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Unsatisfied with my Epi SG purchase

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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

Darn, hope you can set it right man. You're right, he's wrong, so you don't need to compensate nothing.
Anyway, I was so excited but sad that I can't compromise to the lower quality and style of the Epi guitars.

I know it's easy to say afterwards, but just don't buy a guitar on Ebay. If I had to buy an Epi I'd went for the G400 because those I've seen are all really good. But you just have to visit a local music store, and maybe pay a few bucks more for 'the same product'. Exactly the same can happen if you get a Gibby on Ebay.


   
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(@corbind)
Noble Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
Topic starter  

I just entered a complaint to PayPal.

"I have contacted this seller several tims to inform him the product was not as advertised and had significant defects. I finally called him and he said he wouldn't take it back even though I asked this question 4 days before I bought it:

(my question) Q: Is that a picture of the actual guitar you are selling or a stock picture you use each time you list one of these SGs? Jun-27-07
(seller response)A: they look identical..same pics though.If you are not happy or feel it was a mislead auction you can have a full refund including freight..I am the owner of guitar city and stand behind our sales..Thanks !!

That sealed it for me that, if there were any problems, I could send it back. I've even offered to pay for the shipping both ways and pay him a $50 profit for a return. He said no. So "if you're not happy...you can have a full refund including freight...we stand behind our sales". That right there is a contract to be stood by!

I want PayPal to reverse the entire transaction and have him pay the shipping back to his shop (as he states above). I have all correspondence of emails that I would be glad to forward as well as the Ebay ad. If you have any questions please let me know.

PP, please stand by your customers!"

I submitted it and a message came back something like we don't do dispute for this type of category. The sale on Ebay was under musical instruments/guitar/electric/Epiphone. PP gave just ten categories and the closest one was electronics so I filed under that one. I then tried to go back and try a different category but the page wouldn't let me go back (like when you're reading your bank statement online.

Here was his response to my email from last night:

"I am not prepared to do anything else other than i can get you the necessary paperwork (receipts) to have the guitars factory warranty authorized for you which should cover the fret..Thank you Kimble If you would like this done please send me your full name and mailing address"

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@corbind)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
Topic starter  

Just put in a complaint to Ebay. Sadly, they allow only 500 characters so I had to cut it down. All they're gonna do is email it to him.

"I have contacted this seller several tims to inform him the product was not as advertised and had significant defects. I finally called him and he said he wouldn't take it back. Four days before I bought it he responded to my question with this:

"they look identical..same pics though.If you are not happy or feel it was a mislead auction you can have a full refund including freight..I am the owner of guitar city and stand behind our sales..Thanks !!"

I'm not happy and want a refund." :evil:

No more buying any guitar online!!! I just can't believe how casual his responses are like yea, so what, you're out of luck sucker. :lol: I'm more pissed not than when I first got the guitar. Thanks everyone for suggestions. 500 views in 4 days is pretty good. I hope everyone reviews this to post. I think I'll call my bank tomorrow. My debit card (with the Visa logo on it) supports my PP account. Maybe my bank can do something about this. Does anyone know how to contact the BBB?

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@hyperborea)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 827
 

Just put in a complaint to Ebay. Sadly, they allow only 500 characters so I had to cut it down. All they're gonna do is email it to him.

I hope that you are successful but my experience with bad sellers is that eBay cares a lot more about them than they do about you especially if they are "power sellers". They make a lot of money from them and want to keep them happy.

I got screwed over by a power seller about 6 years ago on eBay over a laser printer that was not what was claimed - he had listed it as one model and I had emailed to verify that but when it arrived it was a lower grade model without the specific feature I was looking for that the higher model had. He avoided my email for a while, claimed to be on vacation (maybe true / maybe not), said send it back, and then claimed that I had "tampered" with it and wouldn't refund my money. eBay sided with their "power seller".

He had a decent but not perfect seller rating. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the model difference nor perhaps cared (I was needing the ethernet feature) so would have given him a good rating on the stuff he sold. What I find interesting is that 20 some odd years ago on the internet (yes it existed then) I bought and sold a bunch of stuff (usually geek to geek) without any intermediaries and I never ran into any difficulties.

Just be careful that you don't end up without a guitar or without your money back.

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
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(@rparker)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
 

Just put in a complaint to Ebay. Sadly, they allow only 500 characters so I had to cut it down. All they're gonna do is email it to him.

I hope that you are successful but my experience with bad sellers is that eBay cares a lot more about them than they do about you especially if they are "power sellers". They make a lot of money from them and want to keep them happy.

I got screwed over by a power seller about 6 years ago on eBay over a laser printer that was not what was claimed - he had listed it as one model and I had emailed to verify that but when it arrived it was a lower grade model without the specific feature I was looking for that the higher model had. He avoided my email for a while, claimed to be on vacation (maybe true / maybe not), said send it back, and then claimed that I had "tampered" with it and wouldn't refund my money. eBay sided with their "power seller".

He had a decent but not perfect seller rating. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the model difference nor perhaps cared (I was needing the ethernet feature) so would have given him a good rating on the stuff he sold. What I find interesting is that 20 some odd years ago on the internet (yes it existed then) I bought and sold a bunch of stuff (usually geek to geek) without any intermediaries and I never ran into any difficulties.

Just be careful that you don't end up without a guitar or without your money back.

One of my early dot-com tenures was with a now out-of-business online auction VAR. I can tell you this much. The business models totally revolved around the sellers. The consumer based KPIs of the day we & they all looked at were click-thrus (views,traffic) and % listings sold. If something was done for the consumer, it's business justification was always to ulimately improve click-thrus. The sellers and the channel (eBay in Corbind's case) are the partners. Not the consumer. I'll leave it at that.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@trguitar)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
 

I'm sorry things are turning out so crappy and probably shouldn't post this, but reading this made me get my Epiphone G400 out of the closet. It plays like a dream. Mind you the pickups that came on it didn't float my boat. It felt great but the sound was lacking. The poles on the bridge pickup didn't align well with the strings either. The fix? Expensive aftermarket pickups? NOPE! Ones from my junk bin! I got one from an Epi LP Special that was a $89 guitar and put it in the bridge. I angled it so the poles line up ala a Strat. It has bite and is dirty and nasty. The neck pickup is from a cheap Samick and I have it wired in parallel instead of series. The neck position sounds kind of like a Strat in the neck/middle position now. The thing rocks and no it's not for sale. :lol: It is 11 years old and I have over the years made it mine. I believe it is unique. Sorry again about your luck, but hang in there. :wink:

"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --


   
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(@corbind)
Noble Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
Topic starter  

That's fantastic! :D I know there a lot of "good" guitars and "bad" guitars out there. It's all in the beholder's mind. Fortunately, some are REALLY well made. Just like life, some are not. Ah, but that's the dichotomy of things. :shock:

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@the-dali)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1409
 

The sad reality is that online shopping is a bit of an adventure. You, unfortunately, got stuck with somebody's crappy merchandise. I would advise you, however, to not give up on eBay and other online retailers. While I agree that eBay is generally going to side with sellers (it makes business sense) the vast majority of people selling on eBay are decent people just trying to make a living (or extra cash).

That is not to say that you are not going to get ripped off from time-to-time. I use eBay for any random item I might need - from outdoor deck speakers to guitars to software for my computer to neckties! I've had over 350 transactions (buy and sell combined) and probably 340 positive experiences. The 10 have been a pain in the "ass", but overall it has been a great way to find odd stuff (pickups, tuners, pickguards, etc) and a great way to sell random stuff (old refridgerator, hot tub, etc).

The KEY to eBay is to ONLY buy from people with 99.7+ feedback. If someone is below 99% you need to probably move on unless the deal is SOOOO good that it is worth the risk.

Anyway, just a random rant/counterpoint.

-=- Steve

"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"


   
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(@wes-inman)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5582
 

Dennis

Sorry to hear about your bad experience on EBay. All I can say is what goes around, comes around. Unfortunately, you may not see it, but if this person takes advantage of people, sooner or later someone will take advantage of him. You never truly get away with doing wrong.

Post negative feedback, he deserves it.

And it is hard to believe this is such a big business. I spent nearly an hour trying to look it up, and only found a few references to this business. It was not even listed with the Columbus, Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Very suspicious if you ask me. I also found a link to this business's website, but got a "couldn't find server" notice.

Hopefully EBay will do something about this, if not and you are stuck with the guitar, this would be a good place to experiment with modding the guitar. Try putting some better pickups in and see if you can file the frets ends down yourself.

Good luck,

Wes

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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(@ivankaramazov)
Estimable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 181
 

Wow, I guess it could be worse for me.

I agree with Wes's thought. The internet is a good indicator of things, and he's barely around. In fact, according to google, that address is a Montessori school. Honestly, having lived in Indiana, if I saw something being advertised as for Columbus, I'd look past it no matter what it was.


   
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(@corbind)
Noble Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
Topic starter  

That dude had over 1,000 transactions and 99. something % feedback. Odd.

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@ivankaramazov)
Estimable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 181
 

Does he sell cheap stuff? If we all kick in and nail him on feedback we can get that down to 98 easy money.


   
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(@corbind)
Noble Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
Topic starter  

That's the best laugh I've had all day! :D

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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