If you want to trash a vendor at least provide specific examples.
Ok, I bought a keyboard from him. The keyboard he sent was not the one pictured. He originally sent a reply saying he would allow me to return the keyboard. A few minutes later he sent a reply saying he changed his mind and he wouldn't accept a return. He admitted that he may have sent the wrong keyboard, but that a Model M was a Model M and I shouldn't be expecting the same keyboard that was pictured in his listing. As long as it was a Model M I should be happy.
I could have opened a case with eBay, but it's actually not worth it to me for the time and hassle of needing to package it up and return it. If it was an honest mistake and he was nice about it, I probably wouldn't say anything here. Being though he saw the need to get real nasty when all I did was send him a message that he sent me the wrong keyboard, I decided I'd get much better use out of simply letting people know what a shyster he is, rather than try to resolve anything with the hothead. I will continue to let people know what kind of a man he really is at every opportunity, and hopefully that way not as many people will get scammed by him, and he'll end up losing a lot more than he would have if he'd been honest with me about his mistake.
Now as for others who've had problems with him:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?17388-Model-M13-119-BINPiratebouy posted about buying a keyboard from him and finding out that it had been painted and had a broken spacebar. Have a read there about what Brian O'Neill's response was. As you can see, his warranty means nothing because he simply does not stand by his word. They guy is nothing but an outright liar and scammer. Ripster, please reread your own responses in that thread:
Brian O'Neill is slacking.
Paint job?
Lol. Well, forget I said anything. I'm just glad I got my Industrial before his Maaco phase.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?8723-Rarekeyboardstore-IssueDidjamatic bought a board from him described as, "perfect", only to find a lot of keys were damaged. He then claimed the keyboard wasn't damaged and gave a refund but not the full amount. You can read all the details and the final outcome in that thread.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?11311-Bought-a-Model-M-from-1985&p=218421&viewfull=1#post218421KillerBee sent an email to Brian O'Neill about a keyboard he had, but which was purchased from someone else. Brian O'Neill evidently thought he was a customer of his, but without even checking into any details, fired off this response:
It is not a POS din - it is definately regular. Besides - I gave you a PS/2 cord anyways. As stated clearly in my ad, no returns.
If you care to search the forums, I recall seeing other people also having problems with Brian O'Neill. Common among people who have problems with him is that he's a total hothead who doesn't accept any responsibility for his mistakes or fraud. He will immediately fire back a reply accusing the customer of being in the wrong before even checking out what is the problem. He is not a man of his word. He may end up refunding you money if he has to, but you will have to go through the hassles to get him to do it. Granted a lot of people have been happy with their purchases from him. But it seems to me that anyone who has a problem with a purchase comes away with a very negative view of the man.
I've dealt with over a hundred keyboard different sellers on eBay and only had a problem with two. One of them I think was trying to be honest but was just totally disorganized and I ended up needing to get Ebay involved to get my due refund. The other was Brian O'Neill, aka Rarekeyboardstore. Being I have been pleased with the other 100+ sellers, I'm obviously not a picky buyer who complains at the slightest problem.
