James Yen (LostRaven) you turd

[skipper53]

I bought a hybrid tele/gretsch off this lovelovelovelovelovelove a week back friday (10.12.10). before payment he pointed out ONE defect, this is the last fret:

Brought the guitar home plugged it in and the first thing i noticed was that there were scuffs ALL over the fretboard! These are just a few..

Nx I try to tune up. The guitar has no sense of tune. try to adjust the bridge to its highest and tune again. Bridge nuts not doing anything. no luck. loosen strings and to my horror:

I attempt to piece it back and tune as best as possible. even with the bridge at its highest every string is buzzing.

I attempt the electronics, seems fine.. then, i switch pickups, with the selector up, there's MAJOR drop in volume. wiring issue? pickup a dud? right abt now i dont care. i'm pissed i want this thing out of my house.

i text the lovelovelovelovelovelove and let him know abt the countless defects. he reminds me that he's told me abt his no return policy. and that non of his previous buyers have had any complaints. then he says he'd get in touch with his "dealer" to see what can be done. I say okay benefit of doubt and that I’d email him the in the morning with photographs of the defects.
Nx morning he acknowledges my email over sms, i tell him i want to resolve this as fast as possible. I even tell him that considering the guitar is a dud.. he should take it back and return my money. He reminds me of his “no return” policy and accuses me of having broken the bridge. It’s Monday now. I text him several times. No reply. Call him. He doesn’t pick up. Later he responds with an sms that the “dealer” has yet to get back to him. Okay benefit of doubt. Again.

Tues.

Wed.. i text him. Many times. Call him. No answer.

It’s Thursday today. You lovelovelovelovelovelove bag. You sold me a dud guitar. You claim to be doing a small business? Show a little more responsibility. Otherwise this is plain robbery. I’m expecting an apology and my money returned. Dont you dare fault me for manufacture defects when you were all along singing abt how it’s a new piece.

This is a warning to all those gawking in the classifieds at his (LostRaven) so called “custom” creations.

Been dealing on Soft since 2007. Nvr have i met a more dishonest seller. pissed as hell.

 

[Benster]

just out of curiousity, how much did this cost?

 

[skipper53]

S$680

It's beneath me to be bursting out like this. But what an a s s...

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

680?! Sorry mate, you've been had.
You shouldn't have bought a custom creation at such a cheap price unless
1) you know the builder/builder and he/she has good rep or
2) you're a daredevil with cash.
That's it, plain and simple. Custom guitars are worth maybe 1 grand+ for a good decent piece.
But no point harping on bygones. D'you know anyone taking law? Perhaps they would offer better advice than our condolences or speculation.
FWIW, you can try to get him through small claims but only if you are able to prove that the only defect he mentioned was the scuff on the fretboard and he didn't mention anything else. I don't doubt your integrity, but in law, innocent til proven guilty.... And even so, your claim might not be succesful, since this transaction wasn't put down in black and white.

Edit: I'm just speulating, btw. I don't take law/know too much about law, so that's the best advice i can offer.

 

[guitarsan]

"No return policy" is a BS way of saying "it's not my responsibility if I sell you junk". Is he running a shop or some kind of online business? Anyway, no point arguing with a turd because a turd will never honour his word and give you back your money.

If possible, see if you can get back some money through the Small Claims Tribunal. There is an admin fee, but it beats losing $680 for a complete lemon.

http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/sct/index.aspx

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

"No return policy" is a BS way of saying "it's not my responsibility if I sell you junk". Is he running a shop or some kind of online business? Anyway, no point arguing with a turd because a turd will never honour his word and give you back your money.

If possible, see if you can get back some money through the Small Claims Tribunal. There is an admin fee, but it beats losing $680 for a complete lemon.
http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/sct/index.aspx

Yep that's it... But chances are the odds are against TS (from my pov, ymmv).
Caveat emptor, peeps. The world is getting more and more screwed up.
Unrelatedly,
http://fibsons.com/
Watch out for yourselves everybody...

 

[skipper53]

@Jumpin'Jellybean: eesh, tell me something i dont know man. just want the ppl who i know and trust to be serious buyers/friends over soft to be aware of this dipshit.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

Alright man, i know how it feels to have been shitted... I got shitted, twice.
Best thing to do now is go SCT apply. Good lcuk!
I think LostRaven won't have the guts to post anymore ads.

 

[skipper53]

I actually wanna hear from ppl who've bought stuff previously from this turd. He's be selling stuff on the classifieds for a while now.

@guitarsan: Thanks for the advice man. you can help me further by spreading the word abt this d o u c h e.

 

[guitarsan]

If you decide to take the seller to the Small Claims Tribunal, it would help your case a lot if you keep all evidences of communication between yourself and the seller. It can be in the form of receipts, written notes, e-mails, and even SMSes. Any deleted SMSes can still be retrieved from the telcos but you've to pay a fee of around $30, I think.

If not, it will be your words against the seller's words in front of the mediator. If there is no resolution, the mediator may ask both parties to compromise. Either you settle for a discounted price and keep the guitar. Or return back the guitar to the seller and you settle for a partial refund. A possible outcome, but no guarantee.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

I actually wanna hear from ppl who've bought stuff previously from this turd. He's be selling stuff on the classifieds for a while now.
@guitarsan: Thanks for the advice man. you can help me further by spreading the word abt this d o u c h e.

I noticed none of the stuff moved... Bit dodgy how someone has three custom teles all at once.
Maybe someone who has experience with SCT could help more.
Companies like Paypal/Ebay support the buyer (generally), but SCT not sure.

 

[jerek85]

yucks....this guy is smelly.....
thank you for warning us.....

i hope someone will whack him...

 

[LadyInTears]

the downtown east gangsters slashed the wrong guy. hope you get your cash back plus an apology!

 

[xfigox]

So this is the guy who has several "custom guitars" up for sale? Thanks for the heads up on this, had a friend who was interested in a tele , gonna show him this now.

 

[lemonade93]

Okay, now i'm worried. Has anybody ordered from TPH. Chen? How about any people who bought guitars from local makers post what they have and how it is so as to know who is reliable and not?

 

[skipper53]

Gah.. turd got banned. Was so looking forward to him lashing out on me on Soft. Thought he'd at least have the balls to contact me when he sees this. Benefit of doubt exhausted. I'm gonna start compiling my correspondence with this d ou c he after my paper tomorrow and fax it out to SCT.

In the mean time continue to spread the word, some of us actually do the music for the passion. Lets make sure no one else gets this hurt. Friggin' turd.

 

[unsane]

first off, that's a pretty sweet looking guitar, lemon or not. your story however, isn't quite as sweet.

i'm assuming you made the deal in person and had the chance to hold the guitar with your own hands. Now why did you not scrutinize the guitar further, or even play a few licks on it before agreeing to the deal? especially after the seller already pointed out a fault on the guitar, and your knowing there was no return policy?

seriously dude - if youre buying a guitar from an unknown seller and you dont test it out and look it over throughly, you pretty much deserve what you've gotten. the location of the 3rd scuff you posted couldn't have been more than a few frets/inches away from the one he showed you.

i dont get what you mean about the guitar having "no sense of tune" - would it not intonate properly? not stay in tune? or was the action too low so notes couldnt even sound out properly - is that why you decided to raise the bridge height?)

i'm not quite sure what i'm meant to see in the last pic - is the bridge broken? forgive me if i'm mistaken (i'm largely a floyd rose guy), but aren't most bridges of that design removable when the strings are removed? like how a regular tuneomatic bridge falls out unless its a tonepros locking thingy.

this is a warning alright, to not be a careless buyer. its kinda like getting head at changi village with your eyes closed and complaining when you out it was from a tranny afterwards.

 

[Godspeed64]

that's why i always have a 3 day policy on stuff I sell, and request that the same sentiments is shared to me as a buyer as well.
friend of mine bought a fender strat from soft a year back. this year he brought it to a luthier to set-up and got informed it was a fake.
same thing happened to me. traded my swing for a fake rg550. found out an hour later. called the fella back to return. lucky to me he was compromising.

 

[cheesedaele]

Sounds like a crappy situation man. Don't want to step on you when you're down, but don't keep your hopes too high. Wish you the best of luck. Here are a few things to point out.

Would depend very much on the specified terms of the agreement. All documentation of correspondence would be important, hope you didn't delete any emails/SMSes/PMs etc. Especially useful would be any terms outlining when payment should be considered due/paid and the deal completed. Don't wait for anyone to ask for details, look back at your exchanges and start building your case. Highlight the things that were specified clearly, identify where gaps or ambiguities could exist, think how to deal with them.

Anything that isn't expressly stated will be difficult to argue. For anything that you might have assumed/taken for granted, you won't have much luck relying on "understood/accepted practice" of us folks here on soft. Will be tough to use this "common industry practice" argument because it's usually only applied to large categories of industries/sectors, eg. purchase of construction materials, and even then is carefully considered.

It's harsh, but the default state for commercial transactions does not include any return/refunds, once it's done it's done. That's why it's important to factually determine when your deal was considered 'completed', and also to identify any evidence that both parties arrived at a mutual understanding of this (... but most likely there isn't any, that's why there's a dispute in the first place). If you're able to factually argue that exchange of goods and payment alone does not conclude the deal, then that'd be your best bet. That he explicitly stated a 'no return policy' would already strengthen his defence.
In fact most shops in Singapore don't have any returns/refunds policies (http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_522981.html), so altho most are nice and kind (and smart) enough to accede to exchenges/returns/refunds, they're not actually obligated by law to do so. I don't agree with it, but that's how the law seems to work.

Strictly as a matter of principle, I'd have liked to hear the other side of the story before making any conclusions.

Technicalities aside, there were many red flags raised in your deal, such as those pointed out by Jumpin'Jellybean and unsane. Painful way to learn/be reminded of these. Personally on a big ticket like this, hearing that dangerous "no return policy" would trigger all kinds of alarms to me, even if I go through with the deal I'd at least still be really careful about it and make sure I keep myself covered.

But all that being said, hope all of us still keep the faith and trust in the folks we deal with here. I've had my share of bad deals but am grateful to say that they're the exception and I've been lucky to have met many cool people through deals, once or twice even ended up have kopi chit chat after the deal

 

[skipper53]

@unsane: sometimes you can do all the right things. but shit will happen. and like you said, on first sight that thing is a really pretty piece of wood. but when trying to play it, thats all it is, a piece of wood. about your asking about the bridge, basically the screw pole's not supposed to come out of the base like that.

@Godspeed64: the funny thing is that when i texted him on the night itself about the defects he DID say he would look into it. phishh

@cheesedaele: yea i've had plenty awesome deals on soft. this isnt just a deal gone bad. from the way he's refusing to reply my contacts, i'm lead to think that this is out right con-artistry. believe it or not when i handed him the money that night, we actually stood ard and talked and he was telling me how he wanted to try a tele/strat hybrid nx. When i told him that it's been done before, that Tom Anderson has a line called T-family.. he gave me this look like i was talking greek. should've known right then. shit.