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.