I've done business al my life on just a handshake. I never ripped somebody off before and nobody has ever riped me off. This guy under no sercumstances has the right to cash my check and walk do nothing. The emails are legaly binding. I asked for a guitar with certain specs and he quoted me a price.
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Rybski Basses?
- Thread starter Beav
- Start date
I'm sorry you're going through this. Here's my final opinion on why I would not do business with Rybski:
All reputable luthiers have a policy on how they do business:
I hope you can find some satisfaction.
All reputable luthiers have a policy on how they do business:
- [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
- [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I hope you can find some satisfaction.
Just want to restate that we had arranged through email to exchange money for instrument at the end of August. If he would have told me next year that would have been fine. It was the feeling of being lied to and deceived by him. My second instrument from KB took him literally ten years to build and send to me ( the instrument in the play along vid I posted). Never once did I get the feeling that Ken would rip me of, and at any time if I would've asked for my money back he would've sent me a check. Ken didn't tell me on two occasion that he was building me an instrument for me to find out that he was lying. There is something wrong with Rybski.
I have a hope still and if I never get paid back then may this thread live forever!
I will check him out just for kicks. One builder I've always liked is Jerzy Drodzs. I like his shapes.
Yup! Straight up. Lost touch with him several times. There was an epic thread about Ken in TB as well. Some guy complaining about not being able to get a hold of him but the thread ended with him getting a full reimbument of his money and Ken finishing the guitar.
Honestly, sounds like Rybski does kind of "wing it", running his business on emotion more than good business practices. And methinks you're both "hotheads" to an extent. Don't get me wrong, I try to stay all "cool calm and collected" online - I have to - like you, I do not handle direct personal conflict well at all, and I'm usually the one to take the blame (whether deserved or not) when things go south.
Good luck. Sounds like you'll need it. What fair compensation would be for the effort he did invest, I do not know, but I don't see any way it's $2500 worth.
Good luck. Sounds like you'll need it. What fair compensation would be for the effort he did invest, I do not know, but I don't see any way it's $2500 worth.
He broke the terms of our contract several times. I had every right to be upset and even more right to ask for a full refund. If he couldn't make me a guitar in the time that we agreed and to the specs that I asked and we agreeded upon, then I think a refund is more that owed to me.
The thing that sticks out to me in Rybski's message is that, by his own language, he implies that he was wary of Chauncey as a customer from the very start with the "random checks" comment. If this was some sort of red flag to him, he should have taken better care to make sure Chauncey understood the process and the risks of proceeding with a "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" approach BEFORE accepting the deposit.
It seems that Rybski entered into this with reservations about his customer...and didn't handle the situation well when Chauncey offered some resistance to his plans or suggestions. The thing about being in business is: To reap profits and prosper, It is the business's responsibility to make every customer happy.
If you are in a custom, specialty market such as Rybski Basses, you should back out the minute you feel that is not possible to please your customer. In this case, Rybski was happy to cash the checks and move forward with a customer he was obviously not comfortable with from the beginning. Rybski would have been much better off to send back the "random checks" and tell Chauncey "I am not the right builder for you."
So, at best, Rybski is guilty of neglecting his responsibility to his customer or...at worst, he manipulated his customer into forfeiting his deposit.
It seems that Rybski entered into this with reservations about his customer...and didn't handle the situation well when Chauncey offered some resistance to his plans or suggestions. The thing about being in business is: To reap profits and prosper, It is the business's responsibility to make every customer happy.
If you are in a custom, specialty market such as Rybski Basses, you should back out the minute you feel that is not possible to please your customer. In this case, Rybski was happy to cash the checks and move forward with a customer he was obviously not comfortable with from the beginning. Rybski would have been much better off to send back the "random checks" and tell Chauncey "I am not the right builder for you."
So, at best, Rybski is guilty of neglecting his responsibility to his customer or...at worst, he manipulated his customer into forfeiting his deposit.
No offense or anything... but the options are narrowed down quite a bit at this point. You can either spend endless hours on the internet to complain about it or hire a lawyer and teach the guy a lesson?
sounds like it's his fault for not having contracts or policies in place... your fault for falling into his trap.
As for verbal contracts... and emails... "verbal-schmerbal" it depends on the asigned judge for the case. It can go either way. Small claims court is a joke so you would have to take the federal scam route to make an impact. You can sue for the court costs and lawyer fees to but you have to pay them up front.
He knows you will be fronting 3-6k to get your judgement so have fun. Its a bad situation and I feel bad for you, only for the end result though... on the frontside, you chose exactly what's currently happening.
I deal with this all the time in remodeling... people call with a half done job and lost thousands... not chump change we're talkin 10k, 15k, 35k... They think I should feel bad and drastically reduce a price to suit them but they chose to deal with an unlicensed and unscrupulous contractor writes bids out on a McDonald's napkin. I feel horrible for those folks too but handshake days are over. My contracts are a 15 page minimum and legitimate.
I have a return client that orinially got ripped for 23k... he went to lawyers, attorney general and every possible resource. 3 years later, nothing happened and noone can help him. Either way, he was happy that I made things better for him.
Yeah.. I mentioned that the best business is the business you don't do...
they guy should just ship the damn money back then this thread can be over, lol
Me and Rybski totaly went over the payment thing. He knew that I had to work for the money and send it to him piece by piece. I did not have the money just laying around. I told him flat out I would have to work for it. I kept in touch with him and payed up half and told him when I had the rest wich was in the middle of July. The second he realized he wasn't gettin the other half until the job was done he blew me off.
My point is, now he is falling back on his "random checks" comment to try and make you look bad when, in fact, it makes HIM look bad. So, now he is either revealing that he thought you were sketchy from the start or he is just scraping the bottom of the barrel for excuses and evidence that he is not the flaky one in this transaction.
If I have to release all the emails to make it perfectly clear to everybody that this guy ripped me off, so be it. If you notice Rybski asked me how do you want to proceed time money ect.
