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My HORRIBLE Alleva-Coppolo experience...
- Thread starter Addison
- Start date
- Status
I can{t really say much that hasn{t already been said. Really sorry to hear about the bass, OP.
It{s great to see that you{re handling the matter in a civil fashion, I wish the best for you.
Subscribed to see the outcome of this, hopefully it pans out the way it should.
It{s great to see that you{re handling the matter in a civil fashion, I wish the best for you.
Subscribed to see the outcome of this, hopefully it pans out the way it should.
I've very sorry Addison. Personally I would never deal with AC in the future. Maybe he does make amazing instruments, but that is not the point. He is clearly crooked and the only reason he would even consider giving Addison a refund is because he knows he reputation lost a lot of credibility, NOT because he wants to do the right thing.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,222
- 45,003
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Addison - I am truly sorry you are going through this. I hope that A-C makes good.
You know, Joe Zon makes some pretty wonderful basses...
You know, Joe Zon makes some pretty wonderful basses...
the fact that this thread is making its way to the top of google searches seems to be getting the young-uns all squishy-giggly..
it's becoming about that, about the artificial novelty and lip-smacking fetish of google stats and placements... really no different than the gleam in a well-paid PR person's eye when they see their pop-star client's calculated antics rocket to the top of a search. life as google analytics.
well, at least those two notorious houseguests, "hilarious"® and "ridiculous"®, havent' been invoked yet.
maybe better to spend our remaining time on earth practicing our instruments, and let jimmy and the OP sort this serious issue out. follow-ups by both of them are sure to come, in this story-of-the-decade.
i'm an AC owner, i have his prototype 6, and it's an excellent bass. many others believe his build quality and sound to be superb. that's why guys dig his stuff.
some guys have had problems with some of his stuff. that's pretty well documented as well.
the OP has definite issues with his particular instrument, without question. Jimmy likely has thoughts on the situation as well. here's hoping the situation can be resolved soon.
meanwhile, an anxious watches and waits.
and checks the google stats with hand-rubbing glee.
Im in shock that the OP hasn't been compensated for and then some by now. I've been following this thread since it started{can't move much with 5 herniated discs}. Assuming AC basses are on average around $6k, every person that read this thread and had one on their wish list more than likely is not going to buy one now. Other than ego, why would this not have been taken care of already? No doubt this is tens of thousands lost already in sales from Tb'ers alone.
Your post was kind of confusing, but it sounded like you were implying that this is somehow making AC move up higher in search results like it's a good thing (i.e. there is no such thing as bad press). What it is doing is moving this thread higher up in search results for AC making it soon to be one of the first things someone sees when searching for AC. That is obviously a bad thing.
Then again the internet is a fad that us kids are into and the inner circle of builders and endorsers have much better things to do with their time
Man... I'm seriously overwhelmed by the generosity from people.
Both publicly and privately... this has been a very emotional day for me. God... I don't even know how to describe it.
Anyway, listen... aside from what the mods have already said, if you guys want to do something awesome for someone, throw a few bucks at Make a Wish or your local school music program or whatever other favorite charity you like... there are people out there who deserve a helping hand a lot more than I do.
I'm going to be fine.
I am deeply... DEEPLY moved that anyone even suggested it, though.
I cannot thank you enough.
Both publicly and privately... this has been a very emotional day for me. God... I don't even know how to describe it.
Anyway, listen... aside from what the mods have already said, if you guys want to do something awesome for someone, throw a few bucks at Make a Wish or your local school music program or whatever other favorite charity you like... there are people out there who deserve a helping hand a lot more than I do.
I'm going to be fine.
I am deeply... DEEPLY moved that anyone even suggested it, though.
I cannot thank you enough.
I just have to chime in to say that in this case the OP is probably in the right based on the evidence presented and will probably get a refund, BUT in the wrong hands, an internet forum can be a dangerous weapon. In a mere two days, Jimmy's reputation has been tarnished in a major way. Google is not as forgiving as a human being, that's for sure. We should be very careful in taking this course of action. The only criticism I have of the OP is maybe you should have mentioned to Jimmy that you were planning on posting to Talkbass and give him another chance. Maybe you already had.
My guess is that Jimmy's move to the West Coast has not gone as smooth as expected. Based on evidence I've seen on his own website, TB and elsewhere, he has acquired a CNC machine that has taken him quite a while to set up and utilize properly. Getting it up and running probably messed up his build schedule and caused some haste when finishing instruments. He's definitely going through growing pains that most small businesses experience when their products gain popularity and demand. Even though these instruments command very high dollars, his overhead might still be too high and causing him to push out sub-par work in order to compensate. I sincerely hope he irons out these kinks and returns to building the great instruments he was known for during his period in NYC.
With all that said I'd also be pretty pissed, to say the least, if I received an abomination like that.
My guess is that Jimmy's move to the West Coast has not gone as smooth as expected. Based on evidence I've seen on his own website, TB and elsewhere, he has acquired a CNC machine that has taken him quite a while to set up and utilize properly. Getting it up and running probably messed up his build schedule and caused some haste when finishing instruments. He's definitely going through growing pains that most small businesses experience when their products gain popularity and demand. Even though these instruments command very high dollars, his overhead might still be too high and causing him to push out sub-par work in order to compensate. I sincerely hope he irons out these kinks and returns to building the great instruments he was known for during his period in NYC.
With all that said I'd also be pretty pissed, to say the least, if I received an abomination like that.
Agreed, this post doesn't make much sense. Why would he be happy that his stats are at the top of Google when it is bad press?
I feel that most people posting here are being civil. Seems like some people feel otherwise. This thread is growing incredibly fast, but I don't know that I would classify it as a "mob". I have yet to really hear anything that brings about images of torches and pitchforks. I think most people are just wanting to see this get resolved. If people are if fact emailing horrible messages to Jimmy, that is unfortunate and will accomplish nothing. All I have seen is what has been posted here, and I feel that most of it has been quite appropriate given the situation.
It's a good thing that it is. Threads like this can serve as a warning to anyone considering a boutique build that can cost them 5k or more. That's no chump change, and if I'm spending that much money on anything I want to know my money will be in good hands.
Mistakes happen and sometimes sub standard builds might make it out of the shop. We get that. I think the problem most of us are having is that the builder misspoke about the condition of the bass, willingly sold it when he knew it wasn't as described, and is now telling the buyer he is SOL. That's just unacceptable, and as a consumer I want to know this stuff.
I feel so sad for the OP, that all his hard-earned funds for his dream bass for life went on THAT. Just terrible.
I'm also sad that a luthier of such ability would honestly say to himself upon completion of this bass, "yeah that's good, I'm proud of that, it's done".
Ok, everyone has their bad days/weeks, but for J.C. to not have the clarity of mind to simply scrap this one makes me wonder where he's at. I hope the guy's alright.
Doesn't he realise that to be caught out like this on talkbass means a hard earned reputation can be lost forever over one bass?
OP, I sincerely hope this is resolved quickly and you get all your money back. I really feel for you.
I'm also sad that a luthier of such ability would honestly say to himself upon completion of this bass, "yeah that's good, I'm proud of that, it's done".
Ok, everyone has their bad days/weeks, but for J.C. to not have the clarity of mind to simply scrap this one makes me wonder where he's at. I hope the guy's alright.
Doesn't he realise that to be caught out like this on talkbass means a hard earned reputation can be lost forever over one bass?
OP, I sincerely hope this is resolved quickly and you get all your money back. I really feel for you.
This is twice now you have made this unfair characterization of people's remarks about the attention this thread is getting as "lip-smacking". I don't see many people acting gleeful about this. Most of the comments you are generalizing about were made in the context of a discussion of what impact this incident may have on AC's business going forward. In your last post, you added words and phrases which significantly changed the tenor of the remarks that were actually made. Certainly some unnecessary piling on has happened here, and the emails that were reportedly sent to Jimmy were totally unacceptable. But let's not try to paint him as the victim.
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