Irvin Karan

[MG723]

Does anyone has purchased anything from Irvin Karan? Is this person genuine?

I saw Irvin’s posted on FB about the trombone cases he is advertising last year. I contacted him and ordered a double alto and tenor case from back in April 2023. I then paid him the full price - $6xx usd in May and was promised that I would receive the case in about a month. I waited for few months then got refund in Aug as I didn’t receive the case at the time.

After discussing the situation, I paid again in September, but since then, Irvin has been providing different reasons for the delay or refuse to refund.

I trusted this person as I believed he is a reputable person in trombone industry, however, the experience I have with this purchase isn’t pleasant at all.

I have been waiting for over a year, but I still haven’t yet received the double case I paid for, nor getting a refund.

More furiously is that I know this person is active on Facebook but have been avoiding my messages for months now.

I don’t expect I will get anything of this post.

Just that DO NOT order/ buy anything from this person as you will receive nothing from this guy.

I can share with you our chat message if you want to know more.

[Kdanielsen]

This is classic behavior for him. A similar thing happened to me, although I did eventually get a case. He takes your money and then orders from China, so you are at the mercy of Chinese production, shipping, and US customs. Plenty of instances of people having this problem, but also plenty of people who have had a good experience. I wouldn’t risk it (again)…

[BGuttman]

Irv is a trombone player who runs this business as a side hustle. He always means well but if he doesn't have your item at hand there is no telling when you will get it. I've heard both good and bad reports from people dealing with him.

[MStarke]

I have bought a smaller item from him in the past. If I remember correctly a leadpipe.

Some things went wrong in the communication and took much longer than expected. But I got it in the end.

[JohnL]

Ah, yet another Irvin Karan/slidebone.com/Brass Galaxy thread.

They're all pretty much the same. Someone orders an item and pays up front. Days become weeks, weeks become months. The item doesn't show up, and communication ceases.

A post is made to the forum. Some people respond that they've had similar experiences, others post that they've ordered stuff from him with no problems. Someone will usually say that it's not Irv's fault, that he's at the mercy of his supplier.

[LeTromboniste]

Yup.

Also, if the case you bought is from Ciro Basili, I'm even less surprise because he too is extremely unreliable (look up his name in this forum's search bar)

[MG723]

After all these conversations, on FB, I finally received messages from Irvin that threatened me to remove this post.
I am confused about how he can exhibit his shop in ITF with this awful customer service.
I paid the full price but didn’t get the product I paid for after 14 months of waiting, no refund, even worse threatening the customer to remove the post before assisting any further.

[Kdanielsen]

What a slime.

[harrisonreed]

FWIW, brass galaxy and slidebone websites appear to be defunct.

[JohnL]

Sounds like he's threatening to post personal information. I think that might be illegal.

[muschem]

It is easy enough to file a dispute with your credit card provider if you haven't received what you ordered, and the vendor refuses to provide either a delivery date or a refund. It isn't my preferred option, but I have gone that route in the past with an obstinate and unhelpful custom case manufacturer. I was threatened with lawsuits if I disputed the charge, but ultimately nothing of the sort materialized. I got my money back, and I won't ever deal with that individual again - it wasn't Irvin, to be clear. But, the OP's paper trail of messages with the vendor refusing assistance with the order should be sufficient proof to back a claim with the payment provider. IANAL, YMMV.

[officermayo]

I dealt with him in the past with no issue and defended him in this forum. THEN I got the Karan treatment myself. Lesson learned. Once bitten - twice shy.

[JohnL]

A couple of old threads from here and from the old trombone forum:
viewtopic.php?t=31720
viewtopic.php?p=15935

and one from Trumpet Herald where he posted the personal information of an unhappy customer:
https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/vie ... p?t=115530
(I kinda wonder why the mods didn't step in when that happened)

[WGWTR180]

What an arrogant dude. His "IT" guy. What a joke and yes threatening.

[JeffBone44]

I bought from him 10 years ago, had no issues the first time. I tried a few months later, after six months I received nothing, and he left me a threatening voice mail after I demanded a refund. A couple months after that I finally received my stuff, but I haven't done business with him since, and I never will again.

[HawaiiTromboneGuy]

This guy is a Grade A douche.

[HawaiiTromboneGuy]

It is easy enough to file a dispute with your credit card provider if you haven't received what you ordered, and the vendor refuses to provide either a delivery date or a refund. It isn't my preferred option, but I have gone that route in the past with an obstinate and unhelpful custom case manufacturer. I was threatened with lawsuits if I disputed the charge, but ultimately nothing of the sort materialized. I got my money back, and I won't ever deal with that individual again - it wasn't Irvin, to be clear. But, the OP's paper trail of messages with the vendor refusing assistance with the order should be sufficient proof to back a claim with the payment provider. IANAL, YMMV.

^This. Call your bank/card issuer and file a chargeback.

[ngrinder]

Yikes and ew. Not surprising given his history...I've defended him in the past and should have known better.

[spencercarran]

He always means well

That is absolutely not a credible interpretation of the behavior that's been documented from him, in this thread and elsewhere.

[WGWTR180]

Still waiting for his tech guy to shut everything down. LOL

[TromboneConcerto]

I remember meeting him at ATW in DC some years ago. The ‘slimy salesman’ reeked from him and it totally turned me off from buying from him. Take your business elsewhere, or have your credit card company on speed dial. It shocks me that anyone defends this guy.

[JeffBone44]

After all these conversations, on FB, I finally received messages from Irvin that threatened me to remove this post.
I am confused about how he can exhibit his shop in ITF with this awful customer service.
I paid the full price but didn’t get the product I paid for after 14 months of waiting, no refund, even worse threatening the customer to remove the post before assisting any further.

He wanted a written apology, LOL.

[MG723]

Hi everyone.
Just an update about it. I still haven’t get my money back.
And recently I saw Irvan’s post on FB and I forward this post to remind the other customers.
And I got the response from Irvan and then he block me on FB, so I won’t be able to see his post anymore. I would to ask everyone to help to share and report about him.

[bassbone1993]

Such a shame. I was interested in the Basili cases that he's selling as the "artisan" cases.

[Joebone]

OK, OK, who is this Karan guy, as a trombonist? Gigs, chops, interests?

[Posaunus]

OK, OK, who is this Karan guy, as a trombonist? Gigs, chops, interests?

https://brassgalaxy.com/

[Joebone]

Thanks.

[LeTromboniste]

Such a shame. I was interested in the Basili cases that he's selling as the "artisan" cases.

Ciro Basili has many of the same issues as Irvin Karan (minus perhaps the rudeness and threats). Stay away!

I ordered 6 custom sackbut cases for myself and colleagues a few years back, he was very communicative ahead of the order and exchanging about the design for the cases, and he indicated that our order would be the next he tackled, promising a one-month wait for making the cases and another month for surface shipping. In the end, he started working on them only two months later (so after originally-planned) delivery date, then sent me pictures of some of the cases being assembled another two months later, and then disappeared, stopped responding and remained unresponsive after multiple attempts to contact him over a period of 6 weeks. I had to open a PayPal claim before the protection expired . I have never heard from him again. I thought maybe something regrettable happened, and I felt sorry we had to withdraw our business, but I've since seen new shipments of his cases being advertised. Yet no contact, no apology or explanation, not even an attempt on his part to resume the order (which after having apparently already made at least a sizeable chunk of the order, with custom items that can't easily be re-sold or re-purposed, is just plain weird in terms of business practice).

[bassbone1993]

Such a shame. I was interested in the Basili cases that he's selling as the "artisan" cases.

Ciro Basili has many of the same issues as Irvin Karan (minus perhaps the rudeness and threats). Stay away!

I ordered 6 custom sackbut cases for myself and colleagues a few years back, he was very communicative ahead of the order and exchanging about the design for the cases, and he indicated that our order would be the next he tackled, promising a one-month wait for making the cases and another month for surface shipping. In the end, he started working on them only two months later (so after originally-planned) delivery date, then sent me pictures of some of the cases being assembled another two months later, and then disappeared, stopped responding and remained unresponsive after multiple attempts to contact him over a period of 6 weeks. I had to open a PayPal claim before the protection expired . I have never heard from him again. I thought maybe something regrettable happened, and I felt sorry we had to withdraw our business, but I've since seen new shipments of his cases being advertised. Yet no contact, no apology or explanation, not even an attempt on his part to resume the order (which after having apparently already made at least a sizeable chunk of the order, with custom items that can't easily be re-sold or re-purposed, is just plain weird in terms of business practice).

Shame, I liked how the cut bell cases were more rectangular shaped than the MB cases. Guess I'll stick with MB

[SamBTbrn]

If you want a screwbell case in that shape, Basili is not the only one that makes them. Bags of Spain (or just "Bags") makes exactly the same case, but have a good history of customer service.

https://musical-bags.com/en/home/

Best
Sam