Fair enough. Though that he might have been the go to guy here, that isnt saying much. No disrespect against the builders here, just that theres a world (literally!) of others out there who dont use the site, limiting yourself to a site with only a few full time builders wasnt the best bet. Best of luck getting it sorted.
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Mikeyswood - BUYER BEWARE
- Thread starter Alex Xander
- Start date
- Status
Fair enough. Though that he might have been the go to guy here, that isnt saying much. No disrespect against the builders here, just that theres a world (literally!) of others out there who dont use the site, limiting yourself to a site with only a few full time builders wasnt the best bet. Best of luck getting it sorted.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Though what you say is absolutely true, there are a few builders on this site that I would say are among the best quality I have ever seen. Oscar Pratt and Ledbelli Bass are just two of them.
Hey Alex,
Sorry you are going thru this, I had almost the same kind of situation with a restoration I had done on my Rickenbacker 4001 a few years ago with a popular luthier up in Oregon that Rickenbacker had recommended to me and the guy totally jerk me around for almost a year, my bass came back damaged and he never even did any of the work he was suppose to do and I ended up having to send it to somebody else to do all work and repair.
I won't mention this jerks name here on Talkbass because there is most likely friends of this idiot on here.
Again I'm sorry you are going thru all this crap, I hope that person you are dealing with will get what is coming to him eventually.
Sorry you are going thru this, I had almost the same kind of situation with a restoration I had done on my Rickenbacker 4001 a few years ago with a popular luthier up in Oregon that Rickenbacker had recommended to me and the guy totally jerk me around for almost a year, my bass came back damaged and he never even did any of the work he was suppose to do and I ended up having to send it to somebody else to do all work and repair.
I won't mention this jerks name here on Talkbass because there is most likely friends of this idiot on here.
Again I'm sorry you are going thru all this crap, I hope that person you are dealing with will get what is coming to him eventually.
True dat. Other small builders that post here whom I highly respect include Bruce Johnson, Tom Clement, Drake Bass, RIM Basses, SDG, Martin Keith, Basscycle ... and others that don't post as often these days like Xylem, Mailloux, Son of Magni, JWorrell, Rickett, etc... and then there's plenty more with sick skills we all enjoy like Beauchene, Miziomix and the like. And haven't we all clearly enjoyed Pilotjones freshman effort? Un-freakin-believable. Pretty good community to be part of if you ask me...
That guy lives two blocks from me! I nearly took a Ric to him for a binding fix a couple of years ago but he got arrested for kicking a cop while another cop was busy shooting a different guy in the kicking Ric fixer's hizzy.
Small world.
So basically he kicked a cop while his partner was making an arrest/neutralizing a suspect in his home? So he now has a criminal record, possible customer complaints (gwandi couldn't have been the only one), but is still a Rick recommended tech? Interesting.
So, I'm goona be the dumb guy that's getting hosed.... I've been to Mike's shop. I've had dinner with the guy a few times. We've spoken on the phone. We've met in public. I've met his business partners. I've been to his lab/job. He's been nothing but genuine. Has this taken a long time? Yes. Am I ok with it? Yes. He specified that I could do an upcharge for a guaranteed completion date and I chose not to do that. I chose the less expensive and more time consuming option. That was my choice. I will say that there was a considerable amount of time rehabilitating his ankle that was shattered and replaced.... anyway.... Carry on.
Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
- 75
- 60
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
Why would he charge for a completion date? My customers get a 4-7 month total build time quote. Free of charge.
Very easy to have faith when you have those lines of communication, steps. Easy not to count him off when you have had numerous face to face dealings with him. Easy when you can drop by and visit his house. Easy when you can go to his shop and hold something in your hands.
Not so easy when you are on the other side of the Pacific and he is ignoring your attempts to contact him.
I can't understand why you would be happy with being given the option of getting your bass much later than expected, or paying more than was quoted to get it on time. Good business ethic would have been an offer of a delay and a discount, or a full refund.
To quote a Goldman Sachs executive, that's "a sh**ty deal".
Alas, I wasn't even given the option you had. I was given a facetious "give me $9k and I'll reply to your emails" and an arrogant "You are getting Alembic Quality at non-Alembic prices - you have no right to ask me questions".
If Alembic were building a bass for me for $3k, then miserable communication could perhaps be justified.
I have managed to pull off the impossible. At 8am Cincy time, I have been told he will be available for Facebook chat for 15 min (at my request).
There may be hope yet.
Mike, I will put this here for all to see - if we reach what I consider an appropriate resolution, I will request that the mods withdraw this thread and I will post a retraction,
There may be hope yet.
Mike, I will put this here for all to see - if we reach what I consider an appropriate resolution, I will request that the mods withdraw this thread and I will post a retraction,
I'd even disagree with that, Alex. Miserable communication can never be justified - it's a matter of simple courtesy regardless of any other aspect of the deal.
i feel your pain; i went thru this with somthing earlier that i began a thread about; some may remember, i wont name names here, because it ended in satisfaction (technically; i lost a commission over the fiasco) but it felt like a lot of work to get somthing i already paid for; and my biggest beef aswell was the lack of comunication; more than happy to eamil 2-3 times in one day....until they have your money; funny!!! eh?
Yep...only I ment " speak english or die" ...
Thats four letters....
Was that a choice that you were given at the outset of the project, or at some point after the build had already commenced?
Hopkins
Commercial User
I'm just saying I was told up front that this is a spare time deal. I signed on for a possibly long build time and the financial savings were tremendous. I checked around and my bass would've cost double elsewhere or with Mike having a set completion date.
So basically he can take 10 years to complete it and that isn`t a whole lot that you can do to speed things up... Wow that really sucks man.
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