Did Prymaxe Steal My Tone King Imperial?

[ChampReverb]

Contact - Tone King

If you have any questions you can contact us here at Tone King Amplifiers for all international Sales, Support, and Warranty related issues.

www.toneking.com

 

[Justin Clauser]

If your credit card company won't help, you might be looking at small claims court. Alternatively, sometimes getting an attorney to send a letter will sometimes magically cause these sorts to bend over backwards to resolve the issue.

Thank you. I hope it doesn't come to this.

I’d reach out to tone king directly and see if they had a scheduled estimate for prymaxe and go from there. Good luck.

I will try this.

Its not that weird in this day and age, where the answer for everything is "supply chain issues" or "its been stuck at port, nothing I can do". Sadly its just an expectation many of us have developed, because so many things are just so far backordered now.

I haven't purchased much gear recently and this is indeed sad to find out.

You can always call B.A.D. and see if they even ordered it at all.

I do not know what B.A.D. is.

If you haven’t already, call your credit card and get past the first 1 or 2 reps. Get someone higher up in CS or maybe someone in the fraud dpt and plead your case to see if there’s anything at all they can do. Worth a shot but 9 months is probably far too long. Dealer shouldn’t take full payment until the amp is ready to ship!

If that fails, you can try the legal route.

As a long shot, I’d call Tone King and tell them what happened. I’m sure they dont want behavior like this from their dealers. Maybe they can help broker a successful completion of the transaction.

Thanks for the advice!

Are we to assume that the amp was not in stock at Prymaxe when you placed the order? If not, then you shouldn’t have been charged in the first place. Most “honorable” dealers will not charge you until the item ships.

It was not in stock.

I don't know your whole story but you might want to read this.

Business Guide to the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule

Introduction How to Comply With the Rule Questions and Answers About the Rule Where to Go For Help Part 435 -- Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule

www.ftc.gov

This link is quite helpful! Thank you!

Sympathy to the OP. I'd take the advice above: Maybe contact B.A.D. and tell them (they should know what tall tales their dealers are telling), but really, you're looking at small claims.

They're shady as it gets. I bought a few things from them before I found out about how they operate (including one personal experience with the whole "selling as in stock what know full well we don't actually have" trick). There are too many good dealers out there to give business to clowns like that.

Thank you? I thought the manufacturer was Tone King. Who is B.A.D.?

What is the time limit on your credit card? 6 months? I would still try to go higher up and explain that it was a backorder situation, and that they have never delivered the product and will not respond. If that does not work - demand Pryhax refund your card. Threaten to report them to BBB and their State Attorney General office. They should have NEVER charged the card until the item shipped. But my guess is they have cash flow issues, and that's why they did it.

Yes. 6 Months is what I was told. This is a new experience for me. Thanks for the advice!

Follow that FTC link and report them. They can be fined enough that they could be put out of business. They don't seem to have deep pockets when running an empty warehouse and having to wait until they have enough of the customers money to hit the minimums for quantity break on their orders.

Reporting them seems a likely option.

One more option, but it depends on Prymaxe themselves. Try the BBB. I know they have no enforcement authority, but sometimes they can get it done. I recently rented a car from a single location company in Chicago. I paid in advance. When I showed up for the car, they would not accept my debit card. They also would not give me a refund. Nor would they give Travelocity a refund, they tried twice. I filed a complaint with the BBB and I got a refund in a day. Worth the shot.

Thank you. I might do that.

If people who are aware of their well documented shadiness over many, many years continue to give them money thinking it won’t happen to me finally get stung, I have little sympathy at this point.

And in any scenario, I would never spend that amount of money without due diligence.

I was unaware of how Prymaxe has been handling business of late. I had many smooth purchases from them over the years but mostly 2016 and earlier. This thread has been enlightening for me.

I started this thread to ask for helpful ideas from the TGP community and thankfully received many good ones. Comments like yours are unfortunately expected as well. Hopefully, seeing how thankful I am for the help I received from others will make you rethink how you communicate.

It would appear they stole your money, not the amplifier…

True but in the interest of self service, I went with the title that I thought would bring the most helpful comments. Seemed to work! Thanks everyone!

 

[fjrabon]

I do not know what B.A.D. is.



Thank you? I thought the manufacturer was Tone King. Who is B.A.D.?

BAD, Boutique Amps Distribution, is a company that builds pedals and amps for a lot of companies (Wampler, Friedman, Soldano, Tone King, Egnater, Bogner, Morgan, Diezel all off the top of my head). Basically a lot of the “boutique brands that went medium/large scale” partner with them because those companies are big enough to need modern production techniques, but not big enough to maybe be able to afford a full factory and full time production staff.

They also are usually in charge of distributing those brands to the dealers. The “parent company” creates the designs and specs the parts, but BAD builds and distributes. Usually it is BAD that you deal with for warranty issues (though not always).

 

[Justin Clauser]

Wish you luck in getting your money back from them. I did, but had to harass the hell out of them.

Thank you! Good to hear it worked for you.

Prymaxe used to be one of the best, 10-12 years ago. Big discounts, fast shipping, great product selection and all that. They seem to have taken that turn that a lot of businesses do when an event triggers a massive change in how they do business. If I'm not mistaken, 'Corey' or whoever was the son of the Prymaxe owner became the owner and that's when the problems started. I'm trying to remember the details but I could be wrong. I probably made ~100 purchases from them. Unfortunately, I refuse to do business with them anymore as every time I feel like I can order from them again, a customer like OP has a problem like this. They kind of shot themselves in the foot as their perpetual discounts drove a lot of buyers to the shop.

Anyway, I seriously hope OP gets his amp. Tone Kings are killer. But Prymaxe really needs to get their everloving $h1t together if they want to stay in business.

Thank you! I have learned a lot from this thread!

Wow this is about the third prymaxe thread this week alone and one of the worst examples of how bad an operation they are. Their bait and no switch routine is horrific. So they charge you for something they don’t have in stock and then make you wait until they actually do get it and without any updates or status? I wonder if they fit into a “mail fraud” scheme since they do everything via shipping? At the time of the purchase do they indicate the item is in stock?

They did not indicate it was in stock. That said, it appears I afforded Prymaxe too much patience.

Maybe the op can point the NJ State's Attorney Gen. to the many threads here, added to the op's experience. An actual complaint might go somewhere if there appears to be an ongoing pattern of abuse.
That FTC link had great info also.

That is a possibility as well.

Contact - Tone King

If you have any questions you can contact us here at Tone King Amplifiers for all international Sales, Support, and Warranty related issues.

www.toneking.com

Thank you! I have reached out to Tone King!

 

[Hugh Manitee]

I think Prymaxe is great, I love dealing with them and I've never had an issue.

Is the problem perhaps instead that the amp you purchased is not actually in-stock there and is being built to-order (which is typical generally), but taking longer than quoted (also typical, since COVID)?

I probably would have reached out to Tone King (and dealers) to begin with, as part of researching the amp, looking into where to get it from, and/or typical turn-around if ordering from a shop that didn't have it in-stock.

 

[FlyingVBlues]

Prymaxe is not listed as a dealer on the Tone King website. However, they do show up on the Google map of dealer locations. All of the Tone King products on the Prymaxe website are listed as "Sold Out". I suspect that Prymaxe's "supply chain issue" is they are no longer a Tone King dealer and the only way they'll get a new Tone King amp is through another dealer who has a demo or returned amp available.

I would check with Tone King or B.A.D regarding Prymaxe's dealership status. If they are no longer a dealer @Justin Clauser might have the basis for a fraud claim that his credit card company would honor even though the purchase was made a while ago.

​

 

[pickleweed]

I'm sure the op understands the supply chain issue.
All prymaxe has to do is communicate
An email every 2 weeks goes a long way.
All they have to say is it's backordered and we're doing the best we can
That puts the op at ease

About 10 yrs ago i order a classic 30 through a local mom and pop
He gave me a great price so it didn't pay to order online

They told me 3 to 5 weeks.
Reason being the freight deal works out better the more they order.
So they wait for a few orders before they call peavey

Well about 7 weeks went by still no amp. They were in constant email with me so I didn't worry.

After 10th week I told them enough is enough that if I call AMS I'd get it tomorrow

What he did was run across town to another shop. Got a dealer to dealer courtesy and was able to match the price for me

This isn’t supply chain issues, this is how they run their business. They sell product they don’t have, taking the money up front.

This is far different than a mom and pop shop struggling with delivery times.

Go look through any prymaxe thread and you’ll find the same stories over and over again. For years. If that’s not enough to stop you from ordering… well….good luck with your purchase.

 

[teofilrocks]

I think Prymaxe is great, I love dealing with them and I've never had an issue.

Is the problem perhaps instead that the amp you purchased is not actually in-stock there and is being built to-order (which is typical generally), but taking longer than quoted (also typical, since COVID)?

There are literally 35 listings on Reverb (in the US) as you speak for brand new Imperial MKII combos. It’s not as if there’s a shortage everywhere, like trying to find a new Matchless C-30 in stock, for instance. The shortage seems to be quite localized to an address in NJ.

 

[SinglecutGuy]

Shocking, yet another “Prymaxe screwed me” thread. I don’t understand why people keep buying from them. Their name alone seems shady.

 

[Gasp100]

Does anyone think they are a registered dealer with Tone King? Or Suhr for that matter? As I stated in another thread, I was in process for buying a Suhr Bella from them "out of stock" but had a sneaky suspicion they were not really affiliated with many of these companies. The prices they offer are quite often too good to be true.
Let's ask the OP what the price was he paid for said Tone King Imperial mkII?

 

[redgold]

I was unaware of how Prymaxe has been handling business of late. I had many smooth purchases from them over the years but mostly 2016 and earlier. This thread has been enlightening for me.

I started this thread to ask for helpful ideas from the TGP community and thankfully received many good ones. Comments like yours are unfortunately expected as well. Hopefully, seeing how thankful I am for the help I received from others will make you rethink how you communicate.

I am a longtime customer of Prymaxe and up until now, have only spoken positively of them.

Your initial post implied awareness of negative posts. Apologies if mistaken.

I do think my point stands for the tgp community. I used to do a lot of business with Prymaxe. Once the negative posts about their practices emerged (long before 2016) I stopped. If people would heed feedback rather than bargain hunting every purchase and support reputable dealers, they would be out of business by now.

 

[Fuzz_Mountain]

Ah Prymeaxe. They used to be great and something changed 5-10 years ago and they’ve become just terrible. I used to order everything from them but they’ve ensured they’ll never see another dime of my money.

I can’t believe anyone still orders from them.

Sorry you had to find out about them this way OP. I hope you get your money back.

 

[teofilrocks]

I’m so tempted to click “Notify Me” on their site for when an Imperial is available for order. Wager on whether I’ll get an email before the OP does?

 

[Technicolor Wizard]

I'm just waiting for the usual "oh but I order from Prymaxe with no problems all the time" spiel post. That ain't the point, the point is these same folks are supporting a bad business for a discounted price. Big whoop. Not worth it in my book.

Maybe if you're newer and never heard of Prymaxe before, that's more understandable when buying from them. But I'm not sure why anyone who knows about the stories around here continues to give them money...

I would rather drive 20 hours to pick something up rather than order from Prymaxe, even if their discount was substantial it wouldn't matter to me. Not worth the potential headache.

I used to buy from them in the past, and when they started shipping me customer returned, blemished pedals at list price... that's when I stopped ordering from them. Ever since then it's been nothing but horror stories with 'em, even before my own experience. I took my chances and was somewhat luckier than most. Never again. They'll likely follow suit like Music Toyz did.

 

[JPH118]

This though, is why it is frustrating that whenever there is a thread about prymaxe ripping someone off, someone comes along to say it hasn’t happened to them.

That's a nice rant, you might have wanted to save it for a thread where anyone actually said anything positive about Prymaxe though.

*eyeroll. It’s clearly preemptive here.

I think Prymaxe is great, I love dealing with them and I've never had an issue.

That was fun to watch develop… I love when a thread delivers!

OP, best of luck with those guys!

 

[Technicolor Wizard]

I think Prymaxe is great, I love dealing with them and I've never had an issue.

You think they are great for that 15% discount, lets be honest here lol. That's the only reason why, I know it in my bones!

If they weren't giving away discounts all the time and continued with their poorly executed business practices, then Prymaxe wouldn't even be a topic of discussion around here... we would simply be avoiding them like the plague and order from Sweetwater. Most do regardless.

 

[RCM78]

Prymaxe used to be one of the best, 10-12 years ago. Big discounts, fast shipping, great product selection and all that. They seem to have taken that turn that a lot of businesses do when an event triggers a massive change in how they do business. If I'm not mistaken, 'Corey' or whoever was the son of the Prymaxe owner became the owner and that's when the problems started. I'm trying to remember the details but I could be wrong. I probably made ~100 purchases from them. Unfortunately, I refuse to do business with them anymore as every time I feel like I can order from them again, a customer like OP has a problem like this. They kind of shot themselves in the foot as their perpetual discounts drove a lot of buyers to the shop.

Anyway, I seriously hope OP gets his amp. Tone Kings are killer. But Prymaxe really needs to get their everloving $h1t together if they want to stay in business.

The original owner is Corey’s father Joe. He owned Cranford Guitar and Music center for decades before starting Prymaxe with Corey out of his house. I took guitar lessons from Joe. I remember Corey running around the shop as a little kid.
Sucks that the reputation has gone downhill. I’ve bought many pedals from them without issue.

 

[sitedrifter]

Has anyone in the NY/NJ area ever have a serious problem with Prymaxe and made a visit to their store for a solution?

 

[andrekp]

Due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, the wait for replies might be longer than usual. Please stay in this thread and I will give a reply as soon as possible.

 

[JPH118]

He owned Cranford Guitar and Music center for decades

That was a great shop, I remember going there a lot in the early 90s… I’d hop on rt22 and shoot down to Outlaw guitars too, nice little Sat afternoons!