Reverb seller doesn't want to refund a guitar in terrible condition

QUESTION

Hello !

I've received a Gibson Flying V 67 reissue from Reverb, but the seller have hidden that the neck was in very very bad condition, he took advantage from photo angles.

I've contacted Reverb and send them proofs that he scamed me, and now seller is accusing me of having damaging the neck on purpose to get a refund. He told me we wont refund me and wont cooperate with reverb.

What will happen if he doesn't want to refund the guitar and keep the money ?

Reverb support told me: "In the event that your seller still not cooperating with us, we have no choice but to forcefully refund your order and it may lead to a corrective action on the sellers account"

I'm not a native english speaker so I don't understand perfectly: Is Reverb is gonna refund me with their own money if this seller decide to keep the money ?

If anyone has experienced a situation like this, your advice is welcomed ! Thank you :)

PS: I you want to see the condition of the guitar , here is my previous reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/1cvk96w/bad_surprise_on_reverb_should_i_refound_this/

in Guitarby Maxime97438

89%

13d

Tuokaerf10

13d

If the seller is being unreasonable and argumentative, provide that information (and looks like you’re in process of doing that) with Reverb support and continue to work with Reverb support, not the seller.

Reverb support told me: "In the event that your seller still not cooperating with us, we have no choice but to forcefully refund your order and it may lead to a corrective action on the sellers account"

I'm not a native english speaker so I don't understand perfectly: Is Reverb is gonna refund me with their own money if this seller decide to keep the money ?

What Reverb will do in this case is likely coordinate a return label for you to return the item which will go back to the seller and Reverb will refund you. Reverb will withdraw that from the seller.

Maxime97438

13d

OK thank you very much for your answer !

ShowmasterQMTHH

13d

Yep, they hold the money for a period after the sale, pending that you are happy with the purchase before release of funds, they will possibly fine or ban the seller.

D1rtyH1ppy

13d

Nope, the return label will go to Chicago and Reverb is going to refund the buyer. The seller is going to work it out with Reverb independently

se95dah

13d

Regarding the seller accusing you of damaging it yourself, I remember in your previous post you had messaged the seller to tell them about the damage and they told you it was nothing to worry about because it was in that condition when they bought it. Make sure you screenshot those messages and provide them to Reverb - it’s proof that he knew about the damage before he sold it to you.

Maxime97438

13d

Yes, I still have the messages and I wont hesitate to provide them to Reverb. Thank you :)

promised_to_veruca

TOO MANY GUITARS

13d

good point - Reverb already has access to all these messages IF you use the app / messaging feature, which is one reason they discourage direct comms

johnnybgooderer

13d

I had a similar issue with a pedal. Reverb basically took over and made him take it back.

Mr_TP_Dingleberry

13d

Listen. Reverb will take care of you if this guy is jerking you around. What reverb is telling you is that in the event that this guy doesn’t give you a refund then REVERB will pay you themselves and make you happy and then go after the doofus not cooperating. For what it’s worth- eBay has a similar policy. I’ve been through both and I have 100% feedback rating on both. That helps. Just be honest and have documentation.

Automatic_Ad1887

13d

Reverb has good customer service. It looks like they are going to take care of you.

NotPennysBoat-815

13d

I remember that for my first Reverb sale, they wouldn’t even pay me until the buyer verified they received it in the correct condition. They’ll take care of you.

mynamejulian

13d

Reverb will sort it out for you by the sound of it. It may take time but you’ll be fine in the end. I was scammed a couple of times online decades ago by eBay/Paypal and a smaller company but these days, they won’t risk their reputation for this

User deleted comment

13d

mynamejulian

13d

Yikes. That’s somehow worse than mine. I had purchased a cell phone and was shipped an empty box. When I disputed it, the seller said I should have “read the description” more carefully and sure enough in the middle of the wall of text for the “specs” for the phone it said “sellnig ebox olny” (selling box only) in the middle of a sentence discussing the spectrum of 2G bandwidth misspelled just like that. eBay and PayPal defended the seller of an obvious scam. Years later, someone claimed I didn’t ship them an item and even though I showed proof, they defended the buyer. I never used PayPal again.

Alarmed_Big_9802

PRS

12d

I’ve had to do so many charge backs to eBay this year due to scammers and non-existent customer service. At this point, I’m not even going to bother trying to deal with their customer service, because as stated above it doesn’t exist. It’s like they don’t care and aren’t even trying anymore. If I buy things off eBay I’m just going to use Amex and get my money back immediately, if it’s a scam. Never use a debit card for these things.

promised_to_veruca

TOO MANY GUITARS

13d

Reverb support is great, they will take care of everything for you, and just let them communicate with this person.

Unless this is (was) a trusted seller, they hold onto the money for exactly this reason, in case of damaged goods or item not-as-described.

Even if it was damaged in shipping - which it sounds like the weird angle photos is a clear effort to hide existing damage - you will be refunded. You will likely be asked if you want to keep the item with a % discount, else you will ship it back.

Your post doesn't say how long you had the item in your possession, so Reverb will have to figure out if you *could* have damaged the guitar - the idea being, some people may have an already-broken duplicate item, and claim the purchased item was damaged in shipping, but Reverb knows these scams exist.

Assuming you do have to return ship, MAKE SURE you document HOW you protect the item for shipment.
You don't want the item to arrive with additional problems.
Film it if you have to, but since it's Gibson make sure you support the neck and don't allow for any shifting.
Pad / support UNDER the neck cradle, but NOT around the headstock (or simply Google HOW TO SHIP GIBSON)

Maxime97438

13d

It's not weird angles to be honnest, he was very smart: In fact he took the guitar in photo from above and face but the guitar was STILL IN THE CASE so impossible for me guess that the neck had crackles on the left and right sides !

Guitar arrived last Wednesday, I send him a message to tell him there is a problem with the guitar and he told me "this is normal I bought her like that get used to it". I wanted to show her to my luthier but i got sick and had fever until Saturday evening, very very bad timing.

(In my head i believed that i had 14 days to return it plus it's my second purchasing on Reverb I don't have any experience)

I only asked a refund yesterday (Sunday) after seeing that I only had 7 days to return it and making a post on reddit (photos and videos) where to people told me to get back his piece of garbage. So yes it took me 4 days to warn Reverb, hope this wont be used against me.

Thank you for advicing me to document the return of the piece of art , this is clever because seller is dishonnest and he can do anything to keep the money.

modshateths1smpltrik

13d

Scame

JasperDyne

13d

Reverb will help you to be satisfied with your purchase. They protect both sides and act as a mediator, if necessary. I’ve made many sales through them, and on the two occasions where things went bad (one guitar’s hardshell case was damaged in transit by UPS, and another sustained hidden electronic damage in transit), Reverb made sure that everything was made right.

They charge a premium for their services, but it’s valuable peace of mind for both buyers and sellers.

BendsTowardsJustice1

13d

I looked at those pictures. Holy shit. What do you think happened? Did the seller try to refret it and epically fail? There’s no way it came from Gibson like that. Is it even a real Gibson or a copy that someone put together?

OGWeedKiller

12d

Happened to me on Fleabay, long story short the guy broke the neck of an '90 RG760, he waited past the 3 days the the post office would resume responsibility for damage in shipping....I was furious, ebeay made him return it (my tech said it was bent backward to snap and was able to fix it) ebay refunded the theif and let me keep their money....

VMPRocks

-3

ESP/LTD

13d

I’ve never sold on Reverb, but I sold a guitar and equipment on eBay. I’m pretty sure the process is similar, but the way it works on eBay is that when a seller pays you for an item you’re selling, the money doesn’t go straight to you. eBay puts a hold on the money until a few days after the item is delivered to the seller. That way if the seller experiences any problems with the item that you didn’t disclose, and wants a refund, eBay can issue the refund without your input. Because the funds were not yet released to you, eBay was holding the funds to make sure there weren’t any issues.

I think reverb works the same way which is why I’ve said all this. But I don’t know for sure.

DaRealWhiteChocolate

13d

You used the word seller instead of buyer twice, if I'm understanding what you meant to say instead. It's a little confusing.

VMPRocks

-2

ESP/LTD

13d

I was describing it from my point of view as the seller. So OP knows what is going on from the seller’s end.

[deleted]

-3

13d