and putting the oil pump drive groove in it, and testing the mag when it was all said and done.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment and make fun of my terrible luck.

I think it's good luck you found this guy! And that it also got a cat scan!

Good luck moving forward!
Anthony

Third party quality control guy monitoring the scope.

Just don't let him touch the keyboard.

K

Sorry about the experience but how fortunate that you have someone so knowledgeable close by to fix it. Buying (and selling) stuff today is more challenging than ever it seems making known sellers all the more valuable.

Not sure what this service cost you but I would say the original seller should cough up some funds to help re-coop your costs since he hid the damage. Did said seller know of the Hunt disassembly? If yes , another misrepresentation.
I would post a response on the forum so others learn about your issues.
It may save another customer of his.
Just my opinion

I agree. I’ve sent him info on all the damage and findings and final cost to try and split it. Ultimately I can never sell it for what I have into it. But at least now I have a useable known good part. I’m waiting for him to respond before I go forward on the other forum. The seller presented it as a freshly rebuilt Vertex mag by Joe Hunt racing. Calling Joe Hunt with the serial number before purchase by myself confirmed they rebuilt it. Meaning I assumed I was buying a basically new, ready to run mag. The internals were new. They just weren’t correct.

Quote: "Ultimately I can never sell it for what I have into it."

If it is any consolation (and I know it isn't) that describes half of what is in my garage and shop.

Good to hear you got it repaired properly and working.

Getting screwed sucks....send the karma back to the seller.
I hear ya, and Lynn, on "buy high, sell low". Seems to have been my motto for many years now...:tongue:

THAT would be a great motto for a car-guy T-Shirt. :grin:

Man! Glad you got it sorted out, lucky to have that rebuilder in your area.

In a perfect world the seller would eat the bill for the rebuild work and go after Joe Hunt himself.

‘

Gotta admire the way you’ve dealt w/ this whole situation!:headbang:
So great you got the unit sorted so quickly, whose are these capable hands you found also, does he want more work/mind you sharing his contact info if others here in need?
Nice how you’re giving the seller a chance too, hopefully he comes through w/ some participation,
:beers:
~ Pete

.

Mason Racing ignitions in Ottsville PA repaired the magneto. He worked for Vertex until they were sold to Taylor in 1992, and has done, and still does, a lot of machining for Vertex now that they’re owned by Joe Hunt Racing. He is machining stuff for them currently.

I can update this post again. After sending all of the information and findings on this Magneto to the seller he’s agreed to pay for half of all the services required. He’s also going to reach out to Joe Hunt and said if he gets any money back from them(though he doubts it), that he’ll split what he gets back from them to offset the cost even more.

Also according to the seller he actually purchased 3 rebuilt AMC mags from Joe Hunt at an agreed upon price below retail. The seller also wanted the information for who serviced my mag because after checking the other 2 he has(one he wants to resell, one he’s keeping for a car he’s restoring) he found that Hunt put the other two mags together as backwards rotation as well. Meaning that they will literally never work in their intended application.

I’m going to leave all these posts up to show what happens sometimes when buying used or rebuilt parts, but I just want to be clear at the end that that unnamed seller did what he could to make it right and I personally decided to just keep the mag after spending money on it. He gave me the option to send it back and I’d only lose the shipping cost to get it back to him.

Not that I’m grateful this all happened, but I also got to spend 4 hours with a guy who is a master at his craft and watch him disassemble, test, machine, repair, and retest something, all while I bombarded him with questions so I’d know more not only about the part itself, but the history of the part and why it functions. So sometimes things work out ok. It cost me some money. But I got a lesson I can absolutely use for the future.

That's great that the seller is taking some responsibility for the parts that he sold. Hanging out with people who know what they are doing is a great experience.

Damn ! really can't ask for a better outcome than that !
I, really, didn't expect the seller to be that upfront with sharing the cost on this, kudos to him...:biggthumpup:
Another life lesson, and usually, they all cost a bunch.