Silhouette Special purchase sadly tending to bounce - how to proceed...?!

[Axilla]

Valued fellow forumites,

I am asking for your opinions and experiences on a sad topic here.
As my signature reads, I am desperately waiting for a Silhouette Special in the rare color of lavender pearl to arrive.

History behind this:

- A guy from Canada with good overall ratings offers a fully loaded Silo Special body in lavender pearl on Ebay, mentioning having the trem and neck present at additional charge. Foggy posted a thread "Why do people do this?" later on.

eBay: ERNIE BALL MUSICMAN SILHOUETTE SPECIAL BODY (Artikel 200105894220 endet 05.05.07 10:26:21 MESZ)

- I contacted the vendor and we agreed upon a deal for the whole guitar/package on the 5th May. I paid him by PayPal on the 6th with the whole amount incl. shipping costs.

- I hear nothing from him for a long time and try to contact him over and over again. Later on he answers having had a computer outage due to virus infection. So far so good - he promises to ship and provide tracking info a.s.a.p.

- Again long time no hear or read... Answer upon multiple emails after a while again: tragic death in his family, dealt with other stuff. Promises to ship "first thing monday morning" the 28th May and provide tracking info. Guess what: nothing until today. He reads my emails as after what the receipt messages tell me after all...

- I just informed him that now he is finally taxing my patience here and I expect his feedback about shipment incl. tracking info by tomorrow evening, or I otherwise will report the case to Ebay and PayPal to get him under more pressure or maybe even get the money back from PayPal.

Now long stories short:
I really fell in love with that guitar when I first saw it and would REALLY REALLY love to get it here...

Perhaps my emotions for the instrument are so strong that I don't see clear anymore.
What do YOU think about this ?
What can or shall I do ?!?

He's got the money AND the guitar - I'm desperate... *sniff*

 

[beej]

Any idea where it is? If it's in the Toronto area I will gladly go knock on his door for you. Get his phone number!

Worth a shot before you have to get your money back. But given his behaviour so far I'd say the odds are bad.

 

[germangallardo]

You are doing the right thing so far, just scare him no more Mr. Nice Guy that must get that guy up from his lazy ass and ship your guitar!

 

[Axilla]

Hey beej,
thanks for that super fast response!

He should be in the Toronto/Ontario/Canada area after what he said.
His name is "C M" (edit 12th june 2007 - name removed) and that's about all I have. Sadly no other contact info. I already offered him to get in touch by phone to get things straight if ever there was a problem, but he did not react upon that...

He mentioned to another forum member (when the auction was still running) that he does sort of repair work for Musicman guitars and other brands.
I wonder if anybody here perhaps knows him and his ways to do business...?

I'm still hoping for the best - hope dies last.

*sniff*

 

[Axilla]

You are doing the right thing so far, just scare him no more Mr. Nice Guy that must get that guy up from his lazy ass and ship your guitar!

Yeah, I was hoping so.
Told him that it's starting to no being funny anymore and that his reaction was highly due now. Hope he'll get up and really DO something until tomorrow evening.
I don't really want my money back but rather that guitar in my hands... you know what I mean

 

[Sweat]

Man that sucks but since you paid with paypal and I hate paypal, the one good thing is buyer protection, report him and get your money back, and as much as you wanted it move on and find another you must have, just learned my lesson no more used, ebay crap. Pete I will be calling you

 

[beej]

There are a few Macris' in the Toronto area (thank you Canada411.com). We could call a few and ask for Chris?

Yeah I know- it was such a neat item that you don't want to let it go.

If you can reach him, tell him you have a friend locally who can pick it up and ship it to you. That will make it easy for him if he's legitimate. He can bring it to work or home and I'll get it for you.

If he balks at that, well, then get your money back

 

[Axilla]

Thanks Fing, absolutely right - that's exactly what I'll have to do tomorrow if he doesn't move...
Oh how I wish I was a US local these days and could contact Pete, too, for a change.
...but sadly (at least when it comes to guitars) I'm located near Munich/Bavaria/Germany so the stuff I love is veeeery ekspensif around here...

 

[Axilla]

There are a few Macris' in the Toronto area (thank you Canada411.com). We could call a few and ask for Chris?

Yeah I know- it was such a neat item that you don't want to let it go.

If you can reach him, tell him you have a friend locally who can pick it up and ship it to you. That will make it easy for him if he's legitimate. He can bring it to work or home and I'll get it for you.

If he balks at that, well, then get your money back

I cannot thank you enough for that kind offer ! ! !
Let's hope he moves and that I will not bug you with that stuff ...any time you don't spend on this case is value time for playing balls

...I feel very honored by your offer !!!

 

[meenahga]

I remember the auction you speak of. I believe Macris has a respectable feedback on ebay. I would give him the benefit of the doubt. My wife and I have over 2250 feedback on ebay with a 99.9% positive rating. A while ago my wife sold some books and the buyer paid by paypal. Then there was a death in our family. It ended up she was 11 days late sending out the books, after taking care of the family needs. The buyer was a bit upset until she found out the reason for the delay. My wife refunded the shipping costs to the buyer, as she is very fair, and feels terrible about not shipping the books right out, even with the extenuating circumstances. I would be patient and think positive. Good things are worth waiting for. Just ask any of the knuckleheads who wait months for these awesome instruments!

 

[Beth]

Hey Axilla,

I hope everything works out in your favor. For some weird reason, the name "Chris Macris" sounds familiar... like I've made fun of it before with someone. I've got an email into our Ontario Canada rep, Glen Booth and maybe he'll have some more info for us.

Hang in there!
-Beth

 

[Axilla]

Meenahga:
Thanks for sharing! I told him I completely understood that he's having a hard time, but reading mails, making and not keeping promises for nearly 4 weeks now is really getting me nervous. I agree that waiting for months for an instrument built to order is longer, but with that, as a customer you know what you get (at least most of the time ...thinkin' of that unpaid DD AL BP set free lately...).
After all, it was just the - let's say "special" - and discontinued colour that attracted me to that offer...

Beth:
Thank you so much for your help !
Highly appreciated (like with the moonstone pickguard for my purple... ) !
I cannot stress enough how wonderful this place and most of all the people here are !
...but I guess if I started to cry now, KOOGS would be in first offering me a tissue full of fishhooks, eh ?!

THIS FORUM ROCKS ME KNOTTEE !

 

[Big Poppa]

This guy cant hide from the mighty forumites..........

 

[robelinda2]

Man that sucks, ebay can be a pain sometimes, but 99% of the time its ok. Hope you get it sorted, sounds like a cool axe.

 

[meenahga]

Meenahga:
Thanks for sharing! I told him I completely understood that he's having a hard time, but reading mails, making and not keeping promises for nearly 4 weeks now is really getting me nervous. I agree that waiting for months for an instrument built to order is longer, but with that, as a customer you know what you get (at least most of the time ...thinkin' of that unpaid DD AL BP set free lately...).
After all, it was just the - let's say "special" - and discontinued colour that attracted me to that offer...


I might add, I do live only about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Ontario, Canada, and I have close relatives that live there also, Ottawa, and the south eastern portion of Ontario. If it does come down to it, I would gladly help out a fellow forumite in any way possible...

 

[paranoid70]

Dude, I went through the same exact thing earlier this year. I bought a Fender Cyber Twin amp from some guy in Maine. I paid by check (I know that was dumb) immediately after the auction. He cashed it, but didn't ship the amp until 3 weeks AFTER my check cleared! He kept giving me one dumb excuse after another. I finally got the amp about 40 days after the auction closed!

Oh well, all's well that ends well. I eventually got what I paid for, and the amp sounds great. (Especially with the SS!!) I will say that if he is at least responding to your emails or phone calls, give him a little time. Hang in there bro.

 

[dwells]

staab him with an ice pick

 

[candid_x]

I remember the auction you speak of. I believe Macris has a respectable feedback on ebay. I would give him the benefit of the doubt. My wife and I have over 2250 feedback on ebay with a 99.9% positive rating. A while ago my wife sold some books and the buyer paid by paypal. Then there was a death in our family. It ended up she was 11 days late sending out the books, after taking care of the family needs. The buyer was a bit upset until she found out the reason for the delay. My wife refunded the shipping costs to the buyer, as she is very fair, and feels terrible about not shipping the books right out, even with the extenuating circumstances. I would be patient and think positive. Good things are worth waiting for. Just ask any of the knuckleheads who wait months for these awesome instruments!

My thoughts exactly.

 

[bovinehost]

This is just my opinion, but you've waited long enough.

If it were me - and it's not, so keep that in mind - I would immediately file a dispute with Paypal. Lock those funds up where the seller cannot use them.

THEN tell him, "Might be time to ship my effin' guitar, mate."

Right now, he's got your money and he's got your guitar. You can't take the guitar from him, but you CAN take the money back until and unless he ships the instrument.

Just my opinion, mind you.

Jack

 

[Jason5150]

Good luck with the axe Axilla! I hope that this guy comes through.