NewsChannel 3 Investigates: Guitar Man Strikes Wrong Chord with Customers

A Santa Barbara guitar company and its owner are striking the wrong chord with musicians all over the country.

One customer in New Jersey got so frustrated he contacted NewsChannel 3 Investigates for help.

Lenny Gerthoffer is the owner of Vintage Nationals. He sells, trades and even customizes guitars.

Steve Moriarty said he paid Vintage Nationals almost $1,100 for a custom steel guitar a year ago.

“From then on, it’s been a paper chase and a phone chase,” said Moriarty during a Skype interview with NewsChannel 3 Investigates.

Moriarty said months went by and the guitar never showed up. He also said he repeatedly tried to contact Gerthoffer to find out if there was a problem, but he couldn’t reach him. Moriarty said he kept calling until Gerthoffer finally picked up the phone.

“He says, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll send you a couple of T-shirts or what not to make up for your patience and you can expect it in two weeks,’ Great! Nothin’ showed up,” said Moriarty.

July came and went and still no guitar. Moriarty didn’t even get the T-shirts!

“I have no faith in what you’re telling me at all and I want my money back. He said, ‘Okay, no problem,” said Moriarty.

But he never got that refund. For almost a year, Moriarty said he called and sent emails to Gerthoffer but got no response. He even thought about flying to Santa Barbara to confront him.

Instead, he picked up the phone and called NewsChannel 3 Investigates.

We quickly discovered many complaints about Vintage Nationals from people all over the country. Many of the blog complaints were similar to Moriarty’s, customers who said they paid in advance for a guitar and didn’t get what they paid for. One person posted, “This guy needs to be stopped.”

NewsChannel 3 called Lenny Gerthoffer. He said Steve Moriarty just fell through the cracks. But he promised to send him a full refund. About one week later, Moriarty finally got his money back.

“So right now, I’m very pleased with the results and I’ve got to thank you for all of your good work,” said Moriarty holding up 100 dollar bills.

Gerthoffer declined to talk on camera for this story, but during a phone interview, he said most of his customers are very happy. He said his troubles started when a national magazine did a great story on him. He got so many orders, he just couldn’t keep up.

Gerthoffer also said he’s trying to resolve all of the complaints against him.

Recently, he had an ‘F’ rating with the Better Business Bureau. It’s a B-plus now.

If you have a problem and need help, call our NewsChannel 3 Tipline at 882-3903.