The Chennai Ripper - You Have Been Warned

malvai

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Hi folks!

Just wanted to give you all a heads up about a certain "preowned" dealer: Prakasam, from Chennai... you see him all over quikr, though on quikr he posts his location as Bangalore.

Now this story begins about a year ago, when I wanted to sell my Krell FPB 200 power amp, to fund my purchase of the Accuphase. So I contacted this fellow as he is known a couple of other FM's as well.

This gent, shrewd as he is, settles to buy the amp for 90k INR + Shipping (about 3.7k) - half its re-sale value. I decide to sell it to him. Then this fellow asks for a favour - he says he will pay in 20 days from the day he receives the amp.

Till date (almost a year now) I have received only 70k - that too in parts. The last month or so, the gent has even stopped taking my calls.

Now I know that this unscrupulous fellow is not going to pay me, but the least I can do is warn all of you unsuspecting 'philes...

On further investigation, I have been advised my many FM here that this guy actually buys stuff in non-working condition from abroad and re-furbishes the gear and then sells it on...

Since I have never bought from him, I cannot say if that is fact or not... but, I thought i'd share what i have experienced and heard.

Please guys: Beware of this seller...
 
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Manav Bro,

Thanks for the warning. Yes, he is very active on the for sale portals - OLX & Quickr.
 
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Thanks for the heads-up. I've spoken to him a few times. He does offer to carry over any used stuff you find on echoloft so probably does import on his own account also.
 
jai...

be very very careful.... you don't wanna end up paying for your stuff and never seeing it....

I know of at least 2 other people who have suffered as bad as i have, and i am not quoting them, for I feel, that should be their perogative...
 
Hey , good that you brought this up. I had once bought a Marantz 6003 amp from him for 19k. Had sent me some re-furbished stuff with the front panel cracked.
However and fortunately sent him the amp back very next day (though at my expense) and managed to get a refund.
Never dealt with him after that. As rightly quoted , seems to be very active on the OLX and quicker circuits.

EVERYBODY PLEASE BEWARE of this fellow !
 
Hi folks!

Just wanted to give you all a heads up about a certain "preowned" dealer: Prakasam, from Chennai... you see him all over quikr, though on quikr he posts his location as Bangalore.

Now this story begins about a year ago, when I wanted to sell my Krell FPB 200 power amp, to fund my purchase of the Accuphase. So I contacted this fellow as he is known a couple of other FM's as well.

This gent, shrewd as he is, settles to buy the amp for 90k INR + Shipping (about 3.7k) - half its re-sale value. I decide to sell it to him. Then this fellow asks for a favour - he says he will pay in 20 days from the day he receives the amp.

Till date (almost a year now) I have received only 70k - that too in parts. The last month or so, the gent has even stopped taking my calls.

Now I know that this unscrupulous fellow is not going to pay me, but the least I can do is warn all of you unsuspecting 'philes...

On further investigation, I have been advised my many FM here that this guy actually buys stuff in non-working condition from abroad and re-furbishes the gear and then sells it on...

Since I have never bought from him, I cannot say if that is fact or not... but, I thought i'd share what i have experienced and heard.

Please guys: Beware of this seller...

I never wanted to post this as I understand that it may be somebody's bread and butter but today when I'm finding out there are others who have faced a similar harrowing experience. So today I'm sharing my experience with other music lovers so it may deter them to deal with him.

I struck a deal with Prakasam and I received a dead on arrival Arcam amp 100w in exchange for my Sugden A21 amp. Later when I asked him to return my amp, he said that he likes it very much and took 1 month to refund my money after numerous phone calls. I had to litreally call a renowned person to mediate the refund. The whole experience was so horrifying that in midst of the numerous visits to the courier company, I had a small car accident.
 
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I heard similar stories of him from couple of other FMs as well. Spoke to him once and could (fortunately) make out that he is a slimy character.
 
I have already heard about such unscrupulous seconds sellers existing in Hyderabad,
Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. If any of our members are aware of them or had some
experience with them they are requested to post in this forum.
 
Until Indian Consumer Laws are not made strict,there will always be dishonest online dealers who will take their customers for a ride............
 
Until Indian Consumer Laws are not made strict,there will always be dishonest online dealers who will take their customers for a ride............

Guys like these are typically fly-by-night. There will be no one to sue unlike an established company

--G
 
Every country has these fast-buck artists soiling the high value goods resale market.

I try to buy locally, from owners of the goods, and offer fair prices so neither side feel they were taken advantage of.
 
As an old timer, its really sad to see this happen to clients! First of all we audiophiles are a handful! When will the guys learn?
 
^^^^
they will never learn... unless they are taught a lesson... and I for one do not intend to let this guy get away.
 
^^^^
they will never learn... unless they are taught a lesson... and I for one do not intend to let this guy get away.

Can you also share the Rippers photographs (if available) so that everybody else is also cautioned whom to be beware of.
 
Oh man, you fell for this swindler!!!! :mad::mad: I think there was a warning post on this forum by someone couple of years back. I once bought a used Marantz amp for my secondary system. It looked like an amp put together using scarp. I connected it and it sounded like some haggard old man about to hit the bucket. I returned the amp (along with a threat of calling the cops) and got a refund.

I have saved quite a few folks from this charlatan.
 
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