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

[aiur55]

I haven't been active on this forum for a while now but I also do have a guitar on order from BRJ. Being from Canada, I probably cannot do much to see my money or the guitar again. However, I couldn't find his business in the BBB either to file a complaint.

It really is amazing that so many people stuck up for him these past 2 years and we all get shafted because of it. I do agree with most people that a lawsuit would most likely be extremely costly and not help any of us recover our assets.

 

[SpaceDock]

^ the link to the BBB is a few pages back.

I got a response a couple days ago from the BBB saying they have contacted BRJ and are waiting to hear back from him.

 

[chimp_spanner]

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.

As I've said before I deeply regret not being more open about my experience. I've learnt two things; firstly not to endorse something I have NO prior experience of (a mistake a LOT of poor self made musicians have made, and an easy one at that), and secondly not to be afraid to call manufacturers out if they fail to deliver. In my own defence, I didn't feel it would've been entirely fair to be critical of my instrument given it was free. I also assumed that my total lack of enthusiasm about the guitar would speak volumes. No videos, no pictures, nothing. As a potential buyer, that would raise alarm bells to me.

I don't want to take this too far OT but I will accept that many people who have become involved with this probably did so because people like me were just trying to be courteous and professional, but ultimately ended up being far too vague/easy on Bernie. I guess we just thought he'd come through and sort his shit out.

 

[JPMike]

I feel somehow hopeless about it, since we guys who don't live in the US, don't know what to do.

 

[MJS]

I feel somehow hopeless about it, since we guys who don't live in the US, don't know what to do.

What about this?

 

[JPMike]

What about this?

Thanks, sorry didn't notice. I am just in stupid mode lately.

 

[Qweklain]

Ah, good find. I only found the dissolved one. I agree with you that the odds of getting money aren't great, but I also would be VERY surprised if he is out of money. My guess is the business is out of money, but he, personally, isn't. I have no way of knowing that, though. At any rate, I'm going to try to do what I can to get some sort of resolution. I'm about 5 hours drive from his place, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to at least see what the heck is going on. I just have to find out where he lives, and either drop by or call the home number or something.

If you do go and actually get some contact, I will seriously throw you (digitally of course) like $20 to help pay for fuels/time. Just PM me and I will give you some details on my axe that is done. Shit if you could grab it for me... ANYWAY, PM me if you are for sure going to go!

 

[SpaceDock]

If you do go and actually get some contact, I will seriously throw you (digitally of course) like $20 to help pay for fuels/time. Just PM me and I will give you some details on my axe that is done. Shit if you could grab it for me... ANYWAY, PM me if you are for sure going to go!

I second this

 

[JPMike]

Well, I just filled a complaint form with https://complaint.ic3.gov/. I am losing way too much money with Bernie.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

As I've said before I deeply regret not being more open about my experience. I've learnt two things; firstly not to endorse something I have NO prior experience of (a mistake a LOT of poor self made musicians have made, and an easy one at that), and secondly not to be afraid to call manufacturers out if they fail to deliver. In my own defence, I didn't feel it would've been entirely fair to be critical of my instrument given it was free. I also assumed that my total lack of enthusiasm about the guitar would speak volumes. No videos, no pictures, nothing. As a potential buyer, that would raise alarm bells to me.

I don't want to take this too far OT but I will accept that many people who have become involved with this probably did so because people like me were just trying to be courteous and professional, but ultimately ended up being far too vague/easy on Bernie. I guess we just thought he'd come through and sort his shit out.

Well for the record I don't really blame you and I wasn't trying to call you out. You at least had the balls to ultimately come out and talk about your experience. A lot of guys in the business end of things are afraid of stepping on people's toes because they're afraid somehow it will come back to bite them in the ass with future business deals.

We certainly should avoid cutting the guy (Bernie) down at a personal level. I think that saying stuff like "he's run off with our money" or "he's spending my cash on drugs or something" is pretty irresponsible. Nobody is better off with ad homonym attacks.

We do need to be more critical of insanely irresponsible behaviors and quality control problems though right from the get-go. If telling the truth about a product means that others are going to look at me and say "Oh he's too critical - I won't ever do business with him because he'll hack me up if I screw something up" - well fuck you then. If your product and ethics were worth a shit you wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[Hollowway]

Well, I just filled a complaint form with https://complaint.ic3.gov/. I am losing way too much money with Bernie.

I just did that as well.

US citizens (maybe others as well?) can also file with the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Agency. https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?lang=en

 

[aiur55]

^ the link to the BBB is a few pages back.

I got a response a couple days ago from the BBB saying they have contacted BRJ and are waiting to hear back from him.

I used the link and followed the instructions but could not find the business when I searched. I must be doing something wrong.

I do hope we hear something from somebody regarding this.

 

[ovation22]

I used the link and followed the instructions but could not find the business when I searched. I must be doing something wrong.

I do hope we hear something from somebody regarding this.

Bernie Rico Jr. Guitars Business Review in Hesperia, CA

 

[JPMike]

I just did that as well.

US citizens (maybe others as well?) can also file with the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Agency. https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?lang=en

I think it's only for American Citizens.

 

[ovation22]

So far I've contacted the BBB, FTC, IC3, the CA AG, and a few lawyer friends.

I'm getting pretty discouraged too. The lawyers I've spoken too say there aren't many options other than small claims, and it's just not worth my time (or travel costs).

Unless anyone else has any other ideas, it looks like Bernie wins this round.

 

[xCaptainx]

This is a REAL long shot, but here was an artist called Finbar O'Hanlon who was posting about a NAMM 2013 appearance in leiu of a new signature Bernie Rico Jr he was announcing.

Given that NAMM fell much later than any confirmed correspondence with Bernie, I figured he might have some additional info. I've sent him a message asking if he could shed some light on the matter.

No reply yet, he hasn't posted anything since Feb 15th so not sure if I'm going to get a response, but hey it's worth a try.

 

[xCaptainx]

ok wow, just got an update. Won't post the entire thing but in general terms:

- he hasn't spoken to him for months and said bernie is 'sick/unwell'
- he's also tried his number without any reply
- staffing issues at his workshop (workers not showing up, workers ruining whole production lines before being fired)
- he's one year into his wait for his guitar
- Bernie has no one working for him now
- Chris G (who posted in here a while ago) has left, he couldn't cope with the negative communication (though communication was his job? what did he expect?)

Unfortunately, no real suprises or new bits of information there. He's in the same boat as everyone else I'm afraid.

 

[JPMike]

God damn... For real? Bernie is all alone?

So far I've contacted the BBB, FTC, IC3, the CA AG, and a few lawyer friends.

I'm getting pretty discouraged too. The lawyers I've spoken too say there aren't many options other than small claims, and it's just not worth my time (or travel costs).

Unless anyone else has any other ideas, it looks like Bernie wins this round.

Bernie wins this round?

That means he gets the money without giving anything back? How can this be possible? We are not talking about a hundred bucks here.

 

[SpaceDock]

I think it is time to hurry up and wait. Based on these new findings I don't think Bernie was ever out to screw us. There is really nothing left at this point but pray he gets better and can finish some guitars this year.

 

[xCaptainx]

Thing I don't get though, was the huge focus on how difficult BRJ and Chris G were finding the negative communication.

Yeah, people are upset. I think they have every right to be. But putting your head in the sand and ears in your fingers is not an effective way to run a business.

You could still ignore all the hate and negative comments and just put up quick status updates, ANY communication would be great right now. I think every customer here has a right to have an update.