my other than min lab repair experience:rant:

[JOHNMARKHAM]

OK here goes after being asked by many to post this warning to others
this is my own experience and my own only
i was having a sensitivity problem with my Excalibur 2 1000 targets were just way to soft, Had Mel Parker put his mod on for the hand grip which switches between disc and am and it does work great, after using my Excalibur 2 1000 i noticed a sensitivity problem creeping up, so i thought id get it serviced,i checked on this forum as who i could send it to, min lab said they would work on it but they might have to take the mod out that Mel put in,i didn't want that to happen only cause i like the mod that Mel did, so i found out about bill branin in las Vegas who used to work for min lab when they was there, i thought OK this should be OK cause who would know these machines best? so i called him up and we chatted about my machine, he said i was in luck cause that very week he was working on several other excals and if i could get it to him then he could work on it and return it to me when i needed it so i could use it on my honeymoon in myrtle beach, so the next morning i overnight ed it to him at a cost of 150.00 dollars plus as he requested a check for 75.00 dollars to cover the repair costs which i thought was a fair price to get my machine serviced and back in time for my trip, so off it goes..i called him after he received my package, he then tells me he wont be able to repair mine until following week even after he said he could get it back to me before my trip.
so now I'm getting concerned,I'm going to the beach and no water machine, just great i said, i called my friends and Buddy's about this in a panic, i got a call from Mel Parker as he heard of my troubles and he offered to send to our hotel his Excalibur to use, i said thank you so so much,i told him id reimburse him for all expenses,so off we went,i ran into goodmoore from this site along with his wife hunting as he also offered the use of his machine to use also, thanks Brett i did appreciate the offer too..
after lots of excuses and over a month later i did get a detector back, when i opened the box i noticed right away something wasn't right,this machine wasn't mine,it was all scratched up battery connector was all chewed up like some one used a set of pliars on it to tighten and loosen up and the battery pack wasn't even mine cause i had over charged my pack one day and the shrink wrapping on mine i needed to remove to inspect pack,this pack was a stock pack,then i checked the serial number with my warranty card that i got when unit was new i had wrote down all numbers to this unit on my warranty card, i then noticed this wasn't the same number and then i noticed that the PC board was a different one.
so i tried for a few days to call bill as it is he only picks up his phone when he wants to, i asked him what did he do when he serviced this machine, at first before i got my machine back he said he had to figure out Mel's mod, he felt that the mod was not allowing the proper voltage to get to the coil, now I'm a electronic tech so some of this made sense, but since i don't or have never worked on any of these units i trusted his word on this,while he was servicing my machine i heard several excuses as to why he wasn't done with it, like he saw a cap that was soldered onto main PC board,he thought there wasn't enough current from battery pack,to he needed to shorten the coil cable cause it was too long and min lab knew this cause the FCC made them put a longer cable on to calm the machine down, all of which i know nothing about i asked him about this machine asking did he return the correct machine to me he said oh yes i did, i said are you sure he said yep no problem,i then asked him did he take my machine out of tube and check it out completely? he said he did,i then asked him why was this battery connector all chewed up? he said he didn't know about it, i then asked him about the tube could he have gotten it mixed up with another? he said he didn't think so, i then asked him about serial numbers? he was at aw on this,he never could explain,only to say he working on several other machines at the same time,he was tired and had all kinds of work and he didn't know how this happened? now remember i had Mel's mod done to my machine, he had to completely take my machine apart; coil,headphones and Mel's mod, so he switched boards and tube and battery pack,as he had to know he was doing this, as i work on radios and i work on several at a time sometime but Ive not switched radio chassis with another?? i just dint like his answers he was giving me so after great regret I'm writing this to warn all of my own experience i had, I'm sure hes done well for others but as i said this was my own experience...,bottom line is i didn't get back my own machine and to this date hes not answered my phone calls or emails,so its with great displeasure I'm posting this to warn anyone else of my own bad experience.
hopefully he will work this out with me and if and when he does ill post all...
i hope this helps out as its not meant to harm anyone but i feel i got took here..

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

OK here goes after being asked by many to post this warning to others
this is my own experience and my own only
i was having a sensitivity problem with my Excalibur 2 1000 targets were just way to soft, Had Mel Parker put his mod on for the hand grip which switches between disc and am and it does work great, after using my Excalibur 2 1000 i noticed a sensitivity problem creeping up, so i thought id get it serviced,i checked on this forum as who i could send it to, min lab said they would work on it but they might have to take the mod out that Mel put in,i didn't want that to happen only cause i like the mod that Mel did, so i found out about bill branin in las Vegas who used to work for min lab when they was there, i thought OK this should be OK cause who would know these machines best? so i called him up and we chatted about my machine, he said i was in luck cause that very week he was working on several other excals and if i could get it to him then he could work on it and return it to me when i needed it so i could use it on my honeymoon in myrtle beach, so the next morning i overnight ed it to him at a cost of 150.00 dollars plus as he requested a check for 75.00 dollars to cover the repair costs which i thought was a fair price to get my machine serviced and back in time for my trip, so off it goes..i called him after he received my package, he then tells me he wont be able to repair mine until following week even after he said he could get it back to me before my trip.
so now I'm getting concerned,I'm going to the beach and no water machine, just great i said, i called my friends and Buddy's about this in a panic, i got a call from Mel Parker as he heard of my troubles and he offered to send to our hotel his Excalibur to use, i said thank you so so much,i told him id reimburse him for all expenses,so off we went,i ran into goodmoore from this site along with his wife hunting as he also offered the use of his machine to use also, thanks Brett i did appreciate the offer too..
after lots of excuses and over a month later i did get a detector back, when i opened the box i noticed right away something wasn't right,this machine wasn't mine,it was all scratched up battery connector was all chewed up like some one used a set of pliars on it to tighten and loosen up and the battery pack wasn't even mine cause i had over charged my pack one day and the shrink wrapping on mine i needed to remove to inspect pack,this pack was a stock pack,then i checked the serial number with my warranty card that i got when unit was new i had wrote down all numbers to this unit on my warranty card, i then noticed this wasn't the same number and then i noticed that the PC board was a different one.
so i tried for a few days to call bill as it is he only picks up his phone when he wants to, i asked him what did he do when he serviced this machine, at first before i got my machine back he said he had to figure out Mel's mod, he felt that the mod was not allowing the proper voltage to get to the coil, now I'm a electronic tech so some of this made sense, but since i don't or have never worked on any of these units i trusted his word on this,while he was servicing my machine i heard several excuses as to why he wasn't done with it, like he saw a cap that was soldered onto main PC board,he thought there wasn't enough current from battery pack,to he needed to shorten the coil cable cause it was too long and min lab knew this cause the FCC made them put a longer cable on to calm the machine down, all of which i know nothing about i asked him about this machine asking did he return the correct machine to me he said oh yes i did, i said are you sure he said yep no problem,i then asked him did he take my machine out of tube and check it out completely? he said he did,i then asked him why was this battery connector all chewed up? he said he didn't know about it, i then asked him about the tube could he have gotten it mixed up with another? he said he didn't think so, i then asked him about serial numbers? he was at aw on this,he never could explain,only to say he working on several other machines at the same time,he was tired and had all kinds of work and he didn't know how this happened? now remember i had Mel's mod done to my machine, he had to completely take my machine apart; coil,headphones and Mel's mod, so he switched boards and tube and battery pack,as he had to know he was doing this, as i work on radios and i work on several at a time sometime but Ive not switched radio chassis with another?? i just dint like his answers he was giving me so after great regret I'm writing this to warn all of my own experience i had, I'm sure hes done well for others but as i said this was my own experience...,bottom line is i didn't get back my own machine and to this date hes not answered my phone calls or emails,so its with great displeasure I'm posting this to warn anyone else of my own bad experience.
hopefully he will work this out with me and if and when he does ill post all...
i hope this helps out as its not meant to harm anyone but i feel i got took here..

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

Heres an update to my previous post. I emailed Bill Branin to once again express my concerns about switching my metal detector. Here is the email I sent:

Hey bill
Are you gonna answer my emails about your sovereign ? If you don't want to sell it to me just say so?
I'm having problems with this Excalibur 2 you sent back to me as it's not the one I sent you as we discussed over the phone, I sent you a very great shape Excalibur 2 and you sent me a chewed up well used one back, you know after we talked I felt uneasy about this and as the days go on I'm really not at ease with this situation now, it's hard to get you on the phone and your not answering emails either,
I'd say we need to fix this issue!
Please contact me
Thanks
John markham

Today I received the following reply:

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 1:49 PM, bill branin
wrote:
send it back to me I will fix it

Then without my responding to the above email I then received the following:

From: bill branin
Date: December 12, 2010 6:32:58 PM EST
To: John Markham
Subject: Re: Excalibur

ok I thought about the email you sent and frankly I am in no mood for
@#$%& after( my father in the hospital passing away) the machine
you recieve is in better shape and is running better then the machine
you sent, it the same machine I am not the the one who modifed or did
you forget that, it is running to factory specs and I will give you
your seventy five dollars back and I do not give a @#$%& if you get on
the forums and talk trash about me either I won t be held hostage by
forums if you do not want to do business with thats fine let me know.

Although I am very sorry for the loss of Bills father, I still dont believe he understand my entire concern. When you are in business to work on the property of others you should return the exact equipment to them. It is not good business to switch customers property without the customers knowledge and approval. Bill has offered to reimburse me for my $75.00 repair bill however;, I am still without my original property and still out $150.00 to overnight my detector to him so that I could have it back for my honeymoon trip to Myrtle Beach as this was my last beach hunt for the year. (Although with the snow we are getting today and tonight Im ready to hop on the next plane to Miami)

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

Heres an update to my previous post. I emailed Bill Branin to once again express my concerns about switching my metal detector. Here is the email I sent:

Hey bill
Are you gonna answer my emails about your sovereign ? If you don't want to sell it to me just say so?
I'm having problems with this Excalibur 2 you sent back to me as it's not the one I sent you as we discussed over the phone, I sent you a very great shape Excalibur 2 and you sent me a chewed up well used one back, you know after we talked I felt uneasy about this and as the days go on I'm really not at ease with this situation now, it's hard to get you on the phone and your not answering emails either,
I'd say we need to fix this issue!
Please contact me
Thanks
John markham

Today I received the following reply:

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 1:49 PM, bill branin
wrote:
send it back to me I will fix it

Then without my responding to the above email I then received the following:

From: bill branin
Date: December 12, 2010 6:32:58 PM EST
To: John Markham
Subject: Re: Excalibur

ok I thought about the email you sent and frankly I am in no mood for
@#$%& after( my father in the hospital passing away) the machine
you recieve is in better shape and is running better then the machine
you sent, it the same machine I am not the the one who modifed or did
you forget that, it is running to factory specs and I will give you
your seventy five dollars back and I do not give a @#$%& if you get on
the forums and talk trash about me either I won t be held hostage by
forums if you do not want to do business with thats fine let me know.

Although I am very sorry for the loss of Bills father, I still dont believe he understand my entire concern. When you are in business to work on the property of others you should return the exact equipment to them. It is not good business to switch customers property without the customers knowledge and approval. Bill has offered to reimburse me for my $75.00 repair bill however;, I am still without my original property and still out $150.00 to overnight my detector to him so that I could have it back for my honeymoon trip to Myrtle Beach as this was my last beach hunt for the year. (Although with the snow we are getting today and tonight Im ready to hop on the next plane to Miami)

 

[Elton]

Wow.I guess short cuts aren't the way to go. Sorry to hear you were given a different detector.

Ask if he has insurance to cover your compensation for the loss. I myself would expect a full refund, and my detector I sent..or a new one to replace the one he lost.

I can assure you..I will never use the man for any type of repair.


Oh I just had to do this..... Honeymoon ??? .."Detector"...LOL what were you thinking ???? LOL

 

[jmaryt]

bad set of circumstances,however!.. you DO have recourse!
give this some serious thought!..can't tell you what to do!
so i won't!....hope it works out for ya!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[banditicey]

How awful!
have you looked at your legal options?

 

[thebeatmachine]

n/t

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

-- moved topic --

 

[snoopythebeagle]

Unless you plan to go to court in NV, I think you are going to have a really tough time pursuing this. The amount of money (and time) spent would be better served buying a new machine.

People will do ridiculous things and when caught either stealing or goofing up (either of which could be the case here) and then not fully correcting the problem, it makes no sense. Seems to me that there is more to the story than any of us will ever understand. What I am saying is that you have been royally decieved in some manner.

Could Mel have looked at it?

I suppose the lesson here is that if you do mods, and want the manufacturer to fix the machine, they are going to pass on it or fix it back to OEM specs. So, you might have to pay to do the mods a second time. It is the risk you take. Not preaching, just a fact. Same thing like when your hard drive goes bad on a computer. If it's under warranty, manufacturer will get you a new one to specs. Too bad about all the stuff you had on it - they are not responsible (all that tiny print that comes with the hard drive says this).

I realize the quick turnaround is what sold you on Bill, but I hope that we all can take away from this - which is what I think you are really saying - the moral of the story: be careful to whom you send your toys and keep very detailed records (pictures) before sending it; If not sure about repair person, send copies of the pics to the repair person ahead of time to effectively say "I got this stuff recorded, send back what I sent you".

Let us know if this ever gets a resolution, please. Good luck.

 

[Willee - Texas]

I would take him to small claims court in NV.
It dont cost much and he needs a wake up call.

If he switched detectors with you ... he is a thief and a fraud.
If he does not intend to make it right then his action must have been intentional.

 

[GoGoGopher]

I agree...these kind of folks BANK on the fact that most are gonna turn around, tuck their tails between their legs, and walk away...You NEED to set this right...take him to court...


HH,