Don't buy from HigherFI.com


The owner of Higherfi is Chris Moon, previously of moon audio. I bought a MagLev table from him that was supposedly able to buffer vibrations into turntables and other audio equipment weighing under 80Lbs. I paid $540.00 for item to be delivered, and wow ! was I shocked at how shoddy this thing was! The pistons would get stuck at an angle preventing them from "levitating". After contacting Mr. Moon, he explained that his ebay add clearly stated "no Returns or Refunds". My bad I missed that. He then generously offered me an RMA number with 20% restocking fee if I paid shipping. I shipped it back and he refused signature. Item was returned to me again. Be real careful buying junk from this shady Chris Moon character. I learned my lesson. Hope this helps somebody else.
rbtmumm
I think Ebay has protections for you. I tried to negotiate with a seller who said everything was 'as is', but they (Ebay) said they have a money back guarantee policy regardless of what the seller says.
I would contact Ebay directly with all the emails, which I hope you have kept.

Funny, I was looking at that listing for a while and was wondering if the Mag-Lev would work. And, why it was so heavily discounted.
B
Thanks for the feedback.  I'll try contacting ebay again and contacting credit card company linked to my paypal.
 I was surprised when ebay closed the dispute, but I really thought Chris Moon's RMA offer was valid.  I shipped it back next day after RMA issued (signature required) and for unknown reason he refused shipment.  All I can think is he was hoping I didn't require signature so that he could take my money and get item back so he could dupe the next sucker.  The box originally arrived banged up and items were poorly packed as if opened and shipped several times before.
Magnetic levitation of my turntable was actually a clever concept and I really wanted it to work on either my VPI MK4 or Proj-ect perspex tables.  Absolute piece of junk unfortunately.
Thanks again
Roy M
I have had items that I had purchased through paypal, that were not delivered as advertised and paypal instructed me to ship it back to the seller and gave me a refund within an a very short time. They have a special dialogue box for complaints/returned merchandise. Complete the form and E-mail  to them; wait for there response / instructions. Personally I would do this prior to contacting your CC Company. If Paypal does not satisfy, then I would  process thru CC Company (of course that's only my opinion, what ever action you take is your business). NOTE: I have in the past requested a  refund thru my CC Company was also successful in obtaining a refund. I think PP e-mailed me and asked me to contact them first though.
Post removed 
Yes RMA clearly and boldly written on outside of box on two sides with letters RMA followed by numbers.   Honestly, I don't understand how this Moon character has such good feedback and even a great referal by none other than Bill Leebens - Director of Marketing/Audiogon,
Organizer, 2012 New York Audio Show right on his webpage at higherfi.com under referals.  Thanks Randy, took care of credit card today. 
Anyone that lives near me at zip code 18944 is welcome to see for yourself what a dud this maglev antivibration shelf is.  I'll demonstrate it for you.  Real shame too as it is a brilliant concept, just poorly executed.
Roy M
Clarification
Director of MarketingAudiogonApril 2009 – April 2011 (2 years 1 month) . Great guy Bill Leebens is. No doubt about him.

Roy M
Had a couple hours to kill late afternoon today.  contacted Paypal, who transfered to two different eBay support reps.  End result eBay was very nice and refunded me the $40.00 for wasted RMA shipping back to Chris Moon at Higherfi.  It's wait and see now. Thanks to all.
In my experience, your CC is your best friend here, not eBay or PayPal. Do not miss 90 days of claim window!!!
PayPal handled my past claims quite differently then your experience.  They did not transfer me to e-bay, they processed the claim and I was refunded my purchase amount within a couple / few days. They just asked me to return ship the item.  It may be because you filed a claim through e-bay (Prior to PayPal) and it was closed by E-bay (assuming not in your favor) is why PP forwarded the claim back to E-bay.
After E-bay refunded you $40.00 for your RMA shipping, you don't really say, if they are going to provide further solution, instead you state "Its wait and see now".
I am in agreement with sevs, you should file a claim with your credit card company, if you have not already. Usually it takes a phone call and your account is credited the refund. At least that has been my experience.


Honestly, I don't understand how this Moon character has such good feedback and even a great referal by none other than Bill Leebens - Director of Marketing/Audiogon,
Maybe like contractors, they are as good as their last job?  
@OP,
Ebay has a concierge service that they offered me. I have to say it really is pretty good. I wonder if you can opt into it?
FWIW, the seller has to refund you should the item not work as described, even if they say it is 'as-is'.
Bob
I'm gonna guess that you closed the claim when you got your RMA #. Likely at Moon's request. Would suggest keeping claims open until return/ refund process is concluded.
2 Cents worth:

I had a well executed magnetic platform with a VPI scout and  Dynavector Ta Kura (sp?) Rue cart. While it did make for interesting conversation with house guests, the magnetic field killed the sound of this low output moving coil.  So, I put a big walnut amp stand on spikes on top to move the turntable about 5" higher. This made all the difference in sound. I never found any sonic benefit that I could identify from the whole magnetic platform concept. The weight of the turntable alone caused a rather stiff compression of the magnetic field that transmitted the floor and sonic vibrations from what I observed. And if you think about it, why would a powerfully linked magnetic field somehow dissolve vibration energy. Aren't most speakers working a electrically energized field coil producing sound by interaction with a strong magnetic field. I suggest you save your money for something more beneficial, like a tube-preamp or better cables. 

Vincent Raptor

03-23-2017 2:21pm
Clarification
Director of MarketingAudiogonApril 2009 – April 2011 (2 years 1 month) . Great guy Bill Leebens is. No doubt about him.

Agree Bill is one of the true good guys of this industry-- now with PS Audio I recall
Des
just open up a case in paypal resolution centre , if confused give ebay a call they will help you but you only have 32 days i believe from purchase date, when a seller states no returns i have learnt to just ignore that if the product you purchased is not fit for the purpose you purchased and the seller is a complete a******e like this chris moon fella just call ebay they could even limit hes account so know one else has this awful bad buying experience get on that phone straight away good luck mate
@wgutz,
Thanks for posting your experience with the Mag-Lev. It looks interesting, but whether it does what it should is another matter.
B
I am not trying to diminish your experience with Higherfi, but I will say that I met Chris at his home in Florida and have been very happy with the Avalon speakers he sold me. (I only spoke with him by phone before, after I saw the speakers listed.)

...which begs the question, where DID your RMA get sent to?

As far as turntable platforms go, I did a thick DIY glass-based one with sobathane feet. I could not be happier -- works very well and attenuates most common vibrations. (I picked glass because it is readily available, looks great, and has properties of both a solid and a liquid.)

Hello rbtmumm, Regarding negative feedback that “won’t stick” on Audiogon..I had a horrific experience last year with one of the contributors/supporters/advertisers here on Agon that I repeatedly left negative feedback about but each time found it very promptly removed. 

Truth be told this online website dealer had been brought to my attention by a friend of mine who happened to be making a purchase from the seller’s actual warehouse facility where he noticed a pair of speakers he knew I would be interested in and told me about them... From that point my friend gave me the seller’s business phone number who I called and spoke with several times as we negotiated the speaker purchase... which I ultimately did. So, ‘officially’ the transaction was not through audiogon, yet there are posts of feedback about the owner Steve Javaherian of High Performance Stereo [Hallandale Beach, FL] for sales here on audiogon.

My posting here included the fully detailed story of my $8000 purchase of Apogee Full Range speakers in very good condition which I paid to him [at his request] through a direct bank transfer from my account in New York to his account in Florida. I also sent an additional several hundred dollars to him at his request, to cover all packaging, shipping and insurance fees. 

The trucking company completely destroyed them in transit. Completely totalled. No partial. No parts. Just completely destroyed. See my actual photos under “Lissnr’s Apogee Shipment”.

He said he had taken care of everything... why shouldn’t I believe him? Afterall...this was what he does as a business... this is his job... selling and shipping high-end audio equipment...why should I have any doubt about trusting a guy that makes a living handling these types of transactions and arranging for their delivery almost daily?

Silly me...
He lied.
Lied about packaging and handling them securely ..
No no, he supposedly got them to the trucker OK... he said he did
...but the biggest LIE was about INSURING them... He DIDN’T.
Said he did. 
DIDN’T.
When I called him the morning the demolished crate arrived I asked him to immediately begin the insurance procedure please... I’ll be expecting the insurance assessor to arrive asap and get this handled asap. 
He told me then he only insured them for $6000... So I asked him why he would only  do $6k instead of the $8k I paid him and he instantly became belligerent and proceeded to curse at me... but that’s essentially irrelevant now anyway because 
as I said... everything he was saying was a lie. 
His packing job was pitiful and the crate looked like the forklift operators were playing a game of “Who can stab the blade into the case farthest” before it literally fell off the 5 foot high lift gate...
 
But getting back to the topic here. Yes, I told this story quite thoroughly posting 3 separate times (and each time it was removed within hours), but not until I first waited for months and months as he told me to be patient for the insurance company’s decision on the payoff].
LIED...               for MONTH’S.  
No insurance. Lied. 
Finally, because he had complained all 3 times to Audiogon...  they ultimately decided that since I didn’t actually use them for the purchase from him.....
 
I tried to explain to them how important I thought it was that their customers knew what type of person they would be dealing with if they used him..,

But that was it... oh well... (though I’m still not letting this go...).

Good luck to all; life teaches some tough lessons. Learn from them. Regards, Lissnr