Horrible Experience with International Purchase
I cannot express how disappointed I am in Ishibashi Music company and the unethical practices I have experienced.
I have been searching for a specific model guitar for over 7 years. I was excited when one came up in my Reverb alerts being sold by this company in Japan. When I checked Ishibashi's website directly, the guitar was listed for $800 CAN less than on Reverb.
l researched and found most international customers that had dealt with this company had positive experiences. I communicated with them on three occasions about this guitar. The last making an offer, which was rejected for the reason: "Unfortunately, the price is fixed and we’re unable to accept offers."
So, I decided to purchase for the full price listed, ¥408,000 JPY [$3,900 CAN] + shipping, as I had been waiting years to acquire this model.
I spent 6 hours online today, attempting to purchase this guitar by the only means available on the Ishibashi webpage, PayPal, and kept getting rejection after rejection. I called PayPal a total of 4 times [do you know how difficult it is to get PayPal Customer Service] and they kept telling me it was a problem with my card, before changing their story and blaming Ishibashi's system. I tried another card, same issue. I called my credit card company 3 times, and each time they said their was not a problem at their end, I have over $20,000 of credit available.
During this time I sent 2 messages to Ishibashi asking for assistance. When someone finally did get back to me, their suggestion was to contact PayPal or to do a bank transfer, which could be done immediately. I was not in a position to do a bank transfer.
At 7:42pm, my local time, the guitar was in my shopping cart, as well as it was listed on Reverb. I made the suggestion "I see the guitar is available on Reverb, however for nearly $800.00 CAN more than on your site. If you would accept an offer of $3901.00 CAN [¥408,000 JPY] , as listed on your webpage, on Reverb, I could place the order there."
I received no response and at 8:35 pm, my local time, I went to make another attempt to purchase on the Ishibashi webpage. The guitar had been removed from my cart and was no showing as "Sold Out", and the listing was ended on Reverb as well!
WHAT is going on! Is this Ishibashi's brand of "Customer Service"! I thought the Japanese people were "honorable"!
I have asked for an explanation! I have been met with silence!
I am disappointed and ANGRY with both Ishibashi and PayPal!
A usually polite and mild Canadian
Ishibashi just responded to me as I complete this review:
"We sincerely apologize,
but the item in question has been ordered domestically.
Please rest assured that we take your feedback seriously and will use it as a valuable reference for future improvements."
Unacceptable...the item was in my cart and they knew I was making every effort to purchase!