Eastman SB59 issues, advice appreciated!

gregm

TADodger said:

Do you have legal cover on your Insurance’s? They will assist with, or even provide, a draft letter that states your legal position. 

I am familiar with Richards Guitars, and, as much as the in store experience was good, in my personal opinion, I would say that he has no grasp of the actual legal requirements that his business is subject to, or, simply chooses to plow his own furrow that suits his requirements best.

As others have said, given the timescales involved, and assuming that this wasn’t a custom order (still subject to fitness for purpose) you are covered by distance selling regulations as you purchased on line, and, as I understand it, can return goods, even without a fault, within seven days and have 14 days from delivery within which you MUST receive a refund if you ask for one. 

Also, I understand  that for distance selling, retailers MUST advise the customer that they can cancel their order up to 14 days AFTER delivery of the order ( cancel means tell the retailer that you don’t want the order, no reason required) and if they have not told the customer about this right to cancel then the customer can legally cancel any time within the next twelve months ( from receipt of goods).

Thank you for your time and advice given, it was helpful. I requested on the 8th of March that I get a full refund or a replacement as I did not get a reply straight away when issues reported on the 3rd, this has been ongoing since then. I even offered to pay for postage for replacing the guitar but insisted I see the flame and get a guarantee it will be as should be. Incredible I even have emails from them acknowledging my co-operation and when I demand a partial or full refund I get called childish names and slandered in writing!

fendergibson

Richards Guitars.....well I never etc 

His email to you saying ‘go away blah blah’ is reprehensible to say the least, and also proves what many have said about the fella.

Im astonished.....but hardly surprised 

TADodger

IMHO you need to state in writing, or, get a legal advisor to state, the legal position and give him a period of time to comply with the law and make a full refund, or, you will instigate a small claims action that will include a claim for your loss and expense ( plus legal costs) in addition to the full refund. 

This is is the retailers issue and not Eastmans, or, the wholesalers.

gregm

TADodger said:

IMHO you need to state in writing, or, get a legal advisor to state, the legal position and give him a period of time to comply with the law and make a full refund, or, you will instigate a small claims action that will include a claim for your loss and expense ( plus legal costs) in addition to the full refund. 

This is is the retailers issue and not Eastmans, or, the wholesalers.

I worked for some computer companies and have an understanding of consumer law but not distance selling, I sent him a message informing him that I can travel to his store with the guitar if he wants to call me names but I will be now getting the 3rd party report which I have already organised and will speak to my solicitor Monday. There are better things to spend valuable time on than arguing with someone like this. I have been respectful though out, thank you for your advice I will be going the legal route now as you stated. I am his customer, or was anyway and this kind of abuse should be made public. First time for everything as I am usually a private person but I am shocked that someone thinks that they can act this way. Anyway I found this forum so 1 positive from it!

gregm

I did a search and he has replied to other customers with the exact same wording before as he did in the last email to me, so not something random , maybe he obviously feels this is in some way protecting him? Any thoughts?

TADodger

Unfortunately it sounds like the only option to  include via a legal route, but, at least, the law should be with you. I hope it works out for you in the end.

JDE

Those emails are rude as fuck. Just let them
collect it but make sure you take photos of it as you pack it because the whole “I’m worried about him packing it” is bollocks and it concerns me as a potential future wriggle-out stance. If they arrange the collection then once the courier has accepted it it is their liability, not yours. 
i am happy to send you packaging materials if you wanna send it back and are worried about any of this. As I say I’m not in the guitar trade but ship constantly, globally. I know what I’m doing.

The whole thing is a shit show and you shouldn’t have to deal with it, tbh. 

gregm

JDE said:

Those emails are rude as fuck. Just let them
collect it but make sure you take photos of it as you pack it because the whole “I’m worried about him packing it” is bollocks and it concerns me as a potential future wriggle-out stance. If they arrange the collection then once the courier has accepted it it is their liability, not yours. 
i am happy to send you packaging materials if you wanna send it back and are worried about any of this. As I say I’m not in the guitar trade but ship constantly, globally. I know what I’m doing.

The whole thing is a shit show and you shouldn’t have to deal with it, tbh. 

I have the packing material it was sent to me in so it has to be good enough for a return, I sent him photos of the guitar today from different angles and still this response. Thank you for your kind offer it is very decent, I am still going to pay for a 3rd party report before sending back because of the reply as you rightly pointed out. Really disappointed in Eastman first and foremost but this has now gone beyond what is acceptable as their reseller. Lesson learned, I will see what my solicitor has to say about the offensive and personal remarks made against me. Anyway small problem compared to others!

Fifty9

Wow. What a pathetic position from Richards guitars. Best of luck Gregm.

mikeyrob73

No doubt Richards Guitars will be along shortly, pretty sure he has previous on here 

DeeTee

This is a masterclass in making a slightly bad thing into a massively damaging clusterf**k. That email is just offensive.

A decent business, even if they disagree, would say that they're sorry you're unhappy about the product and work with you to resolve the problem. Instead, they've been appalling and aggressive. Honestly, how many people on this board, who are the target market for them, are now thinking they won't go near that business? 

prlgmnr

How do you not read that email back to yourself and think "hmm, maybe I don't have the right type of personality to be in this business".


Also, who is Sally?

digitalscream

gregm said:

Lesson learned, I will see what my solicitor has to say about the offensive and personal remarks made against me. 

Your solicitor can't do anything about the remarks - they were made in private, directly to you, so they can't be termed defamation. You're the one who made the emails public, so there's really nothing to be done I'm afraid.

prlgmnr said:

Also, who is Sally?

From the context, I'd assume she's in Eastman's customer services dept.

To everyone: On an admin note, I don't see anything that would fall foul of this in this thread, but please keep your comments factual and not personal about Richard or any of his staff. I hope you understand why

english_bob

prlgmnr said:

Also, who is Sally?

Sally is the customer service person, who would probably do better if left to do her job without her boss's intervention. 

https://rguitars.co.uk/pages/the-team

english_bob

mikeyrob73 said:

No doubt Richards Guitars will be along shortly, pretty sure he has previous on here 

Not here he won't. The banhammer fell on that dude a long time ago. Last time someone posted a complaint about his much trumpeted aftersales service here he had a go at the customer and the forum on his YouTube channel.

skunkwerx

https://youtu.be/q8ymBvOmSOM

His video there shows him refusing to take an SE in part exchange because of basically the same issue.. 

Edit: I don't mean to cause dramas. I just don't see how he can then refuse your eastman as having a similar issue. 

Cols

gregm said:

I did a search and he has replied to other customers with the exact same wording before as he did in the last email to me, so not something random , maybe he obviously feels this is in some way protecting him? Any thoughts?

If it’s faulty you’re entitled to a full right of refund and the seller can’t ask you to cover the cost of return.

If it’s not faulty, you can return the guitar within 14 days of receipt (unless it’s a custom job, in which case it’s exempt).  The seller must also refund the basic delivery charge.  

They must refund you within 14 days of them getting the guitar back or you providing evidence that you’ve returned the goods (e.g. courier note).

A deduction can be made if the value of the guitar has been reduced as a result of you handling the goods more than was necessary.

The extent to which you can handle the guitar is the same as it would be if you were checking it out in a shop.

As Eastman are already claiming that the guitar is not faulty, and Richard is expressing concern (with no apparent evidence) that the guitar is now damaged, you’re doing exactly the right thing - getting a written report from an independent expert that the guitar is not fit for purpose and gathering plenty of documentary evidence (photos etc) that the guitar is undamaged prior to return. In case there’s any dispute that should put you in a strong position.

Arktik83

Get him Judge Rinder, that'll sort him out!   

Seriously though, think your best bet is to get your solicitor involved.  Best of luck with it all.  Feel a bit sorry for Sally!

Cols

In case a full refund is not forthcoming (and I hope it is), you could always just go back to your credit/debit card company and ask them to get your money back.

chrisj1602

Richard’s whole unique selling point of his inspection and “£100 added value set up” is obviously now questionable.

Any tech would surely have said that guitar is not right.  It should have just gone back to Eastman (not that it should have left Eastman like that in the first place). 

He has massively inconvenienced the OP by selling that guitar to him, and then has the nerve to be quite rude about it.