Buying CLAd equipment

First, this is not about a past or present purchase or sale.

I occasionally see ads where the seller says something to the effect of "recent CLA". It's certainly reasonable to ask when and by whom, but is it also reasonable to ask for documentation to be included with the item?

Besides the obvious confirmation, the documentation might be useful if an issue with the equipment arises or if the buyer decides to sell the item in the near future.

call me

Call me paranoid, but whenever I see "recently CLA'd" I wonder why they don't at least put in the year that allegedly happened. I would not buy anything "recently CLAD'd" without the documentation. I recently danced with an exciting Hollywood actress at the Playboy Mansion if you count 1974 as "recent." I remember her like it was yesterday....

Unless the receipt is included, the phrase 'recent CLA' means absolutely nothing to me as a buyer. Without a receipt for the "recent CLA" I usually assume the used gear will need a CLA and figure that into what I'm (not)willing to pay for an item.

The few times I have sold gear that actually had been CLA'd, I've only mentioned the fact in the listing when I had the original receipt from the shop that did the work. The receipt for the work is included in the sale.

Would that all of us had such excellent filing systems. I just offered a lens to someone saying that it had a recent CLA. Now reading this I wonder where that paperwork might be. Fortunately I had an email conversation with the CLA person, so I can date the event, even document the cost, but no longer have the time test results. However that can in no way attest to the lack of use that lens has had since that date, the reason I was offering to sell it.

Perhaps we need to invent a usage meter of some sort to satisfy those of little trust. The power boat I have had for the last 25 years has a meter that records the hours the motor has run. The sailboat I had for 27 years before that had no such meter. The new owner of the sailboat said, "I have never seen a sailboat like this with such an extensive inventory of replacement parts." I said, "Yes, in 27 years practically everything broke at least once. I had to learn how to fix that. Each time I bought two parts, the one I needed now and the one I might need next time."

How will we satisfy those people who need more?

John Powers