Print the value of index0
The Parlor Knoxville The Parlor Knoxville, Tennessee Misrepresented Product Dishonest Desription Knoxville, Tennessee
On 01/31/12 I bought a 1983 Guild D50 acoustic guitar from The Parlor. I found the guitar on Gbase, a website for musical instrument dealers.
Here is a link to the page where the guitar was advertised: http://www.gbase.com/gear/byid?item=2832282
I also took a screenshot just in case the page is no longer there or something has changed.
As you can see if you went to the page the guitar was advertised on Gbase to be in "very good condition." More importantly it was advertised as having "no issues." The pictures posted on Gbase showed the guitar to be in nice shape. There were no pictures of any sort of issues.
Before buying the guitar I spoke to the owner of the store Josh on the phone to talk about payment information, and I asked him how the guitar played etc... I was told the instrument played well. I was excited to be getting a nice guitar.
I paid $1,100.00 for the guitar. The price that it was advertised as. Also, I paid $70 shipping. The guitar was being shipped by UPS from Knoxville, Tennessee to North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The guitar was shipped out on 01/31/12. I received the guitar on 02/01/12. As soon as I received the package on that day I got the guitar out to inspect it.
Immediately I noticed the guitar had issues I was not informed about. The finish on the back of the guitar's neck was in bad shape. There were a couple spots about the size of a quarter in which the finish was completely gone. In other places it was hazy, almost as if some sort of solvent or liquid had been exposed to it. The finish on the side of the fretboard was in bad shape as well. Also, I noticed the guitar's bridge had been at least repaired/reglued. This can really affect the tone of an acoustic guitar. Especially if not done properly. It looked like it had been glued back in a sloppy manner. It was easy to notice.
Also I could see that a pickup system had at one time been installed on the guitar and since removed. I know this because there was a hole cut out of the body where the end pin is where the pickup's jack was located. It had been plugged, and not very well. It was a sloppy job. Also, on the inside of the guitar there were small pieces of double sided tape, and some sticky residue where parts of the pickup had been adhered to the inner body of the guitar. There was also glue dripped on the outside of the bridge of the guitar. I wondered if there could have been possibly something else going on with that.
As soon as I noticed this I wrote The Parlor's owner, Josh, an email. He replied saying he would refund me the $1,100.00 I paid for the guitar, but I would have to cover shipping back, and pay a 3% restocking fee. Through several emails we went back and forth. I told him that he had misrepresented the guitar and it wasn't fair for me to pay the shipping or the restocking fee. I also told him I was going to report him to the BBB if he didn't make things right.
Through email Josh was rude, and didn't seem too concerned that I felt he had misled me about the guitar. When I mentioned the specific issues, and reminded him he told me there were no issues he admitted there were issues, but he said they were "minor" so he didn't figure they were worth mention. In my opinion, and the opinion of my local specialty guitar shop owner, they were not minor issues and greatly devalued the instrument.
On 02/02/12 I shipped the guitar back to The Parlor via UPS. I full insured the guitar and it only cost me $32.22. Not $70 like I was charged. One could argue the extra price was for the box and packing material, but they were definitely 2nd hand recycled material... and did not cost $37.78.
On 02/03/12 The Parlor received the guitar and refunded me for $1,100.00. The price I paid for the guitar not including shipping. When I spoke to Josh, I told him I felt I should be reimbursed for shipping because it was his responsibility to give an accurate description of his products. As of now he still has not paid me the $102.22 of shipping fees. I would like to be paid for that. I feel he either purposely didn't describe the guitar correctly, and did not picture the issues in an attempt to pass the guitar for something is was not, or either he was totally incompetent or negligent of knowing the guitar had issues. Either way he is responsible.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
aspalmer84
North Wilkesboro,North Carolina,
United States of America
More dishonesty from The Parlor
#4Author of original report
Thu, February 16, 2012
I have no interest in going back and forth with The Parlor... or any users on this... this is my final post on the issue.
The Parlor sold me a guitar under the premise there were "NO ISSUES"!!! That was not the case! This bad representation of the instrument cost me $102.22 in shipping charges.
If you as a consumer want to do business with someone who did not give an accurate description of a product and caused me to waste over $100 on shipping charges... then go for it!
If it were fair for sellers to do stuff like that then Ebay wouldn't have such strict rules about it! It's common sense. Not to mention, there is a bigger issue... it's called integrity.
On a good note... places with business practices like this that don't change get weeded out by the system.
Contrary to what Josh from The Parlor said... I DID accurately provide facts and details on this problem... in writing. Josh from The Parlor merely put here say out there... "I told him this on the phone... yada yada yada" He can say he said whatever he wants! I don't remember him saying anything of the sort or I would not have bought the guitar!... and he can't prove it! I can, and did prove he sold me a guitar with issues that he said there were NONE of.
I have reported him to the BBB and Ripoff Report. Short of small claims that's the best I can do. As Josh told me in email... "It's a free world"... so if you want to do business with them then go for it! But at your own risk and expense!
Steve
USAYeah, sounds like the owner did right by you
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, February 15, 2012
Customer just about always pays shipping. You got a full refund, so the owner did not make any money on it, and the total shipping you paid was less than 10% of the cost. I say no harm, no foul.
37917
Knoxville,Tennessee,
United States of America
Business owner's response to false claim:
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, February 15, 2012
The report above is factually inaccurate. The customer was informed of the issue with the neck finish over the phone. The other issues were honest oversights, and the customer was offered a refund when he reported them. Customer received a full refund (without being charged a restocking fee), and the BBB found that we made a good faith effort to resolve the situation.