Same for me. Probably would have kept mine if I could have afforded to but I did struggle with the first few frets. Mine was fretless and it made intonation quite difficult.
You could just update in this post with anyone out and Richard can pick up after lent? Let’s see how busy the Easter bunny is this year! If I’m lucky I might get myself a packet of mini eggs!
I am still wary when a seller says recently setup by “insert name of local I’ve never heard of”. Just because they charged money for it doesn’t guarantee they’re any good at it. At least that is easily fixed though if they haven’t broken the truss rod.
The modification that can really ruin a bass is a bad paint job and sometimes that’s hard to see in photos
Cars are a really good example on how you can make it worse. Lots of modified cars end up having reliability issues. Not saying it’s the same for guitars because they’re not as complex mechanically, but I wouldn’t risk it for the same principle.