Really Need Some Advice

Hi Everyone. This post should be pretty long, so bare with it, and please try to give your best idea/opinion/advice on the whole very "caseual" situation.
Ok, Im adding this in (im done typing) this reply is about 6 pages. Be patient please!)
Yngwie Malmsteen. Most people hate him. Others very much like him. I on one hand, consider myself one of his absolute hugest fans. I respect his work, and his talents, and everything he has done. Its pretty sad lol, I spend my daily life "through" yngwie. Well, this sort of guitar god obsession ive got going on, started a few months back, and I found out a few months ago that he has his Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Artist Series Guitar, available. 1,529$ is what it goes for.

Back then, I really just blew it off because I'd never have 1,600$. Well, just recently I decided to find a store that had one in stock a few weeks ago. I played one. :shock: :shock: :shock: I have never in my LIFE. Touched a BETTER instrument. For others, scalloped necks probably arent for everyone, but for me I feel that every single guitar should be. It is truely at a state of pure, heaven. Lets not go on and on, but long story short I became DESPERATE to find a place that would do "layaway" for it. Turns out, NO ONE has them. Guitar center of hollywood, guitar center of ANYWHERE in california, or anything. It is a "special order item." So after trying and trying I finally decided to just ask if they would "order" me a yngwie strat, and let me put it on layaway. Sure they would, but with half down. :x 800$! Well, being 18 I dont have 800$ randomly.

Next step was to find a guitar store that would ORDER me an yngwie strat for like 10-20% down, and then let me do layaway. Thankfully I found one. It just so happens the store less then 2 miles from my HOUSE will do it. Silly me not to check through the little guys.

Well, this is where ALL of this complication, and headaches started. I have my mother, and girlfriend virtually HATING me because of the "vibes" I am putting off over this guitar, and the pure LACK of "solidness" between me and the music stores little "deals". Just listen.

I oringally walked up to this guy Aaron. Told him my situation. "Hey, Is there anyway you guys can order me an Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster with like 10% down?"

He was very caseual, and said sure man let me go talk to "rafael" who was, and is the owner of the store. Rafael never came out of his little office, but aaron came back and said sure, give us 10% down and we will order you one so you can get it on layaway. So I pulled out 160$, and gave it to him. He gave me a "layaway" receipt for the first time for a balance of 1,440$ remaining. He sold me the guitar, nicely for 1,600$ flat. After California tax it actually comes out to like 1,648$, so I got a nice deal on the 16 flat. So, the balance was a clean 1,440. So I walked out happy as can be, I found a store that would take 10% down, and order the guitar of my dreams and let me keep it on layaway!!!!

The next day I came in with more money to put on it. I believe it was something like 40$. Walked around the store, found aaron and threw up like 40$ more on it. I asked him, hey man did you get that guitar ordered?? He said oh no man let me get on the phone with my Fender Rep now. I said ok, and he called his fender rep in front of me. "do you guys have any fender strats, yngwie malmsteen strats left in stock?" Apparently they had 2. He said oh ok, and hung up. Then he told me, that the best way to place orders is over the internet via email. He also made the comment, "Its a blessing they had them in stock its a rare guitar and if they didnt it can take up to 45 days to get one." So we walked to the back, where he sat down at the computer and did some things, I was assuming he was placing the order. Then he said do you want a maple or rosewood neck?? I said maple please. He said ok man, it WILL - key, WILL be ordered up for ya! I said oh thanks man, and with a new balance of 1,400$ I walked out of the store.

So far so good right?

Well, ever since the beginning this whole situation has just been WAY to caseual for me.
I walked in a few days later with 60$ more. Bad news. Aaron walks up to me, and says "hey man, ive got some bad news. Rafael (the owner) came up to me this morning and told me he refuses to place a 1,600$ guitar order until you have half down." I said no way man really? He said yeah he just wont, hes had people before screw him over by just not showing up for the guitar ever.
Respectfully, I agreed and said well I guess theres nothing I can do until I wait until I can get half down on the guitar. He said, yeah sorry man. Walked out with a new balance of 1,340$.

That night, I thought over a few things. BAM. Right before I fell asleep (lol, you always get the BEST ideas when your about to fall asleep lol) why dont I just ask him to trade in some guitars, to lower the price, to get it around half, so he will order the guitar??!! Thinking about the 9 guitars I already have, I decided this yngwie strat is so worth anything.

Next morning I raced down there, and I walked up to rafael (for the first time myself) and said, hey man so I hear you wont order the guitar for me until I have half right? He said "yeah, I just want to make it a secure deal." I said, thats totally understandable. So is there anyway you will take trade ins? He said, sure it depends on what it is though. I said, well the two guitars I will bring in is a Jackson Dinky, and a Fender Highway One Stratocaster w/vintage noiseless. He said he would be interested but wont say anything til he sees them.

So what did I do? Raced back, cleaned em' up quick and ran back to him. He took a good look at them, and said he'd give me 400$ for the highway 1, and 300$ for the jackson Dinky. I cleared a FEW times with him, ok so 700$ total?? He said yeah sure. Then he said, "The only thing I ask is for us to do this trade in after the layaway tab is finished, via gets down to 700$." So basically hes just saying, he will take my two guitars at the end of the layaway, once it gets to 700$ and let me walk out with the yngwie strat. :( Well this sucked. I really didnt want to wait til I got to 700$, I wanted to order that strat now!

So, after he told me he'd give me 700$ for them I left and came home.

Pondering this "trade in, layaway, 700$, 1,340 balance, ect" in my head, I waited about a week. Saved up about 40$ more dollars. But during this week quite a few things happened.

#1 I graduated Highschool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D Officailly completed early, class of 2008! Man Im glad I passed those california exit exams, but man its a great feeling to have a full diploma! :mrgreen:

#2 My birthday is coming up on May 22. Thats why I said I was 18^^^^. So I only have about 2 weeks until I am turning 18. Now, my graduation ceremony and my birthday are in the SAME week. May 22-June3rd. Now, I have been absolutley PACKED with people asking me what I want from graduation, for my birthday, getting my Class Ring Made, Announcements, Cap & Gown Pics, Ect. I have been bouncing back and forth between the school district, and getting my diploma mailed to me, and all these weird little papers and things. Plus.. Making my Bday LIST!!! :P

#3 Chronic Nose Bleeds. I for some reason, have been getting chronic nose bleeds. Ill just be sitting somewhere, and instantly blood will just be everywhere. And its not minmal, it makes me light headed, cold, and exhausted. I bleed for hours, and It wont stop. I went to see the doctor, my ENT (ears, nose & throat) and he said that the combination of living in the desert of cali, transfering from winter to summer, and my consistant stress about graduation, and this guitar along with working up in the mountains are causing bad altitude changes and severe nose dryness so its cracked up bad in there. So he gave me some "lubricating nasal spray" and told me to use vaseline on a Q-tip ect.

Yeah, sounds like alot of crazy things ^^ but it all happened in 1 week. So, after that week I had about 40$ free money. I went back into the music store, and found aaron. I took the 40$ up to him, and said hey man. I REALLY want to be able to get this yngwie strat around my birthday. (may 22.) I would really appreciate it, if you could order it for me now so that way when I come to pay it off at the end of may, It will be ready to be picked up. I just graduated, and its my bday, and I'd really appreciate it if you could order the guitar. I am in fear of fender not having them in stock, and having to wait the "45" day wait. He thought about it quietly for a few mins, and said idk man. I said well, come on man you know Im not gonna screw rafael, or any of you guys over!! For god sakes, I already have close to 300$ put down on it!! He agreed, and hes like yeah... I was like ok how about this. Why dont I just BRING in those two guitars that I want to trade to you guys, and you guys can HOLD them as colateral while you order the yngwie strat. So that way you guys will have 300$ of my money, and TWO of my guitars when you order the yngwie strat. He was like really man you wanna do that?? I was like sure! He said ok, Ill order it for you if you bring in those two guitars. So I raced home, cleaned em up quick and threw them in some soft shell cases. Took them back to him, he pulled out a new "layaway" slip, and the first layaway receipt was for the 40$ I gave him. It took it straight down to 1,300$. So the first receipt says my name, Balance - 1,340 - 40$ as of may 2nd 2008. Then the second receipt he pulled out, he wrote my name, and wrote "Trade in Value of 2 QTY Guitars = 700$
1. Jackson Dinky Serial Number XXXXXXXXXX - $300.00
2. Fender Highway One Serial Number XXXXXXXXXX - $400.00

NEW BALANCE = 1,300 - 700$ = 600$.

I sat there watching him write out all of this on these receipts blown away. I was CONFUSED. I said, wait so did you just take those two guitars and trade them in just now?? He said yeah man. I said oh, well, .... okay.. thinking in my head what rafael had told me about the "no trade ins til the end of the term." Before I decided to open my mouth and ruin everything, I thought in my head, hey why say anything at all he is doing me a massive favor. So I said ok man, can I get a layaway card showing every payment, and these trade-ins too??
He said no problem wrote out every payment, and the final balance of 600$.

I gave him the two guitars in the cases, he put them to the side, handed me my 2 receipts, and my 1 layaway card. 2 Solid Forums of PROOF that my NEW balance is 600$.
Then I said ok man, well since I have over 300$ cash on this guitar, and my two guitars traded in on it, can we finally order it?? He said yes thats what I am about to do. I said ok. Walked to the COMPUTER with him, and PERSONALLY watched him go to his "email" account, and send his Fender Rep the following.

"hey can i get that yngwie strat we've talked about?" "Part number XXXXXXXXXX"
"Bill it to the floor account"
"Thanks aaron."

That was IT. ^ I even commented, wow you can just type something real simple like that ^ and get a 1,600$ guitar shipped out?? He said oh yeah man, email is the best way Ive ordered a 16K guitar that way before. I said oh well if you think so. He said yeah its all good.

Personally witnessing my two guitars in his store, my two receipts and layaway card proving the "trade" and proving my new balance of 600$ flat, also witnessing him order the guitar via fender rep email, I asked him one last question. Anyway to call and see if they actually have one in stock? Sure man he said.

Called his fender rep, and the inevitable happened. Of COURSE it did I thought. None in stock. There is a FOURTY FIVE maximum day wait on it. He said fender judges there "maximum wait time" by how long it took the last time the guitar was at a "stand still." So, with that in mind, I started boggling. I have a receipt in my hand proving that I traded my two guitars for 700$ trade in value with a new balance of 600$, after watching him caseually type a quick email to his "fender rep" and to find out that there could be a 45 day wait on this guitar. Naturally I just started to get concerned. This guy has 2 of my guitars, and over 300$ of my money, and I still have nothing. Not only that, but it could be over a MONTH before fender even SENDS one out! "Being built in corona, CA I feel that it probably wont take the 45 days, thats just what they say maximum, it could be here in 2 weeks.." thats what he told me.

So as he walked to the back to get his keys to head for lunch, I caught him again and said 1 last time, "So thats it right? its a done deal? Can't go back now can we?" He replied "no, its all done man" and I shook his hand and walked out with my receipts, and knowledge of the 45 day wait, along with my two guitars traded into them.

Please forgive this riduclously long thing, but I have pretty much lost half my family over my insane pesimistic attitude towards this. I personally myself have been SCREWED over in like 46 different occasions. So I am already assuming the worst. I very much need someone to just step in, tell me the legal law about some of this stuff, what a receipt is, and how FAR they can really go in court, along with just some common sense.

I am sitting here in my studio, with 2 of my good guitars at that music store, and nothing but a peice of paper saying they traded them in. Now my BIGGEST concern is, if "rafael" hears about this, and decides he DOESNT want to order the yngwie strat for me because I didnt TECHNICALLY have "half" down, how far can he really go? Do I, or do I NOT have a receipt showing that the trade in is a done deal, and my NEW balance is 600$? Can he really "go back on receipts" and "add money to it because his sales associate did a wrong"???

Who is in the wrong here? Should I have stepped up and said, rafael really doesnt want to trade in the guitars until the end man, or should Aaron have known better? Isnt the customer always right?

I know there is truely no REAL reason for this whole post, but sadly I have no one to tell all of this to. I cant get any SOLID advice. I am a SOLID person. Everything has to be THOROUGH, and complete. It has been VERY caseual, and laid back, and I am constantly living in a fear of getting a call from rafael saying I thought we had an understanding that I wont accept the trade ins until the end of the contract? But what does it even matter really, I wont even GET the fender for over 3 weeks as it is!!

What is everyones personal opinion about this?? Can rafael DEMAND me to take the guitars back and ADD the 700$ BACK to my balance? How far will these receipts take me? Has anyone ever had any past experience with fender guitars being backordered? How long roughly does it take? Given the "45 day" option, do you guys think Ill be able to pick up the guitar for my birthday, or my graduation?? (that week between the 22-and the 3rd?)

He placed the email order in front of me, but can he cancel??

I am pretty much just in the dark, 2 guitars less, and about 300$ broker with nothing but some papers.

Please step in, and ram a steel rod down my throat so I can STRAIGHTEN up.

Give it to me, let me know ALL of my options/ideas/opinions of this entire situation...

Also, whats done is done as it is, if any of you guys feel it was a mistake to trade in those two guitars for the 700$, theres nothing I can do to add to the value of them, or anything. The receipts, agreements, and everything was extremely laid out for everyone to read clearly, ^ please just provide your best information about what you think WILL happen, and anything you generally can about the situation between rafael's employee going against what rafeal wished.

Should I type up a contract and have rafael the owner sign it to confirm alot of this?? It is all just way to caseual for me, and my 2 thousand dollars.

Thanks everyone for your INSANE patience, please provide me some input im a wreck... Here comes another nose bleed.. :x

Im gonna go to bed, hopefully I can wake up to a coupla replys.

Thanks guys.