Great amp, crashed and burned after 30 hours... Buyer protection?

I think I read that oldstyles buddy's techie found "counterfeit" parts, which led directly to the failure, therefor whomever repaired the first time is the culprit. Also it was the sellers attitude that set him (her) off. The techie said it was lucky it lasted the 30 hours, which smells of deception on the sellers part, why else would he lay down "attitude"?

I suppose the "recourse" is to buy new with warranty from a reputable dealer.

 Let the truth be stated. I think that audiogon, indirectly, plays a role in the loss of security rather then gains in security. In the old days, you could call a seller and talk to them about their gear. For me that was the best vetting one could do.  I always felt that I could gain an intuitive sense of the integrity of the seller based on discussion of their gear and their passion for the hobby. We can no longer do that. I feel that we are at a great loss in terms of security when these transactions may amount to many thousands of dollars of risk. I understand that audiogon is protecting its bottom line, but there must be someway to allow a phone conversation before a deal is finalized, or to allow reversal of a deal if subsequent phone conversations  are unsatisfactory. Audiogon… Put on your thinking caps and come up with something. Do the right thing!

Not entirely true about contacting before payment is made.
Basic Listing: 

• All communication regarding the negotiation and sale transaction must take place onsite.  You may not provide any type of contact information until after an offer has been accepted.
  
  

Premium Listing:

• Include your contact information

http://support.audiogon.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1035913-listing-guidelines

After the offer is accepted and you talk to the seller, then get a bad feeling, it is too late, if you cancel... they will slam you for backing out of the deal... so that does not work... on a couple other sites, the USA and Canadian audio-marts, you can phone and email about the transaction before committing to your hearts content. The only thing the moderators do there, is turf out the scammers... and the community is quick to report the scam artists...