HP2648 heartbreak

From: Jay West <jwest_at_classiccmp.org>
Date: Fri Feb 11 18:13:54 2005

Well, I was all excited about getting that HP 2648 terminal off ebay. I was
leary of the unit based on the pictures posted of it on ebay which didn't
show a keyboard and avoided anything other than a tight closeup on the
screen face itself. But... the seller emailed me some additional pictures of
the unit, showing that it actually came up with "terminal ready" on the
screen, no major mold/spots, and a great condition keyboard with all keys
fully intact. So while dirty, it was working and in very good shape.

It arrived today on my porchstep. I knew something was wrong because the top
1/2 of the box was crushed, the side was torn open halfway down, and extreme
excess tape was used to hold the box together. But even worse (or better,
depending on how you look at it), the USPS had placed a large tag on top of
the box stating "Received in Damaged Condition". Oh boy. The box was in
really bad shape with holes punched in it too.

I opened the top of the box, and much to my chagrin... there was about 10
inches of dead space in the box on top. No packing material other that about
4 sheets of newspaper - not even crumpled up - just perfectly flat sheets.
Ugggg.... moved the newspaper aside... and there were two LARGE holes
punched through the TOP of the terminal and the terminal top was off to the
side. One of the holes is about 12 inches by 5 inches. I pulled out the
keyboard, and about 1/2 the keys were missing. Hummm that's not how it was
in the pictures. So I carefully took the terminal out, found another hole in
the back of the terminal... and there were all the keycaps from the
keyboard. They had all worked their way under the unit, where the heavy
terminal of course crushed all the keycaps into a semi-powder.

At my own thought - plus due to urging from a few other list members - I
emailed the seller before they shipped and asked them to take extra care
packing the unit and I was assured "don't worry, I promise it will be very
carefully packed". The packing was basically nonexistant.

I'm pretty skilled at this kind of recovery, but I am pretty sure this is
beyond anyones ability to really restore. Unfortunately these terminals seem
to be quite rare... and the terminal really would be the final crowning
piece in my HP2000 setup. As upset as I am about not having one now, or
whether the seller will refund my money... what I'm more upset about is that
since these terminals are so rare - especially good condition ones - is that
a careless packager has taken a piece of history out of the world for good
:\

Jay West
Received on Fri Feb 11 2005 - 18:13:54 GMT