SAXQUEST-St. Louis MO

[SAXISMYAXE]

SAXQUEST (http://www.saxquest.com)
Owner: Mark & Elke Overton
Location: 3646 Flad Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110
Phone Number: (314) 776-6416
Email (info@saxquest.com)
Specialities: Woodwind repairs, new and vintage horns
Tech: Saxquest and Tenor Madness

[doyle]

Hi
Im new to the forum and would really appreciate some advice.
I recently found a super 20 alto on the saxquest classifieds. It is practically impossible to find these in the UK and the price was right. I recieved good communication from the seller and paid via western union. Everything was perfect until the saxophone (?) was delivered.
Alarm bells were already ringing when I saw the package was clearly to small for a sax.... It was a leblanc clarinet. (too make matters worse I also got stung for £122 for import duty).
For what it is worth I have contacted the seller but Im not holding my breath.
What should I do next. Has this happened to anybody else? Does anybody have any advice?
Many Thanks
Doyle

[pc1234]

Saxquest is a very reputable dealer in the U.S. - Mark Overton is pretty universally regarded as a good dealer on this forum. I've purchased a bari and other accessories from them with not problems, and they were the quickest at shipping. I'm sure that this was just an honest (albeit baffling) mistake. Call them -- I'd be shocked if they didn't make it right.

[doyle]

This was through the classifieds forum on the website. So im not too sure how much saxquest is able to actually do. Im begining to wish I went direct through the dealer now. It may be a tad more expensive but atleast you might eventually end up with a sax to show for it!

[pc1234]

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you had bought it straight from the site. Saxquest itself is very reputable - I have no experiences with their classifieds system, however. I do agree that you are generally safer dealing with the actual vintage dealers - Saxquest, WorldWideSax, and Junkdude to name a few - although they cost more, you get what you pay for, in my book. I know that's no consolation now. Maybe Saxquest can at least penalize or ban this seller from their classifieds or something. And there's always hope that the seller made an honest mistake...

[Dr G]

It's been recently discussed here ("Do we need new rules in the Marketplace?") that you are better off buying from a known person at SotW than the classifieds at Saxquest. Maybe Mark Overton will rethink his policy of providing an unmoderated service when people start using it as a scam vehicle. Sorry for your misfortune.

[GAS_Wyo]

Well stated G. Another place that's rotten to the core for scams is Craig's List.

[saxymaestra13]

So, is buying a horn off craigslist a bad idea? This guy was selling a used Martin for 650. I've been in contact w/ him. It pretty needs all the padding, resnators and rods put back on. I'm just not sure, cause it would prrbably cost the price of an overhaul.

[GAS_Wyo]

It depends on what you want to put into getting a good horn. You can salvage almost anything, but you may end up wth $1500 to $2000 in a horn if you're not careful.

Is this horn local to your area? If so, go look at it.

[saxymaestra13]

Unfortunately, no. He'd have to ship it. I dont mind paying the money for the shipping and repairs, considering its dirt cheap. Depending on what it looks like, I might re-lacquer at some point. But I've always heard one's not supposed to do that. I dunno...

[Swampcabbage]

Those classifieds are horrible. I was stung on one once. Just harass the seller as long as you can and then let go.

[MJ]

Isn't this a matter for the police?

[Dave Dolson]

MJ: I doubt if law enforcement would touch a case like these - they'd immediately claim no-crime/civil-matter, unless the "victim" could prove an actual fraud.

The OTHER complicating factor would be jurisdiction. Even if an actual fraud could be proven, who prosecutes? Most prosecutors will not spend the money for an extradition unless you're talking a MAJOR felony crime. Taking it federal would be even less successful. DAVE

[Fred]

On the other hand, we can hope that this was a mix-up on the part of an honest but confused seller that was selling more than one item and got the sales mixed up. If this were an absolute fraud, I'd be surprised for the seller to send a pro level clarinet - I'd think that he'd have your money and you'd receive nothing.

[Dave Dolson]

Fred: I agree - I saw nothing of a criminal nature in the situation described by Doyle, ESPECIALLY since he has not yet posted what results, if any, developed from contacting the seller.

All I was addressing was the question posted about turning a failed classified-ad deal over to the police.

The probable-mistaken shipping of a pro-level clarinet tells me a mistake was made. I can't discuss the other deals mentioned here - not that I'd want to in the first place. DAVE

[Pete Thomas]

Hi
(too make matters worse I also got stung for £122 for import duty)

Very sorry to hear about the wrong horn being sent, but you aren't really "stung" on import duty. It's quite normal when buying goods from abroad, You have to accept it. (probably it was also including VAT which you'd pay anyway in th UK). I hope you can get this resolved, I'd always thought of Saxquest as a very reputable dealer, I'm sure it will be sorted.

[Jonathan C.]

Craigslist is just a Internet version of Newspaper classifieds. I don't know if I would recomend buying something that would require shipping, due to all the scams that could happen. That site is NOT Ebay, doubtful what they will do anyway. It is very much buy and sell at your own risk. If you wish saxymaestra13 to take that risk it is your money. Personally I would buy off the internet from a reputable dealer here, maybe a few other sites. I purchased a horn off of ebay. And luckly did not get hit with a big fixing fee. I would recomend takeing a look at USA Horn. I personally have never bought anything from them. But the prices seem in you range. I would take a look at them.

Carbs

[doyle]

Unfortunatly its not a proffesional clarinet. Its a pretty ropey looking plastic jobby!

I heard back from seller who is "looking into it" Ill keep you guys posted on any outcome.

Very sorry to hear about the wrong horn being sent, but you aren't really "stung" on import duty.

I do understand this concept. When I said "stung" It was more of a reference to paying over a ton in duties for a clarinet that was unexpected, unwanted and is probably worth less than half of that. This just seemed to take the biscuit

Cheers for all the repiles

[Jonathan C.]

I can understand why you are upset, and I am willing to bet that many people can understand too. I wish you the best of luck about the Super 20

[frasermanx]

I would suggest when buying from "classifieds" of any stripe to try and use an intermediary or just pass on the deal. I traded a camera for a sax but his brother was luckily in Toronto. I was able to hand off the camera for the sax... also luckily I made sure that I got a fair deal when I was able to inspect the sax.. which of course needed much work and represented much less value than the camera I was trading ... BUYER BEWARE !!