I buy a lot of crap on Ebay. Because of this purchase, I'm starting to curb that. Here's what happened:
I found this MoVall chorus pedal on Ebay, being sold as "new" by some dude named Kai, going by the handle "Bucks Saver" at a pretty good price. So I snapped it up. It took nearly a month to reach me from China, and I tried it out. First pass- it didn't exactly work. So I debated, and tried to contact, with no response from either Kai or MoVall. So, figuring ( correctly) that the warranty meant nothing, anyway, I had a look see. The problem was obvious- the main potentiometer was broken. Quick fix- and popped in a new one. It worked for exactly 1 hour, before it went completely dead. So, I opened things up again- there were two pcbs in there ( circuit boards, if you don't know) the one that I had attached the new potentiometer on was fine, but the other was cracked, disrupting the circuit. The pedal was shoddy junk. Sorry, there's really no two ways about it. See, I did consider all the possibilities- for example- let's say that Kai was a worker at MoVall who snuck out the pedals that didn't pass QC, and sold them on the sly on Ebay. OK, that explains the bad pot, but the cracked board? Nope, that should only happen if you're using bad materials in the first place. Let's say that the mere act of opening the enclosure did it. Again, that wouldn't crack the pcb on any of my other pedals. No, the only way this happens is if the board was bad. So, armed with this, I put everything back exactly the way it was when I bought it, and tried contacting the seller. He told me to check the battery. Please follow the link. See a place for a battery? Nope. So I told him that ( so much for the theory that he worked for the builder) and he said- check inside. This would, as I already knew, void the warranty. So, as a back up I contacted MoVall. In the meantime, Kai finally gets back to me, and says "Mail it to me, standard"- I check, and that would cost me more than the pedal would cost direct from MoVall. So I close out the return process at Ebay- who gives me no way to leave feedback, now. Then, I hear from MoVall- a week after I emailed them. They say that they can't respond they're on holiday. That was a month ago. No follow up at all.
So, here's what I've learned:
1. MoVall makes some crap products.
2. Don't buy from China on Ebay, if there's a chance you'll want to return the item.
3. Don't expect the small, independent company to have any better customer service than the big guys ( I actually already knew that)
and
4. Don't trust Ebay ( more on that in a future post)
Live and learn. Oh, and the MoVall came recommended from not one but two highly regarded Youtube reviewers. I'm not saying they're liars, or anything, just that even the best can be dead wrong-especially when they also sell the stuff they review. I've talked to both, and they're nice enough guys, but that's no assurance of being correct. One of 'em, and I'm purposefully not naming them because I want you to be critical of all reviewers , I know from multiple, multiple examples really doesn't know what he is talking about with questions of electronics quality. So, not to toot my own horn, or try to self-advertise but I'd trust my opinion, even if it's just a gut reaction, over this guy any day of the week when it comes to QC. He definitely has me in terms of getting a good sound on a guitar- his aesthetics are far, far more universal than my own- so it's still useful to me to watch his reviews, but I have to back them up, elsewhere, every time. There's a lesson for anyone reading.
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