axxessdenied
Arium Addict
You guys are doing the right thing! Make enough noise and Bernie will definitely notice that people have had enough.
The BRJ Black Friday Thread (Only for updates for/by customers.)[Ad Free]
- Thread starter aslsmm
- Start date
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Khoi
Well-Known Member
I can't either.. this is the last thing that any of us want, but I've lost all hope and don't see me getting my guitar any time soon, even though it's been "almost done"
spawnsc
Well-Known Member
We believed in Bernie because he DID have such a good reputation for quality guitars and figured he would come through for us sooner or later.
But now it seems.....
killertone
Well-Known Member
I have filed a BBB complaint and a complaint with the CA AG.
This sucks ass. I feel like a total idiot. I have never been taken before in my life.
This sucks ass. I feel like a total idiot. I have never been taken before in my life.
Rap Hat
the:pawn.project
Yeah, I feel the same, at least you're not alone in that!
It really sucks too, because Bernie could be a really nice guy and he had a good thing going with a good family name. It's hard to believe things took this turn, but knowing firsthand how expensive medical bills are (and the toll on a family) I'm not really surprised. I'm more baffled that he wouldn't communicate with the clients, even if it did mean saying "I'm not sure I can finish the guitar". He had a lot of goodwill in the community, and people would've been more supportive had he been even partially open about the state of the business. At this point, even if he does reappear and promises the guitars will be done soon, people aren't going to accept that. He's done it three or four times already with literally nothing to show.
It's not even the wait that's an issue. I'd be okay with waiting more than 2 years for a nice custom. But when there's no contact from the builder, that sets off red flags and makes people unwilling to compromise.
Speculum Speculorum
Well-Known Member
You shouldn't feel like an idiot, dude. It's not like he was some spankin'-fresh luthier who rolled out of nowhere and started shafting people. Remember, BRJ guitars was well established, with many happy endorsees, a couple of which were pretty decent names in at least the underground community.
When things started to go badly, a lot of these endorsees never spoke up about it, and some still shilled for him when doubts started to arise. Now that all hell is breaking loose, many of them pretty much just resorted to passive-aggressive BS about how "sad it is that things have gone this way".
So, you really didn't get taken. You were going with the best information that you had, and things went south.
Speculum Speculorum
Well-Known Member
How about the fact that almost every single build within the last 2 years of his career has at least had wrongs specs, or has in many cases had flaws so ridiculous you'd figure he'd been making guitars in the dark?
Waiting almost 2 years to get a guitar that was promised to me in 4 months only to find out that he:
Screwed up the specs on the finish and the neck finish, and then screwed up the secondary preference on the neck finish, then lied about refunding me the extra money for the difference in cost to do the finish I originally asked for, and then avoiding any contact I ever had with him. And then setting my guitar up so badly that I had to put an additional $150 into it just so it would intonate properly and play without fret buzz and praying that the ebony was dried properly so that it doesn't shit out after a couple months because you know that there is no way you'll ever hear from the fucker again.
Yeah - that's a great company owner, bro.
Rap Hat
the:pawn.project
Hey, I never said I'd be fine with waiting for 2 years for the pieces of shit he's been putting out, just that a 2 year wait for a nice custom would be okay with me. I was around for all the "wood guy" nonsense, it was clear even then that Bernie's involvement didn't come in until the guitar was cut and glued. I can feel sorry for the man but still think he's a shit business owner and not-so-great builder.
E: how bad the builds are is a whole 'nother can of worms, to be frank. I feel sorry for everyone who received one with all those issues, then I remember I'm supposed to be getting one too...
Speculum Speculorum
Well-Known Member
And that's why I believe everyone who can should hit the eject button ASAP.
killertone
Well-Known Member
Hey Spec and Rap -
The huge problem with me is that we still have no idea what happened to the guy. Like I said in a previous post, we don't know if he is dying in a hospital, in rehab, or chilling on a beach somewhere. No one knows shit.
I went to the shop in early Feb. 2012 and hung out with Bernie for almost a whole day. Had a good time and Bernie was super cool to me. I held both of my guitars in their unfinished states. I have pics of both of them painted and one of them with hardware on it. I mean what the MFing F? So close...what the hell happened?
The huge problem with me is that we still have no idea what happened to the guy. Like I said in a previous post, we don't know if he is dying in a hospital, in rehab, or chilling on a beach somewhere. No one knows shit.
I went to the shop in early Feb. 2012 and hung out with Bernie for almost a whole day. Had a good time and Bernie was super cool to me. I held both of my guitars in their unfinished states. I have pics of both of them painted and one of them with hardware on it. I mean what the MFing F? So close...what the hell happened?
Speculum Speculorum
Well-Known Member
It sounds like he is sick, but that's the problem... on numerous occasions he's just left it swinging in the wind with absolutely no contact. Even before he had health problems, I was told my guitar was just getting ready for finishing and that it would be ready in 2 weeks (August of 2011), and then I didn't hear from him or John (when he still worked with Bernie) for 4 months. When he called me back, he didn't know who I was, what guitar was mine, when I placed my order, if I'd paid anything on the guitar yet.
The pattern of behavior is totally bizarre. And as said before - me giving him money was not an act of friendship. It was a business deal. He is not holding up his end of the business deal anymore, and people need to stop it with the "but Bern is such a nice dude" deal - that dog won't hunt.
The pattern of behavior is totally bizarre. And as said before - me giving him money was not an act of friendship. It was a business deal. He is not holding up his end of the business deal anymore, and people need to stop it with the "but Bern is such a nice dude" deal - that dog won't hunt.
engage757
Banned
We believed in Bernie because he DID have such a good reputation for quality guitars and figured he would come through for us sooner or later.
But now it seems.....
probably not at all actually. THat money is LONG gone.
killertone
Well-Known Member
Completely agree. If Bernie was truly a nice guy he would communicate with his customers and at the very least give them an explanation as to why he has disappeared.
I ordered my first guitar on 11/25/10. I have been through everything you mentioned. There was a time when I could text or email Bernie and hear back within 24 hours or so but that has been since the end of Summer of '12. After that it was very hard to get any response back and the ones I did get didn't sound like it was even him responding.
I am completely torn on this topic. I have a $4000 custom guitar being built, I know it exists somewhere, have the pictures as proof. When I ordered the guitar I was quoted 12 months, that passed back in September. So officially I'm on month 18 of waiting and because of all the SNAFU in this thread I just assumed it was going to be about 2 years before the guitar was done. Now this shit storm has ensued and I feel guilty because I haven't emailed Bernie repeatedly over the past year. I just assumed it was going to take a long time and left it at that. I haven't been pinging the guy over and over and I would feel like a piece of shit to just drop some lawsuit or other action against the guy. Honestly I'd just like my guitar...
JPMike
Totally Random
What we, the international guys can do about it?
ovation22
Well-Known Member
I am completely torn on this topic. I have a $4000 custom guitar being built, I know it exists somewhere, have the pictures as proof. When I ordered the guitar I was quoted 12 months, that passed back in September. So officially I'm on month 18 of waiting and because of all the SNAFU in this thread I just assumed it was going to be about 2 years before the guitar was done. Now this shit storm has ensued and I feel guilty because I haven't emailed Bernie repeatedly over the past year. I just assumed it was going to take a long time and left it at that. I haven't been pinging the guy over and over and I would feel like a piece of shit to just drop some lawsuit or other action against the guy. Honestly I'd just like my guitar...
I was in the same boat with my full custom. When I did finally follow up with him after a year he told me it was in the wood shop. It took another 6 months for him to finally admit he lost the paperwork and it was never started.
Funny thing is, I could still log into his website and see my order wih spec sheet. That is, until the website was taken down.
mikernaut
pixel pusher
Not sure he really has many endorsers left either. They have seem to have thrown in the towel and gone with other brands that are much more reliable.
It's not hard to release a statement via your official site or Facebook to update your customers, that just blows my mind.
It's not hard to release a statement via your official site or Facebook to update your customers, that just blows my mind.
Yea the only way I knew it was mine was that I had a custom Inlay drawn up, and the guitar he sent me pictures of already had the finished inlay. Otherwise I'd be more skeptical, still a shitty spot either way I guess.
Here you go. The posts with useful info in them tend to get buried under the ones about vandalizing his FB page, making lawyers richer with silly class action suits, just giving up, random guesses, misleading info, etc...
engage757
Banned
You guys should all get together and contact INTERPOL I feel like.
