I had a Gibson SG and Marshall AVT 50 amp that had been sitting around my house and had not been getting much use. I took it to Boston Guitar Works to sell it over to them for a mere $200. The owner Heath Berkowitz was not there, so one of the other clerks called him to confirm the deal. They wrote me out a check for $200 and I was on my way.
I went to BGW's bank to cash the check and, without even running the account information the teller told me that she knew there was no money in the account. I asked her to check just to make sure and sure enough the account was empty. I called BGW back and Heath told the clerk to tell me he had some money that should be "hitting" tomorrow. So I deposited the check and decided I would wait for it to clear.
The next day I checked my account and the $200 had been made available to me. I thought all was good. A little over a week later I get a bank statement telling me that the check had bounced. While I admit it was the bank's fault that the funds were made available to me, it was clear that Berkowitz had either lied about the funds that were "hitting" or he just plain old said screw you pal. As if I wasn't going to notice the check had bounced?
Apparently the equipment was being saved by my mother for my father, unknowingly to me so we both went down to BGW in person to straighten it out. Of course Heath wasn't there (the clerk who helped us was extremely nice and very helpful, I wish I remembered his name to give him credit) so the clerk called him and told him we were there to take back the equipment. Heath did offer to come down to the store with $200 cash, but we said that we would just take the equipment and be on our way.
This guy did NOT want to give up the equipment. The clerk on the phone with him must have said "they just want the equipment back" at least ten times to this guy. The equipment was not even his! I can understand if he refused if he had actually paid the $200, but he bounced a check and then was upset that he had to give back the equipment which was not even his.
Finally, he agreed to give back the equipment. So the clerk gathered up the stuff and gave it back to me, and I then asked for the ten dollars that the bank charged me for the bounced check. The clerk (again, not his fault, great guy) informed me that they were not responsible for the ten dollars. Right, not responsible for the money that I was charged because of a check that THEY bounced. My mother and I had finally had enough and demanded that the ten dollars be given (it may be ten bucks but it is still my ten bucks) or else we would report the company and the owner.
Immediately, and I mean IMMEDIATELY when we threatened to report them, the clerk opened the drawer and handed over the ten. While we did not report them to any official authority, the quickness with which he responded to the threat of a report made me curious as to the history of the store. So, I went online and did a bit of research and, lo and behold, there are numerous reports all over the web about this guy Heath Berkowitz and the overall shady business tactics he's been performing. So, I felt compelled to share my story. Avoid bgw and heath berkowitz. Guy is ridiculous. Obviously if this many people have been reporting online about Berkowitz, it's not a coincidence. Steer clear.
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