Why are you mad right now?

[Emperor Guillotine]

I just went through the wringer with a guitar/audio/music shop called Unisound in Yokohama, Japan. Absolutely avoid this shop.

Their whole gimmick seems to be:
- purchasing very high-dollar guitars that have a hefty amount of cosmetic damage
- taking "just enough" photos with "just the right angles and lighting" in order to mask significant flaws while not providing any in-depth description or details regarding the damage
- proceeding to list the guitars for sale at either the going price of other similar instruments in far better condition or at just under full value

A really nice Dragonfly Border Custom 666 that immensely interested me ended up in the Unisound shop. I actually remember when Harry's Engineering (the company that manufactures the Dragonfly brand) posted photos of that exact custom build on Instagram upon completing it back in August 2020. So, I felt a bit of a yearning for the guitar since I saw it when it was first completed. And spec-wise, it just ticked all the right boxes for me.

The shop's online listing only had a few photos; and none of the photos detailed any real cosmetic damage. About a day later, a link to a Google Drive folder containing 30-40 photos was added to the description in the listing. And holy cow, dudes...this guitar had been battered in the two years that it was out in some player's hands. I counted at least 12+ chips in the paint on the back, some belt buckle rash and scratching, a big chip in the binding on the front of the guitar, and a series of chips in the forearm contour/bevel (of all places) that was so damn large that you could see it from quite a distance away.

Regardless, I figured that it was just stuff that I could do some touch-up work to remedy or outright mask. So, I contacted the shop via email and expressed my interest in purchasing. The shop rep (who reeked of "used car salesman" vibes) responded with a pretty fair offer price-wise for the guitar plus shipping to the USA. He told me to think about it and get back to him.

I gave it a week to think things over. After the week elapsed, I then emailed back telling the shop rep that I'd accept his offer. He gave me the payment details for PayPal, and that was supposed to be it.

However, I didn't pay immediately. Something in my gut felt wrong the longer that I looked at the album of photos of the guitar. And I began to notice that there were more and more flaws that were almost strategically left out of the photos when I began obsessively zooming in on some of the photos of the guitar. I mean, the guitar was already knackered in some parts of the body. But there was more that I wasn't able to see from what photos were provided from across the internet.

Three days came and went, and I still hadn't paid. I got super slogged down with a traveling gig for work; and paying just slipped my mind. (Honest mistake.)

The shop rep sent me a follow-up email asking for payment, asking if I was alright, etc. I responded with a very clear indication that I wanted a refresher on our agreed price (essentially, I wanted a breakdown of it itemized in terms of: guitar price + taxes/fees + shipping cost) because the agreed price was still rather high after I gave things a bit more consideration. I also asked him if there was any damage on the guitar that I wasn't told about or that I couldn't see in the provided photos.

At this point, the shop rep got nasty with me.

In regards to me asking for a breakdown of the price, he replied with:

I don't know what you're talking about.
We both discussed the amount and decided on it together, and I'm sure we told you many times.

But he hadn't. He had simply sent me an offer, told me to think it over, and that was it. The price was the price. There was no mutual discussion. There was no negotiating. It was not a "many times" thing.

And in regards to me asking about any further damage to the instrument, he replied with:

We're not at the point asking about the damage to the guitar now.

So, he blatantly dodged both of my simple questions.

In the same email, he concluded with:

We have been waiting for your transfer for a long time, I would like to cancel this transaction,
I will contact another person who is interested in purchasing this guitar.

He wanted to cancel the transaction because I had asked him two little questions. Two little questions that he totally dodged. Seemed a little excessive, but okay. So, I considered the transaction cancelled.

This was followed by a series of emails from the shop rep a day later in which the he began pressuring me hard to pay, stating that if I did not pay immediately, then he would contact someone else in Japan who would pay immediately. I had to pay now. Then and there. NOW.

So, a single day after canceling our transaction, he then began demanding payment again as if he had forgotten that he himself had cancelled our transaction in the first place.

The demands that I pay in that moment immediately threw up a massive red flag and made me feel like I was going to get screwed on this transaction. No one (especially a salesperson who ought to act professional) begins bombarding with a customer with an avalanche of demands for immediate payment in such a pushy manner. No one likes pushy sales people. It comes across as grimy and destroys a customer's faith in the product being sold. 10 out of 10 times, a customer will psychologically retreat. And that's exactly what I did.

His final email to me was:

I have been waiting for a few days since then and still have not received payment, so I am canceling this transaction.
We don't hold guitars as a store rule. We can only give them away to customers who can pay immediately.

Like I said, I backed away. I didn't even bother to reply to any of his previous emails. I thought the transaction was already cancelled. I was done. So, he contacted me yet again simply to state that he was cancelling the sale for a second time after demanding payment from me after already having cancelled the sale the first time.

I also thought it was odd that he said "We don't hold guitars as a store rule". At no point whatsoever did I ask him to hold the guitar for me, remove the online listing, remove it from his shop's sale floor, or anything of that nature.

The only two things I ever asked of him were:
- a breakdown of the price
- and if there was any damage on the guitar that I wasn't told about or that I couldn't see in the provided photos

I lost out on an absolutely killer instrument. But in hindsight, I guess it was for the better. I don't think I would've been able to adequately address or come to terms with all of the cosmetic damages that the guitar had suffered at the hands of its previous owner. And given how pushy the shop rep was, he was undoubtedly hiding something.

 

[narad]

I just went through the wringer with a guitar/audio/music shop called Unisound in Yokohama, Japan. Absolutely avoid this shop.

Their whole gimmick seems to be:
- purchasing very high-dollar guitars that have a hefty amount of cosmetic damage
- taking "just enough" photos with "just the right angles and lighting" in order to mask significant flaws while not providing any in-depth description or details regarding the damage
- proceeding to list the guitars for sale at either the going price of other similar instruments in far better condition or at just under full value

A really nice Dragonfly Border Custom 666 that immensely interested me ended up in the Unisound shop. I actually remember when Harry's Engineering (the company that manufactures the Dragonfly brand) posted photos of that exact custom build on Instagram upon completing it back in August 2020. So, I felt a bit of a yearning for the guitar since I saw it when it was first completed. And spec-wise, it just ticked all the right boxes for me.

The shop's online listing only had a few photos; and none of the photos detailed any real cosmetic damage. About a day later, a link to a Google Drive folder containing 30-40 photos was added to the description in the listing. And holy cow, dudes...this guitar had been battered in the two years that it was out in some player's hands. I counted at least 12+ chips in the paint on the back, some belt buckle rash and scratching, a big chip in the binding on the front of the guitar, and a series of chips in the forearm contour/bevel (of all places) that was so damn large that you could see it from quite a distance away.

Regardless, I figured that it was just stuff that I could do some touch-up work to remedy or outright mask. So, I contacted the shop via email and expressed my interest in purchasing. The shop rep (who reeked of "used car salesman" vibes) responded with a pretty fair offer price-wise for the guitar plus shipping to the USA. He told me to think about it and get back to him.

I gave it a week to think things over. After the week elapsed, I then emailed back telling the shop rep that I'd accept his offer. He gave me the payment details for PayPal, and that was supposed to be it.

However, I didn't pay immediately. Something in my gut felt wrong the longer that I looked at the album of photos of the guitar. And I began to notice that there were more and more flaws that were almost strategically left out of the photos when I began obsessively zooming in on some of the photos of the guitar. I mean, the guitar was already knackered in some parts of the body. But there was more that I wasn't able to see from what photos were provided from across the internet.

Three days came and went, and I still hadn't paid. I got super slogged down with a traveling gig for work; and paying just slipped my mind. (Honest mistake.)

The shop rep sent me a follow-up email asking for payment, asking if I was alright, etc. I responded with a very clear indication that I wanted a refresher on our agreed price (essentially, I wanted a breakdown of it itemized in terms of: guitar price + taxes/fees + shipping cost) because the agreed price was still rather high after I gave things a bit more consideration. I also asked him if there was any damage on the guitar that I wasn't told about or that I couldn't see in the provided photos.

At this point, the shop rep got nasty with me.

In regards to me asking for a breakdown of the price, he replied with:

But he hadn't. He had simply sent me an offer, told me to think it over, and that was it. The price was the price. There was no mutual discussion. There was no negotiating. It was not a "many times" thing.

And in regards to me asking about any further damage to the instrument, he replied with:

So, he blatantly dodged both of my simple questions.

In the same email, he concluded with:

He wanted to cancel the transaction because I had asked him two little questions. Two little questions that he totally dodged. Seemed a little excessive, but okay. So, I considered the transaction cancelled.

This was followed by a series of emails from the shop rep a day later in which the he began pressuring me hard to pay, stating that if I did not pay immediately, then he would contact someone else in Japan who would pay immediately. I had to pay now. Then and there. NOW.

So, a single day after canceling our transaction, he then began demanding payment again as if he had forgotten that he himself had cancelled our transaction in the first place.

The demands that I pay in that moment immediately threw up a massive red flag and made me feel like I was going to get screwed on this transaction. No one (especially a salesperson who ought to act professional) begins bombarding with a customer with an avalanche of demands for immediate payment in such a pushy manner. No one likes pushy sales people. It comes across as grimy and destroys a customer's faith in the product being sold. 10 out of 10 times, a customer will psychologically retreat. And that's exactly what I did.

His final email to me was:

Like I said, I backed away. I didn't even bother to reply to any of his previous emails. I thought the transaction was already cancelled. I was done. So, he contacted me yet again simply to state that he was cancelling the sale for a second time after demanding payment from me after already having cancelled the sale the first time.

I also thought it was odd that he said "We don't hold guitars as a store rule". At no point whatsoever did I ask him to hold the guitar for me, remove the online listing, remove it from his shop's sale floor, or anything of that nature.

The only two things I ever asked of him were:
- a breakdown of the price
- and if there was any damage on the guitar that I wasn't told about or that I couldn't see in the provided photos

I lost out on an absolutely killer instrument. But in hindsight, I guess it was for the better. I don't think I would've been able to adequately address or come to terms with all of the cosmetic damages that the guitar had suffered at the hands of its previous owner. And given how pushy the shop rep was, he was undoubtedly hiding something.

I think you're imagining a lot of maliciousness that isn't there. I've bought from Unisound a ton of times. They get a ton of used stock, ranging from almost brand new to significantly trashed. Their more trashed stuff seems to go straight to auction usually and skip the shop. Their listed values are all over the place from above market value to significantly below a fair price. I don't see any real rhyme or reason here -- they just think that's what it should be listed at.

From my pov of working with Japanese shops a lot, the thought of not paying for 3 days after purchase is crazy. That's far from normal. So maybe just a mismatch of expectations there. Shops basically tend to expect payment right away, or minimally the next business day if purchased on a weekend when banks are closed. Otherwise I get some sort of message reminding me to pay. Many auctions will even say similarly -- pay within 24/48 hours or cancelled, even though yahoo auction policy would allow for something like 5-7 days for payment before cancellation.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

I think you're imagining a lot of maliciousness that isn't there. I've bought from Unisound a ton of times. They get a ton of used stock, ranging from almost brand new to significantly trashed. Their more trashed stuff seems to go straight to auction usually and skip the shop.

This particular one didn't. It went to the shop and their online Digimart listings. No auction.

From my pov of working with Japanese shops a lot, the thought of not paying for 3 days after purchase is crazy. That's far from normal. So maybe just a mismatch of expectations there. Shops basically tend to expect payment right away, or minimally the next business day if purchased on a weekend when banks are closed. Otherwise I get some sort of message reminding me to pay. Many auctions will even say similarly -- pay within 24/48 hours or cancelled, even though yahoo auction policy would allow for something like 5-7 days for payment before cancellation.

I can understand that. Like I said, I just had this bad or wrong feeling in my gut that I couldn't ignore. It just came out of nowhere that first day. (And we all know how that goes when your body is telling you: "hey, dude, this isn't right.") And then I was also super engrossed in a travel gig with the typical 12-16 hour workdays while being away and not having the comforts of home. I really did just forget about the guitar and paying while I was submersed in working.

But what just really rubbed me the wrong way and left me with a sour taste about the whole interaction was the shop rep's whole "Pay now! Pay now! Pay now!" thing, then cancelling the transaction, pausing, then hitting me back up again with the whole "Pay now! Pay now! Pay now!" thing, then cancelling the transaction a second time with no reply from me; or before I could even reply. (Consider the time zone differences here.) It happened so quickly almost as if the guy was bipolar or something. It was just totally unexpected.

 

[narad]

This particular one didn't. It went to the shop and their online Digimart listings. No auction.

What I mean to say is that it's probably not that beat up by their standards then. If you catch Unisound listings on yahoo you'll understand. It's like a photo of an amp on a rolling cart outside of a warehouse, we can't turn it on, we don't know if it works, buy at your own risk, etc. Sometimes you have to go there and pick it up at the warehouse. That sort of stuff goes to auction. A presumably fully functional and reasonably good condition guitar, to the shop. I mean, it's used stuff, you have to study it carefully and sort of learn what to expect from the descriptions.

I can understand that. Like I said, I just had this bad or wrong feeling in my gut that I couldn't ignore. It just came out of nowhere that first day. (And we all know how that goes when your body is telling you: "hey, dude, this isn't right.") And then I was also super engrossed in a travel gig with the typical 12-16 hour workdays while being away and not having the comforts of home. I really did just forget about the guitar and paying while I was submersed in working.

But what just really rubbed me the wrong way and left me with a sour taste about the whole interaction was the shop rep's whole "Pay now! Pay now! Pay now!" thing, then cancelling the transaction, pausing, then hitting me back up again with the whole "Pay now! Pay now! Pay now!" thing, then cancelling the transaction a second time with no reply from me; or before I could even reply. (Consider the time zone differences here.) It happened so quickly almost as if the guy was bipolar or something. It was just totally unexpected.

Sure, but your actions are not fitting in to their expectations of how the transaction is supposed to be going, which is probably more disorienting to the average Japanese store clerk than you're imagining it should. It's bought. Why is there still a conversation going, etc. Buyer's remorse is not really baked into the usual workflow. And then on top of it the people you're talking to probably don't really speak English.

All I'm saying is that it's hard for me to view them as the bad guy here. If that experience doesn't fit your standards, I understand it. But you're kind of unknowingly creating a lot of problems on their side.

 

[the_eye]

vito bratta robbed us all

 

[CanserDYI]

Jesus Christ. My employer went from "we're going to triple your salary by this time next year!" To "sorry bub, economics" in like 3 months. I was laid off today.

 

[jaxadam]

Jesus Christ. My employer went from "we're going to triple your salary by this time next year!" To "sorry bub, economics" in like 3 months. I was laid off today.

Get the fuck…. I’m sorry to hear man.

 

[nightflameauto]

Jesus Christ. My employer went from "we're going to triple your salary by this time next year!" To "sorry bub, economics" in like 3 months. I was laid off today.

Ouch, man. Sorry.

I've learned that any promise that's beyond tomorrow from an employer is absolutely, 100% guaranteed to be bullshit. Repeated conversation at every job I've ever had:
"What about when you said you'd $get_me_help, $increase_salary, $blah?"

"Who said that? We never said that. Do you have it in writing? I don't know who would have told you that."

"Uh, you did. Right here. In this office."

"Nope."

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I found out a day before this year's open enrollment for insurance that my health insurance went from free to 100 bucks a month, while my dental and vision are covered by the worst insurance company (Guardian). Fucking sweet!

I resolve almost half the fucking tickets for my goddamn team (40% to be more exact), have yet to even get a bonus/pay raise offer, and then get this fuck you from them.

I'm updating my resume, and if I get a good job offer, I may just take it.

By the way, this is after last year when they bragged about how well the company was doing during some 401k planning meeting because of how much they could match. Fucking pricks.

 

[nightflameauto]

So ends the weekend I'm now referring to as musical death weekend.

Musical plan for weekend:
1. Set up a new cheapo bass I got last week. (New strings, fret level and crown, etc.)
2. Try out new pedal (Marshall Shredmaster Reissue)
3. Update Helix and get it working with the new(er) computer.
4. Record a couple takes of a track I've been working on for a few weeks (it's complicated).

Actual musical achievements:
1. Cheapo bass's neck was too futzed from the travel. Needed to let it sit for the neck to settle. Meh.
2. Pedal was AWESOME for a bout five minutes. Then shit the bed. Replacement incoming.
3. Helix died mid update. Twice. Finally got it on the third try, but that soaked up a lot of computer time.
4. Too pissed off by this point to want to play anymore. Outright fail.

I came out of my studio room angry and frustrated. As I told the wife, "I feel like music's been taunting me lately. Super inspired, get in the room, shit blows up, I walk away with musical blue balls."

Grr.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

daylight savings time robbed an hour of my birthday

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

On the last really big, international travel gig that I did for work, I unintentionally witnessed two of my coworkers fucking. It was the show's 40-something year-old director (been around awhile, kind of pervy) and this young, fresh-out-of-college, 20-something office assistant girl who got super lucky that this was her first-ever gig in the entertainment industry.

Classic pairing, right? The much older "seasoned professional" who is higher up on the totem pole, and the young, naive, inexperienced office girl. (Usually with the latter trying to advance her status/position.)

We've all heard a stereotypical story like this before, especially when it comes to the reputation of the TV/film biz.

That's not what made me mad though. I'll get to that in a moment.

So, on the final night that everyone was there, I was walking back to my hotel room after a night of partying with some folks. It was one of those hotels where the rooms were in different buildings with little outdoor paths between each building. Each room had a big, sliding glass door; and some rooms had more-than-ample windows. So, I'm walking back to my room (super late, well past midnight), and I happened to walk past an outward-facing room that had all the blinds open in the windows. And go figure, it was the director's room. And inside, the two of them were getting it on......with the blinds wide open. (I'm guessing they were so intoxicated that they forgot to take a second to close the blinds.) You could see everything going on. The image got burned into my brain from just a passing glance.

I recall that half-inebriated me laughed to myself at first while simply strolling past and continuing my walk down the path back to my room. Then, I started to feel sick for some reason like: "Oh dude, you shouldn't have seen that." Also a bit of: "Ewww, come on, guys... What the fuck..." Obviously, I couldn't look at either of them the same after that the next morning. Didn't really matter because I had to bounce shortly after since the company booked my flight back home for the following day. Didn't care to cross paths with either of them. Pretty sure that they didn't care to cross paths with each other either.

So, here I am minding my own business a month and a half later, applying for some new gigs to work on, wondering if I could reach out to anyone from past gigs, and out of the complete blue, the visual of those two (now former) co-workers just bangin' that shit out crept back into my mind and made me feel repulsed and nauseous again. And I'm pissed that the image of that bullshit is seared into my skull. Absolutely should not have been subjected to seeing that. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one on the crew who saw them that night too.

 

[Jarmake]

I sold my old gpu and then I got scammed buying an used, but better, gpu. So now I'm relying on my old gtx970 from time before jebus christ. And now I'm also 560 euros poorer. Son of a diddly.

 

[TedEH]

My car broke down again - this time the serpentine belt broke, so no heat, no coolant, no water pump, etc. And of course, I was away from home, as is tradition, so I had to wait outside in the cold, and it's colder this morning than it has been, around -9C. Finally got it towed, and most of my Sunday is already gone. And it'll throw a wrench in the week while I get it fixed.

 

[jaxadam]

My car broke down again - this time the serpentine belt broke, so no heat, no coolant, no water pump, etc. And of course, I was away from home, as is tradition, so I had to wait outside in the cold, and it's colder this morning than it has been, around -9C. Finally got it towed, and most of my Sunday is already gone. And it'll throw a wrench in the week while I get it fixed.

Good thing you don’t have kids so you have all of that spare time!

 

[TedEH]

Good thing you don’t have kids so you have all of that spare time!

You say that sarcastically (I think....?), but it's great in this situation because no children/family were in any danger or had to get stuck in the cold with me, and I have zero concerns about the cost or timeliness of the repair, other than the inconvenience to myself. I literally went home and had the rest of the day to play guitar. Not sure why that warranted the weird jab, as if not having kids is a bad thing.

 

[jaxadam]

You say that sarcastically (I think....?), but it's great in this situation because no children/family were in any danger or had to get stuck in the cold with me, and I have zero concerns about the cost or timeliness of the repair, other than the inconvenience to myself. I literally went home and had the rest of the day to play guitar. Not sure why that warranted the weird jab, as if not having kids is a bad thing.

It was a joke bro. I will try not to joke with you anymore.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

It was a joke bro. I will try not to joke with you anymore.

Ted doesn't have a sense of humor that he's ware of.

 

[jaxadam]

Ted doesn't have a sense of humor that he's ware of.

I told my kids a joke earlier and they got it.

Where do you take someone who’s been in a peek-a-boo accident?

To the ICU!

I guess I just felt like I was on a roll…

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I told my kids a joke earlier and they got it.

Where do you take someone who’s been in a peek-a-boo accident?

To the ICU!

I guess I just felt like I was on a roll…

The dadliest of dad jokes!