ComplaintsforPhiltone Guitar Company

• Initial Complaint

  03/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  On 09/26/2022 I brought a 1950's Gibson guitar (appraisal in Supporting Documents) to Phil ****** of Philtone Guitar Co. for repair (refret/new nut/fingerboard&inlay work - see Estimate 1297 in Supporting Documents). Promise date for completion of work was Sunday October 9th, 2022, 2 weeks from drop-off date. I was dubious about this, having used Philtone twice before for guitar repairs. In our previous dealings, work was delivered past due but within a reasonable time frame. The quality of the work was excellent. The morning of Sunday 10/9, I received a text, phone call, and email from Phil stating the job was not complete, but that he'd be willing to drop it off at my residence the next day (see text-string in Supporting Documents). Also on the morning of 10/9, Phil sent three photos of the guitar on his bench with frets/nut/inlays out. In short, he'd done the strip-down, but hadn't started the replacement of parts). I replied that he should contact me when the job is complete. After this, communication went dead. No response from Philtone to a handful of my texts, emails, and voice messages. I next heard from Phil by email on December 15th, 2022, roughly 2 months after the promise date for a purportedly 2-week job (see email string in supporting documents). He stated that inlay work brought out the perfectionist in him and gave me second completion date of Christmas 2022. This email on 12/15/2022 is the last time I have heard from Phil ******. We are now approaching 6 months from the original promise date and 3 months from the last time I heard from Phil ******. This despite three further attempts to contact him by email, the second of which requested that he either finish the job or return the guitar unfinished for a pro-rated fee by March 31, 2023 (original agreement: 2 week job). In my last email to Phil on 2/27/2023, I offered a good-faith warning that I'd submit this complaint to BBB if I didn't hear from him. No response to date.

• Initial Complaint

  02/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  On October 27th 2022 I shipped my guitar from Wisconsin to Phil ****** ( Philtone Guitars ) in Baltimore, MD for new Frets, and stripping the finish off the back of the neck, as well as some other miscellaneous work. Prior to the start of the project Phil and I corresponded about an estimate of the price and a rough idea of a turn-around time ( of approx. 6-8 weeks ). I confirmed that he received the instrument ( by signed *** tracking # documents ) on Nov. 2nd 2022 …. I follow up with Phil in December looking for a status on the project. I send three ( 3 ) different E-mails on December 9th / December 20th / December 27th before he answered me …, saying that he needed to get past the holidays and would have an update for me on or around January 11th …. I started E-mailing for the status on January 13th / January 20th / January 30th with no response. I began calling his office phone number ( February 6th & February 8th ), receiving his voice mail saying to E-mail him instead of leaving a message …. I have no information on whether ( or not ) the project has even been started or is it just sitting somewhere collecting dust ? I am beginning to question if the instrument is even in his possession any longer ? I’m considering reporting the guitar as stolen property and filing a police report w/ the local authorities to see if I can at least recover my guitar that way ?

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On Sept. 7, 2021, I sent Phil the parts for an electric guitar, which he was to assemble into a complete instrument. This followed a few email exchanges during which he confirmed he was willing to take on this project. But after the parts were delivered (confirmed by *** tracking, not by Phil himself), I have not heard from Phil at all despite at least four attempts to contact him via email and one message left on voicemail. So at this point, I have no idea whether he's worked on my guitar at all, or whether it's still in its shipping box unopened. I was never given, nor did I ask for, an ETA for completion. I play guitar as a hobby and am not in a massive rush. But half a year with not one word from Phil - even just to acknowledge receipt of the package, as he said he would - is troubling. Due to his lack of responsiveness, at this point I would simply like the guitar parts shipped back to me; I would pay for shipping. (Note that I had originally planned to pick up the guitar when it was completed, but I have since moved, and driving to pick up is no longer an option.) In the unlikely event that work has been completed, I will of course be willing to pay for services rendered.

  Business response

  04/26/2022

  Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2022/04/18) */ Phil has shipped the guitar to me and provided a tracking number, and I've paid him for services rendered, so this issue has been resolved. Thanks, Eric

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩