I wanted to share a cautionary tale about purchasing from group member Irvin Karan aka "Slidebone". Hopefully this serves as a warning for those looking at the cases and other items he’s been pushing on all the Facebook trombone groups.
Normally I wouldn’t post something like this. I buy and sell trombones online all the time, and I used to own an ecommerce business where I shipped dozens of packages each and every day. So I understand that dealing with shipping woes is part of doing business. But it’s the lack of accountability on his part and the lack of customer service that has pushed me over the edge. I'm happy to provide screenshots of our conversation for anyone interested.
Here’s what happened:
I purchased a Bags of Spain cut bell trombone case from Irvin Karan on May 1st. When I inquired as to the timeframe on May 6th he responded “Should be any day waiting on Fed Ex”.
No word for 3 weeks. I wasn’t too concerned because I realize these are coming from overseas.
On May 20th I inquired again and he said it should ship the next week. No word after that.
On May 29th I inquired again, and he said it had shipped to me the week prior using USPS. He never sent tracking info.
I requested a tracking number, and he sent me one at that time.
When I checked the tracking, it said the item was undeliverable, return to sender. I thought that was highly unusual. I have a commercial address here in Houston with several employees in the office every day from 7am-6pm. We see our postal worker on a regular basis. I've never had an issue receiving mail.
When I asked him what was going on, he told me it was probably due to the holiday and “you know USPS is not like the old days”.
So I waited a few more days. Over the next week I (and of my employees) made FOUR trips to our local post office but they couldn’t find the package.
It turns out that Irvin put *my* address for both the return *and* recipient address. I told him that was ridiculous... the whole point of a “return address” is for it to be "returned" to the SENDER if there’s a delivery issue. He replied that he does that all the time “for security”. I debated that point with him for a bit... but let it drop. I just wanted the expensive case that I purchased.
A few more days of back-and-forth took place with no resolution.
FINALLY today (June 12th, six weeks after ordering) I went back to the Post Office and they had the box. It had been sent to a “mail recovery center” in Atlanta so USPS could figure out the issue, and it had just returned to Houston over the weekend and they were holding it until they could figure out what to do with it.
The problem was that Mr Karan underpaid the postage. USPS rated the package at $87.30 but he only paid $22.80. They said the non-delivery was due to the incorrect postage. So I had to come out of pocket $64.50 to retrieve my package.
When I asked Mr Karan to reimburse me, he refused. He blamed it on a USPS error and told me I should look to them for resolution.
Just to double check things, I entered the box weight and dimensions into the USPS website… and the correct postage *IS* in fact $87.30 from his address in NYC to me in Houston. He paid the wrong amount.
I pointed out that he clearly sold me this case for $499 *including* shipping. And since he underpaid the shipping, he should reimburse me the difference. He has refused. He told me I could instead ship the case back to him for a full refund. I don’t want a full refund….I just want the $65 that I’m out because of his error.
I told him that if he didn’t provide just this *minimum* level of customer service that I would post the details on the trombone marketplace Facebook groups where he advertises. He said if I do that he was going to call the Texas Attorney General and law enforcement.
Good luck with that, Irvin. I'm simply stating the facts here.
