Dear friends and walkman collectors,

I am writing this in hope you will not pass judgement on me or anyone else but I simply cannot hold it a secret anymore. My conversation with AgentOrange and people on this forum I consider friends encouraged me enough to do this and I realized that by keeping silent, someone else might have to go through what I had gone through. I don't want that to happen. What I have to say is rather unpleasant I'm afraid. Please understand that this is not a rant but simply a way of expressing my disappointment and sadness because of what has happened.

Simply put, DrMR2000 is a fraud. This last year he has done nothing to make good on his promises concerning our agreement.

Last February I sent him one of my most valuable walkmans, the Aiwa HS-PX303. The player was operational but not perfect by any means. Now, DrMR2000 is technically skilled and has all the proper tools and certainly knows electronics better than I do so I decided to take the plunge. It was made clear from the start that this was not going to be a mercy-act on his part and that he would be compensated for anything that he saw fit. Like most people here, I have no problems paying a premium for something that I enjoy so much. I also sent him a few other players for the parts he needed to fix some players from his own collection. Next month I sent him my other walkman, the Aiwa HS-PL30 as well as a non-functional Aiwa HS-PX505 to use for parts. Communication between us was rather good back then and I considered him a friend because I felt he didn't do it for the money or the parts. Then in April, we negotiated a trade. He asked me if I had an MD recorder. I did have a Sharp MD as a matter of fact. A rather expensive piece of hardware which was bought new and used only once by me. The complete package. I also agreed to send him my mint Panasonic walkman with all the accessories including the box. The trade was for a Sony WM-550C (some might remember my thread here some time ago about that player). So I packed the Sharp and the Panasonic and sent them the fastest and safest way possible. Naturally, I expected that he would do the same. I was wrong. He waited for my package to arrive. Apparently, he didn't trust me enough even though he had had my Aiwa players which I considered much more valuable than the ones I was sending him. After he got my package, he decided to send his the cheapest way possible. I waited for two months for the walkman but it never came. So he sent me his other one in July. This kind of a treatment would certainly get him a seriously negative feedback on eBay. But I didn't think much of it despite the fact it seemed rather unfair to me at the time. Everything would be good if that Sony was like he said it was, which is to say, perfect both visually and technically. Visually it was but it was not operational which seemed odd because according to him, it was repaired by him just a month before he sent it. And not only that, the charger was missing from the package. I was extremely disappointed with this. Okay, it could happen to anyone but waiting for something for so long and then having to think how you will have to send it back and do it all over again was not something I was looking forward to.

July was the turning point when it all started to change. It was obvious that someone had done some work on the Sony before but it certainly wasn't a month ago and there was physical damage to the mechanism which could not have occured during transport. Not without serious damage to the exterior of the unit anyway. The belt inside was a decade old. The communication at this point became sporadic and in the end I was getting no replies to my emails at all. It was not until October that I got a word from him as to the reasons for his absence. I won't even mention those because I don't believe a word he is saying. At that point, four months have passed since he got an email from me saying the Sony isn't what he said it was. Four months! In his mail to me that he sent in October he mentioned some 3rd person that ruined his plans but like I said, I have a hard time believing a single word he is saying.

Then some two months ago, I finally got a reply from him saying he cannot return my players for the reasons I won't even get into because, like I said, I don't beliieve he was honest. In return, he offered me an Aiwa HS-PX505 which he had repaired. In those two dails of our communication, we exchanged almost 100 emails. That was more than two months ago and the last thing he told me is that he had sent the player and that he would send me a tracking number that evening. I never got that number nor did I hear from him since.

At this point I am certain he has no intention of fullfilling his obligations towards me and that I will never get my things back. I am disappointed and I am hurt. I am not a walkman collector in the sense some of you guys are. I like walkmans a lot yes but to me they are a means of listening to music when I am out. Also, the walkmans I have are probably not the best ones out there but each one has something that makes it special to me, a story behind it, how I got it or what it reminds me of. The Aiwa HS-PX303 is a TOTL late 1980s player yes but to me, it is a present I got from a friend. The Panasonic I sent him had sentimental feelings since it was the model I had in college that got stolen afterwards. You get the picture. The Sony WM-550C seemed interesting to me because I lost the bidding on one of those a long time ago.

Sad times have come if one's word means nothing. We really entered a morality crisis as well as economical crisis. I have no intention of calling him names. It is not my way. What I made was a mistake. The first person that ever offered to help me was Renzgi and I cannot thank him enough for the trust and friendship he has shown me. My mistake was believing DrMR2000 was the same when in fact, they are two worlds apart.

In the end, I have only this to say – no matter what may come out of this, I feel better. I feel lucky because this has been a valuable lesson for me. Also, if I had to meet one DrMR2000 and lose some players along the way I still consider that a fair trade. Why? Because of all the other good people on this forum. I will not mention anyone but you know how you are. I wish DrMR2000 was an honorable person but unfortunately for me (and him), he is not. I'd like to think that what I have done to others so far has been more good than bad and I wish I could say the same about DrMR.

I thank you all for reading and understanding!

Antun / Tuna