Sigh...Why I hate buying guitars, sight unseen. (1998 Heritage Eagle)

[icr]

Wow, those are the things I'd expect when buying a know messed-up 'project' guitar at a highly discounted price.

[jzucker]

My last guitar I purchased not getting it in person was my 18 inch Campellone Deluxe in 2002. Bought from dealer out east Bill Fender of all names. He was a good dealer. But buying a Campellone I now realize probably not a shot in the dark. If you get a messed up Campy clearly it was the previous owners fault.

Bill Fender and Jeff Hale were good guys. I miss them. Seems like the archtop dealers in today's world don't really care about service. Not naming names but some of them are routinely praised in these forums!

[Blkat]

If you paid by credit card and you genuinely feel they weren't forthright and accurately represented what you thought you were buying, you have grounds to contest the charge for the shipping part.

It might make sense to call them and tell them you feel they should cover at least half the shipping because of the reasons you gave. Say you'd prefer not to make it a credit card dispute since then the seller would have the hassle of wrangling with the credit card company. That might be enough to get them to compromise.

Many of us share your pain. I rarely return anything myself but recently did. Seller had a "no questions 30 day" return policy. But I didn't see the fine print. If it's not returned within 15 days (starting on the day it's shipped) there's a 15% restocking fee. That's on top of the shipping both to and fro.

Good luck!

[jzucker]

If you paid by credit card and you genuinely feel they weren't forthright and accurately represented what you thought you were buying, you have grounds to contest the charge for the shipping part.

It might make sense to call them and tell them you feel they should cover at least half the shipping because of the reasons you gave. Say you'd prefer not to make it a credit card dispute since then the seller would have the hassle of wrangling with the credit card company. That might be enough to get them to compromise.

Many of us share your pain. I rarely return anything myself but recently did. Seller had a "no questions 30 day" return policy. But I didn't see the fine print. If it's not returned within 15 days (starting on the day it's shipped) there's a 15% restocking fee. That's on top of the shipping both to and fro.

Good luck!

As i mentioned to another poster, this is the type of case which would require me to get a repair/damage estimate from a certified repairman. If I had the time to do that, I could contest the shipping charges. However, I had a 48 hour evaluation period so that wasn't going to happen. Also, it would cost me money to get the evaluation and I'd have to wait until he had an opening. This is a case of buyer beware and i took a risk and got burned.

[John A.]

Them making you pay shipping both ways strikes me as pretty messed up. It would be one thing if it was just “I don’t like it so I’m sending it back”. But the condition issues you describe should remove any thoughts of making the customer eat the return cost. Not cool at all.

[Sleeko]

My last guitar I purchased not getting it in person was my 18 inch Campellone Deluxe in 2002. Bought from dealer out east Bill Fender of all names. He was a good dealer. But buying a Campellone I now realize probably not a shot in the dark. If you get a messed up Campy clearly it was the previous owners fault.

I bought my Campellone from Bill Fender. He was right up the road from me. I was so spoiled having him so close with such an inventory. My fabulous Guild Savoy X-150 was also purchased from him.

[Jabberwocky]

Say it ain't so, Jack. You and Vinny should only buy guitars in person. There's some kind of weird juju surrounding you two fine gentlemen.

Here's a tip: the next time someone agrees to sell you a guitar at a jzucker reasonable price, run, run, run faraway. You know that it is gonna be replete with problems. Respectable is only worth half of what it was ten years ago. Half of a respectable dealer is respectable. The other half is full of shit.

I hope you didn't have to pay in-state sales tax on it, too. Try getting that back from your state!

Restocking fees and non-coverage of shipping fees are meant to dissuade you from transacting with that merchant! Take the hint.

[JazzDaddyD]

When I was in music school I dated a very good violinist. She introduced me to the process of buying a violin. She was shopping for a decent student violin in the $10K price range. She went to a shop, and played a few, and picked out one she thought had promise. The dealer took her info, but not her money, and sent her home with the instrument for 2 weeks. During this time, she played it for her teacher, her teacher played it, they both played it in an auditorium, she played it in orchestra, both as a soloist and a section member, she played it outdoors, indoors, everywhere she could. She took it to the local violin shop, they made a couple of adjustments, and went through the same process, again.
In the end, it wasn't the right instrument. She got another one from the dealer, and put it through the same routine. This second one was a winner, and $1K less expensive.
Is this not how buying an instrument should be?

[ccroft]

Say it ain't so, Jack. You and Vinny should only buy guitars in person. There's some kind of weird juju surrounding you two fine gentlemen....

Obvious solution: Jack should buy Vin's B-120!

edit: just like that it's gone. But still, there may be other offerings from Vinny in the future, so it could still work.

[northernbreed]

This kind of bugged me: "... they're allowing me to return [it]... ". How nice of them.

I always find myself immediately wanting to know what dealer would pull this kind of thing, both because (IMO) the dealer deserves the bad press, and because I want to make sure I avoid them. Bad behavior should be called out and placed under a bright light, and all that. But there seems to be some kind of omerta around these kinds of situations, where that detail remains a mystery. They should at least eat the shipping cost to return it, and ethically, they should have not sent it out, so they should eat the outbound shipping too. In any case, that's really shitty, and sorry it happened to you.

[pawlowski6132]

Man, I feel your pain. I live in a pretty remote spot in central Oregon, 3 hours drive from Portland, and I have purchased many guitars without being able to play them in advance. A few have turned out to be terrific, the remainder had to go. One would hope that with a factory guitar like a Heritage things would be more consistent, but it sounds like you got a lemon, maybe even a moldy lemon. Did you ask the seller if they would be willing to cover the return shipping, given the extent of the problems? It's possible they are clueless and don't know shit from Shinola, whatever that means, but it would be worth asking in a diplomatic fashion.
Regardless, sorry, I know that feeling too well. Good luck!

Shinola was a popular black boot polish used by the military in WW1. A popular way to insult someone's intelligence was to claim they didn't know shit from Shinola.

[pawlowski6132]

I didn't mean the dealer. I meant the owner. The dealers rely on the sellers to disclose issues that can't reasonably be identified with a quick eye and sound test.

Whoa. That doesn't sound right at all. I consign much at Elderly and they don't let anyone get away with anything. They go over those guitars with a fine tooth comb. The seller is forced to pay for anything required or, take a walk. No selling as-is junk.

I just assumed that was par. If not, it should be. Otherwise, the consignment fee seems like a sham.

[pawlowski6132]

Darn - another horror story. Sorry Jack !
My philosophy is usually to buy new. I know it’s way more expensive and long wait times but zero risk.
I would also buy from a trusted seller here.
Reverb and eBay is a total dice roll. Shipping is a nail biter too.

Their are some stand up shops out there that really know how to inspect a guitar like Gryphon but not too many out there.

I had a really good experience buying a brand new Byrdland from Sweetwater. I got the price waaaay down. They also offered me a brand new Eagle for $4500. Sometimes you can get new cheaper then used.

Best of Luck Jack !

Good idea. Where can I get a NOS '34 Gibson L5?

[pawlowski6132]

[edit]

Fortunately, I had a 48hr eval period but i'm responsible for all shipping so it's going to be a hefty penalty to return it...


here's the email I sent them:

Aside from the top sink (by itself a deal breaker for me) and maybe the buzzing, everything else seems VERY minor. It's a used guitar.