Buying Used.

The Set Up.
My Apple LaserWriter finally bombed after 11 years. I needed a temp. replacement printer. Do I buy a cheap-o inkjet for $40 or buy a used laser printer for $200? For me its got to be toner. I found a reseller of used printers in Emeryville.

Its A Big Set-Up.
I'm there and we're talking about all the wonderful used models he has in stock. He gives me the tour of his warehouse. Its big. And he doesn't need my lame 360 for parts. He has stacks of them. I have to admit, the place is cool. Well organized. Seeing stacks of printers is impressive--everything from ancient Tektronix color to new HP large format plotters. And the wall of toner carts is like seeing the ruin of an ancient fortification.

The Sell.
So we chat while I wait for someone to schlep out the printer. My guy seems to be the owner. I like chatting up sales/owners as I'm looking for work and need to practice my casual conversation. He's giving me the sales pitch of a life time. I relate a few stories that characterize me as a customer (I'm a graphic design professional. "PostScript is an important feature" kinda shit). When the conversation gets a little too personal, I countered with something like, "It must be a struggle to keep a big warehouse like this
filled with used equipment when so many warehouses are becoming rentals." He bristles. I poise for the kill and I spare his life with "overhead". Word. He offers coffee.

The Conflict.
A younger man (his cousin?) brings out this 6MP. Newish. The younger man takes over the sale. While he's leaving me hanging, a young woman (daughter?) starts to play me. Shes changing the negotiation. Trying to bristle me for extras. The younger man is tag teaming with her over the toner cart and busting my balls as if I'm wanting everything for free. I stick to my guns. She excuses herself to ask if I'm lying. OK. This goes on for the rest of my 1+ hour visit. After we play with paper, I confirm I get a 90 day money back. I take the printer and whistle my way home.

Tech Talk.
I used my Asante Talk serial adaptor to connect the 6MP to my Ethernet hub. The printer printed the maintenance test page in the store. When I hooked it up to my computer the best I could do was get CUPS (the Mac OS print manager) to print a test page. All other applications would only generate an error menu stating simply "Manual Feed". Try to get this to work for the next 2 hours and finally concluded the printer has hardware problems.

A Return.
I returned the machine the same day. The younger man is waiting in the office. I explain the problem as above. He said simply he would refund my money. I asked, "You don't want to find another working machine for me?" "No" was his only reply! He asked for my credit card and I gave it to him. Then the staff starts to play a game of switching people on me. I was never dealing with the same person. When my guy started to pick at my testing methods I ended the deal.

Oh, Fuck.
They have the printer. They still charged my credit card, too. Very strange business practices. My guess from questions asked by the young woman is they usually deal with businesses. They worked like a clock. The run-around was impressive. I was willing to play their game, but only to a point. When a
sales guy has to put on a tech hat and give me shit, I know this is a slow boat to South America, and anything can happen.

I think they were giving me this nice 6MP to fuck with. I could'a had a chance with an older model, a sort of law of used cars--a shinny new car that costs the same is hiding 500 lbs of body work. Whatever the game, they blew the sale. I didn't want to be his new son in law. I ran. Fast.