Jonathan20022
Engineer
First off, let me just say that I've spoken with a mod prior to this and asked for permission to post this and will refrain from getting riled up about this as much as I possibly can throughout.
The dealer I ordered from is Pete Dubaldo at Dubaldo Music. I placed an order for 2 instruments in November. Paid the deposit with him back in November, and from that moment onward he became a very hard to reach man. Understandable, he runs Dubaldo Music and Bellar Music, he's a busy man I completely understand. But close to one month of no contact after I pay? That's a bit shady, but I still took it easy. I also shot him periodic emails every week or so with the same question hoping it would get answered in regards to him setting the guitars up when they arrived. I eventually heard back from him randomly about the setups where we had a brief conversation lasting a few emails. And then he went MIA again until it was time to pay up of course.
He personally had me reach out to him by phone to pay him for the guitars, I was more than happy too. Blind with my excitement for my new guitars I gladly paid up. Pleasant guy over the phone, of course anyone would be expecting income, but looking past that. I paid the second I was supposed to and was never late on anything. He can vouch for this and I have account statements to prove everything I did. Fast forward to me receiving the guitars.
Thank God my first the JP6 was perfect. Albeit it came with pretty absurdly high action and I had to set the thing up myself, the guitar is fantastic.
The same cannot be said for the BFR I received, I listed the number of things wrong with it in the NGD thread which caused me to return it. But to reiterate, absurdly high action with intense buzz when lowered to decent action. Trem is non functioning, Truss Rod is hard to turn to the point where a professional tech that has a great reputation was afraid to adjust it himself. And to top it off, ding on the top and scratches, polishing and more noticeable ones.
The guitar was so badly setup and unplayable that I had to block the trem with wood to record a clip of it. Sounds beautiful, sadly it doesn't match the rest all because of the dealer's "Pro-Setup" and neglect for terrible issues. I wouldn't have minded waiting longer for a working one, he could have sent it back I would have understood, but he sent it out like that. He didn't even test the Trem since the bar was sealed in an envelope, even if he did he would have noticed the absurd binding on ALL. SEVEN. STRINGS.
Not to mention the ....ed case that won't even close properly.
JP Packaging - a set on Flickr
Would any of you feel comfortable accepting that for the price range these things go for? I don't, and I certainly don't stand for it.
Once I emailed him about these issues, he did the usual and took days to respond. Using the excuse that he felt like he should have called Musicman for counsel before he do anything or call me. Yeah, great customer service right there.
So he does, and he pulls me through the guitar trouble shooting that anyone would have the owner do. After a few emails back and forth, I decide to let him know I plan on returning this since a rebuild is out of the cards for me. I don't want to wait months again, and I preferred a refund. I even contacted him to buy a guitar from his stock using that refund or trading in one of my at the time JP's. Instead I'm met with this.
When's the last time you received something damaged, or screwed up. And the person/place you bought it from told you to ship it back on your own dime and that you were SOL from your deposit, because the order is considered "Cancelled/Refused"? He's trying to save his own ass obviously, but well, the guitar wasn't refused I received it. And the guitar was built, so it wasn't cancelled.
As far as I know, this is bullshit. And I URGE anyone to not buy this guitar until it's sent back to EBMM, and completely repaired or has it's parts replaced. I think very highly of these guitars, but I am being 100% honest in that the guitar is faulty. I'm just looking out for whoever is looking to get that guitar from him. Be wary of all of this.
Moving on, because it doesn't quite end there. I call him at his store and I get no answer, so I figure I should call his other store that he owns. I don't know if he does or not, but I call him and apparently I *JUST* caught him finishing his lessons over at his other shop. I confront him about it over the phone, and he says he's going to talk to his booker and see if he can or cannot refund me my deposit. I said fine, I'll hear from you soon. I also sent him this email before the call with him.
Needless to say, he doesn't respond and I randomly get a shipping label from UPS in my email telling me that I have one for a package to Pete.
Remember how he asked me to fully insure the guitar?
He declares it for 1/3 of the value that he asks me to. Ridiculous. This is a print out that came with the label he sent me to send him back the instrument.
I drop off the guitar packed as it came with everything it came with on the 7th. And he gets the guitar on the 12th and does the same crap with laggy responses. I get a reply that he's VERY busy and cannot get to my guitar and refund, he will get to me either on friday or monday (Today, 3/17/14).
I'm patient with him, and I send him one last email just so I can make sure he's refunding the full amount instead of that partial refund. No reply to that until today.
Knowing full well that his shop closes at 6pm, I waited. I had my classes and lectures today until 5pm or so, we got let out early. I refresh my emails and not a response, call my banks that I used for the transactions and no dice on a processing refund. So at this point I write a calm email stating that I'm on the phone with my banks and starting a chargeback and that I am tired of waiting for his convenience to get to me. It is in fact the polar opposite reaction from when he has funds coming in from customers.
I was in fact on the phone with my banks, and after initiating both refunds. And might I add, CONFIRM that no refunds were processed today at all which is nice to have because I caught Pete in a lie. He emails me a few minutes afterwards like anyone would once threatened with a Chargeback saying that he issued a refund, THIS MORNING funny because my bank says otherwise. And processing refunds should be shown within 2-3 hours as processing. Confirming once again that he will NOT be refunding me my full refund after all the terrible service so far.
Needless to say, I have started a dispute with all charges. As far as Pete goes, I have a really good case considering I documented everything really well. The fact that Pete doesn't even have a return policy on his website or anywhere is also going to work for me.
I do NOT recommend Pete Dubaldo for anything, the entire transaction was not worth the slightly cheaper price from the competitors. And if I could have gone back, I would have gone with a better and more responsive dealer, every single one I have spoken to in regards to this (Not naming any names) has stated that this is absurd and that he should be handling this a million times better.
Funnily enough, the "Premier Dealer" is easily the worst transaction I've had thus far anywhere. I should say I'm lucky I haven't fallen the same fate as other people who have been stuck with or without orders.
Also, just to add onto the pile of reasons why not to go with him. A friend who ordered an instrument has paid for his guitar, Pete has it, and he hasn't heard back nor received anything in 2 weeks. That should say enough.
The dealer I ordered from is Pete Dubaldo at Dubaldo Music. I placed an order for 2 instruments in November. Paid the deposit with him back in November, and from that moment onward he became a very hard to reach man. Understandable, he runs Dubaldo Music and Bellar Music, he's a busy man I completely understand. But close to one month of no contact after I pay? That's a bit shady, but I still took it easy. I also shot him periodic emails every week or so with the same question hoping it would get answered in regards to him setting the guitars up when they arrived. I eventually heard back from him randomly about the setups where we had a brief conversation lasting a few emails. And then he went MIA again until it was time to pay up of course.
He personally had me reach out to him by phone to pay him for the guitars, I was more than happy too. Blind with my excitement for my new guitars I gladly paid up. Pleasant guy over the phone, of course anyone would be expecting income, but looking past that. I paid the second I was supposed to and was never late on anything. He can vouch for this and I have account statements to prove everything I did. Fast forward to me receiving the guitars.
Thank God my first the JP6 was perfect. Albeit it came with pretty absurdly high action and I had to set the thing up myself, the guitar is fantastic.
The same cannot be said for the BFR I received, I listed the number of things wrong with it in the NGD thread which caused me to return it. But to reiterate, absurdly high action with intense buzz when lowered to decent action. Trem is non functioning, Truss Rod is hard to turn to the point where a professional tech that has a great reputation was afraid to adjust it himself. And to top it off, ding on the top and scratches, polishing and more noticeable ones.
The guitar was so badly setup and unplayable that I had to block the trem with wood to record a clip of it. Sounds beautiful, sadly it doesn't match the rest all because of the dealer's "Pro-Setup" and neglect for terrible issues. I wouldn't have minded waiting longer for a working one, he could have sent it back I would have understood, but he sent it out like that. He didn't even test the Trem since the bar was sealed in an envelope, even if he did he would have noticed the absurd binding on ALL. SEVEN. STRINGS.
Not to mention the ....ed case that won't even close properly.
JP Packaging - a set on Flickr
Would any of you feel comfortable accepting that for the price range these things go for? I don't, and I certainly don't stand for it.
Once I emailed him about these issues, he did the usual and took days to respond. Using the excuse that he felt like he should have called Musicman for counsel before he do anything or call me. Yeah, great customer service right there.
So he does, and he pulls me through the guitar trouble shooting that anyone would have the owner do. After a few emails back and forth, I decide to let him know I plan on returning this since a rebuild is out of the cards for me. I don't want to wait months again, and I preferred a refund. I even contacted him to buy a guitar from his stock using that refund or trading in one of my at the time JP's. Instead I'm met with this.
When's the last time you received something damaged, or screwed up. And the person/place you bought it from told you to ship it back on your own dime and that you were SOL from your deposit, because the order is considered "Cancelled/Refused"? He's trying to save his own ass obviously, but well, the guitar wasn't refused I received it. And the guitar was built, so it wasn't cancelled.
As far as I know, this is bullshit. And I URGE anyone to not buy this guitar until it's sent back to EBMM, and completely repaired or has it's parts replaced. I think very highly of these guitars, but I am being 100% honest in that the guitar is faulty. I'm just looking out for whoever is looking to get that guitar from him. Be wary of all of this.
Moving on, because it doesn't quite end there. I call him at his store and I get no answer, so I figure I should call his other store that he owns. I don't know if he does or not, but I call him and apparently I *JUST* caught him finishing his lessons over at his other shop. I confront him about it over the phone, and he says he's going to talk to his booker and see if he can or cannot refund me my deposit. I said fine, I'll hear from you soon. I also sent him this email before the call with him.
Needless to say, he doesn't respond and I randomly get a shipping label from UPS in my email telling me that I have one for a package to Pete.
Remember how he asked me to fully insure the guitar?
He declares it for 1/3 of the value that he asks me to. Ridiculous. This is a print out that came with the label he sent me to send him back the instrument.
I drop off the guitar packed as it came with everything it came with on the 7th. And he gets the guitar on the 12th and does the same crap with laggy responses. I get a reply that he's VERY busy and cannot get to my guitar and refund, he will get to me either on friday or monday (Today, 3/17/14).
I'm patient with him, and I send him one last email just so I can make sure he's refunding the full amount instead of that partial refund. No reply to that until today.
Knowing full well that his shop closes at 6pm, I waited. I had my classes and lectures today until 5pm or so, we got let out early. I refresh my emails and not a response, call my banks that I used for the transactions and no dice on a processing refund. So at this point I write a calm email stating that I'm on the phone with my banks and starting a chargeback and that I am tired of waiting for his convenience to get to me. It is in fact the polar opposite reaction from when he has funds coming in from customers.
I was in fact on the phone with my banks, and after initiating both refunds. And might I add, CONFIRM that no refunds were processed today at all which is nice to have because I caught Pete in a lie. He emails me a few minutes afterwards like anyone would once threatened with a Chargeback saying that he issued a refund, THIS MORNING
funny because my bank says otherwise. And processing refunds should be shown within 2-3 hours as processing. Confirming once again that he will NOT be refunding me my full refund after all the terrible service so far.Needless to say, I have started a dispute with all charges. As far as Pete goes, I have a really good case considering I documented everything really well. The fact that Pete doesn't even have a return policy on his website or anywhere is also going to work for me.
I do NOT recommend Pete Dubaldo for anything, the entire transaction was not worth the slightly cheaper price from the competitors. And if I could have gone back, I would have gone with a better and more responsive dealer, every single one I have spoken to in regards to this (Not naming any names) has stated that this is absurd and that he should be handling this a million times better.
Funnily enough, the "Premier Dealer" is easily the worst transaction I've had thus far anywhere. I should say I'm lucky I haven't fallen the same fate as other people who have been stuck with or without orders.
Also, just to add onto the pile of reasons why not to go with him. A friend who ordered an instrument has paid for his guitar, Pete has it, and he hasn't heard back nor received anything in 2 weeks. That should say enough.
