The BRJ Black Friday Thread (Only for updates for/by customers.)[Ad Free]

[WickedSymphony]

And we're messaging Terry on her personal FB page or just through the BRJ official page?

http://www.facebook.com/BRJguitars has a post asking for people to message her there. I haven't gotten a response yet (messaged a few days ago), but I'm sure she has a lot to handle with all of this mess so it could take a bit.

 

[JPMike]

Still no answer through Facebook, it's been quite some time since she posted that status update. :S

 

[mikernaut]

Facebook is hard! (sarcasm)

 

[crg123]

Rico seems to have changed his site since I've looked at it. Granted that was a long time ago. What sparked my interest was the fact that he used the photo I took for a friend of mine without even asking me twice once at column 5, row 2 and column 1, second to last row. I don't care but I'm not exactly happy that my photography is being used to support him at this point. I wonder if anyone else's photos were thrown up on here. Note he's also put a watermark saying "copyright Bernie Rico Jr Guitars 2013" towards the middle of the page:

http://www.ricojrguitars.com/

phot they're using: http://nebula.wsimg.com/bfbd8b11cbf...ccessKeyId=DA010C3C18D7A7A8692E&disposition=0

Just kind of interesting more then anything. I wonder when the site was updated considering whats been going on with all you guys.

 

[mikernaut]

He updated it a month or 2 back. I believe this pic was from Joe Sousa's NGD thread .

http://nebula.wsimg.com/8ce3b5ce812b0e27828d8c1f40dbdfe4?AccessKeyId=DA010C3C18D7A7A8692E&disposition=0

 

[technomancer]

I think bernie needs to get a cnc machine and call it a day. That way he can focus on fret work and assembly etc...

You do realize that's all Bernie was doing anyways, right? He does not build the guitars or do the finish work, he just does final assembly and setup (or did).

 

[JP Universe]

Not gonna bother messaging Terry... I'll give it 3 months before I message whoever the .... is taking care of this mess again. At this point I've accepted that my deposit is gone

 

[SpaceDock]

Your lucky youve only got the deposit to worry about. Some of us are balls deep in this shit. I'm not too bad, thank god. Gotta feel for the guys with 5 guitars all paid for.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

People keep talking about how terrible his current situation is. I think we can deduce a lot by looking at this mess from where it really started unraveling: THE BF SALE.

1. The BF sale was supposed to be capped at 15. Although it is unclear exactly how many order were taken, he VASTLY overshoots the number quoted - it sounds like somewhere between 100-200 guitars were allowed in.

2. After the BF sale, Bernie continues to take custom shop orders, quoting ridiculously low build times. And I mean, RIDICULOUSLY LOW - 4 months, for example.

3. Shortly after the following winter, Bernie begins developing "health problems", and goes missing for several periods.

4. The winter after the next Summer, Bernie goes missing for a long period of time. It is eventually found out that he was hospitalized and in a coma - that he nearly died. John (his assistant) quit during his hospitalization. When Bernie gets out he blames all the business failures on John not keeping up on his duties.

*It's worth noting that during a personal phone conversation with Bernie about his coming back (still hadn't received guitar) he was much more upset that John did not tell him about countless individuals who wanted to place orders... he still wanted to take orders on top of everything he already had going.

4. Bernie puts on a spring sale offering his half-finished models up for grabs from his website saying that he can finish them and send them to customers shortly after purchase. Bernie continues to take orders from people, accepts deposits, and STILL quotes impossible build time estimates.

5. Bernie does complete a couple guitars, all of which have at the very least cosmetic issues or incorrect specs, several of which have issues with structural integrity or gross flaws that warrant being sent back.

6. Bernie goes missing again. This time months pass before we find out that Bernie is in a hospital undergoing psychiatric care after apparently attempting suicide. After getting out, Bernie says he's going to get things on track, and the last known guitar to be completed was in August 2013.

7. After going missing again, we find out Bernie is re-hospitalized. At this point we discover that he has absolutely no money left in the business and that he left absolutely no records for any of his orders. His wife is apparently trying to make sense of it. Now almost no one has heard from her either.

OK folks. I think it's time that we realized that no matter how you swing it, people got straight jacked out of their money. It is apparent that Bernie was having financial struggles, and took on a bunch of orders hoping to save his own ass. Even after he knew (HE HAD TO KNOW) that he wasn't going to be able to build guitars currently on order, he just kept taking orders. He told absolutely NOBODY about the fact that he was taking more orders, or that he was having severe emotional and financial troubles. Finally, realizing he is completely boned, he falls into a depressive cycle and tries to kill himself.

If you think you're going to be getting a guitar at this point, you're also out of your friggin' noggin.

 

[leonardo7]

Once again - he has... NO RECORDS OF BUILDS! NONE! NADA! ZILCH!

Im just curious. Why do you say that?

Bernie does have a folder full of everyones specs. I saw it in person two years ago when we visited his shop. I dont know if he has record of the spot exchanges but he does have a folder with everyones original specs, names, info etc. At least from prior to Oct '11 when I was there. So that would basically mean that all of the original BFR info as well as all builds prior are in there. I would assume that some of the spot exchanges are also in there. Its at his main desk in the middle of his shop.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

Did Terry not just say that she can't find any information on people's guitars?

Unless I seriously misunderstood or something.

EDIT: Yes it looks like I missed something. At no point in the thread or on BRJ's website does it say there's a lack of papers on the guitars. My mistake. I will edit my previous post to reflect it.

 

[Khoi]

There HAS to be some sort of record, whether it's peoples invoices for their payment (which is automated), or an e-mail of specs.

At the very least he should've still had all the e-mail conversations from his customers on the e-mail server, which would be insane to sort through, but it'd be there unless he purposely deleted them all.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

Yeah I was wrong. Nowhere in the thread does it say that Bernie didn't have records of our orders.

However - I know for a fact that the first time he got sick, when John quit, he admitted that John had deleted any emails going back further than 6 months and that he hadn't responded to 99% of the emails he'd received in the last 6 months anyway.

So if you had any communication about an order from before that point that didn't make it to your hard copy, it's lost for good.

 

[Hollowway]

Hey does anyone have Terry's cell number? I want to call her directly.

 

[teleofseven]

hasn't anyone still filed a lawsuit? why do you still keep dissecting what happened?
jesus people! this isn't a game or a movie or a ....ing book! this is real!

you have to take action and stop writing in here! leave the investigations to the authorities! it is absolutely useless to bitch and moan about it in here. all your complaints and problems are falling on deaf ears. you'll get nowhere here.

 

[SpaceDock]

Easier said than done bro... the cc or PayPal refund timeframe is well past. That leaves small claims. Problem there is the winner is responsible for collecting. That means you have to hire a collections company. He doesn't have wages to pull from, we all know that. Class action is a joke unless we find a lawyer to work pro bono. Sm I forgeting anything? We've been through this before many times.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

Even if somebody won it would be like squeezing blood from a stone, dude.

 

[Khoi]

Even if somebody won it would be like squeezing blood from a stone, dude.

Yeah, it would end up being our own blood.

Still awaiting a response from Terry on both Facebook and e-mail. All I want now is to just get my guitar in whatever shape it is so I can just finish it off myself or something.

 

[basssolo4u]

expletive deleted

 

[SpaceDock]

Did anyone even get a response from Terry? This just seems so f'ed now. They should at least send us our wood and parts so we are not 100% boned here.