Horrible experience buying from Twisted Wood

Hi all,

I had to share my experience purchasing a concert uke from Twisted Wood Guitars -- Hopefully this will help someone. Things went downhill quickly once I paid for one of their Banyan "Koa" concert uke.

The owner, Tom Wolansky, was very courteous at first, but I did notice that he changed the subject whenever I asked about Acacia vs. Hawaiian Koa and where they were built. He was quick to respond enthusiastically to the message about the nut: ("you bet, they're bone.") I was already a bit wary, but after reading a review on Etsy from a buyer who was "happy" that she found a "builder in North America", I took the plunge. I had to come over to the Ukulele Underground forum (search Twisted Wood in the forums to read others commenting on the many misrepresentations that Tom Wolansky made) in order to find out where they were truly made: China. Nothing inherently wrong with that -- many good instruments are from China, but other people have commented that they too got the impression they were built in Canada. I continued to ask my questions to the owner, only to have them ignored. When I asked about the return policy, he said that I "shouldn't even worry about the return policy" because he has never had a return on the Banyan in about four years. "It will blow your mind," He added, "just know you'd be wasting everyone's time." I immediately regretted my purchase -- I invested in a "top quality" instrument, supposedly locally made, and hopefully with some degree of Aloha. Sensing that I will probably not receive what was represented, I again asked for details on the return policy. He sent back a nasty convo saying that he was "insulted" and that he didn't want me to send any more messages.

He also didn't add the shipping instruction which was agreed to, and I spent a total of five hours on the phone with FedEx to finally be able to track down the "beautiful instrument" (his words, repeatedly.) Although I expected to be disappointed by the new uke, my heart sank when I opened the box. If I had not been told that it was solid koa or acacia, I wouldn't have known -- nothing like what was represented in the stock photos. (I have played koa ukes, and own many koa items from Hawaii, as well as a KPK acacia tenor to compare in detail.) Again, see the other dedicated thread on the UU forum for the discussion on the misrepresentation re: Tom Wolansky claiming it is AAA koa. I also happen to be a conservatory string major, so I can tell if an instrument is well made or not. The sound definitely didn't "blow me away", the C string buzzes, intonation is off. I can't get it to stay in tune beyond a few gentle strums. By this time, the only thing that "blew my mind" was the change in his attitude once I made the purchase.

I wanted to ship it back to Edmonton for a refund, but I honestly couldn't bear to be at the receiving end of more nastiness from the owner. I hope this helps someone avoid the horrible experience I had with Tom Wolansky, the seller.

Thanks for reading.

So sorry to hear about your bad experience.
Are you not even going to try to return it?
Is there something like the BBB (Better Business Bureau) in Canada?
This is a sad story. I hope some good karma will come your way.
Best of luck to you.
Johnson

I had a bad experience with Twisted Wood about a year and a half ago. I bought one of their zebra wood ukes and I thought it had been badly misrepresented. It was a cheap laminated Asian uke that was worth about $49 that they sold for something like $150 and represented as made in North America. They were very disingenuous when I started emailing them about it. I ultimately ended up donating the uke. It did look nice and was fine for a beginner but it was not at all what was represented and nowhere near the selling price. I had considered posting the story on this site but for a number of reasons had decided not to. But since this has come up I will confirm that I think they misrepresent their product and are very evasive in their communication. It's not a company that has received a lot of mention on this site.

Sorry to hear of your experience. Let me get this straight. You checked on the references of the builder here on UU and found comments in the negative. He was also very vague and in some cases, very nasty in his comments to you yet you still bought a uke from him. Sorry man, you did the homework but didn't learn the lesson. Why would you expect any more than you got after searching it out.

I don't mean to be condescending but what were you thinking and expecting?

Thank you Johnson for your kind wishes. I hesitated to return it because I just couldn't handle dealing with the owner and now it's probably too late. Thank you for the idea of reporting them -- I'll see what options are available.

I think you should call the credit card company and see if their policy will cover you for misrepresentation. Not as advertised. I think you will find yes it does. PayPal does.

But I had a terrible experience with a dealer and after a number of tries it was dealt with favourably for me. So I recommend you contact him and ask for him to fulfill his return policy.

Good luck. Sorry to hear you have to go through this.

Sad to hear of this experience mate. The silver lining for the community is your courage in warning us about this business' practices. Thankyou for that. Truly hope your next experience is a better one. The marketplace board here is generally a very safe, transparent 1x 1 member transaction and generally instilled with a good dose of aloha. For what it's worth, welcome to UU. Hope you stick around. Cheers.

Patrick,

Most of the concrete signs that I made a mistake came after the purchase. Had I known about Ukulele Underground I would have come straight here for more info. The positive review on Etsy which stated that the instruments are made in Canada convinced me -- I wanted to support what looked like a small business nearby. Also, I carefully watched all their videos which looked promising. I should have questioned why the comments and rating features were turned off.

Katysax, I agree with you in hindsight -- upon asking him if the zebrawood was a laminate he tried to convince me that they deliberately decided to do a laminate "so that the air can circulate and produce a fuller sound." I had been told by a local uke store that a solid zebrawood uke is difficult to make, and Twisted Wood's video sounded stellar. I do agree, Patrick, that I should have caught onto what's going on at that point. Honestly, I am embarrassed as a pro string player to have let that one go, despite being interested in a different style. This is my first and last purchase of any instrument online, and will be supporting the aforementioned local store from here on. That way I truly will be supporting a local brick and mortar business.

Edited: thank you again to hippie dribble for mentioning the marketplace. I feel a lot more comfortable considering another purchase here.

Thank you Hippie Dribble -- glad to be here, and to have such a warm, welcoming atmosphere. I had actually purchased a tenor on the marketplace right before the Twisted Wood concert came. It was a great experience with lots of pleasant communication, and I am very happy with with my new uke. If I ever do decide to purchase a pre-loved instrument again, I will definitely start here.

Thank you Sam 13. Will definitely look into it.

LOL, I hear you Hercomes. Seems we always find out after the fact. What a drag to have such an experience. Some really good suggestions. Welcome, this is a great forum with great people. Good luck.

The sales story within this thread is a common one, and it usually starts with looking for the perennial "bargain" instrument. Unfortunately but realistically, the old, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it is!" is often ignored in the quest for the "bargain." Wooden musical instruments seem especially prime for such "bargain" marketing, A visit to the various instrument-centric forums are filled with stories of "salesman assurances" and "the price was great" and "great reviews on the auction/sales website."

Wanting to get a "good deal" is normal, however recognizing what one is before committing cash takes some research and realism. I can empathize with the OP, in that a purchase did not meet my hopes. However, "hopes" and "expectations" are different. I bought at risk from an unknown (to me, anyway) source, expecting less than what the marketing described (despite great assurances to the contrary), so what I got was what one should realistically expect for the price - no real "bargain" at all.

The only "customer reviews" that I have ever found that were worth anything have been those posted on forums such as UU by folk with a posting history, followed by commentary by others with a comparable history. These reviews have a strong measure cf credibility, compared to the "feedback" type of reviews by unknown folk of suspect identity.

It's a Caveat Emptor world out there, and the "one born every minute" marketing concept is still quite popular, especially with wooden instruments. The few dollars/euros/pounds saved at the front end by the "bargain" purchase usually disappears once the delivery occurs.

For the first time ever I recently contacted my credit card company about a purchase that I was upset about. Contacting them was easy- done online at their site. The purchase was immediately placed on "disputed" status and I was issued a refund by the credit company on my account pending a resolution. It was simple and it certainly got the attention of the business I was having a problem with. I recommend you do that. It gives you some leverage to be sure. In my case it turned out that my order had been sent to a very wrong address..but there never was an explanation for the fact that I could not reach them by phone or email.....and the company then sent the item (ukulele strings) to my correct address and even threw in another set of strings in apology. I immediately contacted my credit card company and told them all was well. They then dropped the "disputed" status of the charge and paid the company. Again, all was pretty darn simple with a classy resolution by the company I was having trouble with.

i try to pay for every major purchase with a credit card. paypal is on the buyer's side, but they are questionable and deal harshly, unfairly, and arbitrarily with sellers, so when you deal with them you become part of doing some poor saps injustices.
my credit card company goes to bat for me every time. i don't like being a whiner and only contact them about some gross seller gaffe.
this is so ingrained that it has become standard operating and i pay by credit card even when dealing with people who are completely beyond reproach. i plan a kanilea purchase or two and have zero reservations about joe souza. this person's heart is in the right place and he is a kindred spirit. he still gets a credit card purchase.
beyond the credit card issues please take some care to investigate the seller. there are enough rock solid companies with enough variety of product that you don't have to be creative and search out the exotic. you may lose out on something priceless by being needlessly conservative, a very small chance on that, with sleeping well at night as the counterbalance.
we have all been ripped off. my sympathy.

flailingfingers said:

For the first time ever I recently contacted my credit card company about a purchase that I was upset about. Contacting them was easy- done online at their site. The purchase was immediately placed on "disputed" status and I was issued a refund by the credit company on my account pending a resolution. It was simple and it certainly got the attention of the business I was having a problem with. I recommend you do that. It gives you some leverage to be sure. In my case it turned out that my order had been sent to a very wrong address..but there never was an explanation for the fact that I could not reach them by phone or email.....and the company then sent the item (ukulele strings) to my correct address and even threw in another set of strings in apology. I immediately contacted my credit card company and told them all was well. They then dropped the "disputed" status of the charge and paid the company. Again, all was pretty darn simple with a classy resolution by the company I was having trouble with.

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I have a similar dispute with an unrelated Ukulele charge on my credit card. This is solid advice. I recommend doing it.

Send them a link to this thread. Actions have consequences.

I did a search and apparently the owner has a UU account. Although, it looks like he only replied to that one thread and that's it.
Look at the last post there:
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?96403-Twisted-Woods-Solid-Koa-Tenor/page3

Not too long ago I had to file a dispute too with a company for not following through with what they said they would and plus I could not reach them. They only provided e-mail for contact and they never replied to my e-mails until the dispute was filed. Long story short: My credit card company got my money back for me. It was an easy process after filling out an online form and explaining the situation.

Herecomesoutis said:

upon asking him if the zebrawood was a laminate he tried to convince me that they deliberately decided to do a laminate "so that the air can circulate and produce a fuller sound."

Click to expand...

Absurd...Ridiculous....Laughable...other words....


P.S. - To clarify: I do think laminates can sound good. Not all laminates are equal though...and there are a lot of other build factors that influence sound.

Thank you for sharing your experience . I have visited this site just last week . Sam 13 and updownDave are both Canadian and very knowledgeable. They will tell you which Canadian site is good.
I have some emails exchanges with Mike Rogers at Bytown Ukuleles in Ottawa recently. If you prefer to deal with Canadian dealer in the future Mike is very fast with email response and very honest with his recommendation.
Please share photo . I hope everything work out for you and good luck. Thank you again for the warning.

Thank you for sharing this with us. Sorry you had a bad experience buying online. You can get ripped off, or become very disappointed, buying from B&M stores, too. But if you know what you're doing, you can minimize this.
If you ever decide to try online buying again, I can personally vouch for at least one American dealer, that is Mim's Ukes. There are many members here who've had good luck with Uke Republic, Mainland Ukes, and Hawaii Music Supply.
Whatever you do, don't give up on the ukulele! I hope these emotional wounds heal quickly. I know from experience that lessons like this are hard to learn.