How much have to lo$t from a Builder?

[Kapo_Polenton]

I'm sure we all have one of these so I will start. We all know Christmas is about spending money so let's talk about times when we spent and lost with nothing to show for it!

About 1.5 years ago, I bought a killer modded JCM800 100 watter from a builder up here in Canuckistan. Great communication, prompt shipping, well packed, awesome product. I liked it so much that we got to talking and settled on a price for him to do me a modded Traynor. A mish mash of hotrod plexi with some switchable voicings. Would have been awesome because of the pedigree this guy had and the work he has done for other people. Power scaling, preamp mods, big traynor iron etc. So I drop my deposit. 1200$. Now I realize that's what, 200$ US dollars now?? But it was still substantial enough for me to show I was committed to the project. Well soon after.. a quick job became a relocation, breakup, and major health scare. I get all that. Those things can happen and I fault nobody for that and I do believe in giving people time to recover psychologically and mentally from major events in their lives. But a year in with little to no communication I figured let's wrap this up and just send me all the parts purchased for the amp and the chassis plus any $ not spent and I would just do the project myself over a year. I did get a response on this which I would call a "string along" message promising to get it done and make me whole but nothing since despite texts or emails.

This far gone, I am never getting this amp and guessing the cash is long burned. It is incredible to me how people can appear to be reliable and then completely flake. I guess that is always the chance we take when we go with smaller builders and modders. I have had to wait on guitars in the past and keep knocking at the door but at a certain point do you just say f-ck it? I'm not going to name the person as i don't think they have been active here for years but I also don't mind them seeing this and knowing that honesty and backing out of the project would have been more honorable than just flaking. Who knows though. Life can get tough and there could be other factors like lawyers, addiction, foreclosures. Builders are a bit like stocks I suppose. You go in hopeful but ultimately can lose it all.

Some of you guys got hit big on the whole Cameron fiasco. Did anything ever trickle down to you years later? Some of you even lost the physical amp I think. That would be a pisser. Another reason to only buy what you know you will get.

 

[stephen sawall]

Shad from Quinn amps owes me about $600. It was for pedals. He sent me several free pedals so figure he owes me nothing. He owes several people $4000 plus. I believe he is still in prison

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Shad from Quinn amps owes me about $600. It was for pedals. He sent me several free pedals so figure he owes me nothing. He owes several people $4000 plus. I believe he is still in prison

I read up on that guy.. seems like a lot of people lost out on amps never returned. Even worse than cash loss.

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Cameron still has my amp
a dude named Kim Coffey stole my 1200 deposit on buying my 100b back from him.

 

[SoooRad]

I have had one builder make something for me, and didn't pay a dime until I had it in my hands. I must be nice

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Cameron still has my amp
a dude named Kim Coffey stole my 1200 deposit on buying my 100b back from him.

Ouch. Double nut punch

 

[boogieman1187]

Met a guitar builder in Nashville many years ago who claimed to build custom acoustic guitars, played one at the guitar center there and really liked it so I decided to place a custom order, required the full balance for a deposit-seemed weird but my 20 year old self didn't know any better-so I sent a check only to find out 6 months later he didn't build guitars anymore due to funding issues. After a bit of screaming at him on the phone and about 4-5 different court dates I ended up with a used guitar of his which ain't what I ordered nor wanted. Shitty thing is I worked at a music store and could have gotten 2 Taylor 614's at my employee price for the cost of his one guitar and had less drama. Guess I didn't technically lose anything but it definitely taught me not to trust builders without a well established reputation. I feel for those that get caught up in that shit cuz I've been there.

 

[Wayniac3]

Had a name painter scam me out of a body & paint job. I went to him out of respect to his original design, though many others were painting it by that point.
Got a refund through my credit card after getting jerked around for 6 months (not sure how I managed it - I guess good email documentation), but he was a POS (and I will be fine talking ill about the dead. Eff him)

 

[fusedbrain]

That douchebag Bryce Boyd from Epictone or whatever, the guy that does the Jet City mods, took my money for a mod board and never delivered. Lots of sob story string along emails, and then crickets. I was a noob with PayPal and thought I had 6 months to make a claim. Turns out its 180 days, so when I put in my claim, I was under 6 calendar months, but it was 181 days. Too late.
The fukker literally emailed me 10 mins after I got the denial email from PayPal, taunting me that they had denied my claim. What an asshole. At least it was only a couple hundred bucks.
The Watts tube audio guy in Florida got me for about a $100 in parts too, but that's pretty much it.
Guess I've been lucky.

 

[Rackman]

Had a $600 deposit with a guitar builder. He went under. Such is life.

 

[jco5055]

I've luckily not been scammed by anyone, and I currently have a $500 with a single person guitar builder with an amazing reputation.

I will say it really seems like any small scale operation is guaranteed to have delays/hiccups, and unfortunately not really be pro-active in mentioning them. Said builder told me in April while on the phone with me as I discussed ordering "4 months, maybe even 2 depending on my wood stock", and last I talked to them it will finish this month. Which maybe he meant "2-4 months after I get to you in the build queue and start" but I think we all agree 99.9% will assume you mean from the phone call how long will it take. I even messaged a quasi-dealer of his in August just to check he hadn't like died or something. I will refrain from mentioning him publicly unless I turn out to be the first actually scammed customer

...but really seems like a single builder never is just like "it will be done within x months and if not I'll let you know" and then stick to that lol.

 

[Rackman]

...but really seems like a single builder never is just like "it will be done within x months and if not I'll let you know" and then stick to that lol.

Very few sole proprietors are good at managing a business. It's hard enough for people with professional training operating a known-good business plan.

 

[Smash]

The arcane pickup guy is only one that got me. I ordered and archane 13 pickup to try, but it came in foyd spacing. So i contacted him, and he said to return it and he would send me one with a correct spacing. There was no place to designate during ordering and it didn't occur to me, so I was fine with eating the shipping.

He never sent the pickup, so I contacted him several times and he ghosted me. I am not really sure why people feel it is ok to rip off others. I would really like to meet the guy. I feel like if I ever get the chance, he will immediately feel my frustration

 

[thegame]

The arcane pickup guy is only one that got me. I ordered and archane 13 pickup to try, but it came in foyd spacing. So i contacted him, and he said to return it and he would send me one with a correct spacing. There was no place to designate during ordering and it didn't occur to me, so I was fine with eating the shipping.

He never sent the pickup, so I contacted him several times and he ghosted me. I am not really sure why people feel it is ok to rip off others. I would really like to meet the guy. I feel like if I ever get the chance, he will immediately feel my frustration

He'll pickup his teeth from the floor

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Yeah I guess end of the day, once you send money, it is a chance whether or not you will see the end product. I suspect that if it happened to me, there were probably other people waiting for work to be done. I remember seeing someone selling something on FB marketplace that was built by the guy (supposedly) doing my amp so I asked them if they had any news and they told me they too were waiting on gear that was well behind schedule. Maybe they got their stuff in the end, maybe not. I just have days where I wake up and say f-ck this, I'm pissed. But then the rest of the time I realize it is completely out of my control now and I hope the guy ends up feeling shitty for banking cash and ghosting. Cause karma does come for people...eventually.

 

[Meanjoegreene]

I’ve been lucky but close to disaster a few times

I’m now of the opinion we have more than enough good choices with the honest and professional guys that made it

Doubt I’ll ever give a deposit again. If they don’t have enough for basic parts let someone else play pyramid scheme

 

[NinjaRaf]

I bought a custom explorer from a company called Mork Verden guitars in Canada, I forget exactly when. Maybe 2021/2022. $2500. Lots of runaround, then eventually ghosted. Tried to do a charge back through my CC, but the bank said it had been too long (it was just over 3 months). There was a whole thread I posted about it when it happened. Anyway, now there is an entire FB group for people who have been ripped off by this same guy. Various names over the years, lots of theft and fraud. Canadian law enforcement is a joke when it comes to this and won't do anything. I filed reports with various agencies in the US and Canada trying to get my money back, but nothing ever came of it. Every now and then someone new joins the FB group with their story.

EDIT: Actually, was in 2020/2021. I found a FB post I made on 2/23/2021. Here it is. I kept all the conversations. After this is when I started filing all the legal reports and all that with various agencies...fraud in the US, RCMP or whatever it is in Canada, and a few others. Hours calling around different agencies. Nothing.

In Sept, I ordered a guitar from Mørk Verden Guitars. The pictures showed the guitar built, but needing parts and electronics. I was told the guitar would be shipped at the end of October. I gave them about a week grace period before reaching out to them. Being in the middle of a pandemic, I was told that they were having shipping issues, and that Purolator (Canadian courier company that integrates with FedEx in the US) was having a hard time getting someone out to pick up the guitar. A month of this back and forth goes on, and I finally get a tracking number.
Still back and forth with the company trying to figure out whats going on, and they finally tell me that Purolator has a warehouse with about 20 of their guitars, and they planned to drive down there and pick them up and ship directly with FedEx.
At this point, its too late for me to file with my CC, so now I just have to wait and hope I get a guitar...
Eventually, they make some posts (which you can see on their page) talking about getting death threats and calling out customers, and basically saying people are wrong for feeling ripped off by them. Again, using the pandemic as an excuse not to get guitars out to people. I don't know how true this is...there is no way to know...but after 2 months at that point, you might think that shipping issues should have been resolved.
My last response from them was on Dec 18 when they told me they would find out the shipping status and get back to me within 24 hrs, which they did not do.
FFWD to today, and still no response. I have sent messages and now emails, and will likely be calling them at some point today. But it seems at this point that they have stolen money from me for a guitar. I wanted to give them a chance, but they have just taken advantage of my patience at this point, and keep using COVID as an excuse.
Do what you will with this information. Maybe they can figure this out. Maybe it actually is shipping issues. Maybe they are scammers, but I really don't think that is the case as I have seen some of the guitars around. But what they definitely are is a business that has some problems getting guitars out to people, whether they actually have shipping issues or some other problem...the point is that they are taking people's money and not delivering guitars.

 

[Smash]

I bought a custom explorer from a company called Mork Verden guitars in Canada, I forget exactly when. Maybe 2021/2022. $2500. Lots of runaround, then eventually ghosted. Tried to do a charge back through my CC, but the bank said it had been too long (it was just over 3 months). There was a whole thread I posted about it when it happened. Anyway, now there is an entire FB group for people who have been ripped off by this same guy. Various names over the years, lots of theft and fraud. Canadian law enforcement is a joke when it comes to this and won't do anything. I filed reports with various agencies in the US and Canada trying to get my money back, but nothing ever came of it. Every now and then someone new joins the FB group with their story.

EDIT: Actually, was in 2020/2021. I found a FB post I made on 2/23/2021. Here it is. I kept all the conversations. After this is when I started filing all the legal reports and all that with various agencies...fraud in the US, RCMP or whatever it is in Canada, and a few others. Hours calling around different agencies. Nothing.

In Sept, I ordered a guitar from Mørk Verden Guitars. The pictures showed the guitar built, but needing parts and electronics. I was told the guitar would be shipped at the end of October. I gave them about a week grace period before reaching out to them. Being in the middle of a pandemic, I was told that they were having shipping issues, and that Purolator (Canadian courier company that integrates with FedEx in the US) was having a hard time getting someone out to pick up the guitar. A month of this back and forth goes on, and I finally get a tracking number.
Still back and forth with the company trying to figure out whats going on, and they finally tell me that Purolator has a warehouse with about 20 of their guitars, and they planned to drive down there and pick them up and ship directly with FedEx.
At this point, its too late for me to file with my CC, so now I just have to wait and hope I get a guitar...
Eventually, they make some posts (which you can see on their page) talking about getting death threats and calling out customers, and basically saying people are wrong for feeling ripped off by them. Again, using the pandemic as an excuse not to get guitars out to people. I don't know how true this is...there is no way to know...but after 2 months at that point, you might think that shipping issues should have been resolved.
My last response from them was on Dec 18 when they told me they would find out the shipping status and get back to me within 24 hrs, which they did not do.
FFWD to today, and still no response. I have sent messages and now emails, and will likely be calling them at some point today. But it seems at this point that they have stolen money from me for a guitar. I wanted to give them a chance, but they have just taken advantage of my patience at this point, and keep using COVID as an excuse.
Do what you will with this information. Maybe they can figure this out. Maybe it actually is shipping issues. Maybe they are scammers, but I really don't think that is the case as I have seen some of the guitars around. But what they definitely are is a business that has some problems getting guitars out to people, whether they actually have shipping issues or some other problem...the point is that they are taking people's money and not delivering guitars.

I think covid is no longer affecting shipping.

 

[NinjaRaf]

The FB group is a wild time. It's usually pretty quiet, but sometimes on of the people he's fucked over tracks his ass down and posts where they found him. $2500 on a guitar is pennies compared to the other fraud he's committed. Tens of thousands in computer equipment theft, farming equipment, all kinds of wild shit.

 

[stephen sawall]

I read up on that guy.. seems like a lot of people lost out on amps never returned. Even worse than cash loss.

I don't think he was modifying amps. He was building Dumble clones. He had some other designs also. His work was excellent. High build quantity gear. I still have a bunch of the pedals. He had some very modern voiced fuzz based off vintage pedals. When I met him he was near Portland in Washington. He moved to Texas. I think he shared a space with Red Plate. That's when the financial problems started. A mutual friend of our committed suicide. Shad took it really hard. He wasn't the same after that.
I think what happened was he was living off the deposits and got in over his head. A downward spiral after that. Quinn was actually his son.

I have nothing against him personally. I doubt he made whole what happened years ago. This was 10-20 years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AAZuTCwH4/