Thread: Need some legal advice please!!

Have you had any response at all since communications died?
If you haven't, it could be the guy was hit by a bus or had a stroke.

A former colleague of mine was a tube amp enthusiast, and he bought a couple of rare tubes on ebay from a polish guy. Between his payment and the shipping of the tubes, the guy died from a heart attack. It took him quite a while to get in touch with the widow an get her to fix the situation.

Originally Posted by animalwithin

... that half way through the build, I could drive down, see what he's completed ...

If you can't contact him by phone or email and this is bothering you I would drive down to see what's up. You planned on doing that anyway and now is as good a time as any. As Bruno stated, he might not be able to communicate with you. A trip down would answer all of your questions unless you are comfortable with the situation as it is. When you go be sure to have an open mind. Face to face is the best communication method when all is civil.

The guy is alive, I know that for sure. He has my name, number, email, and address so he has multiple ways of contacting me. I know he's busy, he takes orders for hundreds of guitars, but in the guitar world, if you put in an order for a custom guitar, you're intimately involved in every step of the way with detailed pictures, etc. I didn't get any of that. At the very least I ask for him just to update me here and there, telling me the progress of the guitar. Both of you guys are right, a drive down there would solve everything.

Here is what I fear the most: that the guitar doesn't match what I want. Initially I gave him a lot of specs but they were general stuff like wood, pickups, color, etc. I left a few stuff open because he said that we will meet half way through production and we could workout the design plans for a few other things together like the pickgaurd, neck, etc. That never happened either, so I fear that if I go down there, he's going to show me a completed guitar that is different than what I wanted, and demand the rest of the money just because its done.

A very bad situation, to incur this cost without everything spelled out up front in writing. The end result is the situation you are in.

You gave him a deposit for a guitar and if you don't receive it timely you can sue but since nothing has been put into print you are in a very bad situation law wise. If you don't want the item I would just forget about it and maybe you will never hear from him again or maybe you will.

if he takes hundreds of orders he can't be a small time maker. In my town we have a famous maker- Pimentel and he makes everything by hand but only takes a few orders at a time and the wait is still months.

You're right spendur, nothing written in writing isn't good. I don't want the guitar anymore and just forgetting it is tempting, but if I go about that and use the money elsewhere and he comes back to me in a couple of months telling me its done, where's my money, I'm screwed. I've yet to get a clear answer from any lawyers, the best advice, which is what Jimmy said to do, send a certified notorized letter telling him I want to cancel my order since he didn't live up to his end of the bargain, but like you said, if its not written on paper, there is trouble.

He's a thrid generation custom luthier, has his own shop with a couple of workers. Hes a great guy and he does take lots of orders but thats whats hurt his reputation, customers like me getting promises and guarantees and him not delivering because he has too many orders. I should have taken the time to shop around before I jumped into this. I figured hes a very reputable luthier, what can go wrong? I'm not the only one facing this, lots of guys on the guitar forum I am a part of are getting this crap from him too.

Find someone that has delt with him successfully.
People sometimes get bent out of shape dealing with custom makers,the wait just kills them and custom makers of one off Items such as razors can indeed be an odd lot in some ways.
I once did an internship with a custom gunsmith here in town, he built magnificent one of a kind rifles on mauser 98 actions, ground his own tapered octagon barrels from hart blanks,stocks from hand picked blanks, all the inletting,all the 28 line checkering,these in the early 70s were 8 K rifles.
Here was the deal,come into the shop,he would custom fit you,take down any specs he needed,took no deposits,shook your hand and said, I will call you in two yrs,do not call me.He always came thru in about two yrs.
My point is,people that do one of a kind work, really esoteric stuff, can be very strange at times,perhaps he will get around to you in his own time.

You're definetely right pixel. The thing that bothered me the most was that he promised so much, yet didn't do any of it. At the very least I would have liked a quick message like: "Hey Sam, I'm at so and so with your guitar, looks like I"m going to have to push production back a bit." If I heard that ONCE in the past 8 months, I would have been happy but I didn't even get that, on top of him not answering my calls/texts. I'm a really forgiving person but I expected at least somewhat better service. All the other custom guys send pics to their customers frequenlty, you can see them on the forum, meanwhile I'm left in the dark.

Is he one of the best of the best? what would the guitar be worth when done,is it a one off? could you sell it and maybe make a profit?.

He is one of the best. The guitar is worth what he quoted me, $3100. It is a one off, built to my specs (some of it at least). Not sure how hard it would be selling a $3100 custom 7-stringer haha, not your average guitar. I've been talking to a few guys on the guitar forum and they suggest I just email him asking for a refund since he didn't hold his end of the bargain, they said he could probably sell it. If he says no, I'm potentially stuck with a guitar that's different than what I wanted, which makes this whole thing a really shitty experience.

Unresponsiveness goes both ways. Just ignore the problem. You're out $500. If he ever emails you that it is done, return the Unresponsiveness back to him.

Let him go to court and convince a judge that his receipt is a contract. Then, you need a lawyer.

I think you should send him a letter and tell him you are no longer interested. You should take the guitar whenever it's done though. You are paying for a guitar, not an email friendship. But, I don't see any time requirement in your contract.

But, you can ignore him just as easily.

I don't think you are entitled to any refund. I also don't think you are required to take the guitar if you're not happy with it.