Gordon Smith and Richard's Guitars

Gru

JookyChap;628458" said:

@RichardsGuitars said:

LOL.  Sure yes.  I totally understand yes.  You want to try Googling MY shop name and finding pissedconsumer.  I am surprised I have any customers at all.



Google can be a curse sometimes!














Haters hate, and all that

Taylor Swift summed it up nicely.


Richard having delt with you a few times, and hoping to again on some acoustics in the future, I am glad you are a contributor to this board.

I understand your position with Gordon Smith completely. While not related to guitars, part of my job is making sure things are right, ignoring an error just doesn't work.

It can make me a little intense if someone is doing work for me personally, ask the last tradesmen I had working on my house. I would walk in after work and the first thing I would see is all of the errors.

That's why I am always happy to deal with you, you've got it right.

The insight and service we get from you and others (GAK, Peach, guitar weasel, Feline, + others who I cannot think of right now) is valuable information for us the consumer and makes this forum one of the best.

JookyChap

@Gru said:

Haters hate, and all that

Taylor Swift summed it up nicely.

She is my guru

(OK, I admit I had to google her to find out she is a she, but even so)

You make a good point - we spend half our time complaining about box shifters and sales chaps who couldn't give a shit, and then someone like Richard gets slagged off for caring too much.. Worlds a weird place

blueskunk

Amen to that brother. And it gets weirder by the day....

stevengarside

Richards Guitars. At your peril.

I wanted to relate my experience of this retailer as a cautionary tale. It has been appalling and I have found him to be volatile, erratic, unstable and highly unprofessional. Someone on here called him a "drama queen". I'd say that is putting it mildly.

More importantly, he has just shamelessly helped himself to nearly 200 pounds of my hard earned cash. It's a very long and tortuous story (see Trustpilot for the full horror). In short, I arranged to return a guitar to him that had a faulty nut. He agreed to refund me - first of all offering a repair which I declined. So far so good. After two months with the guitar in his possession and no refund I emailed him to ask what the hell was happening. He incredibly said he didn't know who had sent him the guitar, even though the return was all arranged by courier and with email exchanges. He then went on the offensive and tried to claim it had been damaged in transit and I had messed up the set up so badly that he was owed twenty percent of the sale price. Incredible. That he had not raised any of this until I pressed him over my money is startling. After a series of bizarre and vaguely unhinged emails (in which he said I must "listen to his wrath") he 'agreed' he would refund me 80 per cent of the money I had paid him - justifying stealing £194 from me as 'compensation' for 'the damage' I had caused to his precious instrument. 

Beware!

tony99

I've never thought of wrath as something to be heard, I thought you felt wrath

guitarfishbay

He's the only retailer I have permanently blacklisted.

mgaw

what an absolute cock that man is.....hes like a care in the community case gone rogue...allegedly

stevengarside

guitarfishbay said:

He's the only retailer I have permanently blacklisted.

Thanks for the comment. It's interesting to know.

Incredibly, he had this to say in his last email -  after he had just told me he was keeping nearly 200 quid of my hard earned:

"If you ever want another guitar, I will definitely factor this dispute in to any pricing as matter of good will - which I show to every customer".

To which I replied: Are you completely insane? Do you lack all self awareness?

I feel like I have just escaped from a nightmare..

stevengarside

tony99 said:

I've never thought of wrath as something to be heard, I thought you felt wrath

Exactly! Though he is so volatile I think I would be hesitant to point that out to him. 

stevengarside

mgaw said:

what an absolute cock that man is.....hes like a care in the community case gone rogue...allegedly

That's definitely my experience mgaw. Though I think that is harsh on those receiving social care.

fastonebaz

I bought a Gordon Smith gs2 deluxe from Richards Guitars a couple of weeks ago.   Here's what it sounds like. Nice tone.  Slim fast neck. 

impmann

Sadly I'm not surprised - my professional dealing with him was similar at times. The company I worked for eventually blacklisted him, and yet he says he refused to deal with us - yeah right, However he's very good at shouting loudly from the rooftops about how wonderful he is and convinces people he's the customer's "saviour". He who shouts loudest and all that...

Sounds like a shitty situation and I'm sorry to hear it.

monofin

I'm in no way a fan of Richard and he's probably the only dealer I would never patronise but having just read your review something stands out. Having received a faulty guitar should we make any attempt at rectifying it (ie lowering action) before returning and if so are we diluting our rights to a full refund - genuine question

monofin

^^ Still think you're treatment was really shitty despite my comment above

streethawk

monofin said:

I'm in no way a fan of Richard and he's probably the only dealer I would never patronise but having just read your review something stands out. Having received a faulty guitar should we make any attempt at rectifying it (ie lowering action) before returning and if so are we diluting our rights to a full refund - genuine question

Not unless the guitar manufacturer explicitly states that you should only make certain adjustments via an authorised repairer. 
Adjusting the action is like loosening a shoelace, hardly a modification, and very quickly corrected by the retailer.

If you were to start filing the nut slots and hammering down high frets, that would be a different matter.

DefaultM

Ask him to show how your terrible set up cost him £200 in time to rectify? 
Surely if the nut was faulty he would have to set it up again anyway?

Teyeplayer

stevengarside said:

It's a very long and tortuous story (see Trustpilot for the full horror). 

No sign of this on trustpilot under rguitars -have you been a victim of the classic dispute for inaccuracy thing that every business does on there when they get a negative review?

earwighoney

streethawk said:

If you were to start filing the nut slots and hammering down high frets, that would be a different matter.

Or turning the truss rod more than one should. 

digitalscream

Posts from a banned user - Richards Guitars - deleted. He's permanently banned (but not for the reasons he stated), and so doesn't get to use this forum as a platform for stating his opinions.

Schnozz

I won't be buying from that guy then! Cheers for the heads up.