Hammersmith K4 - TalkBass Special Model

[Meyatch]

There's been a lot of problems with this whole process, but I think its a little unfair to blame Marko for not being able to give everyone a refund right away. I assumed, and I thought it was clear to everyone, that the deposit would basically go straight to the factory, to get orders in. That's how deposits work right? Especially on vaporware/crowdfunded things.

 

[Sodbuster]

Marko started this thread at the end of January 2017. The last time he posted was January 5th, 2018. I have never started my own business, so I have no idea what it all entails. I am sure he is extremely busy. Having said that, we all put deposits down for a K. That fact made all of us Marko's business. He should be contacting us, here, on the thread he started. I simply stated when I asked for my deposit. Totally understandable why someone might be anxious to receive theirs if they asked for one. Silence is deafening.

 

[petersland]

A real shame Hammersmith have been stuffed around. I really fell in love with the whole K concept, paid my deposit straight away and waited patiently like the rest of you.
Living in Australia has added to my nervousness handing over a substantial amount of money to persons unknown, for such a long time with limited communication.
The Bass is a want, not a need and like some of you, the money isn't hurting me at the moment...BUT....
I am not going to be "that guy" who didn't listen to his family and friends earlier.
Marko Emailed me a few weeks back suggesting he would refund my deposit to paypal. Still nothing.
This new news that I must line up and wait for a sale to get my refund is, well, I'm just shaking my head that I may have been stupid.

 

[Meyatch]

Marko started this thread at the end of January 2017. The last time he posted was January 5th, 2018. I have never started my own business, so I have no idea what it all entails. I am sure he is extremely busy. Having said that, we all put deposits down for a K. That fact made all of us Marko's business. He should be contacting us, here, on the thread he started. I simply stated when I asked for my deposit. Totally understandable why someone might be anxious to receive theirs if they asked for one. Silence is deafening.

I agree, the decision to cut away from talkbass is pretty baffling. The last time he was on here, which was a while ago, he said something about internet addiction? I don't know. Seems like running a business over the internet is going to require some internet usage.

A real shame Hammersmith have been stuffed around. I really fell in love with the whole K concept, paid my deposit straight away and waited patiently like the rest of you.
Living in Australia has added to my nervousness handing over a substantial amount of money to persons unknown, for such a long time with limited communication.
The Bass is a want, not a need and like some of you, the money isn't hurting me at the moment...BUT....
I am not going to be "that guy" who didn't listen to his family and friends earlier.
Marko Emailed me a few weeks back suggesting he would refund my deposit to paypal. Still nothing.
This new news that I must line up and wait for a sale to get my refund is, well, I'm just shaking my head that I may have been stupid.

I assume that he sent everyone's deposits to a factory in China to build basses. That's assuming the whole thing isn't a big scam, but that would be a pretty elaborate scam. Your bass is still going to get made, whether you cancel and get a refund or not (again assuming the whole thing isn't an elaborate scam,) and paid for with the deposits we put in.

I gave up on trying to get in contact with him on talkbass a while ago, and I've been in semi regular email communication with him for the past year. I don't get a scammer vibe, and I, and several other people have some of his (non-k) basses.

Obviously some things could have been handled better, but an eventual refund is better than no refund. I think on kickstarter you are guaranteed nothing if a project falls through. The only guarantee is you get your rewards, if it works out. If it doesn't, you're screwed.

 

[NOLA Bass]

I asked for my refund in the middle of April, and have been told that I will get it when he sells enough basses to get to my refund. He told me he'd hoped to have it to me by about May 11th. No refund yet, no response to my follow up email. Marko seems like a nice guy, but the lack of comms throughout the whole process (except when accepting my deposit), have been very poor, which is not a good look. And now that my refund is dependent on Marko selling enough pre-made basses to get to me in the line of refunds, I'm not cool with learning that my deposit wasn't really taken in good faith, but just with high hopes. I don't believe that's a reasonable way to manage people's expectations. My opinion only. And i'm glad others are holding out for their instruments. I hope in the end everyone is happy with what they got.

I'm now waiting on the a refund to, but I just asked. Hoping it won't be too long. I had to move on and order other gear. My deposit would come in handy after all this time.

 

[Vltir Sarnat]

In every interaction I've had with Marko since he got my deposit he's been rude or dishonest. Long before I ever found this forum or voiced my concerns. He loves to distort facts and shift blame. I deal with a lot of young independent builders as most of my rig is handmade, and my experience with Hammersmith was a total slap in the face at every mile marker. He could release the K tomorrow at half the price and you wouldn't catch me supporting it. I want hard working committed companies to grow and last, not flim-flam jokers who spend pre-order money from products they knew from the start they had no means of producing. These production hiccups have been known since last year and dude spent months just sitting on his hands while he ignored our messages. Dude is literally too afraid to come on here and address the situation himself. You guys can be carebears about it if you want, but this guy does not give a poopie about his customers.

 

[wintremute]

 

[Fat Freddy]

View attachment 3025128

Expected better from you....

 

[wintremute]

Expected better from you....

I couldn't find one with a bass on it.

 

[Meyatch]

In every interaction I've had with Marko since he got my deposit he's been rude or dishonest. Long before I ever found this forum or voiced my concerns. He loves to distort facts and shift blame. I deal with a lot of young independent builders as most of my rig is handmade, and my experience with Hammersmith was a total slap in the face at every mile marker. He could release the K tomorrow at half the price and you wouldn't catch me supporting it. I want hard working committed companies to grow and last, not flim-flam jokers who spend pre-order money from products they knew from the start they had no means of producing. These production hiccups have been known since last year and dude spent months just sitting on his hands while he ignored our messages. Dude is literally too afraid to come on here and address the situation himself. You guys can be carebears about it if you want, but this guy does not give a poopie about his customers.

didn't you receive a refund 10 months ago?

 

[wintremute]

didn't you receive a refund 10 months ago?

It seems we've been down this road before.

Didn't you get your refund?

This is the only topic you have ever posted about on TB, so it seems the only reason you are here is to harass Marko and that's not what this forum is for.

I've audited talkbass for years. I joined so I could partake in this forum after Marco started ignoring all of our messages.
This is a website where members get together to discuss music, playing, gear, and companies making that gear. People come here all the time to get opinions on new companies. I was very supportive of Marcos company while I was doing business with him. I promoted him to all of my friends and was very proud to speak about their work in public. Until he ignored all of the several messages I sent him for months until I had no choice left but to request a refund. People deserve to know the potential pitfalls of supporting a company that can treat their customers like that so easily. It's frustrating considering all the hard-working companies out there busting their asses for their customers.

Okay. Now you have recorded your grievances and your stated lack of acceptance of the apology. Allow the rest of the community to decide what to do on their own. Please for the sake of decency, resist the urge to turn this into a mudslinging event.
People have faults and failures. The vast majority can and do redeem themselves.
Allow @MarkoYYZ to succeed or fail without further derision.
Thank you

 

[jumbodbassman]

i guess they dont exchange christmas cards...................lol

imagine if he didnt get his refund..............

 

[Meyatch]

I can't even imagine being so hung up on something that was resolved nearly a year ago. What a waste of energy.

Marko seems like an alright guy to me. A guy that significantly underestimated the potential problems with doing a preorder for something never seen before, and involving a company he rarely sees, and probably has trouble communicating with, and seems to have basically 0 leverage over. He certainly has his issues with communication, and not wanting to come in here every week and answer questions for 20 minutes, and post "still no news" isn't a very good excuse. Still, its an unenviable position to be in, at best.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I would be very surprised if someone ordered one of his in-stock basses he has posted on facebook, and didn't receive it in a reasonable time.

And I don't mean to sound like a corporate shill, but what did people think their deposits were for? I've seen more than one person complain that "marko spent their money" That's how preorders work right? Otherwise what is even the point of doing a preorder?

I wonder if anyone here has ever supported anything on kickstarter.

 

[Fat Freddy]

I can't even imagine being so hung up on something that was resolved nearly a year ago. What a waste of energy.

Marko seems like an alright guy to me. A guy that significantly underestimated the potential problems with doing a preorder for something never seen before, and involving a company he rarely sees, and probably has trouble communicating with, and seems to have basically 0 leverage over. He certainly has his issues with communication, and not wanting to come in here every week and answer questions for 20 minutes, and post "still no news" isn't a very good excuse. Still, its an unenviable position to be in, at best.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I would be very surprised if someone ordered one of his in-stock basses he has posted on facebook, and didn't receive it in a reasonable time.

And I don't mean to sound like a corporate shill, but what did people think their deposits were for? I've seen more than one person complain that "marko spent their money" That's how preorders work right? Otherwise what is even the point of doing a preorder?

I wonder if anyone here has ever supported anything on kickstarter.

A couple of points here....

It was never suggested that paying a deposit on the K bass was in any way connected to a kickstarter or go fund me type scheme....

Go back and read the very first post in this thread dated Jan 30th 2017...

"This model will be available for shipping in late May, give or take."

My second point is actually more of a question.....

Who is building the other models that Marko is offering and couldn't this maker be making K basses as well?.....

Yes, btw, I did get my deposit returned but I don't feel that that means that I should now butt out and leave it to those of you who are still hanging in there.........

 

[wintremute]

I didn't expect the basses to be out by May 2017. I was estimating Sep for the TB basses, and Dec for mine (2017). I did not expect the issues and problems that have made this what it is.

I have other basses I can play while I wait, and I am fortunate enough to not need the deposit I paid. I'm not worried about Marko never delivering, and I know when I finally get my bass it's going to be one bad-ass mamajamma.

I can't answer the question about why Marko's builder isn't building K's. I can only speculate based on what he's previously said.

Also, there's a difference between "butting out and leaving it to us", and "going on long rants that now include insulting those of us who choose to wait".

 

[Fat Freddy]

No long rants or insults from me that I'm aware of.....

You must surely be unsurprised though that there are those who paid deposits and that were seriously inconvenienced by Marko's actions who may still be hopping mad about the whole thing?.....

That's all from me......Love and hugs to one and all....

 

[wintremute]

You must surely be unsurprised though that there are those who paid deposits and that were seriously inconvenienced by Marko's actions who may still be hopping mad about the whole thing?.....

You are correct; I'm not surprised. I was trying to make it clear that my situation is a fortunate one, and I don't expect others to be in the same boat that I am. If other people are having a bad experience, this is the place to talk about it.

At some point with pretty much any company there's going to be someone who wasn't treated the way they felt they should be treated. I'm pretty sure I've seen people on TB complain about BassStringsOnline. They had a bad experience. If someone has a bad experience and wants to get the message out, I have no problem with that. If they want to insult me because I'm still a customer, then I do have a problem with that. If they want to continually snipe at someone, I say please take it to private messaging. We've heard your complaint. We're not that person/company. We don't really need to hear it again.

Of course, I could always just use the ignore button.

 

[Fat Freddy]

You are correct; I'm not surprised. I was trying to make it clear that my situation is a fortunate one, and I don't expect others to be in the same boat that I am. If other people are having a bad experience, this is the place to talk about it.

At some point with pretty much any company there's going to be someone who wasn't treated the way they felt they should be treated. I'm pretty sure I've seen people on TB complain about BassStringsOnline. They had a bad experience. If someone has a bad experience and wants to get the message out, I have no problem with that. If they want to insult me because I'm still a customer, then I do have a problem with that. If they want to continually snipe at someone, I say please take it to private messaging. We've heard your complaint. We're not that person/company. We don't really need to hear it again.

Of course, I could always just use the ignore button.

I'm incapable of using the ignore button......

It's not paranoia if they really ARE talking about you....

 

[Meyatch]

A couple of points here....

It was never suggested that paying a deposit on the K bass was in any way connected to a kickstarter or go fund me type scheme....

Go back and read the very first post in this thread dated Jan 30th 2017...

"This model will be available for shipping in late May, give or take."

My second point is actually more of a question.....

Who is building the other models that Marko is offering and couldn't this maker be making K basses as well?.....

Yes, btw, I did get my deposit returned but I don't feel that that means that I should now butt out and leave it to those of you who are still hanging in there.........

I thought it was pretty obvious that they didn’t exist yet by the fact that we were voting on available colors and things like that. Maybe it’s been so long that I’ve just gotten over the dissapointment of not getting one in 5/2017.

I thought it was crazy when you and a few others got refunds in June or July of last year. I don’t think anyone who elects to get a refund now is crazy at all.

Kickstarter and gofundme aren’t “schemes”.

 

[Fat Freddy]

I thought it was pretty obvious that they didn’t exist yet by the fact that we were voting on available colors and things like that. Maybe it’s been so long that I’ve just gotten over the dissapointment of not getting one in 5/2017.

I thought it was crazy when you and a few others got refunds in June or July of last year. I don’t think anyone who elects to get a refund now is crazy at all.

Kickstarter and gofundme aren’t “schemes”.

Ok man....I'll leave you with the last word....