Why I won't be buying from Eastwood/myrareguitars again...

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:43 pm

Hello there gentle shortscalers - now the dust has settled, thought I should shed some light on the nefarious dealings I've had recently with Mike from myrareguitars/Eastwood. I'd been holding off 'til the whole sorry deal was settled, but now it's all done with...

Come, sit closer to the fire, so my old eyes can see you, and I'll begin.

So, I traded a pedal for cooterfinger's lovely Univox/Dano body, with a mind to making it a baritone. Cooterfinger (who has been a gent throughout, I might add) told me that it was routed for Mosrite-style pickups, and that myrareguitars sold them singly or in pairs on eBay. There was a matched pair, brand new, with pickup rings, mounting screws, the lot, for sale for $29, or $59 BIN, plus $29 postage to the UK. I bid $29, fretted when I saw the BIN disappear, then was lucky enough to be the only bidder and win. They were shipped quickly, arrived promptly, and with no Customs charge.

Then, dear shortscale, my troubles began... Where were my mounting screws? And how was I (who does not own a multimeter) to know which pickup was which? I fired off the following friendly mail...

benecol wrote:Dear my_rare_guitars_store,

Hello there - got my pickups today, thanks for the speedy delivery. Unfortunately, there were no mounting screws, as detailed in your listing, and as they're going onto a project guitar, I don't have any existing ones I can substitute for them. Help!

Also, can you tell me which pickup is which please? One has a white wire and one has red, but there are no markings on the bases to say Neck or Bridge.

Thanks!

... and received the following:

my rare guitars store wrote:Hi benecol,

Sorry, we rean out of those screws. Best to find some locally and let me know what they cost and I will refund you that amount.

Oh, I thought, that's a bit shit. And naughty for listing them when you didn't have them. But I'm only a bit miffed. He did, however, appear to have ignored my other question...

benecol wrote:Dear my_rare_guitars_store,

OK - if that's the case, I would have appreciated you letting me know when you discovered you had no stock, then I could have had some waiting when the pickups arrived. What size screws are usually used, please?

Also, could you please answer my other question about identifying which pickup is which?

He replied:

my rare guitars store wrote:Hi benecol,

sorry, I am away from the warehouse until the 24th. The pickups are the same, just adjust the height.

Hmmm.

benecol wrote:They are the same, and yet they have different coloured wires, and you marketed them as a matched set? And you want me to hold off for two weeks until you return to your warehouse? Are you serious? Could I maybe ask for some slightly better customer service from you please?

Imagine my surprise when I received this piece of customer service gold:

my rare guitars store wrote:OK, white is bridge. Feel better? Please email you're paypal receipt and I will refund the money, I am on family vacation right now and have better things to worry about than a couple of cheap pickups.

I was flabbergasted: yes, no-one wants grief when they're on holiday, so don't put listings up when you're on holiday. But more than anything, it was his telling attitude to his own product ("a couple of cheap pickups"). Got my refund, and contacted eBay on how to handle the negative feedback - I was concerned that, since the refund I was showing as needing to pay, and didn't want to get tagged as a non-paying bidder. EBay were great, looked at all correspondence, and encouraged me to leave honest feedback to let other eBayers know how he behaved. So I did.

And now I'm telling you. At agonising length.

{{{ MODS - Have put this in here since it concerns buying components; by all means move it if it's Pub material }}}

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:08 pm

worra cock.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:15 pm

Shocking and entirely unacceptable.

Hey, wanna buy this matching pair of shoes? Two left ones!

What's the matter, hurts when you wear 'em? Just lace one up backwards, dingus!

avj · Post by **avj** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:21 pm

Terrible.

What is with the "OK, white is bridge. Feel better?" statement? I wonder if that was just a fuck-off answer to appease you or if he's implying he knew all along and couldn't be bothered to specify; either way is of course deplorable. Glad to hear you were able to get things sorted with eBay in short order, as that seems to be a fairly rare occurrence.

(And nice Brule, latlat.)

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:24 pm

No, it was a fuck off: turns out the red is the bridge.

I've not edited those mails at all (apart from the names) - that's exactly the sum of the correspondence and how it ran.

rps-10 · Post by **rps-10** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:40 pm

benecol wrote: Got my refund, and contacted eBay on how to handle the negative feedback - I was concerned that, since the refund I was showing as needing to pay, and didn't want to get tagged as a non-paying bidder.

Think thats normal when you get refunded, I'm down as having one item to pay for. Last month, got a guitar off ebay dirt cheap, well below normal market price. It was listed with "next day delivery" so after a few "working days" of it not turning up, contacted seller, who said would get tracking code to me with in 2 hours. never did, few days later, contacted seller, who promptly refunded me and said he couldn't send due to circumstances..??

Left him some "indifferent" feedback, as he refunded rather than pure negative.

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:52 pm

that is rediculous....

I deal with business owners every day with my job and honestly this does not suprise me too much...... you do not have to have a brain or even common curdious to own a business... most are fn tool bags!

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:01 am

I had a similiar experience with myrareguitars that I shared with benecol after hearing his story. I had ordered from them a few times before and never had a problem. But the last order was for a set of the same Mosrite Style pickups. I ordered a set and a few days later they came in. No problem. I just threw them in the parts box while I finished up some other projects. When I finally opened them up the bridge pickup was missing the mounting ring. I emailed them that one of the pickups was missing the ring. They replied back that all of their Mosrite pickups came with a mounting ring and screws. I said I knew that but one of mine was missing one and could they just send or sell me a mounting ring. They said they didn't sell them without a pickup and he never acknowledged that they had shorted me on my order. I never really pushed the point since I had ordered them a few months earlier and didn't check them out when they arrived. Not too smart on my part. Anyway, I wound up buying a new bridge pickup just to get the mounting ring. I thought this was just a fluke since all my other orders had went off without a hitch. Now that I know benecol's story I know it wasn't just a fluke.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:34 am

this thread makes me sad.

i love you dude. i really do.

but.

if i got some 29 dollar pickups in the mail and they didn't have 4 screws with them, i would have shrugged my shoulders, got off my couch and walked to the hardware store, go to isle 3 and pay .29 cents for 4 screws.

this whole thing is hilarious. you are arguing over 4 fucking screws. this is not man land at all.
this is some pussy shit some lady would bring back a pair of shoes to me at work because her shoelace ripped instead of going to the dollar store and buying a pair of new ones.

i got to call you out on this. sorry.

as far as the pickups go. fuckin drop them in, and if you don't like the way they sound, take another 3 minutes out of your day and switch em around. who gives a shit if one doesn't have a B marked on it and the other a N

if there is one thing that i have taken away from this group of friends of 10 years its about doing shit for yourself after being shorted on ebay. its happened to me, its happened to EVERONE ON HERE. if all you got fucked over was 4 screws consider yourself very lucky, cut your losses at 40 cents and a trip to the store, and wire that shit up.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:02 am

the guy was rude, it's true. robroe does have a point tho...

I'm thinking that the pickups are a matched set. the red or white wire is just to show that one is wound one way and the other is wound the other way. so they are matched, but it doesn't matter which one you use for the bridge and which one for neck. it's pretty ridiculous that he couldn't explain that to you without being a douche though.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:23 am

It's sad and funny all in one.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:00 am

I only agree with robroe on the point that 4 screws isn't a big deal. The guy's attitude was really fucked though. And apparently seeing as he did it to cooterfinger on a pickup ring, which is more of a big deal, and you can't just go out and buy a mosrite pickup ring at your corner store, it sounds like he's just a bad business man. He doesn't stand true to his word, and is a dick when his orders aren't correct.

As for the pickups. They should have been labeled, and if he is a reliable enough businessman, then he should be able to answer a simple "which one is which" question about his products. Also, you can get a multimeter for about $20 from a radio shack, and it's very handy to have one for anyone working on guitars, pedals, amps, etc.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:37 am

Thanks for sharing that info with us. I will definitely stay away from that company if they have such little respect for their customers.

Post by **Hurb** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:58 am

robroe wrote:this thread makes me sad.

i love you dude. i really do.

but.

if i got some 29 dollar pickups in the mail and they didn't have 4 screws with them, i would have shrugged my shoulders, got off my couch and walked to the hardware store, go to isle 3 and pay .29 cents for 4 screws.

this whole thing is hilarious. you are arguing over 4 fucking screws. this is not man land at all.
this is some pussy shit some lady would bring back a pair of shoes to me at work because her shoelace ripped instead of going to the dollar store and buying a pair of new ones.

i got to call you out on this. sorry.

as far as the pickups go. fuckin drop them in, and if you don't like the way they sound, take another 3 minutes out of your day and switch em around. who gives a shit if one doesn't have a B marked on it and the other a N

if there is one thing that i have taken away from this group of friends of 10 years its about doing shit for yourself after being shorted on ebay. its happened to me, its happened to EVERONE ON HERE. if all you got fucked over was 4 screws consider yourself very lucky, cut your losses at 40 cents and a trip to the store, and wire that shit up.

Balls, the product was incomplete doesn't matter if it was cheap screws, mounting plates or whatever. if you buy something that is supposed to come with A, B OR C it should arrive complete. the value of what's missing is rather unimportant.
This happened with a shower I bought from ebay, it was missing two little plastic covers (cheap plastic covers) so now my 300 quid shower I got for a song was worthless because it was incomplete. The fact that the guy was a dick just emphasises that people shouldn't do business with him.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:30 am

Personally i would have shrugged at the situation as well (considering the cost) but then i have bits like that lying around. But his 'fuck off' email would have got my back up.
Can't judge Tim here though, we are all different.

Its worth mentioning i have bought stuff off people (even here) for way more money and the description has in some cases left a lot to be desired.

In some cases i think 'you get what you pay for' really is the bottom line. If these were bought from say Seymour Duncan for triple the amount this thread would'nt exist.

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:43 am

Fran wrote: Its worth mentioning i have bought stuff off people (even here) for way more money and the description has in some cases left a lot to be desired.

i've bought stuff here that's missing a bit here and there too
no worries.
but then again it's a community, so it's even better that karma or koorma or na'an

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:01 am

After reading his responses I had to do some research because it was the exact same tone I received from a very shady man called Buck Mills of 'Planet Violin' on ebay and wondered if it was a new trading name (and not just the second one he's have used either) - I'm naming names here because I have kept all the evidence on the matter and would be absolutely delighted if he wants to make something of it legally and I simply won't be quiet and let others have the same experience.

Anyway it's clearly not him but I see on the sellers BIO page they make a big hoo-ha about customer service. Regardless of the severity of the problem Tim encountered, and how we might personally have dealt with it, there is ZERO excuse for the guy's tone and I'm calling him out as a total fuckwad - what if Tim had been a 13 yr old guitar noob and simply needed some honest answers about something they knew nothing about? His tone shouldn't be anything but helpful, or at least say "I don't know but I'll try and find out". I also will not be giving him any of my money ever.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:25 am

robroe wrote:CAVEAT EMPTOR SORT OF

I take your point to a certain extent Rob - as far as the screws go, shit happens, I'd already priced up a set from a UK supplier, and would have just got him to cough up. My issue was with the principle and, moreso, his attitude. If you're selling something as a matched set, then they're meant to be a matched set. If you say screws are included, then the screws should be included. I bought a matched pair so I didn't have to assemble, then dismantle, and then reassemble a guitar to ascertain which pickup was which. I didn't ESCALATE until he started getting very dismissive and pissy about his own product. As sellers, people should take some responsibility for their actions. And I know what you mean about arsey customers; I've worked in sales too (admittedly as an ice cream man, when returns weren't quite such an issue) and people can be dicks, but good customer service fosters future transactions. A seller who will fuck someone over for four (although, strictly speaking, it's eight) screws will also fuck someone over for four grand. (Take a look at his feedback - he has a history of not giving a flying fuck if the wrong thing goes out, including a neck, in one recent instance). Fuckers need to get SCHOOLED so they'll think twice before doing it to someone else.

George · Post by **George** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:40 am

It's not the screws, it's the principle. The guy acted like a cock. When you're in business you have to behave appropriately because you have a reputation to uphold and a good service to provide. This is now x amount of people who won't buy from him (I don't think I will). What's wrong with a "I'm sorry, I'm on holiday. will get back in a week" courtesy email?

Shitty attitude. I think some people are missing that point amongst the tuppenny screws.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:19 pm

So just to clarify this: My Rare Guitars IS Eastwood guitars yes? If so fuck them both.

Why I won't be buying from Eastwood/myrareguitars again...

Why I won't be buying from Eastwood/myrareguitars again...

Re: Why I won't be buying from Eastwood/myrareguitars again