Worst 'working' set you ever acquired?

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We are drifting Off Topic here even thought its pretty wide.

Cheers

Mike T

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Originally Posted by slidertogrid

Around here the man flogging tellies from the back of a van was very common in the 1990s. I had a customer bring in a TV and VCR for repair that he had bought like that. The chap had a Rental firm's overall on and suggested that he had a "spare " TV and VCR to sell.
I cannot remember what the TV was but it was scrap the VCR was incomplete and very wet inside suggesting it had come from a junk pile or skip. The hand sets that were wrapped up with them were not even remotely the right ones!
When I told the owner the bad news he said he was going to the Police..
I thought that will be an interesting conversation....
" I bought a TV and VCR off the back of a van in a carpark believing it to be cheap because it was stolen from a rental firm, then I find out it was cheap because it was scrap and useless!" " I see sir" " Just one moment I will make a note".... Sounds a bit like a Hancock sketch!

I did see a few over the years I soon spotted the signs, sprayed silver, wrong remote. portable sets that had been glued together and the cracks sprayed over.
After that I made sure any sets put out in our yard were broken with no back on them, If you clouted the tube neck hard enough the gun would shoot up the neck and impale itself into the mask so it could be seen that the tube was broken.
Then when we had a skip the back covers and VCRs would go in first with the scrap sets on top.

I too soon realised the untested sets sold by disposal firms were the ones they had used for spares and usually had a clapped tube.

This is a complete double of what I experienced at my shop.
Often they would put quality brand name badges on the front and wrap them heavily in shrink wrap that was not easily unwrapped.

The white van would often turn up at building sites and con guys into spending hard earned wages.

One of them did come unstuck. While in a public house miles from where he had originally met the guy who had conned him at the building site, he noticed the very same guy turn up at the pub attempting to do his old trick. The guy he had conned was a big fella. He got his £150 back and the rest you can guess.
The old junk was usually sourced from rubbish dumps, skips and the rear yard of TV shops. In the 90's I had numerous guys at the shop offering me £5 for any TV or video regardless of condition but they had to be in plastic cabinets, no wood.. I never took up their offer!

I did have a customer bring in a large Sharp 25" model, horribly sprayed silver that was devoid of a chassis! It fooled me for a minute until I saw light through the back. Their own fault I suppose but a nasty thing to do. I personally very much believe in Khama. Regards, John.

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It seems despite the previous request this has just become a fest of dodgy doings perpetrated on others.

I think Steve was rather hoping for something very different.

So by popular request of Arthur Daley and Friends I am closing this thread.

Cheers

Mike T