The Steel Guitar Forum

You have to put it into perspective. Of the hundreds of transactions that take place involving the buying and selling of steel guitars, it is rare to come across someone who is prepared to deliberately scam people. I have posted my concerns previously of buying a guitar unseen, but it has transpired that the vast majority of transactions that take place through Forum members are trouble-free. You cannot legislate for someone who deliberately falsifies descriptions and pictures of an instrument for sale and sends something completely different. It is a fraudulent and criminal offence - period.

The offer by a couple of well respected guys to put this guitar right just about sums up the feeling of brotherhood that runs through our community, and its great to see.

I am posting Mac's post from "Wanted to Buy" for him
so that it will be seen by all who care.
Thanks/Don

I at this time have filed a complaint with PayPal against Robert Dardeman. I have requested all of my money back before I ship the guitar back to him. I explained to him what was wrong with the guitar. The guitar was not even the same color as the pictures he sent to me. The pedal was not sent with it as described. Several pull rods were not attached to the bell cranks and there were no clips to do so. The fretboard was unglued and loose in the case not to mention being a different color than the one pictured. There were make shift rods drilled with nails holding them to the bell cranks. A spring to the changer was not attached to the bracket and was loose in the case.
If I do not get my money back I will take the gentleman up on his offer to repair the guitar. I appreciate all of your concerns. It really humbles me to have so many of you stand by me. I put this in
here to warn you so that you would not be taken as I was. I thank you guys very much from the bottom of my heart, Mac

In case you have not visited the original posted site,I have filed a PayPal complaint(07/18/08). I truely appreciate all of the support from you guys. I am just sick over this deal and have lost several night's sleep. If airline tickets were not so expensive and I was sure I really have a good address on this guy I would be on the next plane out. It humbles me that so many of you are willing to help no matter which direction I have to take to make this right. I sincerely appreciate everything. If you are ever coming to Florida, I will take you on a ride that you can really enjoy - on a nice Tennessee Walking horse.
Thanks again, Mac

Stop the lynch mob mentality now and let this thing work its way through proper channels. There are two sides to every story, and Robert Dardeman can't post his. There are email exchanges going on behind the scenes. There are proper complaints to authorities. Broadcasting his phone number and address so that strangers can harass him is not helpful!

Your point is well taken b0b.It just feels like when something like this happens to a fellow steeler that it's close to home,so to speak.I don't know Mac personally but I feel his loss and frustration just the same.And it just makes a fella plain old mad.Hope that the private communication yeilds some positive results and that this guy realizes how wrong what happened really is.

Please accept my apology. I wasn't thinking clearly.

B0b
Is right.
The wheels are in motion to help Mac and to bring this matter to a rightful conclusion.
Don

James R. Cole wrote:Please accept my apology. I wasn't thinking clearly.

Accepted. No harm done. It's easy to get caught up in things like this. A cooler attitude is more likely to yield the desired result.

I have been around most of the people he list in his my space, but in 50 years around the bands playing from this area and passing through, I have never heard this name mentioned.
Sounds like a person who likes to hang around the people in the business and drop names. It also sounds like from his sale items he deals in salvage so as not to infer another name for non-historied and non-verfiable manufacture or date.Non- Titled.

I don't know him personally. I can't vouch for him, and I'm certainly not defending him. I have never purchased anything from him.

I have had some email conversations in the past with him and I believe that there is a very real possibility that he suffers from Alzheimer's disease... seriously.

His messages were in very broken english and he would write the same things over and over. You can go to my myspace page and search for him.

www.myspace.com/utilityman2000

I will pray that this situation is resolved quickly and completely. I believe that all these guys involved need prayer for wisdom, patience and peace.

God bless you guys that have volunteered your time, parts and labor. The steel guitar community is the best!!! I'm thankful to be a part of it.

Michael T. Hermsmeyer

Hello Fellas,

I have read through all of the postings on this unfortunate deal.

I too have been helped through this Forum and would be very pleased to make a donation with others to offset the cost of shipping.
Will some one please let me know what is being arranged.

Having seen the responses from you all and the controlling advice from B0B, it makes me proud to be a member.
My thoughts and best wishes go out to Mac for a speedy relief to his problem.

I just received a personal email from Mac, and he has decided to send his guitar to me for repair.

For those of you who have called or emailed me regarding wanting to help with the shipping expense on this, you can send your contributions on this to our paypal account at jagwirestrings@sbcglobal.net.

Mac wanted to pay for the shipping himself, but he's already been through enough, as I'm sure all of you agree.

I will let John Coop know what parts I may need when I get the guitar here and inspect it.

Glad to hear it Dan.My portion is on it's way to you.Thanks.

Danny & Coop
I'm so thankful for your kindness and helping out my dear friend.
It took a lot of persuation on my part to have him accept your offer.
He is a man of high principals and has always managed to get by on his own, but this time he needed help.
Thanks again to all the Forum members who have expressed their concern for Mac.
You have brought tears to his eyes with your kindness.
Maybe this episode will save some other member from being burned.
This Forum is built on trust.
Lets do our best to keep it that way.
Hopefully this puts an end to this madness.
Don

I have a "clip on" Sho~Bud volume pedal with an Allen Bradley pot that I will donate if someone will cover the shipping and insurance to send Macs Super Pro to Danny. Thanks...Coop I will pay the postage on the volume pedal in the lower 48 states.

As of today we have received a $20.00 donation from Eric Dunlop to help cover shipping costs for Mac's guitar. Thanks Eric. I will try to keep everyone updated here as donations for this are received.

Also a special thanks to John Coop for his donation of a Sho-Bud volume pedal and other part that will be needed for this project.

You have another $20.

I just sent my $20 via PayPal to help Mac

This is all happening pretty fast. What happens to these dollars if Dardeman returns Mac's money?

Good question b0b.

If this happens, I would like my donation to go to Mac in the form of $20 worth of Jagwire strings.

I believe Mac deserves a little "Battle Pay"

b0b, should that happen, albeit very doubtful, the money received from each person can/would be easily refunded back to the persons Paypal account. The donations being sent are to help cover shipping and insurance on Mac's guitar both to and from here, and nothing more, which I'm guessing is probably no more than $160.00 total.

From what I understand, Mac has already been through a lot in trying to resolve this issue with both, the seller and Paypal with no success. Dardeman's ideas and methods of resolving this with Mac is to curse him, call him a liar, and make threats to do personal bodily harm to him, so there's the "other side of the story" in this. Judging from what I have seen, it looks like Dardeman has pulled a "bait & switch" on Mac by sending him pictures of what he thought he was buying, and then delivering something completely different. This is illegal and fraudulant of course, however, convincing some prosecuting attorney of such would probably be quite a task in itself.

From what I am seeing and hearing, pursuing this matter would be way more damaging to Mac's health than ANY steel guitar would ever be worth! Dardeman may or may not receive his just rewards for his crimes? however, rather than be concerned much about that, I think it far better for us to concentrate our efforts on helping Mac to put this all behind him.

Bottom line here is our "compassion" for a fellow steel player and Forumite who has been cheated. We can't do much about Dardeman here, but we most certainly can do a lot for Mac's happiness and well being in this case, and I believe that's what's really important here when all is said and done.

Just so there is no misunderstanding here about this, speaking for both John Coop and myself, there will be no compensation expected or accepted for our time, parts, or labor in this, not now, or at any time in the future. It is a "gift" being given willfully and freely to Mac, with absolutely nothing expected in return.

Fellow forumites,
Your spirit is impressive!
I´m proud (don´t like to use that word normally) to be a part of such a great community!
My little conribution is on the way....

All the best wishes to Mac and ALL of you guys
from across the big pond

pit