Did you get a "Form Letter" from Sweetwater, or was it an actual notice from your rep?
Edit: Nevermind. You answered my question in another post while I was typing.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Disappointed with Fodera
- Thread starter Pep
- Start date
Did you get a "Form Letter" from Sweetwater, or was it an actual notice from your rep?
Edit: Nevermind. You answered my question in another post while I was typing.
The natural ivory wood is the one I want and it’s discontinued.
I sent an email Fodera. Awaiting a reply. We’ll see.
There's a Yin Yang for sale here on Talkbass.
Those basses look very cool, but it seems unwise for me to buy a bass that's worth more than my car. 
You don't know why the bass was discontinued tho. It could be any number of reasons outside of Fodera's control.
It's up to them to say yes or no to these orders and to be professional and deal with them as they come due. That's not just limited to big orders from companies like Sweetwater either, plenty of luthiers have fallen well behind just with regular customer orders and have continued to take on new orders to secure deposits and pay their bills. Some of those luthiers I would even regard as highly skilled builders and poor businessmen.
In this case, it all seems extremely sleazy from Fodera. The OP has absolutely been mugged off here and he is the one who has lost out, particularly on the time he has been waiting when he could have bought another high end bass to enjoy. I'm not sure what Sweetwater could or would do to press the issue with Fodera. I assume they would have the means and the clout to force the issue if they really desired to get the bass they had on order, but that would mean cost and effort so ultimately, it's the little guy that ends up losing out.
This feels like a situation where someone has to get fired (not literally). Either fodera promised sweetwater instruments that they didn't provide, or sweetwater promised the customers items that wouldn't be provided by fodera. Companies can't just list products, accept order, and then say "nah, on second thought we rather not".
My last Sweetwater order (forever) was a preorder. They charged my account in full for a non custom bass that was to arrive in a year, as opposed to charging when shipped. Unacceptable for a major retailer. Order immediately cancelled by me. Sweetwater too. Their new ownership stinks. Policies more like Stinkwater
Last edited:
Is that really their new policy? I worked in sales at Sweetwater for a decade and we would typically wait until shipment to charge unless requested otherwise. Clearly you didn’t request that.
I always wanted a nice hat, but $346 sounds a bit steep!!
The problem could be anywhere in the chain, from the sales person at Sweetwater to the person who accepts orders at Fodera. Sounds like a communication problem, the sales person may not have known and sold it to you and found out early they had stopped making that model but forgot to call to inform you, or forgot to put the order through in the first place. Or Fodera screwed up your order. It’s easy to blame Fodera but until you hear back from Fodera you might not have the real story. I don’t see how if the problem was in their end they would not make it good, because if the problem is in their side they could, if the problem is on Sweetwaters side they probably can’t. Wait to hear back from Fodera.
That's probably what you would get too, if you ordered from there.
Yang Ying means something completely different,
and so does Fedora
