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I dealt with Caravan Guitars, I've had a wonderful experence when i bought my Dupont MD50. Their price was fair and the service was excellent. To top it off, their store is beautiful and the owner pretty much bent over backwards to make me happy,
Thanks for outing yourself on the very forum that you spend so much time badmouthing!! Now I don't have to reply to the countless personal e-mails inquiring about your name. Also thank you to all who confirmed my experience both on this forum through private e-mail as well..I must not be too crazy...Josh, How's your new guitar treating you?
PS a full refund on a damaged product would include my shipping costs to return the item to your builder, and not having me wait to "see if the guitar doesn't have any other damage". SO to keep your word on what you did for me you still owe me shipping costs in addition to the 3% cc fee that you told my sister "I don't get back so you don't get back" not exactly taking responsibility as you claim...you can send it to my address.
Best, Roch
Relationship matters a good deal to me in dealings, and in that vein I'd also like to say, I've always enjoyed a tremendous experience with Michael and Djangobooks. This place was my first contact with the style, and Michael's store, this site and its people have proved very valuable, consistently rewarding.
pas encore, j'erre toujours.
My experience with them was around an inquiry over a dupont MD50e (maple) that they were selling at a very low cost. Now, when a deal seems too good to be true, it often is, so I asked around to find out from others why this guitar was so cheep. One person told me that for a certain period of time in the early 2000's Dupont was having a quality control problem, and sending out guitars that had issues of varying kinds.
I sent Caravan an email asking why it was so inexpensive, and they replied with a very short answer, basically saying the owner "needed the money" (which is always a dicey statement because owners always need the money if they're selling something as nice as a high end guitar, so that doesn't ease my mind much).
Now, while I find this understandable, and don't necessarily read into it any intent to deceive, it was a STARK contrast with Michael , which I will get into shortly.
The other experience I had with Caravan was an email I sent to them saying they might want to carry Alta Mira guitars, since they are basically Latcho Droms minus the bells and whistles, sound way better than the gitane dg300 for a lower price, and I personally love the Alta mira that I recently bought. To this I received a short brusk email basically saying "We will never sell those guitars because we tried one and it was the WORST guitar we have ever played. The latcho Droms are FAR superior" .
Again, right or wrong, a serious lack of diplomacy and basic friendliness.
As a contrast, you have Michael, who in my experience, bends over backwards to give you ALL the info you need to decide on a purchase. his email replies to me have always been long and detailed, worded as if we were FRIENDS even though we've never met. This engenders a LOT more trust in terms of making a purchase.
On the other hand when someone lacks in diplomacy, I have often found, problems get bigger when there is a dispute. Quite frankly, I believe BOTH sides to this story. I'm sure from Caravan's point of view, they did everything above board as business men, BUT, I also think that had they been more DIPLOMATIC, and FRIENDLY, the whole thing would have gone far smoother.
bottom line guys - The Gypsy Jazz community is tightly knit, and consists of artists who are often sensitive (like myself), so treat EVERYONE like they're your pals (as michael does) and watch the sales grow and disputes become less dramatic.
just my $.02
Hey there,
I'm not formally affiliated with the store -- Josh just hires me to record videos of the guitars. Which I like, because it's pretty rare to get the opportunity to play these types of guitars in the U.S. *and* get paid for it. :-)
I'll refrain from giving my own two cents on this particular situation, as I have no idea what happened. I think the moral of the story is, as somebody previously pointed out, the gypsy jazz community is small, and relationships and reputation are really important. Personally I've had great experiences transacting (and jamming!) with both Michael H. and Josh over the years.
Adrian
Let me just say that people make mistakes in business all the time. I bought my first gypsy jazz guitar from these guys when they first opened their online storea little over 2 years ago and have purchased picks and strings from Caravan ever since. Everyone is making this guy out to be the worst but, actually he's not, he's just new. I certainly hope he sees all of this and improves because he a good guy. My good friend bought a very expensive guitar from him and 2 weeks later got laid off, they took the guitar back and gave him a refund - no questions asked. I think that was cool of them to do. People are always fast to point out the worst but not the good.
Keep on pickin.
I understand we are a small community and it is imperative to grow from our experiences and move ahead stronger and better able to navigate this life thing be it in business, friendship, or maybe both. Thank You to Josh & Caravan guitars for their willingness to remedy the business side of the transaction promising to refund my shipping as well as the 3% cc. fee. Also hats off on reaching out and being willing to swallow a difficult learning experience...I've been on that end of things before as well and it was not at all fun or comfortable......
So As a fellow human who is constantly striving in earnestness and sincerity I thank you for your efforts.
I humbly offer much respect & honour to you.
I will be cheering on Caravan and hope for your businesses success....It will only make the GJ community stronger.
Viva la Django!!
We also want to thank Michael Horrowitz for allowing these posts and bring this issue to our attention. Through your forum we have learned what we need to change.
Sincerely,
Caravan Guitars
We're all in this together
Viva Django !!