The Guitar Guru Network (The fake tracking number scam goes on)

  • Thread starter Thread starter eluke
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Dude, it's no longer a question. MANY complaints have been filed with Reverb and the GGN is still doing business through them. Do you really think this forum cares if you've had good luck with them? Lots of fraudulent businesses also have satisfied customers. If all a business did was screw people over, they'd be done in an instant.

I get there is legit beef that people have here. But I'm just asking questions man. I like understanding people's train of thought. Is that a problem?
 
The fact that he colludes with Reverb/Etsy to ‘erase’ or ‘cover up’ bad or negative feedback, which can affect someone else’s decision to buy/not buy from them is fraud. The only protection anyone has is Google, and to find our threads and after reading them make a better informed decision.
 
Lets go deeper. So ggn has ~7000 total feedbacks on reverb. If we assume an average item sales price of $1k, which I think is ridiculously generous since most ggn sales appear to be pedals and accessories, then it appears ggn has brought in around $350k in revenue to reverb with 5% total fees. Let's round up to $500k, shall we? Reverb has been around since 2013 but let's assume ggn has only been on there for 5 years which I'm sure is low, and with these generous assumptions that means that ggn brings in $100k a year in revenue to reverb/etsy.

So are you guys saying that reverb/etsy, a company with $500-$600 MILLION in revenue each year and over 4 MILLION active sellers, are doing what they can to shield a customer/seller company that is using their platform to conduct criminal activity, all to protect $100k in annual revenue?
I’ve said before, he’s unethical and works the system. What crimes has he committed? Being a POS isn’t criminal thus his success in doing what he’s doing. What really sucks is he can leave the buyer negative feedback , which is why he doesn’t have more negative feedback. I’ve got screen captured if negative feedback that disappears due to him holding buyer feedback hostage.
 
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I’ve said before, he’s unethical and works the system. What crimes has he committed? Being a POS isn’t criminal this his success in doing what he’s doing. What really sucks is he can leave the buyer negative feedback , which is why he doesn’t have more negative feedback. I’ve got screen captured if negative feedback that disappears due to him holding buyer feedback hostage.
What’s worse is that I posted screenshot of conversations on TGP only to have my post removed and a warning from God, I mean the mods. Apparently posting non-opinionated screenshots and letting people make their own opinion is considered “personal attacks”
 
Lets go deeper. So ggn has ~7000 total feedbacks on reverb. If we assume an average item sales price of $1k, which I think is ridiculously generous since most ggn sales appear to be pedals and accessories, then it appears ggn has brought in around $350k in revenue to reverb with 5% total fees. Let's round up to $500k, shall we? Reverb has been around since 2013 but let's assume ggn has only been on there for 5 years which I'm sure is low, and with these generous assumptions that means that ggn brings in $100k a year in revenue to reverb/etsy.

So are you guys saying that reverb/etsy, a company with $500-$600 MILLION in revenue each year and over 4 MILLION active sellers, are doing what they can to shield a customer/seller company that is using their platform to conduct criminal activity, all to protect $100k in annual revenue?
Where do you get $1k average? I'm looking at recent reviews and see lots of pedals and strings.


Either way, thanks for flagging this seller. I had considered buying something from them recently and likely would have run into the drop shipment and excuses bucket.
 
What’s worse is that I posted screenshot of conversations on TGP only to have my post removed and a warning from God, I mean the mods. Apparently posting non-opinionated screenshots and letting people make their own opinion is considered “personal attacks”
Yep…this ‘politically correct’ ‘tolerant’ world we find ourselves in… It’s getting so pathetic, you can’t even speak the truth.
 
Yep…this ‘politically correct’ ‘tolerant’ world we find ourselves in… It’s getting so pathetic, you can’t even speak the truth.
What does this have to do with PC / tolerant? I think you are injecting your own belief here. Considering reverb seems to be cleaning out bad reviews, I would assume GGN whined to a mod he either cut a deal with or became friends with over time. I would assume this has more to do with corruption and networking than TGP being politically correct.
 
Yep…this ‘politically correct’ ‘tolerant’ world we find ourselves in… It’s getting so pathetic, you can’t even speak the truth.

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Thank you all for this thread! Yes, I registered because of this...

Much like the original poster, I've been looking for a guitar that has been hard to come by. Got excited when I saw one posted on his Reverb site today. Didn't see him listed on the Authorized Dealer list so inquired with him. He quickly responded that he was authorized and I can contact Matt at EVH to confirm (of course, no contact info for Matt included). A bit more digging and found his address lead back to a house (alarm bells). Did more digging and found this and a couple similar threads.

Needless to say, glad I found this and avoided the headache. Well done Rigtalk friends!

Adding -
Do want to add that Fender/EVH did confirm he is authorized. Clearly an interesting business model, but not sure I would declare as scam. Just buyer beware. Would feel much better if he just listed up front as pre-order. Would likely help his reputation a lot.
 
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Thank you all for this thread! Yes, I registered because of this...

Much like the original poster, I've been looking for a guitar that has been hard to come by. Got excited when I saw one posted on his Reverb site today. Didn't see him listed on the Authorized Dealer list so inquired with him. He quickly responded that he was authorized and I can contact Matt at EVH to confirm (of course, no contact info for Matt included). A bit more digging and found his address lead back to a house (alarm bells). Did more digging and found this and a couple similar threads.

Needless to say, glad I found this and avoided the headache. Well done Rigtalk friends!

Adding -
Do want to add that Fender/EVH did confirm he is authorized. Clearly an interesting business model, but not sure I would declare as scam. Just buyer beware. Would feel much better if he just listed up front as pre-order. Would likely help his reputation a lot.
I understand that businesses need to make profits to keep the lights on and it costs money to keep gear on the shelf. I’m this case they provide no value. What am I paying for? No value add and the customer service begins with deception.
 
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Thankfully I ran across this forum today and found out that I was indeed being scammed. The item shipped on August 20th, no movement on the tracking number. Seller's communication was poor, only responded once saying they would look into it. After seeing the reports of drop ship scam I sent another message to the seller stating that I was on to them and that I would be pursuing all legal options available to me. I called my bank to open a dispute and to flag their business as fraudulent and while I was on the phone I got a "your purchase has been refunded" message from reverb. How in the world are these people still listed on Reverb?
 
I also chatted with reverb about the situation and advised of extensive documentation of other reverb users having the same experience with this merchant, many dating back years. I got a canned response about it being reported to their merchant services team, whatever its' called. Happy ending to the story is that I went to zzounds this afternoon and placed an order for the same model and it has already shipped via fedex. I had an order in place with zzounds that I canceled because I thought I could get it faster through guitar guru.
 
They've burned me twice on pickups. Fake tracking numbers, then "Dude, you'll never believe it but someone bought the last one the same time as you did" even though the listing showed several in stock after the purchase.

I steer clear of them
 
Hilariously on the “ask Dave” episode of Tone-Talk yesterday someone asked Dave if he could help because GuitarGuruNetwork “lost” a Friedman amp he had ordered. My money is on Keith sending the dude a fake tracking number as usual instead of actually losing the amp….
 
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