Sink grinder woes...

Hi Reggie,

That is the Viking disposal that I purchased from Emily Williams in Lexington, Kentucky (via Facebook Marketplace) in early February. I recognize the pictures.

It was listed at $80 plus "free shipping." When it arrived at the post office, I got a notice that it could not be delivered because of $30.29 postage due.

It is a common scam on FB Marketplace. An item is offered at an attractive price, with free shipping, and then the seller puts inadequate postage on it. So the seller then gets the price for the machine and does not have to pay the full postage, therefore making that much more money on the item.

I refused it from the Post Office. The scam is the same, the seller acts innocent and pretends it was a mistake by the postal worker. Then they claim they don't have the money to pay the postage.

Emily did exactly those two things. Then she told me it was a $1600 disposal, so I shouldn't mind paying the 30 dollar postage. She didn't know she was dealing with an appliance collector I set her straight about the real price of the Viking and that I was wise to the scam she was trying to perpetrate.

I filed a claim against her with PayPal. PayPal sided with me and refunded my full purchase price plus tax and took it from Emily's account. I had the post office send it back to her.

Of course, she lost the purchase price, but also the 10 insufficient postage she originally put on the machine plus tax, and the Post Office charged her the remaining 30.29 before she could reclaim the package. She lost almost fifty dollars by trying to scam me.

I noticed when she reposted she moved the purchase price down from $80 to $64, and still had "free shipping" listed.

Anyway, I hope she didn't rip you off for the shipping. If so, you may want to report her to PayPal if that is the means you used to purchase it.

I have had a couple of Vikings (Viking purchased the plans and right to manufacture from Kitchen-Aid, it was an original Hobart design) and they are fun machines. So I hope it works well for you. One of mine developed a seal leak and water got into the motor. The last one I left in my former house when I moved and was working fine, albeit the motor had developed a rather loud hum/noise.

Hope it works, hope you didn't get scammed, hope you find a magnetic stopper and hope you enjoy it! -- Barry

This post was last edited 03/12/2021 at 22:01


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Post# 1110994 3/11/2021 at 19:26 (1,141 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver)
Checkrate/Likes Found something I’d been looking for for a bit, and at a great price too! And then the seller shipped it... P.S. It seems I’m in need of a Kitchenaid or Viking magnetic disposer stopper. Anyone have one they’ll sell for less than the $100+ it seems some parts places want???? Photos... < > Photo 1 of 10 View Full Size

Post# 1110995 , Reply# 1 3/11/2021 at 20:43 (1,141 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *National-Kitchenaid-Viking Disposer* Hi Reggie, Those are very good disposers, unfortunately they can get damaged very easily because of the weight of the cast-iron drain housing, if they are not packed very well the outer plastic sound shield gets broken very easily. I found the exact Viking Batch-Feed disposer over 15 years ago thrown away brand new from an appliance store where the plastic housing was all busted up, I just found a worn out KA version and used its housing. My disposer has been working great, it is my favorite disposer, we also installed the same one in the Museum kitchen. Do you need the entire stopper with the magnet ?, you could also easily convert it to a continuous feed model. I am sure I have an extra magnet stopper for one of these disposers. John L. John L.

Post# 1111088 , Reply# 2 3/12/2021 at 14:24 (1,140 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes *Don't throw* good money after bad. Get an ISE 1/2 0r 2/3 h.p. with a stainless grind chamber and reversing motor and be done. My Kenmore is from 1997 and still going.

Post# 1111089 , Reply# 3 3/12/2021 at 14:32 (1,140 days old) by chachp (North Little Rock, AR)
Checkrate/Likes *I hope you got a refund...* I hate that for you. I had a similar experience some years ago. I found a fairly rare dishwasher motor on line. They shipped it in a box with NO packing. Literally. Stuck in the box so it could bounce around. It was a mess when I got it. Why some people think this is sufficient is beyond me.

Post# 1111172 , Reply# 4 3/12/2021 at 21:45 (1,140 days old) by reactor (Oak Ridge, Tennessee-- )
Checkrate/Likes 1 *viking disposal* Hi Reggie, That is the Viking disposal that I purchased from Emily Williams in Lexington, Kentucky (via Facebook Marketplace) in early February. I recognize the pictures. It was listed at $80 plus "free shipping." When it arrived at the post office, I got a notice that it could not be delivered because of $30.29 postage due. It is a common scam on FB Marketplace. An item is offered at an attractive price, with free shipping, and then the seller puts inadequate postage on it. So the seller then gets the price for the machine and does not have to pay the full postage, therefore making that much more money on the item. I refused it from the Post Office. The scam is the same, the seller acts innocent and pretends it was a mistake by the postal worker. Then they claim they don't have the money to pay the postage. Emily did exactly those two things. Then she told me it was a $1600 disposal, so I shouldn't mind paying the 30 dollar postage. She didn't know she was dealing with an appliance collector I set her straight about the real price of the Viking and that I was wise to the scam she was trying to perpetrate. I filed a claim against her with PayPal. PayPal sided with me and refunded my full purchase price plus tax and took it from Emily's account. I had the post office send it back to her. Of course, she lost the purchase price, but also the 10 insufficient postage she originally put on the machine plus tax, and the Post Office charged her the remaining 30.29 before she could reclaim the package. She lost almost fifty dollars by trying to scam me. I noticed when she reposted she moved the purchase price down from $80 to $64, and still had "free shipping" listed. Anyway, I hope she didn't rip you off for the shipping. If so, you may want to report her to PayPal if that is the means you used to purchase it. I have had a couple of Vikings (Viking purchased the plans and right to manufacture from Kitchen-Aid, it was an original Hobart design) and they are fun machines. So I hope it works well for you. One of mine developed a seal leak and water got into the motor. The last one I left in my former house when I moved and was working fine, albeit the motor had developed a rather loud hum/noise. Hope it works, hope you didn't get scammed, hope you find a magnetic stopper and hope you enjoy it! -- Barry This post was last edited 03/12/2021 at 22:01

Post# 1111196 , Reply# 5 3/13/2021 at 07:07 (1,140 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes *Interesting History Of This Disposer* Hi Barry & Reggie, These were very good units and did carry nearly a $1,600 price tag but like all Viking appliances it was probably not worth that much. Viking quit building the National-KA-designed disposers around 10 years ago and just sourced a high end model directly from ISE with a few custom design changes. I have an extra magnetic stopper for this disposer that I will sell if you want to keep it [ $25 ] if you don't want to keep it I would buy it for around $100 with shipping. John L.

Post# 1111203 , Reply# 6 3/13/2021 at 08:07 (1,140 days old) by reactor (Oak Ridge, Tennessee-- )
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Viking* I remember well when Viking took over production of the disposer from KA. The Viking disposers never retailed for anywhere close to $1600, at least not in my region. I have one of the last KA branded units, with the Hobart design, before Viking purchased the production rights. It was also before Kitchen-Aid units became nothing more than rebranded ISE units. It is one of my most valued in my collection. When Viking gave up producing disposers themselves, and contracted In-Sink-Erator, they became a hybrid unit....with grinding components from both Hobart's design and ISE's design. They retained the "Wham-Jam" feature, and a fixed impeller. They added two swivel impellers, removed Hobart's snap-on collar with the release tab and replaced it with the standard ISE swivel-lock collar mount. It was somewhat sad to see ISE boggle up such a quality disposer hybridize it, then ultimately remove it from the market.

Post# 1111979 , Reply# 7 3/18/2021 at 20:05 (1,134 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver)
Checkrate/Likes 1 If I were to get a brand new ISE, it’d be one of the high end Evolution models, but there’s just something about the way this thing, and the older Waste King units are built. I’ve bought several NOS units as well as a used one off of EBay and not had one issue, but the long and short of this, I’m going to fight for at least a partial refund over the BS, but since it’s mechanically un-damaged, and actually NOS, I’ll be freshly G-Damned if I’m sending it back to the C! But I did also get all of the mounting hardware as well. And I definitely will want to get my hands on the magnet stopper, I’ve been enjoying the batch feed Waste King.