Overpriced Jukebox in Taichung

4-17-13Wed.

      80,000 ($2,666us) is what  Hung wants for the jukebox now. He had told Leona he wanted it for $2,000us (60,000NT) and I was ready to pay, but he changed his mind. I told him I was not willing to pay more than 50,000NT ($1,666us) for it. I may have to say goodbye to it. He also wants $6000 (180,000NT) for the AC/DC Pinball Machine I already told him I no longer want; I will have to invest in nice speakers instead and use the iPod which has all my CD’s anyway. He saved me the trouble of shipping one thousand CD’s from Brooklyn. The jukebox only holds one hundred at a time.

I didn’t hear from Esther Hung yesterday after I sent her an e-mail refusing to pay $2,600 for a refurbished twenty-year-old bowling alley juke box with three hundred thousand plays. The machine could die at any time and would be a waste of money without a commitment by Hung to include changed parts and repairs for at least a year. He’d sell it to me as-is for $2,000 but it isn’t worth it without a warranty. He has to change the motor for the revolving discs on top and the rubber washer he showed me under the CD player for it to worth $2000us. I can get a motor myself, paint and clean up the rest for $1,000. I will have to let it pass. Perhaps I can find my own juke box in a bowling alley in Taiwan somewhere.

Two days later, there is no response from Mr. Hung. I can kiss the juke box goodbye because I didn’t want to pay $2600us for it refurbished and he wouldn’t touch it for $2,000 which he was ready to sell, with no servicing or parts. You know what? I don’t need it. I have a CD player to play my CD’s, and a turntable to play my 45’s and what’s left of my albums. I have an iPod with 26,000 songs and another MP3 player with more music. If Mr. Hung agreed to $1000-1500 as is, I’d say okay. For $2,000 he must fix the rotating decorative CD’s on top and the rubber washer he said needed replacement. He must give me a one year service contract with parts included, as I said in my last and final offer:

“If the 1994 Rowe jukebox is in good playing condition, with all motors working properly, without being refurbished, it is within my affordable range, 50,000-60,000NT ($1,666-2,000us). Please indicate exactly what parts will be replaced. For example, your dad said a new motor was needed to spin the three CD discs on top and a rubber washer was needed to balance the playback mechanism. It must be in working order with a guarantee for labor and parts one year, and labor alone (parts excluded) for two to five years.”

That Mr. Hung is going to have another piece of junk in his little warehouse until he dies. His daughter and  wife will be left to throw his junk away. They can call me then. Hung could have made a fair deal with me to get the jukebox off his hands in exchange for $2,000us if he could see fit to put it in working order and repair it the first year. I just saved $2,600us not wasting my money on it. That’s the way I see it. The music never left me.