Blame it to the postman!

[DaNDeE]

Heyho.

 

Look what the postman did to my last bargain.

https://fbcdn-sphoto...363919491_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphoto...223358676_n.jpg

 

I bought a bunch of Ataris from a fellow seller in Austria and on the way over to here to Germany, the postman didn't feel like carrying the package - can't get that Ace Ventura scene out of my head. The Atari 800 and the 5200 did not survive. Bad thing about it, both are USA NTSC Machines, hard to get over here and the post offices refuses to pay for the damage. I had one week to find out to whom to talk to and after I found the right lady, she told me that she only can help me within one week, so I did report to late... service? None!

 

I am quite new to the Atarisection... always been a Commodore fanboy, but always looked over the edge and found Atari to be great, because of their freaky appearance, the many firsts (MULE) and the whole history of starting the business in the first place. Now that I finally decided to get all the Atari 8 bits for my collection they don't seem to want me anymore. Kinda curse, I guess.

 

Does anyone in Germany has one of those hatches or even a whole, non working 5200 case left for sale? Anybody in the USA willing to send me a hatch for tiny money?

 

Right now the whole system seems not work either. I get a green/brown screen, but according to this post it might just be the voltage regulator or probably the ANTIC chip.

 

http://atariage.com/...0-2-port-issue/

 

Btw. which one was first: the 2-port or 4-port model?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

cheers,

Dan

Edited June 25, 2013 by DaNDeE

[walter_J64bit]

WoW that sucks! I hope things works out for you.

[7800]

Same thing happened to me. I bought a 5200 a few weeks ago and specifically asked the seller to pack the hell out of it, make it bulletproof. No reply... so at that point I could only hope that it would be packed well. Sure enough it came in a flimsy box filled with packing peanuts. Sorry, but packing peanuts suck! The front corner apparently took the blow from being tossed around by the postman, and was cracked just like that. Left a neutral feedback and they reply implying that I was a scammer. Can you believe that! LOL!

 

The front piece and the rear hinged cover are VERY brittle because they are made of a translucent plastic... not to mention 30 year old plastic.

[+DamonicFury]

 

Btw. which one was first: the 2-port or 4-port model?

 

 

The 4-port came out first.

[Charlie_]

5200s always seem to take a beating in shipping. it is the brittle plastic and large case with pointy corners.

I've had a few ebay 5200 come all smashed up...

[sqoon]

I hate to see 5200's leaving USA because the remaining numbers are dwindling. Consider that the supersystem didn't sell huge quantities to begin with, and you can see why I am concerned.

[0078265317]

Mine arrived ok no cracks I feel so lucky.

[DaNDeE]

At least I am not alone... that comforts me a little. The seller actually is collector as well and when I send him the pictures he was really down. The stuff was actually packed in quite well: multiple layers of bubblewrap on every part in the box and everything was wrapped up with even more bubblewrap - non the less, the box was quite heavy due to the for power supplys... but therefore postage was expensive, on the other hand. Well... it is like it is. This one will probably go into the hands-on exhibition and can take more beating, if can get it to work again.

Edited June 26, 2013 by DaNDeE

[boxpressed]

As someone who prides himself on good packing, I was disappointed that a 5200 I sent to Official Ninja arrived damaged. I think I know what I did wrong, having had a couple more get to me since then with chipped port covers. I think my next blog article will be "How to pack an Atari 5200 for shipment."

 

UPDATE: Just looking through the 5200 FSM, and that translucent piece I called the port cover is referred to as the "power switch cover" and "top plastic cover."

Edited June 26, 2013 by boxpressed

[Charlie_]

As someone who prides himself on good packing, I was disappointed that a 5200 I sent to Official Ninja arrived damaged. I think I know what I did wrong, having had a couple more get to me since then with chipped port covers. I think my next blog article will be "How to pack an Atari 5200 for shipment."

 

UPDATE: Just looking through the 5200 FSM, and that translucent piece I called the port cover is referred to as the "power switch cover" and "top plastic cover."

 

I don't think anything was wrong about the packing boxpressed. It was packaged well. I think it was just really handled roughly, It must have taken a few solid drops.

The outer case was fine. It was the internal posts that the screws go in to hold the two case halves together. Only two survived!

Seems you only need two because I use that 5200 all the time as my beater. I move it all over and I had forgotten that that had even happened to the posts..