Amp does nothing

[02audionoob]

I bought an Adcom GFA-555II amp in an online auction from a seller with a perfect feedback history. His auction said the amp works flawlessly. I received it and it doesn't work. Given the seller's history, I trust that it worked last time he tried it.

But it doesn't work, now. The red light doesn't come on. No sound is produced. After turning off the power switch, there's a bit of a sputter played through the speakers. This seems somewhat normal. My Adcom GFA-535 used to do that and it worked fine the whole time I had it. The GFA-545II in my present system does not do this, though. There are 5 fuses accessible from the back and they all check out good. The amp was well-packed and the box did not suffer any damage in transit.

Any ideas about what may be the problem?

[blackraven]

Send it back. Did he insure it? If you bought it from AGON and paypal dispute it.

Good Luck

[Feanor]

I bought an Adcom GFA-555II amp in an online auction from a seller with a perfect feedback history. His auction said the amp works flawlessly. I received it and it doesn't work. Given the seller's history, I trust that it worked last time he tried it.

But it doesn't work, now. The red light doesn't come on. No sound is produced. After turning off the power switch, there's a bit of a sputter played through the speakers. This seems somewhat normal. My Adcom GFA-535 used to do that and it worked fine the whole time I had it. The GFA-545II in my present system does not do this, though. There are 5 fuses accessible from the back and they all check out good. The amp was well-packed and the box did not suffer any damage in transit.

Any ideas about what may be the problem?

First I owned a GFA-555II for a while and find it a very nice sounding and, of course, quite powerful. Were yours working I'm quite sure you'd enjoy it.

You should immediately contact the seller to see if he will take the amp back. However this will depend on the terms of sale: if the amp was sold as-is, or explicitly with no waranty, then you might be out of luck. Atlhough if you paid using PayPal you might have some additional recourse -- check that out: you might have a claim on the basis that the item was "not as described".

Sometimes shipping a component seems to do it in. I sold an Adcom GFP-750 preamp that was working fine when I packed it. When my buyer got it, it wasn't working apparently because the power supply had failed. I had sold the unit under the terms that there was no warranty and the buyer assumed the shipping risk, so I won't likely have payed in any case. However the buyer didn't immediately mention that the thing wasn't working and ask to return it. Instead he had it repaired at a cost of over $300. Then he was ask me to pay the cost of the repair or a portion of it. Neither I nor any other seller will pay such a claim, so don't try this approach.

[02audionoob]

Sincere thanks for the suggestions, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'll work it out with the seller...I'm not worried about that. I would just prefer to be able to figure out what the problem is and then not have to send it back. I'm really just wondering if anyone might have some sort of miracle idea. This question is a shot in the dark, at best.

[markw]

This is indeed a warranty. There is no "as-is" implied here.

First, talk to the seller. If he's reasonable, you'll either return it and get your $$ back or get it fixed.

[02audionoob]

My own experience has been that if you treat the sellers with respect, you find they're almost all interested in having you happy with your purchase.

[blackraven]

If you ever buy anything again ask the seller to ship it via UPS because you can buy insurance. Fed Ex will only insure a max of $500 not commodity value while UPS will insure it for declared value.

I just went through this when I sold my 840c.

Of course then you have to prove that it was working when it was shipped.