McHaffie Whistles [update]

[Tyghress]

3) FULL PAYMENT was received.
4) NO ITEM was sent, no explanation was given, no contact was made.

?

What needs clarification, tommy?

[Azalin]

3) FULL PAYMENT was received.
4) NO ITEM was sent, no explanation was given, no contact was made.

?

What needs clarification, tommy?

3) McHaffie received full payment for the whistle just before he was about to ship. (considering his past, I would have done what some makers do, send first and pay later)

4) McHaffie did NOT send the whistle, and did not contact the person who sent the money. It's been months and still no sign of life.

So as I said before, in 2005, what can prevent someone for finding an internet connection for 5 minutes to send a message? He's paralysed from head to toe and will recover miraculeously in a few months? (I wish McHaffie no harm, it's just the type of excuse I expect).

[Jerry Freeman]

I called John this morning. Had a very pleasant conversation.

I offered to post a message on his behalf, and he said he'd appreciate that.

Here's the number, again, where he can be reached:

417-753-5099

He made it clear that he's happy to have his phone number public and happy for anyone to call him at any time.

He's lost track of this customer, isn't sure who it is, and needs the customer to call him. He's puzzled that the customer hasn't been able to reach him by phone. He knows of three whistle orders from April and assumes it's one of those three but will need the customer to contact him to confirm which one and confirm shipping information.

ChaoticGemini, please call 417-753-5099 (again, if you've called it before) and see if you can connect with John to straighten this out.

Without going into detail, John does in fact have health issues that have resurfaced in some severity. During this time, he's not on the Internet, and he hasn't seen this thread. He remembers Daniel's phone call, but he didn't seem to be aware of what has been happening with this thread.

At the risk of becoming myself the object of your wrath, I would like to suggest that you stop sniping for awhile and give John the benefit of the doubt. This is one whistle and one customer. He's only charged $55 for a craftsman made whistle, which is extremely reasonable. I've not seen a chorus of customers chiming in to say, "Yeah, that happened to me, too." (I'm not counting what happened four years ago, because it appears to me, he's gone through that ordeal and made a good faith effort to straighten things out.) As I said, it seems to be one lost order with one customer.

I have health issues of my own. I get confused at times myself, about who ordered what, what's been paid and what hasn't, etc. I've found that customers in the whistle world are very kind and patient people, for the most part, and I can simply say, "I'm sorry, but I've lost track. Which whistle was I supposed to send you? Do I need to collect payment, or is it already paid?" This doesn't happen a lot, but once in awhile, I need to ask a customer's help in sorting out an order.

Regarding the website, John's going to leave it down for awhile. He intends to rebuild it eventually, but the timing is not certain.

For what it's worth.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Tommy]

You have done a good deed Jerry.

[WhistlingGypsy]

Well done Jerry! It amazes me how many people are ready to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. Whistlemakers in particular seem to get bashed regularly on this forum. Amazing what one phone call can do.

Gerry

[Wombat]

Well done Jerry! It amazes me how many people are ready to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. Whistlemakers in particular seem to get bashed regularly on this forum. Amazing what one phone call can do.

Gerry

People weren't jumping to conclusions, IMO. A legitimate issue was raised and there was silence regarding it. If someone has form, however much that might have been due to bad luck, it would be irresponsible not to mention it. Then someone appears purporting to be such a close friend as to be virtually family but that person gives a character reference rather than information about the whistle and/or a phone number. Someone that close could and should have got in touch with John herself. Even still, most grumpy remarks of late have been from people who object to being told that they should just turn a blind eye.

I have nothing aginst John and never have had. I hope his heath problems are minor and temporary. I hope this business is resolved quickly and to everyone's satisfaction. I'm pleased Jerry has made solid progress towards that outcome. But however sympathetic I might be, I'm fully aware that when things like this happen you should expect some degree of bad publicity and you have to wear it. The criticism has not been out of proportion to the problem. (If someone in business turns out to be gravely ill, you would want to retract harsh criticism when this comes to light—at least I would—but you might be perfectly entitled to make that criticism before hand.)

[Wanderer]

I'm with Wombat. I think the majority of us have been trying to be very careful about immediately crucifying the guy. Expressing concerns? You betcha. And it's not like people haven't been trying to figure out what's going on.

I wrote John's web hosting company, for instance, to see if I could get some light shed on the nature of the problem and how long it'd take to get things working. I was hoping I could get some confirmation on what was already posted, so we could put the speculation to rest. I'm not comfortable posting what it was they told me, but it isn't quite the same as the story that's been posted here.

I've also been having trouble figuring out how a problem with the web hosting company translates to not being able to get online at home, but Jerry's post about his health does have an answer for that one.

I guess it boils down to, I am personally willing to keep an open mind for now, but I do have trust issues since I personally have a hard time believing all of the wildly different stories John gave as excuses last time he was having issues.

It sucks for Gemini, as she's out money. But unlike last time, it doesn't seem to be a lot of people, thankfully. I'd have felt really bad, though, if it *were* a lot of people, and I had said nothing for months while more people lost money. That *is* what happened last time, because there was a culture of not saying anything bad about whistle makers, and so it took a while for people to start speaking up. And once they did, the problems appeared to be widespread.

Hopefully everything will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

[Azalin]

Well done Jerry! It amazes me how many people are ready to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. Whistlemakers in particular seem to get bashed regularly on this forum. Amazing what one phone call can do.

Gerry

What really amazes me Gerry is how something like the McHaffies situation could have happened a few years back. I mean, not only he wasnt shipping his whistles, but it took months to find out that his whistles were ridiculously out of tune, and far from being ready for the market. That's what really outrageous to me. Now, that's the past. This time I want to make sure the same stuff isnt going to happen again.

I got the deepest respect for Jerry, so as Wanderer was saying, I'm willing to keep an open mind on this and won't post on this thread again. But I'm still standing to everything I said, and there's still something fishy. I know that no matter how sick I could get, if I were running a buisness that stuff wouldnt happen. As long as I got breath to talk, I could manage to get a few things done like have some messages posted on the internet. His website went down (from what I understand, the web host isnt happy with how McHaffie handled his account), his email went down, and still no messages on the whistle boards about this.

[cavysja]

The reason I have not said anything in the past about Johns health problem is because I did not know if john would want that to be made public and as for what it is, I am still not sure if he wants that to be known. But what I feel like I can say now that it is a little public is that John has had this problem for most of his life and will have this problem all of his life unfortunatly. It is something that affects your brain and mostly your memory. Believe it or not but this is true. His doctor has used him as a guinee pig for most of his life making him try new meds all of the time so it has gotten a lot worse than when I first met John.

Now for my comment about being almost famliy, the reason I said this is because my bofriend of four years is his brother in law or shall I say ex-brother in law. Also I do not find it fair to be put on the spot and be asked to take care of Johns personal business. Now do I feel like John should return the money that was sent to him along with a whistle that was ordered if the customer still wants it, sure I do. Is that what a business man or women should do, I think so. But will John actually do this that is up to him. I really do feel bad about the person losing money to john and I believe that it happened, but I dont feel like that is any part of my doing to tell John what to do since I do not know anything about it other than what I have read. So like I have saidI do feel bad and I am sorry.

[Azalin]

I would just like to say that I got some "first hand" information from someone I really trust and it seems we really ought (especially myself) to give McHaffie to benefice of the doubt. There might be some flaws in the way he runs his buisness, but let's say that life doesnt seem to make things easy for him.

[E = Fb]

Bad people can make a good living on the good behaviour and trusting nature of good people. Without that, they'd have to make an honest living.

This cavy person suddly appears (3 posts) to defend McHaffy. Odd. I wonder if Cavy's first name if John.

And I love the way this guy is suffering from some mystery illness. Those who know what the diseas is are keeping mumm. It appears to keep him from conducting business in an ethical manner. Wonder what that disease is.

His doctor has used him for a guinea pig....can't get better script writers anywhere. I've heard it all.

The instrument business has several of these guys. U-Pipes are the worst.

I think that those who have uncovered the bull are being very patient and tactful. I like to call a spade a spade. The guy's a liar and a crook. And like all crooks, he justifies it.

[greenspiderweb]

Bad people can make a good living on the good behaviour and trusting nature of good people. Without that, they'd have to make an honest living.

This cavy person suddly appears (3 posts) to defend McHaffy. Odd. I wonder if Cavy's first name if John.

And I love the way this guy is suffering from some mystery illness. Those who know what the diseas is are keeping mumm. It appears to keep him from conducting business in an ethical manner. Wonder what that disease is.

His doctor has used him for a guinea pig....can't get better script writers anywhere. I've heard it all.

The instrument business has several of these guys. U-Pipes are the worst.

I think that those who have uncovered the bull are being very patient and tactful. I like to call a spade a spade. The guy's a liar and a crook. And like all crooks, he justifies it.

It's too bad that there are always people who want to jump on the pile after the play is over, to offer their "opinion" on the matter, who have absolultely nothing to do with what is going on, and for that matter, know nothing at all about the matter.

Attacking someone without first hand knowledge of the problems they face, is just cowardly. You have no idea if this man has any health problems, and it really isn't any of your business besides. All you are attempting to do is add fuel to the fire, and it is childish and wrong.

[Whitmores75087]

Well said, Greenspiderweb. Everyone's nice...that's the truth.

[Tyghress]

I'm sorry for his health issues...but it doesn't change my opinion that business with him should be on a COD basis. And the only way he can make it right is to deliver the whistle, or refund the money. And as the original poster appears to buy another low G, offering the refund regardless would be pretty ethical.

I sure hope Chaotic posts when the matter has been settled.

[Jerry Freeman]

OK.

I spoke to John again. This time, I left a message on his machine and he called back within a couple of hours.

He still hasn't heard from the customer. His phone definitely works. ChaoticGemini doesn't give email information in her profile, and I don't know who s/he is, so I've no idea how to get ahold of her other than posting here.

I mentioned to John that the whistle in queston is a low G (which I hadn't noted the first time we spoke), and he happens to have a finished low G whistle on hand. He can't work on whistles at this time, but he does have one he can send.

He thinks he may have sent a low G whistle around the timeframe the customer mentioned, and it may have gotten lost in transit, but he isn't sure. (Don't pile on here please; it definitely does happen. I've had whistles lost in the mail. And for that matter, a Land's End item I ordered on August 8 has gone missing in the mail - I spoke to them about it yesterday.)

Anyway, he said he'd be happy to refund the customer's money or send the whistle he has. No problem either way, but he needs to know who the customer is and what s/he wants him to do before he can do either.

Now, as to this mystery person who's posted a few messages in John's defense ... I mentioned her the first time we spoke, and he wasn't sure who it might be. This evening, I read him her most recent post, and he recognized her. It's the girlfriend of his ex-wife's stepbrother, whom he refers to as "the little brother I never had," and with whom he's close.

John was surprized that she'd posted about him because they haven't spent a lot of time together, but she and her boyfriend have stayed over at John's place occasionally, and he's helped them out some. Her characterization of John as "almost family" would seem accurate, and it does appear that she's a real person. Her description of John's health condition is correct, incidentally.

For what it's worth.

Best wishes,
Jerry