I purchased a Fender LE Meteora from Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi on 1/6/19 through Reverb.com…read more There were about 30 dealers listing this same guitar, but Hubbard Music was the only one with a "Make Offer" option. After reading Hubbard Music's return policy (14 days for new instruments), I made an offer that was accepted. I paid for the guitar with a credit card on 1/6/19. The payment for $1599 was instantly cleared, which instantly cleared my purchase for shipment. Hubbard Music's listing on Reverb.com described the guitar as "brand new", but without the original shipping box. No big deal. That same day, before it shipped, I messaged Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi to confirm the 14 day return policy, which he did. 1/6/19 was a Sunday, the guitar should have shipped the very next day. However, it sat and did not ship for 2 complete business days. Hubbard Music was noted as a "quick shipper" on Reverb.com, but that was not the case for me. The guitar went out Wednesday 1/9/19 and arrived on Saturday 1/12/19, a full week after my offer was accepted. Upon inspection, the guitar was clearly used... old, worn, rusty strings and a dull spot on the front where the player's arm rested. Again no big deal as the guitar itself was flawless, even if unplayable as received. The dull spot wiped right off, and I replaced the old rusty .009 gauge strings with a set of .010s. With the new strings installed, the neck had an even more severe warp which I was able to adjust straight with the truss rod. Again no big deal. It would have been a big deal had the truss rod not functioned properly, but it was perfect. That is part of the evaluation process of a new guitar... making sure everything functions properly... especially the truss rod. After having the guitar for 7 days, I made the decision to return it for full refund. I messaged Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi through Reverb.com on Saturday 1/19/19 advising him I wanted to return for full refund, not realizing that there was a "ask for return authorization" option. Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi and I exchanged several messages regarding the return before I saw and enabled the "ask for return" option. After these messages Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi completely disappeared and NEVER responded to me again. I waited 48 hours for Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi to respond per the instructions on Reverb.com. No response. I contacted Reverb.com, they said they would contact Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi on my behalf and to give them 48 hours for a response. Still no response. After another 48 hours I contacted Reverb.com again to ask them for help getting my refund. Since I had paid with my credit card through Paypal, they said they could do nothing and advised me to open a Paypal dispute. On Friday 1/18/19 I did this, as well as contacting my credit card company, US Bank. This is also the 14th day of my 14 day return period. US Bank instantly issued a provisional refund pending return of the item. I think Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi was not responding to me and Reverb.com hoping the 14 day return period would expire, sticking me with a purchase I did not want. I have no idea what Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi hoped to gain from his disappearing act. I also don't know how Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi hoped to get away with this. One thing Reverb.com was able to do for me was get Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi to pay for return shipping. I knew that I was responsible for return shipping, so that was a nice surprise to end this very problematic transaction. I wanted to post a review of this transaction on Reverb.com, but the option was removed once the return was processed. That's why I am leaving a review here on Yelp. People should be warned about this deceitful merchant. It would be my advice to NEVER deal with Hubbard Music/Mark Tirabassi. My guitar was shipped late, was not "brand new" as described, and getting a return/refund was made into a long difficult process for no reason. Zero integrity and their word and store policies mean nothing. Hey Mark, I win.
Tommy Dziallo
Lockport, Il
