Guitar deal going wrong....Ian Elson Guitars

spark240

Ok..so call me mad....last year during lockdown I saw Ads on Facebook from in indie guitar maker ( he's a forum member) who was struggling to make ends meet.

He was raffling a guitar but it didnt reach the target ....I asked him what the target was and it was £500.

In a moment of generosity....well sort of...I offered to act like a Pawn shop in effect...I have the guitar ....and give him £500 on the strict basis that he will buy the guitar back " in a few  months"....we did do an email to clarify the facts and term....I know its fraught with danger !

Anyhow ....upshot is...its been probably over 12 months now , he's actively selling guitars and Advertising and responds randomly to emails....with things like...."sorry mate, I'll sort it tonight"....then of course nothing.

TBH Im not that fussed about the money and I do have a guitar though its not brilliant.

Whats would you do from here on in?

I could hound him on social media , but thats not my thing really, even though he seems to be an arse.

Or just tell me Im nuts and should never have got involved ;-)

ThePrettyDamned

Hum, this sounds familiar. Have you searched the forum for threads on this builder?

poopot

Please tell me it’s not “Elson”?

skunkwerx

Sounds like a piece of shit to me. 

If you bailed him out and he promised to pay it back yet hasnt, and is now trading as normal.. well.. 

spark240

ThePrettyDamned said:

Hum, this sounds familiar. Have you searched the forum for threads on this builder?

I haven't ...but I know hes here somewhere.

thumpingrug

You're nuts and should never have got involved, if you were not prepared to take the hit.   

Put it up on eBay and get what you can for it.  Take the loss, if there is one,  on the chin and move on.

UnclePsychosis

thumpingrug said:

You're nuts and should never have got involved, if you were not prepared to take the hit.   

Put it up on eBay and get what you can for it.  Take the loss, if there is one,  on the chin and move on.

This.

You bought a guitar, if you don't want it anymore sell it and move on. 

DefaultM

Shouldn't have tried to do a good deed. Rookie mistake people are scum.

spark240

thumpingrug said:

You're nuts and should never have got involved, if you were not prepared to take the hit.   

Put it up on eBay and get what you can for it.  Take the loss, if there is one,  on the chin and move on.

Yeah maybe…..but you know sometimes you just try and help folks out.

Daft thing is he sells them for more than I gave him….so he’d be better off taking it back and sellin it again .

Either way I think he’s got a tough financial road ahead ….I Haven’t.

Adamski

Is this Elson? In some ways I hope it is because I really hope we don’t have another shitehawk out there swindling people.  

Springywheel

If he was going to give you it back he would have done so by now, so fuck him. Name the bastard.

stickyfiddle

I'd give him first refusal then sell it

spark240

stickyfiddle said:

I'd give him first refusal then sell it

Adamski said:

Is this Elson? In some ways I hope it is because I really hope we don’t have another shitehawk out there swindling people.  

I have given him plenty of options….I even told to him give us £10 per week….

ok …yes it’s Elson…the guys seems to be a loser.

ThePrettyDamned

Yes, you really should find the threads on him.

I suspected it might be him. 

Hattigol

@IanElsonGuitar you absolute prick.

Buy a goddamn moral compass and pay this guy back.

Cols

I have to ask, how does the guitar play?  Because the latest thread on one of his axes indicates “Borderline unplayable”.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/207820/ian-elson-guitars-avoid/p1

DB1

The way that I look at it is that you’ve tried to do someone a favour, and that’s to be commended. If someone then rips you off, then ultimately they’re the loser, because they will always have to live with being them.

Naive? Maybe, but I like to think that most of us would try and help someone out in good faith, so kudos to you. The other bloke? Not so much.

ICBM

If it’s as bad as the others we’ve seen here, your best honest option is to strip the hardware off it, and put the neck and body on Ebay as a ‘kit’ with a full description that it will need a *lot* of work to make a playable guitar, with a 99p start.

Sell the hardware separately, that’s probably worth something.

Expect a large loss overall.

stickyfiddle

spark240 said:

stickyfiddle said:

I'd give him first refusal then sell it

Adamski said:

Is this Elson? In some ways I hope it is because I really hope we don’t have another shitehawk out there swindling people.  

I have given him plenty of options….I even told to give us £10 per week….

ok …yes it’s Elson…the guys sees, to be a loser.

So you've done the right thing twice now. You owe the guy nothing - sell it. 

As @ICBM suggests, parting it may help, or may not be worth the extra effort depending on the hardware. 

Would someone on here consider modding/improving it? Or is it beyond help...

hollywoodrox

Omg  That guy really is a piece of work  all those other stories and that shockingly poor guitar in the last thread. Now this  , the thick skinned scummy douchebag 

horse

I see that the 3rd and 4th Google results for Ian Elson Guitars state AVOID in capitals, so I suppose if his name appeared enough times in this thread too then that might get it up the search results and help people doing research before buying.

Sorry to hear your goodwill and generosity have been taken advantage of.