That bass was NOT dirty!!

[RobertB]

I got an email today from the guy in the UK who bought my Gunsmoke Silver SR4. He said, "just one thing - you described the bass as immaculate & super clean, but I just spent an hour cleaning it". I replied saying someone in Customs must be an EBMM fan, because even though it didn't need it, I went over it once again with wonder wipes & polished the chrome with a dense fiber cloth just before packing it & dropping it off at USPS. I just got a reply saying "I am SO Sorry - I bought 2 Silver Stingrays; yours hasn't arrived yet, it was the other one that was dirty".

I'm glad I replied calmly and politely to his first/mistaken email, even though (and it's funny to me now) I was really not feeling so friendly at the time. I was thinking "I'd like to know where the HELL you found an hour's worth of cleaning that was necessary on that bass" and "what the hell's this guy trying to pull??". It's silly that I took it personally, but I guess it's because whenever I sell a bass, I take pride in making sure there are no surprises/it's exactly as described, and that I've done everything within reason to make sure the buyer is happy with it.

ANYWAY ....

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

You did well keeping calm...you're the one who's smelling of roses

 

[Duarte]

I know I was more than happy with your communication, speed, you know, everything you want as a seller.

Glad you kept your coool.

And what was he doing buying the exact same stingray twice?

 

[INMT]

I find that using a power sprayer makes instrument cleaning easy and fun

 

[RobertB]

I find that using a power sprayer makes instrument cleaning easy and fun

haha ... or a sand blaster, depending on the bass. =)

 

[RobertB]

I know I was more than happy with your communication, speed, you know, everything you want as a seller.

Glad you kept your coool.

And what was he doing buying the exact same stingray twice?

Thanks Zak, glad to hear it. Same here! Yeah, I don't know ... maybe he's a silver collector. =)

 

[Sweat]

Sounds like crap, but in the future one word for international shipping, UPS
USPS may be cheaper but not worth it to either party involved.

 

[oli@bass]

Hm. I've had all of the above experience, though spread over different transactions:

A.) When I received my new SR4 DD it was worth an hour of cleaning... it was covered with very fine black dust all over, even stuck to the strings, probably some sort of carbon particles from cumbustion engines...

B.) I received a silver SR which was announced as new but was pretty dirty, and had me about two hours of cleaning it and wiping off all the dust, fingerprints and clouding on the tuners and other hardware.

C.) I've currently two silver 'Rays.... it is a really cool colour for the StingRay, especially the warm Inca Silver, because it is somehow classic yet very versatile and reflecting.

 

[Micolao]

not bass related but...

I sold a 2 channel rack multieffects a couple of years ago, the guy goes like:

- I want my money back! this thing's not working! you sold me a broken one! liar! son of a...

I decided to stay calm and reply:

"are - you - sure?"

5 min later....

"ops...sorry, my fault...I plugged it the wrong way."

 

[midopa]

he tryin to catch you ridin dirty
tryin to catch you ridin dirty
tryin to catch you ridin dirty
tryin to catch you ridin dirty
tryin to catch you ridin dirty

 

[Brim]

ArmyBass sold me an used SR5 that smelled like it had been in a honky tonk full of Camels smoke. I had to let it air out for a week so the smell would dissipate. It looks like a million bucks though.

 

[Frantic Slayer]

I have had a very good experience, the bass I bought from lamusic.ca here on the forums was perfect, it was super clean right out of the box!