eBay Panasonic VCR has broken part?
 

Hi,

I bought a VCR on eBay but I found out that a small part was broken and moving inside it. I still tried to play VHS tapes but they either get damage or eaten.

The seller pretends that it broke during shipping. I would like to know :

1. What is this part and it's function ? (and is my issue due to this part lacking ?)

2. Can this part really break during shipping or is it nearly impossible ? (firmly attached...)

Thank you.

As these machines age even turning them upside down can have funny consequences. Normally a camcorder issue, but we've had things simply 'fall off' in transit despite every best intention to pack them appropriately.

We even occasionally have spontaneous bits fall off in use, it can happen with old equipment.

It looks like some sort of tension roller, could well just need clipping back in judging by the photograph.

What machine is it? That may provide a hint? It may well be a trivial matter.

It's a Panasonic NV-HS900.
And by the way I didn't mentioned that all cassettes that I insert are ejected after making a strange "rolling" sound and the tape is damaged.

Return it, refund.

eBay is full of liars and idiots. Most sellers probably couldn't set the VCR clock, much less know how it should function properly. To those people, any image quality = good, tested, working. Which is ridiculous.

Photo is fuzzy, but probably part of the ingest. Hence why eating tapes, not drawing in correctly. This cannot be fixed, it's broken. The deck either (1) needs new part, (2) is now a for-parts deck to be scavenged.

No. Only if the seller packaged it horribly, which is sadly common. Not enough big bubble wrap, not enough space inside the box. Just cram it into something, ship it, expect post/shipper to be gentle and careful (:laugh::laugh::laugh:).

Not that piece.

"Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this!" --- "Stop doing that!" :mad4:

Thank you.
I'll try to return it. I hope it'll go well, it's the first time I return something on eBay.

And btw there wasn't bubble wrap but mostly pieces of newspaper and cardboard.

Here are some more pics and a vid of the broken part.

You dealt with a typical idiot seller. That is not proper shipping, and neither eBay nor the shipper will consider that packing job adequate. And honestly, I'd be surprised if it broke in transit, and wasn't broken before it shipped. Because far too many sellers lie, or are incompetent. Sometimes you read how it was "tested", but then something obvious like the electric cord prongs being warped (aka, not possible to plug in and test) reveals the lie.

It arrived damaged, and is defective. Those keywords matter.

Sure, you can try to fix it. But do you want to use the VCR, or did you pay to repair the VCR? Partial refund is an option, which allows you to DIY/self-repair, or help to repair, but it's a gamble. It may never work. It may not have worked in a decade. You just do not know. Meanwhile, the eBay clock is ticking.

If this was a JVC, I'd suggest at least looking at the service manual.
But for a Panasonic? No.

Buy a PAL deck from a reputable seller like VCRshop.nl

Looks like it's this part (named P5 stopper). Seems the "clip/hook" part that snaps it in is broke? Would be rather odd for that to break during shipping, not sure what would put stress on that specifically. Maybe more likely that it was already cracked/broken before it was sent and just came loose either when shipping or when putting a tape in? (And the seller hadn't bothered to test it properly)

The mechanism is pretty well documented, and found in a bunch of cheaper standard VHS decks so if worst comes to worst and returns fail it should be possible to at least swap the part or mech using a donor deck or ordering a new old stock part from e.g the linked site.

You're a wealth of PAL deck knowledge. :congrats:

"Plastic" parts do age over time, may become brittle depending on the VCR's storage and operating conditions. The part could break at the next attempt to load a tape.

Since it was ebay you should be able to get a refund, or negotiate a settlement with the seller. However, if this part failed due to age the condition of the rest of the system may be suspect as well.

Thanks for these informations.

You're right I checked and the part is actually broken, I attached better pics.


Yes and btw the part was already broken before I even open the package (I heard it moving inside).