Internet shopping - bad experience

[FWBO]

Some of you may have read my thread about a Once in a lifetime guitar in which I mentioned a poor experience with a UK guitar retailer - well now they have finally coughed up the refund I am happy to let you know what happened.

I saw a blonde Gibson ES-175 for sale for £1899 at Guitar Village. It was a used '06 model described by the store manager as in excellent plus condition.

I decided to take the plunge due to the apparent safety conditions within the purchasing terms.

I also requested a full setup on the guitar with strings of my choice. I was charged £85 on top of the purchase price for the setup and £15 for the strings.

When the guitar arrived the ABR1 bridge was tipping forwards off the lower wooden portion of the bridge. An attempt to adjust the thumbwheels revealed they were loose in the wooden bridge and were not working.

I reduced the string tension and removed the bridge. The thumbwheels of the bridge had been wrapped in PTFE plumbers tape in an attempt to make them grip the holes in the lower wooden portion of the bridge. The holes were too big for the thumbwheels and went through the bottom of the bridge.

As a result the thumbwheels, under string tension, had pressed through the holes in the bottom of the bridge, contacted the top of the guitar and damaged the laquer so that bare wood was exposed.


I rang the shop and complained and demanded collection and my money refunding.

The guitar was collected from me on the 7th May and was back with the store on the 8th May. Several days later - and still with no refund - the guitar was back on sale on the website

My emails remained unanswered and whenever I phoned I was promised that my refund was being dealt with.

Last Friday, after further flannel from the shop and them smugly telling me that they had 30 days to refund my £2000 I told them I would contact the police because they were in effect trying to sell a guitar that still legally belonged to me. I also warned them that I would post my experiences on the web.

I finally received my refund today, the 19th May.

I still haven't had any response from the store as to how the technician/luthier felt it acceptable to try a bodged repair on a £2000 guitar and charge £85 for the privelige.

Guitar Village has been in existence for some years to my knowlege. I had expected that I would get a well set up guitar in the condition as described.

I didn't and their customer service is terrible - you have been warned

The happy ending is my guitar teacher had a nice Ibanez 1976 L5 copy for sale - and I'm now a very happy bunny

[abracadabra]

Thanks for the warning.

Maybe we should set up some kind of retailer review page or thread for people to add comments, both positive and negative, about any experiences they have had.

[FWBO]

that's a really good idea

[Oldguy]

I recently had an opposite experience. I bought a lightly used guitar that would not stop buzzing in the high register. I called the shop where I bought it expecting the run-around. They told me to bring it in, within 2 days I had it back with a free fret leveling, crown, and polish. They now have a dedicated customer.

[FWBO]

Oldguy,

can you share the details of the store that, quite rightly, deserves repeat custom

FWBO

[Gabe2099]

I believe Abracadabra's idea is an extremely good one (and useful too), since some of us live in places where trying out a certain guitar is not an option and we're left at the mercy of internet retailers.

if abracadabra decides to make that suggestion, he has my vote.

on topic: i really don't understand how some people try to sell sh***y instruments or anything for that matter and think people aren't going to notice the crap they're getting. luckily, you got your refund and a pretty sweet geetar.

[fast1]

hmm maybe they think that their items aren't shitty? lol

[Oldguy]

The shop is "Charlie's Music" in Hyannis Massachusetts, on beautiful Cape Cod.
Since my post the thing started buzzing again, they said, "bring it in!"