Avoid Richards Guitars - Incredibly Rude

viz · December 2020

I just congratulate you on being able to post images on here without the standard two years’ trying.

VimFuego · December 2020

S56035 said:

He's discussed his mental health issues on his channel.

and? We can have threads about supporting mental health and threads warning others of possible poor service. The two are not mutually exclusive.

S56035 · December 2020

VimFuego said:

S56035 said:

He's discussed his mental health issues on his channel.

and? We can have threads about supporting mental health and threads warning others of possible poor service. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If it stayed that way then yes, but it never does.

VimFuego · December 2020

S56035 said:

VimFuego said:

S56035 said:

He's discussed his mental health issues on his channel.

and? We can have threads about supporting mental health and threads warning others of possible poor service. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If it stayed that way then yes, but it never does.

that smacks of slippery slope fallacy. The thread hasn't gone that way, if it does then action can be taken at that point. But can't really take preemptive action because you fear something may happen. Freedom of speech innit, the OP, so long as he stays in the bounds of law and the rules here, is free to say what he wants. And of course, you are free to say what you say, and I am free to disagree with you.

PengaMax · December 2020

viz said:

I just congratulate you on being able to post images on here without the standard two years’ trying.

I did receive some admin help so can't fully take the credit for that but i did read the 'how to' and set up a flickr so i'll accept a half point

Bridgehouse · December 2020

S56035 said:

VimFuego said:

S56035 said:

He's discussed his mental health issues on his channel.

and? We can have threads about supporting mental health and threads warning others of possible poor service. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If it stayed that way then yes, but it never does.

You seem eager to criticise/voice concern in thread, but yet you haven’t flagged it to the mods....

S56035 · December 2020

The big mod has already seen it.

VimFuego · December 2020

he may be the big mod, but we all know he's just a bellboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZ_47CHK6c

EricTheWeary · December 2020

PengaMax said:

EricTheWeary said:

There is a long and complex history on here with RG. I'll try to flag this with the modmins as they may have an opinion on whether the Discussion can run.

Sure thing. I'm new here so not aware of tge history! Just wanted to warn people and maybe deal with someone else, plenty of struggling guitar stores out there that dont treat people like this!

It is a semi regular thing that Richard comes up. Unsurprisingly some of the bigger stores get regular mentions on here both good and bad but he must be the most name checked smaller retailer in the history of the forum. And he doesn’t always take it, let’s say, with good humour.

PengaMax said:

viz said:

I just congratulate you on being able to post images on here without the standard two years’ trying.

I did receive some admin help so can't fully take the credit for that but i did read the 'how to' and set up a flickr so i'll accept a half point

I’ve been here 7 years and it’s still 50:50 if I can get a picture to work.

PengaMax · December 2020

The plot has certainly thickened. Richard replied to my trustpilot review. I'm utterly shocked by the response!

PengaMax · December 2020

Hi "Penga Max"

I spoke to you on Sunday afternoon via my chat. You visited my site and entered a fake email so I was unable to trace you . This is alway the first red flag

You asked me about a £39 fuzz pedal .

You asked me what circuit the fuzz pedal is copying to which I explained that I personally do not have the anwer for but rest assured the pedal is of extreme quality and sounds fantastic and we have just put a video online showing the pedal (which you knew about because you knew it was a 45 minute video and refused to search through it even though detailed time stamps are provided to enable you to go direct to the pedal demonstration)

So thinking this would suffice, and you would be understanding of this reply - I then proceeded to watch you type for 5 minutes, paragraph after paragraph of damning, insulting text about how can I pretend to have been researching this for 12 months if I dont know such basic things, that you knew all about the various circuits that are copied and anyone who is pretending to specialise in pedals should know such basic answers.

Rather than sit there for another 5 minutes watching you insult me - my business - my entire integrity as a proud business owner - because I could not answer one question on a Sunday afternoon I opted to inteject - to tell you I could see what you are writing and that you are behaving like a prat.

In order to prove you were what I knew you were - which was a horrible little troll - I offered you the pedal totally free of charge - which of course you declined.

You then told me you would screen shot the entire conversation (knowing full well you deleted the text that you had written because you didnt have to send it - because I had already read it!!!!)

You are a sad man. I PRESUME Trustpilot will remove this but they have let me down before so will wait and see.

Regardless - I would welcome anyone who wants to test me to visit rguitars.co.uk where I chat to people online all day every day as I have done for nearly 25 years! Yes, if you behave like a total prat I will let you know

PengaMax · December 2020

Here is my initial review and response;

Used the webchat service to ask for additional information regarding some guitar pedals. Owner called me a prat, an idiot and said i had an arrogant attitude!

I asked what type of reverb it was (hall, plate, spring etc) and was told that if him having spent a year developing them wasn't a good enough reason to buy it then these weren't the pedals for me.

Unprofessional, rude, abusive
- will avoid in future.

My response to Richards Guitars response.

I didn't give you my email address because i generally do not give all my details for general enquiries as i dont want to be included in any marketing emails. I don't agree that providing those details is necessary. I'm not prepared to get into a tit for tat argument with you, i'm certainly not going to stoop to personal attacks (horrible troll / sad man!) as i don't know you. I would urge anyone reading this to view my Flickr account (pengamax) where i have posted the full discussion we had - make up your own mind about whether my gripe is legitamate or not.

mudslide73 · December 2020

Interesting that his chat function seems to be collecting data before you hit the submit button.

Being fairly local I've dealt with Richard a couple of times and had a good experience - I did go there forewarned though.

PengaMax · December 2020

To that part he is referencing, i started typing and whilst doing so, had chosen to reword my statement before sending. I was obviously unaware he was able to see what i was typing. You can see on the message times that the text i sent was within the same minute, so hardly 5 minutes of typing paragraph after paragraph, im not that quick!

stickyfiddle · December 2020

Am I the only one thinking an online chat that lets the other person see what you're writing before you commit to hitting send is really creepy?

Chuffola · December 2020

My thoughts too.

I'd let this go @PengaMax ; - lots of other people have been there before. He's a weird character, no doubt, but this will cause you more stress than him. For all his statements about his mental health, he seems to relish these engagements.

PengaMax · December 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Am I the only one thinking an online chat that lets the other person see what you're writing before you commit to hitting send is really creepy?

Yes. As is the fact he wanted to try and 'trace' me

Cirrus · December 2020

Thing is, even if what you typed was rude... you didn't send it. You could have typed "you are a wanker" but if you didn't know he was reading that, and chose not to hit send... well we all have knee-jerk thoughts in response to events which are basically over-simplified &under-considered. You judge a person by how he chooses to present himself.

In written communication, that's what you choose to send. Not what you type, rethink and re-draft. Richard's way out of line sitting watching you re-draft things you don't even know he can read and laying into you for it.

PengaMax · December 2020

Cirrus said:

Thing is, even if what you typed was rude... you didn't send it. You could have typed "you are a wanker" but if you didn't know he was reading that, and chose not to hit send... well we all have knee-jerk thoughts in response to events which are basically over-simplified &under-considered. You judge a person by how he chooses to present himself.

In written communication, that's what you choose to send. Not what you type, rethink and re-draft. Richard's way out of line sitting watching you re-draft things you don't even know he can read and laying into you for it.

Exactly that. I probably typed what was in my head but thought better of it and tried to be more diplomatic - something i find very difficult!

digitalscream · December 2020

stickyfiddle said:

Am I the only one thinking an online chat that lets the other person see what you're writing before you commit to hitting send is really creepy?

Yes, I'd personally find that really concerning, and it's possible that it's illegal too - sending all keypresses to a server (where it will undoubtedly be at least logged) could represent a breach of the GDPR if the logs are persisted anywhere, particularly since that means they're collecting data which is not required for them to execute normal business operations (of course, not in this case, because @PengaMax had the foresight to use a fake email address, so no personal data was collected).

Purely from a systems and compliance perspective, I suspect they should at least be publicising this in their privacy policy. Which, by the way, lists six cookies that are set by the site - so I had a look out of curiosity, and it actually sets between 76 and 88 cookies. A lot are from third-party services (eg Facebook), but I counted 48 that were set by the page itself. Some of them are tracking cookies using third parties, which should really be listed in their privacy policy.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Avoid Richards Guitars - Incredibly Rude

Comments