This: I'd almost be willing to consult a lawyer on this (well the whole thing really but this is just total BS) have any legal system savvy buddies?

EDIT: See if you can't do some prowling around on some collector guitar forums and what not to see if he's made any posts about how he feels he was ripped off or find a thread about him buying it with a bunch of people saying "dude you got ripped off" this might help in a case of proving that it's buyer's remorse to paypal if they'll take it as evidence (back to the lawyer thing) .. just a thought, after all the internet "stalking" I've seen help good people out/fuck over shitbags it can't hurt to try.

Also find out who did the "inspection" on it and do some research on the person, if they're not a reputable person/business then I'm pretty sure you can claim anything that's wrong with it is a direct result of a moron messing around with it and not knowing what they were doing.

This thread was started in reference to my auction.

questions about 83 "grail" model - Kramer Guitar Forum

I am still waiting to hear back from my brother before I jump the gun and email him.

That's a good idea. Maybe I will ask him for the name of his "tech" and do a search on him.

I asked the guy for his phone number so I could speak with him directly and he said lets keep it through Paypal. So irritating. I wish I had a store that I could deal with guys like this face to face. :vash:

When the whole thing first went south I actually did go to that site and do some searching around for you. I didn't find anything positive or negative on the deal. That was a week or two ago, though.

Offer him $1K, he will take it, your brother still gets over his asking and you get a bit. Even if you break even you win on this one. You need to give up your cut and cut this one off at the knees to free up your cash.

My brother is kinda killing me here on this one.

He said he would be willing to offer a small refund to end it and in parentheses he put $100-$300.

I agree that $1000 would probably seal the deal......but I don't think my bro is ready to do that. I think I'm going to start with $500 partial refund. If he accepts that.....then I guess I'll take $200 of my cut and live with it.

I'm just sooo pissed this is even happening. How can this be happening?! :vash:

Thanks man! I really appreciate the help and feedback. I feel really alone on this one and I've kinda been in a daze all day over it.

I still cant believe what the lady from Paypal was saying on the phone. :facepalm:

Your brother is getting greedy now. If it would have went through without a hitch at $2200 he would be thrilled.

Ok, I just got off the phone with eBay again. In attempts to stand my ground one more time I'm going to try something. I asked him for the name of the shop he took it to, and the name of the guy that checked it out. This way I can check his credentials and maybe even call him directly.

I denied the $1500 claim, but I am not opposed to sending a $500 partial, but I wont tell him that just yet.

Can anyone on here do anything with a name an address as far as info on the person goes. This guy never even told me his first name and still wont. He always signs off as JAG and even his first name on Paypal is just a J.

I'm starting to feel like he's done this before......

Who did you ship it to?

J. Anthony Guadalupe in Orlando Florida.

Can't you do a white pages search with the name and address?

Found him :)

Does anyone here have a account that checks the names for you? Not sure what I could do with any info I found. But now at least I know his name is Joseph. I'll make sure I address him by his name next time.

Call him up. You can always get a better feel for what they are thinking over the phone vs email.

I already asked him for his phone number and he turned me down and said lets keep it through Paypal. Now that I have his number should I call anyway?

Now here's the latest.

I wrote to him;

"I would like to have the name of the place you took the guitar to and the name of the guy you had look at it."

His response;

"No problem. Now that you are aware of the defects of this guitar you can disclose it to future buyers from this point forward. And since you declined my partial refund request, does that mean you would like to grant a full refund and have me ship the guitar to you or how do you propose we resolve the matter at this point?"

Is this fucking guy serious?!

I just read this whole thread. Wow, what an asshole.

It sounds like you have a handle on it, but the longer you stand your ground, the more likely you are to get a fair settlement. I would say you have a better hand than the buyer. My guess the buyer laid it on pretty thick to paypal, which sounds like he has experience with manipulating the system.

Good luck man.

Don't call him, if things end up real shitty he doesn't sound like the kind of person I'd put a harassment charge passed, and since he did decline to give you his number it could very well be argued that he more or less told you not to call him, I'd save that for later.

I definitely wouldn't deal with him any longer, send him back one more e-mail apologizing again for any misunderstandings etc.. and tell him that since he wants to keep it to PayPal that you will keep all communications through them from now on. Give him you number if you want and tell him that if he would like to settle it to call you and you can do so that way but you are done with e-mails. If he calls deal with him then, but I'd still keep conversations limited until the dispute is canceled (which if you "make a deal with him" should ABSOLUTELY be done before giving him one dime back.

Good luck, hope that made since, it's 0030 and I've been up for almost 24 hours now :laugh:.

Tell him you would like a second opinion on the condition of the Guitar. Find a shop in Orlando call them explain the situation. The guy he took it to is probably his buddy at Guitar center trying to rectify the fact he got excited and overpaid. Ive fondled many Guitars and his original complaint sounds bogus to me. I bet he will refuse a second opinion at a shop of your choosing.

Ok here's the latest. I wrote back to him last night and just enjoyed the rest of my night without looking at his asshat response.

I wrote to him;

As I stated to you earlier via email the guitar was in fact "playable" and not damaged when it left my hands. As far as your accusations about the damage I cannot comment on them seeing that I am no expert. If however you had asked me any of this before bidding I could have had it looked at by professional. The guitar was listed auction style and described as "good used condition" and nothing more other than one owner, case included, etc. It was never described as vintage or collectors, only that it was 27 years old.

I declined the partial refund and I am declining a full refund as well. Now that the guitar has been in your hands and was touched by your specialist it has significantly decreased the value of the guitar. I had a 3 day return policy in place to insure it was what the buyer wanted and made it through shipping ok. You emailed me once you had it in hand stating you got it and that you were happy with the transaction.

I'm sorry it has come to this. I strongly believe that, in no way, did I misrepresent the guitar in this auction. I suggest we escalate the claim and let Paypal and eBay handle this, seeing that we cannot come to an agreement.

If you would, please give me the name of the shop you took it to. Thanks.

He replied back;

For the record, when I received the guitar I informed you that it had arrived safely and then stated that I would take it to my technician / luthier for a set up (which I do for all my guitars, especially higher value guitars such as this one). And that is when these issues were discovered. I believe that you did not intend to mislead me, because as you said you are not an expert so you would not have known about the twisted neck and the negative impact it has on a guitar. Which is why although you offered me a $20 partial refund via email, I chose to communicate with you through this resolution center for a more realistic solution. I am really trying to work with you here to come to resolve this matter equitably and amicably. PLEASE tell me what you think is fair.

He is STILL avoiding the question about who he took it to in Orlando!

He wants to know what I think is fair. Fair to me is I put the guitar up for auction and listed it as "good used condition", not vintage, not collectors, not MINT conditions, etc etc.....and he won it. He got it and was happy with it right out of the box and told me so. Fair would have been to ask these questions he obviously knows might be an issue, seeing that he says he collects guitars! If he was willing to dish out that kind of cash on a 27 year old guitar, knows these kinds of things could happen, but didn't even mention them to me, is odd.

I'm thinking that I will tell him what my idea of fair is (copy paste above). And that I can try and do my best to make things right by getting the NAME OF THE SHOP he took it to, getting the invoice on the work needed for repair, and comparing that to a local shop we have here in Danbury, and then splitting the cost 50/50. If he's not happy with that.....then there's nothing more I'm willing to do. Even this is too much. Its a fucking 27 year old used guitar. I am not a shop, store, expert, or anything like that. I feel like this guy pulled a fast one on me. :vash:

What do you guys think? How much could it cost to fix the things he says are damaged? I know NOTHING about guitars.....so this is all new to me.

i'm betting this guy did legitimately take it in for a setup/appraisal, and the guy told him he got ripped off. then he concocted a story to try and get money out of you.

people suck...

ive played plenty of guitars with slightly messed up necks. you can theoretically just set the action a little higher and live with it, thats what i do with my 72 SG. the only thing is i play mostly rythm while this guy is probably a shredder type player if he's dumping 4k on a EVH guitar.

I forwarded the conversation I'm having with the buyer on Paypal to my brother and he made a good catch.

I need to clarify on the Paypal conversation (which is really the only conversation they're going to look at) that my $20 offer was to re-solder a wire that might have come loose during shipment. He's almost implying that I am acknowledging it had neck issues.

Fucking guy is getting to me man. lol.....I actually typed something here and just had to remove it. Just in case you know......:hustler: