Bad Trader Alert

[BigJoe77]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Until I get proven wrong, I would recommend treading lightly with Curt. We agreed to trade my Hot Rails bridge for his Alt-8 last Thursday (4/9/09). He received my pickup on Monday (4/13) and I was informed Tuesday that the Hot Rails would be coming back.


EDIT 5/8/09: It took almost a month, but Curt came through with a nearly mint Alt-8 in perfect working order. I don't know or care what happened in the mean time, but we're all square now.

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

I bought $800 worth of nerve pills from a guy here on the forum. Since I have sent payment, I have not received my pills and his account has been banned and all his threads deleted by mods saying "spam".

In hindsight, I'm a dumbass..........................

[Fusion1]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Well I guess I should thank my lucky stars I probably averted a bad deal so I guess it would still apply to mention it here.

I had a trade deal set up with N_Schon (he has 54 posts so I normally know better than to blindly trust someone so new) for his EMG set for a Jazz/CC set.

He contacted me via PM and wanted additional information while I asked literally nothing about his set (based on they were just removed from a new or fairly new Schecter guitar).

He then told me the next day to call him (for whatever reason???) and I did and he had a bad connection and it was frustrating talking to him with phone cutting out and whatnot and I never got any reason why I was calling him in which we could have taken care of the details over in PM or email. I then send pics of the pickups for him to decide which 59 he wanted:



I then even offered an alternative Jazz neck pickup since the 59s were all long legged baseplates and was concerned it may not fit his guitar so I gave him that option:



Then He decided he would want the Jazz/CC since the 59's prob wouldn't fit and I was cool with that. Then said he wouldn't be able to ship them out until later this week since he worked for Guitar Center as a repair tech and was "very busy" and doesn't spend much time online. I was ok with that but wanted his address so I could get his pickups packaged for him and once he told me he was going to send out the EMGs I would do the same.

Well 2 or 3 days go by, and then I reminded him via PM, email and in his thread I wanted a heads up from him. A day goes by and nothing.

Then today he emails and answers the thread he sold them to someone else and that he sent 2 emails to me. The only email I receive from him was 10 minutes before he posted the response in his own thread this morning.

I have to say I think I avoided a total scam situation. Just wanted to share this with you all.

[ricc]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Unfortunately, I had to take down my initial good report about Mark Cearlock. I have recently done a trade with him where I traded my Epiphone V with DD/Jazz for his Squire Tele Custom with CC/PGn +$100.
Initially the guitar seemed fine. However, after cranking the amp a little I noticed a very annoying loud buzz from both pickups. Additionally, the rhythm neck volume pot was scratchy and uneven - 10 on the pot was quieter than 7 - 8. The tone control on the bridge pickup was also very uneven and occasionally cuts out. Then, the rhythm pickup stopped working.......
I took the strings off to look at the wiring and was pretty amazed at the shoddy job that had been done. You can see in the pics what I'm talking about. Some of the wiring was also stripped of insulation. The ground wire was also loose. The big shock was when I looked at the bridge pickup. It was covered in electrical insulation tape so I thought maybe it had been repaired or modded. Then I looked at the sticker - TB-14; you can see from the message that I had been promised a Custom Custom.......
Not happy at all. So now I am stuck with a guitar that has a different pickup than what I was told and that will also require repair that will probably run me in excess of $50 (there is no way I am going to touch the rats maze of a wiring job).

Very unhappy with the deal. Caveat emptor and all that...........


Original message from Mark Cearlock concerning this trade was:

"Would you consider a blond squier tele custom with a pearly gates n and custom custom, cts, switchcraft, electrosocket, orange drops, and 75 bucks for it?
Very good shape"

[DracoAran]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Is it perhaps a TB-14 with an Alnico II magnet? Very common thing to do around here man.

And shoddy wiring is something I usually write off as pure noobery that I can fix to my liking, but yeah, better when things are disclosed before hand.

[ricc]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

might be for all I know but it isn't a Custom Custom......I'm not making a statements about Mark as a person but disclosure is important.......

[ratherdashing]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

I've seen way worse wiring than that. It's actually a lot tidier than most n00b jobs I've seen.

Did you give him a chance to explain himself before you posted this thread?

[ricc]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

ratherdashing, no I did not: perhaps I should - if that is the etiquette then I will be glad to remove this post and post an apology. However, I am not sure how you can explain the fact that what I was offered was an SH-11 and what I got was a TB-14 - with or without the magnet swap. Also I don't see how you could - assuming you had tested the guitar out - know that there was a severe wiring issue that resulted in chords dissipating after a short while into a buzzing noise (and no, it's not my settings on my amp )
if i had been offered an amateur wiring job and a modded pickup on a squier tele i would probably not have gone for the exchange. of course, that is water under the bridge now. if there was an "unhappy with my deal" thread perhaps it wouldn't seem as severe as calling someone a "bad trader"?
i guess many people have been happy with trades/deals/purchases with Mark - this is one instance where someone is not.

i should mention that i messaged mark twice earlier tonight to ask if he knew about the wiring and also about the pickup.

[Mark Cearlock]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

I would just like to say, in my defense, that the guitar funtioned just fine when it left my house, And was my #1 untill I had parted ways with it.
The pickups were advertised as a custom custom and a pgn. The bridge pickup is a tb-14 (for string spacing) and has had a a-2 mag swap, ie: custom custom. Sorry if i mislead any one in any way, as that was NOT my intentions. I have had many satisfactory deals with the fine folks on here, and I wasn't ever out to screw anyone. -Mark

[ricc]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Mark - apology accepted. I certainly wasn't thinking or suggesting you were trying to screw me over. I was just annoyed that nothing was mentioned about the pickup...

[Mark Cearlock]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Mark - apology accepted. I certainly wasn't thinking or suggesting you were trying to screw me over. I was just annoyed that nothing was mentioned about the pickup...

It is , in fact, still a custom custom, no?

No hard feelings, man, I just wanted to have a chance to explain myself, and/ or have a chance to make it right.

[ricc]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

It is , in fact, still a custom custom, no?

lol - is it? If I was to pull the pickup out and sell it on eBay should I sell it as a Custom Custom or as a modified Custom-5 with Alnico 2 magnet?

Any way - no worries. What's done is done.

[scottish]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Technically it is a custom custom. If you were to sell it on ebay then i would disclose the fact its a custom 5 thats been converted to save you any hassle incase the guy gets all upset over what it says on the baseplate.

Im not 100% sure about this but i think all the customs (custom, CC and C5) are the same wind with different mags.

[Almost Never]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Stay away from Ebay user shackleton1, email "Ebay Eric" <[email protected]>.

He contacted me about an item I had on ebay, acted very strangely, asked for my email, asked me a laundry list of questions (my PayPal address being first, suggesting he was ready to pay), and then decided he didn't want the item at the last minute for no real reason. Don't buy from or sell to this kind of tire kicker. Keep your distance and BEWARE.

[tkoz]

Re: Bad Trader Alert

Just created this account to try to warn people about user Dominus. He is selling a few things here right now. I traded several items to him last month for a guitar, and while he received his items, i received nothing.