[quote name='poptart' post='1196830' date='Apr 12 2011, 02:13 PM']Alex
In response to your post.
The bass in question was brought in to my shop by a very good customer who was looking to px the bass, I was unsure of its date so we checked the serial number on the headstock on the Fender website and got 1983, to confirm this I took the bass over to my guitar tech who has over 20 years experience with Fenders and as soon as he saw the instrument he immediately declared it an '83 as it has a very specific neck radius and fingerboard edge. He also commented that the finish on the bass was also correct as they used a finish that was rather brittle and prone to flaking off and indeed there were signs of this. The bridge also tallied from that period.
The bass did come in an unoriginal Fender Tweed case, but apart from that no further checks were made as to its origins. I marketed the bass as a 1983 instrument based on the above information and originally had the bass at well over £1000 which would have been appropriate for a bass of that Vintage, however over a period of time I dropped the price to £699 which was very close to what I had paid for it as I felt it was time to move it on and was happy to get my costs back.
I was very surprised to received your email Alex, and I am sorry you are having this problem with your customer, however [b]all second hand items sold through any shop are "sold as seen". You always have the opportunity when coming into a shop to assess whether the item is what it appears to be or not. [/b]You have your statutory rights as a consumer to return the item within 7 days if you are not happy of if there is a fault.
I feel that I have acted honestly, responsibly and appropriately in this situation.
Regards
Mark[/quote]
Mark, Surely if Alex had asked you prior to buying the instrument, to take the alleged '83 bass apart (to find the things that have now become apparent to show it isn't an '83) you would have said no to the instrument being taken to pieces?
I imagine if you had been happy for this to happen, then you would have done it yourself before purchasing it in to the shop, which you obviously didn't?
As far as I'm concerned you advertised it and sold it on the basis of it being an '83 P-bass, as I'm sure the label or tag did not say "assumed to be an '83 P-bass, but might not be"?
To me, that means this bass has been incorrectly sold by the person at Bassdirect, and personally with a combination of the fact that care wasn't take to not misrepresent what was on sale, and Mark and Bassdirects idea of 'after sales service' or 'customer care', I for one will not be making any purchases there from now on.