ComplaintsforBaroque Violin Shop

• Initial Complaint

  10/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We paid to rent a violin. We in fact paid more in rental fees than its worth. Now they want us to return it AND pay even more in what they consider to be overdue rental fees. My wife made the mistake of making their rental payments an automatic deduction from our bank. They saw this as an open checkbook. If I hadn't noticed this and stopped it, they'd still be (over) billing us. To keep billing people for something even after we paid enough to own it is simply unethical. Imagine if you failed to return a library book. The library would fine you but if you paid enough in fines for them to replace the book, either over time or all at once, they would just take your money and buy a replacement book and leave you alone. They wouldn't keep charging you month after month in perpetuity which is what these people are doing. I suspect they could be doing it to others.

  Business response

  10/29/2024

  We apologize for any misunderstanding that might have happened during your registration process. We have stated in our rental agreement, our policies regarding rental credits, and how they can be used for a purchase of an instrument up to 50% of the purchase price.
  Our policies provides the customer the flexibility to use the rental credits when they desire. If the customer decides not to utilize the credits for whatever reason, they continue to accumulate until the customer returns the instrument.
  Our rental program was designed to give our customers maximum flexibility.  We have dozens of different models to meet the varying needs of customers.  We provide the credit, up to 50% of the purchase price so our customers can get the exact instrument that fits their particular requirements.  The instrument that is being rented might not be the instrument that the would best satisfy the needs of the renter.
  We state our policy clearly in the rental agreement that all renters sign.  The information is also clearly displayed on our website.

• Initial Complaint

  06/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Business charged my bank account $27,000 for a violin. Business declined admitting to charging my bank account. I have evidence proving my bank account was charged $27,000. The representatives I've worked with, Mr. David S******* are extremely homophobic, and did this as a hate crime. Threatened me with the police if I didn't return the violin. Did not give the correct information about the violin, lying about its authenticity. I have had a private investigator investigate the business, this is not the first time they have done something like this. This is a HATE CRIME against my sexual orientation.

  Business response

  07/29/2024

  I am writing on behalf of the Baroque Violin Shop. It came to my attention today that a complaint
  was filed by ****** ******** against our business on 6/26/24. The ID number is ********. I
  would like to explain what is going on in this complaint because *** ******** left out a lot of
  important details in his complaint and gave false information.
  *** ******** contacted our shop and I spoke with him back in May. He was interested in trialing
  one of our higher end violins, a **** ***** violin from the late 1700s that was priced at $35,000
  but I told him I would sell to him for $25,000 plus tax if he liked it. This is also one of my
  personal violins that I was selling on consignment through our shop. We shipped the violin to
  him and he contacted me to let me know he loved the violin and wanted to purchase it. He said
  he was waiting on a “settlement” check and would not be able to pay for the violin until the end
  of May. I told him I would be on vacation the last week of May and that he could hold onto the
  violin until I got back and we could settle up when I returned. For our protection, I sent him a
  written contract that I asked him to get notarized and signed detailing the amount and the date
  when payment needed to be made. He never got the contract notarized but did send me a
  signed copy and said he would send a notarized copy the next day which he never did and he
  kept giving me excuses why he couldn’t find a notary. He assured me that he would send the
  notarized copy while I was on vacation. He also emailed me his credit card info which I never
  asked for it and was not a smart idea. The agreement was that he would call in the payment the
  Tuesday after I returned from vacation. I emailed him on the day he was supposed to send the
  notarized copy asking where it was since he had not sent it to me. Shortly after I emailed him,
  he called our shop and accused me of running his card for $26950 which was the agreed upon
  price. At the time he said I did this, I was on a beach in ***** ********. Neither I nor anyone at
  our shop ever charged his card a week earlier than the agreed upon date so he is the one lying.
  He sent screenshots of a doctored page from “**** ***” claiming it was from his bank. The
  entry for the charge had clearly been faked. At this point he no longer wanted to talk to me but
  only someone in management at our shop.
  When I got back from my vacation, I contacted our lawyer because he was still sticking to his
  story even though it is very easy to prove otherwise as no money ever entered our bank
  account and we never made the transaction. *** ******** said he would not return the violin
  until the matter got settled. Our lawyer drew up a letter basically stating the he needed to pay for
  the violin or return it to us within 2 weeks as the contract was enforceable in the state of
  *************. If he failed to comply, the lawyer said I would pursue legal action against him,
  including contacting law enforcement. He contacted us and said his lawyer and the “district
  court judge” would be sending us a letter. Our CEO called him the day before the deadline given
  to return the violin and he admitted that letter was never sent and that his lawyer was too busy
  with much more important cases that involved more money than this. He was threatening to file
  a civil suit against us and our CEO said, “What are you going to sue us for? We don’t have any
  of your money and you have our violin.” He didn’t have an answer. At any rate he did not return
  the violin so I contacted the *********** ******** Police and reported my violin as stolen. I
  needed the report to file with my insurance company if it came to that. I showed Officer
  ******* the doctored screenshot *** ******** had sent me.
  
  Office ******* called *** ******** and told him he needed to return the violin or there would
  be a felony warrant issued for his arrest. He was still trying to claim we charged his card and
  didn’t like some of the offerer’s answers to him and asked to speak with his supervisor. The
  officer wouldn’t play his game. *** ******** finally complied and sent back the violin, however
  he took off the original bridge and strings that were on it and replaced it with a different cheap
  bridge and only 2 of the 4 strings it requires. Why he did this, I’ll never know. To replace the
  strings and bridge normally costs in excess of $175. At this point he filed the complaint with the
  BBB. He claimed I falsified what the violin actually was which is not true. I sent him 2 certificates
  from 2 experts verifying what the violin is and told him about a 3rd expert near where he lives
  that also verified what the violin and he is the one who told me the violin was worth $35,000
  back in 2019. This expert’s name is ***** ******* and he is very well respected in the violin
  world and has been a personal friend of our founder’s family for years and I personally met him
  when he came to our shop to evaluate a number of instruments. *** ******** claimed he
  contacted Chris and said that Chris said he never recalled meeting anyone from our shop which
  is clearly a lie. Where the accusations of me being homophobic came from and this being a hate
  crime is beyond me. I have never met this man and he has never revealed his sexual identity to
  me.
  As you can see there is much more to this than his unfounded complaint would indicate. He is
  not getting any money from us or the violin as we never received any money from him. He is
  lucky he was not arrested for fraud at the very least. He continues with this charade and now is
  spreading false and slanderous information about our business. We pride ourselves in being
  very customer friendly and are very trusting with who we lend instruments to which in this case
  which in this case did not have a good outcome. I have never experienced anything like this at
  our shop and don’t want his slanderous accusations to harm our company’s reputation.

  Customer response

  07/29/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ********

   

  The Baroque Violin Shop / David S******* claimed to have the instrument appraised by *** *********** ******* of ******* **. There was no appraisal certificate emailed to me during the original consultation. 

  Mr. David S******* has portrayed homophobic behaviors to me, as I had told him how I perform violin. During a phone conversation I informed him that I perform with a lot of LGBTQIA+ groups in the greater ****** area. Mr. David S******* was well aware of my sexual orientation. 

  I informed Mr. David S******* that I take the score for modern day pop songs and classical violin pieces, and compose a piece of my own. I told Mr. S******* that I had taken the score of "*** *******" from **** **** and ******** *******, morphed it into one, created the backing track, and was going to perform at ********** ** Pride Festival. 

  Mr. S********* homophobic behavior is not the sole reason to this complaint, it certainly proves that Mr. David S******* had preconceived opinions about me and would cause trouble for me. 

  As I have made a large purchase like this before, a notarized purchase agreement is an unusual practice. 

  I have been in contact with other customers of Baroque Violin Shop, and they share very similar complaints as I. 

  I will be seeking legal council for this. 

  The BBB has been excellent in their help to try to resolve this situation. 

   

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩