One year ago today, I sent my 1975 12 string to FOTW for a trade-in. So far, I've attempted to trade for 1 used and 2 different new instruments. I don't even know how many phone calls and e-mails were not returned.
Instrument 1 would have been a mandolin. James promised to hold the next one that came in and call me. Did not ever happen. I wandered into the site one day and saw two of them listed, but they were gone by the time I called. Ok, so that's not going to work. Next.
Instrument 2 would have been a different mandolin. First, it was on order. Then, "Good news! It'll be shipped at the end of October". It wasn't.in February, I found out it was not going to be available via FOTW.
Trying to figure out what was actually in stock never happened. I thought the Micael Kelly line was in stock, so that became choice #3. But, alas, it was not in stock. I spoke to Nathan on or around May 11. He said he called MK and it would only take 2-3 days to get the guitar, so I went for it. Obviously, that did not happen.
Meanwhile, the rep at MK says the guitar was shipped to FOTW, but returned to MK. He then informed me that FOTW is "having some financial difficulties". He keeps saying he will call them and try to work something out, but he doesn't seem to have gotten any further than I have.
I have filed a complaint with the NM BBB, but so have many others. I received a form from them Friday that stated that FOTW did not respond to the complaint.
This is a company I had done business with twice previously, so I trusted them. There is more to this story, including the trade-in promise of "fair market" value not being honored. But I will stop here.
If it matters, my trade-in is still listed on the site (updated in Nov '04) under used guitars. It is the "rare" Takamine Don Miller 12 string.
Thank you.
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