So, I saw a 1962 Fender Showman 12 advertised on eBay and it was local here in Phoenix. Contacted the seller, marcelsattic, and he told me where it was and I could come look at it.in the meantime, he took the listing down and said he wanted to "clean it up more", which he did not. Represented himself with an alias as 'Marcel Dietz', "... Call me Marc...". The amp looked straight up from the outside and he told me he had a tech go over the amp thoroughly. I took him at face value, I don't expect people to rip me off, and bought the amp for $3400.00. I knew that was the high-end worth on this amp if original, but I thought it was 100% original. He swore on his Father's grave that it was original! So, we exchanged the money and item, and I told him I would be taking the amp to my local tech right away and would have it gone over. He said he would stand by it 100% if there were any problems.
Turns out the Power Transformer had been changed, as well whoever did the 'mickey mouse' job, cut several inches of the chassis out. This made the amp worth about half what I paid. Clearly, any tech that would have looked at this would have seen this right away. The new transformer was only black-taped into place! He told me that he had had the amp for 5 years and bought it with a 1960 Fender Jazzmaster. He said he paid $3500 for the amp, 5 years before. Turns out, he bought it on Craigslist 5 months before and (he ended up admitting to me that he paid $3500 for the amp AND guitar! After I made inquiries to local vintage collectors) and I was able to find out his real name. I googled his real name and came up with a bunch of usacomplaints.com about him. I guess he is a former New York Police Officer and has been a vintage guitar/amp/drum trader for many years. I feel pretty confident that he knew exactly what he was selling me. After all was said and done, everything that came out of his mouth was a complete LIE! Not sure how someone like this is able to continue to operate??!! He has been reported to eBay, as well fraud.org and IC3. Gov regarding this event.
After finding out who he was, I contacted him at his 'real' email and let him know I knew his story. After weeks of not contacting me, he contacted me within 5 minutes. He went round and round about how he is just an "honest guy" who has just a few people that are a little "unhappy". Clearly, he is quite delusional and a pathological liar. Anyone who deals with him should expect to be misled and ripped off. If you don't, consider yourself very lucky! Well known locally as a total ripoff artist, just wished I had figured that out first! This is my attempt to help people in the future avoid what has happened to me and countless others!
0 comments