# Ran guitars - any news?



## Matze (Sep 22, 2019)

Since the thread in the 7 string section was closed i need to ask if someone got news? I just realized a few days ago that something must be wrong with my order. Dariuz wasn't/isn't responding to any e-mail anymore. I never got informed what's going on with Ran guitars. I ordered 16 month ago an paid a deposit of 1800 euro!!! I don't care about excuses. Obviously he took orders and money even when he knows he will never start building them. In fact he ripped off ppl and there is no excuse for it. I paid a lot of money just to get nothing, that really pisses me off! And even if there is almost no chnace to succeed I will go to a lawyer next week.


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## Andromalia (Sep 22, 2019)

You're unlikely to find news here, topic was closed for a reason. Contacting your lawyer is the right thing to do, but there's nothing we can do for you here.


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## JustinRhoads1980 (Sep 23, 2019)

Lawyer up.


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## narad (Sep 23, 2019)

Though I'm happy to continue ridiculing the brand if that makes anyone feel better.


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## Adieu (Sep 23, 2019)

So what happened?

Did the guy just up and ragequit, leaving prepaid orders outstanding?


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 23, 2019)

Adieu said:


> So what happened?
> 
> Did the guy just up and ragequit, leaving prepaid orders outstanding?



Well @narad was really mean to them, so to spite him, they just closed up shop. 

J/K

_Supposedly_ they were moving shop and in the process _shenanigans_ happened and thus they have ceased to be. 

This is, of course, not at all verifiable and cobbled together from various social media posts.


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## Matze (Sep 23, 2019)

Adieu said:


> So what happened?
> 
> Did the guy just up and ragequit, leaving prepaid orders outstanding?



Yeah, he's bankrupt and all paid deposits are lost. He didn't say a word to most customer and he's not responding to emails or phonecalls anymore. He wrote a guy months ago that everything stopped because he's bankrupt and his staff moved away.
Imo a reckless guy never said sorry for that and the loss of a lot of money for some customer.


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## _MonSTeR_ (Sep 23, 2019)

Some would argue that reckless is giving €1800 to a builder as a deposit where your only means of communication is long distance emails...

Just sayin’

Going out of business can be unfortunate rather than reckless, and whilst it’s sad that you’ve lost your deposit, it sounds like the company owners have lost their livelihoods.


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## c7spheres (Sep 23, 2019)

Not even letting people/customers know what happened is really messed up. I noticed there's also no update or indication on the website, plus there is still a custom order form on it too. I wonder if you did a custom order whether or not you'd get a reply or not. You could then send them a summons, I mean a "deposit". I'm so glad I barely missed having enough for my deposit about a month before this all went down. I would have been screwed. Sorry to hear it happened man.


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## chopeth (Sep 23, 2019)

Ran is sadly dead forever, its owners are almost too, huge depression according to what they told me. Skervesen tried to help and took the smaller deposits so as the materials from the seized factory to continue some projects. It's all a mess but they took a few bad decisions in the worst time scenario and that led them to ruin. I wish they'd get over it but I'm afraid the debt is too big, don't know. Dariusz last words for me were optimistic about the insurance giving them some money to at least give back the deposits to everybody, but I'm not sure that can even be possible.


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## crackout (Sep 23, 2019)

So he took the money and RAN.


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 23, 2019)

They really RAN the company into the ground.


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## Andromalia (Sep 23, 2019)

_MonSTeR_ said:


> Some would argue that reckless is giving €1800 to a builder as a deposit where your only means of communication is long distance emails...
> 
> Just sayin’


That's what people are doing with most e-retailers nowadays. Ran has been in business for more than 10 years with a lot of guitars sold, many people here got crushers over the years and I don't recall any special horror stories before they went bust. As far as reliable small brands go, Ran was with those.
Besides, Poland is in the EU, in case people have forgotten, so there are legal recourses if you live inside.


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 23, 2019)

Andromalia said:


> That's what people are doing with most e-retailers nowadays. Ran has been in business for more than 10 years with a lot of guitars sold, many people here got crushers over the years and I don't recall any special horror stories before they went bust. As far as reliable small brands go, Ran was with those.
> Besides, Poland is in the EU, in case people have forgotten, so there are legal recourses if you live inside.



What is the legal recourse available in the EU?

In the United States, if a company folds and files for bankruptcy those out money are paid via the sale of any business assets available to be liquidated with certain creditors taking priority. 

As for risk, there's always risk. Was RAN, from the outside, the biggest risk? Didn't seem like it. But whenever you deal with small businesses you're pretty much rolling the dice. Adding complications such as distance compounds that risk.


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## Fred the Shred (Sep 23, 2019)

Legal recourse is available, of course, but thing is that typically the state takes precedence over any other creditor, suppliers are next in the list, and only then will the end customer enter the equation, so unless someone is privy to the whole ordeal, there's no way to tell whether people will ever see a dime back after the liquidation of assets takes place to begin with. What was actually the cause behind the closure? Anyone know the actual reason?


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## Descent (Sep 23, 2019)

1800 euro warrants a baseball bat purchase and personal visit to Warsaw or whatever hovel Darisz is hiding in. He needs to get kneecapped for this.


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## Lorcan Ward (Sep 23, 2019)

RAN was an eyeopener that a business with a history of good communication and build times can even go down. We are so used to seeing good builders destroy their business from their own incompetence or cowboy builders go down cause they sent out s**tplanks. 

Did the Skervesen take on many of the builds?


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## Matze (Sep 23, 2019)

In fact it's sad that Ran had to stop business for whatever reason it was. But you can't find anything in the web why and what causes him to stop. There is no communication at all. Wether personally with customers who are affected nor via any social media. We don't know for sure what was going on there. But what I rellay don't understand is the fact that he is playing dead and there is no way to get in contact with him and no information at all. In addition to that he accepted orders and deposit payments from customers knowing he will never craft those guitars. And that's a no go and for sure criminal in poland as well as in other countries and not excusable. Maybe ppl wouldn't be that pissed if they would get honest words about waht's going on.


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## Matze (Sep 23, 2019)

Lorcan Ward said:


> RAN was an eyeopener that a business with a history of good communication and build times can even go down. We are so used to seeing good builders destroy their business from their own incompetence or cowboy builders go down cause they sent out s**tplanks.
> 
> Did the Skervesen take on many of the builds?


True words. And yes they did a great job in the past 10 yrs no doubt about it. And that's why ppl don't understand how he manages with customers now. You don't think about big risks if everything in the past 10 yrs was absolutley fine. There where never a reason to not trust his business. I don't know hoe many projects Skervesen took over. But I think they just took those with smaller deposits and I think they didn't accept any project due to special specifications and shapes they don't build.


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 23, 2019)

Memories are short.

Ten years ago, and even a little more recently in fact, RAN was known for being the morally dubious creator of known Trademark/Copyright infringing guitars, purposely undercutting said rights holders. Now I sound like @narad.

Additionally, there were documented reports of less than stellar guitars being made by them. I remember the user with the messed up Vs.

It wasn't until they started the semi-production Crusher models that their reputation took off significantly.

I don't think they were outright scammers, nor the biggest risk, but let's not revise history.


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## Andromalia (Sep 23, 2019)

MaxOfMetal said:


> What is the legal recourse available in the EU?
> 
> In the United States, if a company folds and files for bankruptcy those out money are paid via the sale of any business assets available to be liquidated with certain creditors taking priority.



In some cases, there are compensation funds for these cases if the company doesn't exist any longer, but you need to of course follow the whole procedure for that. It's relatively unexpensive and, if the opposing party has to pay you something, the state will recover it for you, there's no "I can't force him to comply" nonsense. We have state officers whose job this is (among others), and they will use legal violence if needed.
And about this,


> 1800 euro warrants a baseball bat purchase and personal visit to Warsaw or whatever hovel Darisz is hiding in. He needs to get kneecapped for this.


isn't legal violence, and writing this in the EU could send you in jail for a few years if someone acts on it. Justice isn't about kneecapping people in the civilised world. (Or, at least, the part where the dude with the most votes gets the post)


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## MaxOfMetal (Sep 23, 2019)

Andromalia said:


> In some cases, there are compensation funds for these cases if the company doesn't exist any longer, but you need to of course follow the whole procedure for that. It's relatively unexpensive and, if the opposing party has to pay you something, the state will recover it for you, there's no "I can't force him to comply" nonsense. We have state officers whose job this is (among others), and they will use legal violence if needed.
> And about this,
> isn't legal violence, and writing this in the EU could send you in jail for a few years if someone acts on it. Justice isn't about kneecapping people in the civilised world. (Or, at least, the part where the dude with the most votes gets the post)



The state will pay the funds, or the state will make the responsible party pay? Even if a bankruptcy is declared? 

That's interesting. Would you need to hire a solicitor or is this paperwork you can file on your own?

Thanks for any information.


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## Fred the Shred (Sep 23, 2019)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Memories are short.
> 
> Ten years ago, and even a little more recently in fact, RAN was known for being the morally dubious creator of known Trademark/Copyright infringing guitars, purposely undercutting said rights holders. Now I sound like @narad.
> 
> ...



Some RAN axes were crap in their earlier days, and much like Mayones, they didn't exactly enter the market producting top tier instruments straight off the bat, and the early business model was really quite the "we'll copy anything, no problem" ethos at its finest indeed. A friend of mine got a super specced up BC Rich type, and the neck ended up an irrecoverable banana after some time, and it was definitely not kept in suboptimal conditions or anything like it, and there were some serious fuck-ups earlier on straight to the customers' hands.

Discounting the controversial copycat shiz that is pointless to debate here, they did have a bit of a rocky start, and they caught on because they were a relatively accessible shop in the US capable of producing actual on-demand guitars without immediately entering prohibitive pricing territory if the specs weren't overly extravagant. They were apparently quite reliable in recent times when it comes to build quality, but let's not paint them as some sort of luthiery miracle! 



Andromalia said:


> In some cases, there are compensation funds for these cases if the company doesn't exist any longer, but you need to of course follow the whole procedure for that. It's relatively unexpensive and, if the opposing party has to pay you something, the state will recover it for you, there's no "I can't force him to comply" nonsense. We have state officers whose job this is (among others), and they will use legal violence if needed.
> And about this,
> isn't legal violence, and writing this in the EU could send you in jail for a few years if someone acts on it. Justice isn't about kneecapping people in the civilised world. (Or, at least, the part where the dude with the most votes gets the post)



I don't know the working in France, but typically, guarantee funds will cover unpaid employees salaries up to a cap, not customers' orders. The state will be the mediating party for goods and services, but not the provider of said funding, especially if there are delayed taxes / social security duties involved, in which the state takes precedence. According to the EU portal, on the filing of bankrupcy and claims handling for Poland:


> The claims to be paid out of the bankruptcy estate (after covering in full the costs of proceedings, bankruptcy estate liabilities and maintenance claims) fall into the following categories:
> 
> 1) the first category - claims under an employment relationship for the period before the declaration of bankruptcy (applies _mutatis mutandis_ to the claims of the Fund for Guaranteed Employee Benefits for the repayment, out of the bankruptcy estate, of benefits paid out to the bankrupt party’s employees), except claims regarding the remuneration of the bankrupt party’s representatives or of a person performing actions related to the management of or supervision over the bankrupt party’s enterprise, farmers claims’ under contracts for the supply of produce from their own farms, maintenance claims and benefits paid as compensation for causing illness, inability to work, disability or death and annuity granted in exchange for rights under an annuity agreement for the last three years before the declaration of bankruptcy, claims in respect of social insurance contributions and claims that arose in restructuring proceedings attributable to the insolvency practitioner’s actions or claims attributable to the debtor’s actions performed after the opening of restructuring proceedings, not requiring the consent of the creditors’ committee or the consent of the court supervisor or performed with the consent of the creditors’ committee or consent of the court supervisor, if bankruptcy was declared as a result of the examination of a simplified bankruptcy application, as well as claims concerning credits, loans, bonds, guarantees or letters of credit or other financing provided for in the composition adopted in restructuring proceedings and granted in connection with the implementation of that composition, if bankruptcy was declared as a result of the examination of a bankruptcy application submitted no later than three months after the final cancellation of the composition;
> 
> ...


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## jephjacques (Sep 23, 2019)

My flat top crusher that I got a couple years ago is the best-built guitar I've ever owned, and I am PICKY and have EXPENSIVE TASTE. I wish things hadn't fallen apart for them.


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## diagrammatiks (Sep 23, 2019)

Descent said:


> 1800 euro warrants a baseball bat purchase and personal visit to Warsaw or whatever hovel Darisz is hiding in. He needs to get kneecapped for this.



I mean really. Like you shouldn't be sending 2 grand anywhere that's not right next door if losing it is gonna require violence.


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## c7spheres (Sep 23, 2019)

I really hope someday they can get back up and running. I wanted a custom Cruiser, but even if they did I would probably order a ready made guitar, not a custom. That way if there were issue I'd have easier recourse. 

- I would be tempted/driven to violence if I had 2 grand without explanation or communication taken from me. Certainly I'd be upset and say some messed up stuff, hopefully in private. If it's true Ran was taking deposits knowing they weren't, or likely weren't, going to deliver product then that's really bad. Then to not communicate, explain, attempt to resolve, or even say sorry etc. Shows who Ran really were. Obviously talks of violence are just venting but I could see this type of behavior leading to violence easy, especially if your in the same area. 

- On another view we may not know anything of what actually happened in reality, especially since Darius' character really doesn't seem to be that way from anything I've read or even in my own experience when I inquired about a custom job shortly before they disappeared. For all we know Darius' may just be the point of contact and taking the brunt of this because of that position/ role. Maybe he's bound by pending legal stuff to not say anything, maybe there's other investors interests at play too. We just don't really know. 

- What I do know that's messed up is what I said before about the website still being fully normal and operational. At least put a message up or something. I wonder if the would still take a deposit if an inquiry was made from an unfamiliar person.


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## spudmunkey (Sep 23, 2019)

c7spheres said:


> - What I do know that's messed up is what I said before about the website still being fully normal and operational. At least put a message up or something. I wonder if the would still take a deposit if an inquiry was made from an unfamiliar person.



When a company folds, it's not uncommon for the website to stay up and running. It costs money to pay someone to coordinate the change with the web guy and the host. I'm dealing with that now, with a custom furniture company out of SoCal. Hundreds of thousands if not millions in revenue at their peak, and the only way I knew they were closed when I needed their help with an old order was because of a comment someone left in a Yelp review.

Their website is all up and running, and I suspect it will stay that way until their hosting bill goes unpaid for enough time. Everyone listed in their company directory on their automated voice mail, if you look them up on LinkedIn, all work for other companies now.

No email bounce-backs, no message on the website...nothin'.


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## _MonSTeR_ (Sep 23, 2019)

Andromalia said:


> That's what people are doing with most e-retailers nowadays. Ran has been in business for more than 10 years with a lot of guitars sold, many people here got crushers over the years and I don't recall any special horror stories before they went bust. As far as reliable small brands go, Ran was with those.


 And that continues to be the problem  it's a global market place, until something goes wrong. I agree and in my book until I knew better, RAN would have been one of the sure fire bets for a European custom. But I'd personally still not have placed an effectively non-reclaimable (not non-refundable) deposit for a sum I couldn't afford to lose with them when I am living hundreds of miles away. It's what everyone is doing and it's the risk that everyone keeps taking!



Andromalia said:


> Besides, Poland is in the EU, in case people have forgotten, so there are legal recourses if you live inside.


 Now you're just rubbing it in!!! How many days have we got left until King Boris takes planet UK out of the EU?


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## Matze (Sep 23, 2019)

Well guys, I supriseingly got a message from Dariuz today.... But it's the same email he wrote to everyone mo ths ago...


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## Andromalia (Sep 23, 2019)

> The state will pay the funds, or the state will make the responsible party pay? Even if a bankruptcy is declared?
> 
> That's interesting. Would you need to hire a solicitor or is this paperwork you can file on your own?



You can cancel a card payment for 13 months following the operation if the company goes down and doesn't deliver - art. L. 133-24 du CMF. It's a valid reason to ask it to your bank.

After that you have to go to court. In France you don't need a lawyer for damages under 10K, it's optional, and mandatory above 10K€ - it's not the same court, in France we have two separate courts for infractions depending on the amount and a third one for crimes -qualifications of judges, jury and penalties vary according to what court you're tried in.


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## ArtDecade (Sep 23, 2019)

Andromalia said:


> You can cancel a card payment for 13 months following the operation if the company goes down and doesn't deliver - art. L. 133-24 du CMF. It's a valid reason to ask it to your bank.
> 
> After that you have to go to court. In France you don't need a lawyer for damages under 10K, it's optional, and mandatory above 10K€ - it's not the same court, in France we have two separate courts for infractions depending on the amount and a third one for crimes -qualifications of judges, jury and penalties vary according to what court you're tried in.



France rules.


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## chopeth (Sep 24, 2019)

c7spheres said:


> I really hope someday they can get back up and running. I wanted a custom Cruiser, but even if they did I would probably order a ready made guitar, not a custom. That way if there were issue I'd have easier recourse.
> 
> - I would be tempted/driven to violence if I had 2 grand without explanation or communication taken from me. Certainly I'd be upset and say some messed up stuff, hopefully in private. If it's true Ran was taking deposits knowing they weren't, or likely weren't, going to deliver product then that's really bad. Then to not communicate, explain, attempt to resolve, or even say sorry etc. Shows who Ran really were. Obviously talks of violence are just venting but I could see this type of behavior leading to violence easy, especially if your in the same area.
> 
> ...



Dariusz is the son of the owner apparently, always kind and attentive with my two RAN builds.


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## BrutalRob (Sep 24, 2019)

Yeah that´s right. Darek, Dariusz´father, is the owner. There´s actually a pic of him on facebook. 
As far as I heard, there was also illness one of the reasons for this all to happen. 

I got my first Ran in I think 2006. Got four more since then and the old ones were all really good. Only the last one had issues that made me really mad. nothing my now go-to luthier could handle, though. And the neck is still the best one iI ever played.
Even having some issues with them at the end, I am kinda sad this happened to them.


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## Wolfhorsky (Sep 24, 2019)

Darek and Dariusz is the same name  Darek is diminutive from Dariusz.
He has some issues (mental - maybe depression), but he knew that it is the end of the Ran brand and he still took orders and money. Shame on him.


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## BrutalRob (Sep 24, 2019)

Well if that's the case then shame on me.
But i would not have thought he took money even though he knew he would not deliver. makes me glad i did not sent my guitar back to get the stuff done that was fucked up. Which took him like half a year of leaving me hanging before telling me to sent my guitar back. By that time, i had sent it to another luthier. Who knows, maybe i would have never gotten it back.


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## Matze (Sep 24, 2019)

Wolfhorsky said:


> Darek and Dariusz is the same name  Darek is diminutive from Dariusz.
> He has some issues (mental - maybe depression), but he knew that it is the end of the Ran brand and he still took orders and money. Shame on him.



That's why I still need to puke when I think bout my lost money...


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## Wolfhorsky (Sep 25, 2019)

Matze said:


> That's why I still need to puke when I think bout my lost money...


Try to cancel payment via card or lawyer. Or try to contact Skervesen guys if They can somewhat help You.


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## Alex79 (Sep 25, 2019)

Matze said:


> Since the thread in the 7 string section was closed i need to ask if someone got news? I just realized a few days ago that something must be wrong with my order. Dariuz wasn't/isn't responding to any e-mail anymore. I never got informed what's going on with Ran guitars. I ordered 16 month ago an paid a deposit of 1800 euro!!! I don't care about excuses. Obviously he took orders and money even when he knows he will never start building them. In fact he ripped off ppl and there is no excuse for it. I paid a lot of money just to get nothing, that really pisses me off! And even if there is almost no chnace to succeed I will go to a lawyer next week.



In the UK, section 75 refunds apply:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/
Read the section 75 refunds on when a retailer goes bust. 

I assume you used a credit card, because that's what you should have done. If not, you will have sadly learnt an expensive lesson.

I don't know if Poland runs a company house with public information etc. but Ran guitars must have had some limited company set up - maybe call local authorities on the phone, with some luck they're English will be good enough to explain if some sort of CVA or other bankruptcy proceedings have been failed. In fact, that is the strange thing - why not update of this on the website. Courts would appoint an administrator normally to take over.


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## Alex79 (Sep 25, 2019)

Andromalia said:


> In some cases, there are compensation funds for these cases if the company doesn't exist any longer, but you need to of course follow the whole procedure for that. It's relatively unexpensive and, if the opposing party has to pay you something, the state will recover it for you, there's no "I can't force him to comply" nonsense. We have state officers whose job this is (among others), and they will use legal violence if needed.
> And about this,
> isn't legal violence, and writing this in the EU could send you in jail for a few years if someone acts on it. Justice isn't about kneecapping people in the civilised world. (Or, at least, the part where the dude with the most votes gets the post)



In some cases yes, but since the company is bankrupt there won't be a lot of money left and an administrator would typically have other priorities than the deposits of the customers. It is rather unlikely that OP will see money from there, especially since someone here already mentioned that some assets might have been transferred to Skervesen. 

About the baseball bat comment - agreed, but essentially it is just dumb to write something like that. Keyboard warriors.


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## Matze (Sep 25, 2019)

Wolfhorsky said:


> Try to cancel payment via card or lawyer. Or try to contact Skervesen guys if They can somewhat help You.


I paid vio wire bak Transfer so no chance to cancel payment after 16 months. I wrote to Skervesen and I am waiting for reply now.

It's very strange that you can't find anything about his bankrupt/insolvency in the internet beside this forum. Not even 1 hit on google.


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## chopeth (Sep 26, 2019)

Skervesen can't do wonders, they help customers with some base price projects. You paid a huge deposit so I assume yours was a highly customized one. In fact, I think my project was taken by Skervesen because comparing prices, it's almost a bit cheaper than what Ran was going to charge me, so I don't think they are going to "not earn" much money with mine. I think they did it for the sake of being charitable due to the Ran downfall, because they don't like seeing coleagues going into ruin and the guitar sales are going slightly down for everyone. Ran and Skervesen had a relationship of friendship more than of rivalry. In addition, I think Skervesen didn't retrieve so much materials from the seized workshop (my opinion, not facts) I hope you can get your guitar done or recover something anyway.


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## manu80 (Oct 8, 2019)

by the way, anyone has news from Blackat? their FB page stopped at march, their reverb shop has nothing (and for a while). They're still producing or not ?


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## Albake21 (Oct 8, 2019)

manu80 said:


> by the way, anyone has news from Blackat? their FB page stopped at march, their reverb shop has nothing (and for a while). They're still producing or not ?


Yeah Blackat is still going fine with Tomek still posting in Facebook groups. I remember someone posted within a group about getting his build finished with Blackat and putting in another order recently.


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## Viginez (Oct 9, 2019)

remaining silent gives him the opportunity to benefit from some additional deposits (from people unaware).
he knows, at the end he will profit more than lose, it's a simple bill.


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## GXPO (Oct 9, 2019)

Descent said:


> 1800 euro warrants a baseball bat purchase and personal visit to Warsaw or whatever hovel Darisz is hiding in. He needs to get kneecapped for this.



Yes let's physically assault him as his business failed.


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## Lorcan Ward (Oct 9, 2019)

manu80 said:


> by the way, anyone has news from Blackat? their FB page stopped at march, their reverb shop has nothing (and for a while). They're still producing or not ?



He's very active on his personal account and has just upped production with a large run of guitars recently.


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## manu80 (Oct 9, 2019)

oh ok. was a bit worried seeing nothing on reverb for a while. on the BK page the last up was in march.
Ok found the owners page ! Thx


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## 777timesgod (Oct 11, 2019)

I remember hearing bad things about the Ran V that Vader used from 2012 by bands that played with them. Neck problems, so it was not something that was part of their early days problems or non famous band builds. I remember Decapitated covering the Ran logo on their custom builds at one point. Not sure if it was due to getting signed by Ibanez or something.



What is the consensus on Skervensen's involvement, were they more of a help or a nuisance after this whole mess? Given their name in the business, this was a huge risk that they took.


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## ethanwu00 (Oct 12, 2019)

Ran is DONE


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## manu80 (Oct 12, 2019)

Too bad
Well my crusher was good
Just found a death kelly from’em on ebay. Couldn’t resist...


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## Webmaestro (Mar 6, 2020)

Whoa!

Bullet = dodged

I just submitted a quote request for a custom Crusher this morning. Had no idea any of this was happening... until I happened upon this thread just now.

Real bummer. I'd been a fan of RAN for a few years and was close to finally pulling the trigger on one.


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## c7spheres (Mar 6, 2020)

Exactly the point I was making earlier. It's been over 6 months yet you can still submit quote forms etc. I really hope they weren't taking deposits knowing they weren't going to make good. It really doesn't seem to be in their character , but then again they're still taking quote forms and still have never officially or publically on their website or social media pages said they are not taking orders or out of business. According to those everythign looks fine. Updating a basic page or even disconnecting the link to the quote form and making an auto reply form letter to their email isn't that hard to do, and updating their Facebook page is even easier. It's like they just took the money and RAN : )


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## Andromalia (Mar 7, 2020)

That, or there's just nobody left to pay a web dev for 1 hour of work. Now that I'm in that business, one thing I can tell you is, I don't work for free and doubt anyone is.
You'd be surprised at how the general population is illiterate regarding website construction and handling, even when you give them the simplest possible tools and interface to use.

One interesting thing though, is that if the CC module still works, it means the bank account is still live and that therefore the company still exists. Hosting plans often cover years so it's possible the site may take 5 years to actually disappear.


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 7, 2020)

Is anyone actually getting quotes back or being solicited for payment?

Unless that's the case, I don't see the issue. 

There's nothing really nefarious about a dead email link.


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## Kobalt (Mar 7, 2020)

Wow, I wasn't aware of that whole situation.

It's a shame, they did make some really good looking guitars. Maybe the guy was simply in way over his head with orders, that'd certainly wouldn't be the first time a company folds because of that - biting off more than you can chew. It's just that the way it's handled that's very unprofessional and fraudulent at this point.


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## Lorcan Ward (Mar 7, 2020)

Deleting the site and announcing social media would be the final nail in the coffin. Maybe Dariuz and co are still holding out hope that they can get RAN going again. I know that's what happened to a bunch of guys who dropped off the planet.


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## Kobalt (Mar 7, 2020)

Lorcan Ward said:


> Deleting the site and announcing social media would be the final nail in the coffin. Maybe Dariuz and co are still holding out hope that they can get RAN going again. I know that's what happened to a bunch of guys who dropped off the planet.


That's understandable. However, it would have been a lot more professional to be transparent about it. Let people know, clearly, what happened and what your intentions are. No one's going to crucify you for being completely honest, right?


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## c7spheres (Mar 7, 2020)

- I still think updating at least the Facebook page should have been done. The website could also be disconnected with ease. It's not hard to do. At the very least it's just wasting peoples time going through the process.
- I hope the best for them and hope that someday everything works out. I'd still love to own a custom Ran and the vibes got from my initial quote and communications were good. I guess time will tell.


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## Webmaestro (Mar 7, 2020)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Is anyone actually getting quotes back or being solicited for payment?
> 
> Unless that's the case, I don't see the issue.
> 
> There's nothing really nefarious about a dead email link.



Heh, believe me, if I get an actual quote back... I'll be letting this thread know about it.


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## Marty666 (Mar 12, 2020)

Signs of life on the FB page. No idea what that (I'm assuming Japanese) sign means.


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## Edika (Mar 12, 2020)

Marty666 said:


> Signs of life on the FB page. No idea what that (I'm assuming Japanese) sign means.
> 
> View attachment 78385


It means soup!






(Just kidding, no idea what it means)


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## Marty666 (Mar 12, 2020)

Edika said:


> It means soup!
> 
> (Just kidding, no idea what it means)



My guess was "sorry for all the deposits" but soup works.


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## crg123 (Mar 12, 2020)

They updated their facebook photo too. Hopefully they make it right with the people who didnt get thier guitars before taking new orders.


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## MSS (Mar 12, 2020)

I saw that. Glad they appear to be back in business. I hope they make everything right with their customers.


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## Webmaestro (Mar 13, 2020)

Looks like their website design has changed a bit too.


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## Samark (Mar 13, 2020)

Webmaestro said:


> Looks like their website design has changed a bit too.


Looks the same to me? What makes you think it has changed?


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## Edika (Mar 13, 2020)

Marty666 said:


> My guess was "sorry for all the deposits" but soup works.



It was a silly joke from The Big Bang Theory where supposedly Penny had athe Chinese character for courage tattooed on her butt cheek and Sheldon pointed out it said soup.


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## Viginez (Mar 13, 2020)

Samark said:


> Looks the same to me? What makes you think it has changed?


it looks like it's falling apart slowly


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## Merrekof (Mar 13, 2020)

Marty666 said:


> Signs of life on the FB page. No idea what that (I'm assuming Japanese) sign means.
> 
> View attachment 78385


I have no clue what it means but all I see is "F U"


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## narad (Mar 13, 2020)

Merrekof said:


> I have no clue what it means but all I see is "F U"



I'm not sure if they intend this, but it's a kanji which is said like "ran", but means "disorder" or "riot".


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 13, 2020)

narad said:


> I'm not sure if they intend this, but it's a kanji which is said like "ran", but means "disorder" or "riot".


That's a bit on the nose lol


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## Andromalia (Mar 17, 2020)

It does look similar to the "ran" kanji used for the Akira Kurosawa film but either there are two of them (possible) or the handwritten brushstrokes make it look different.


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## cwhitey2 (Mar 17, 2020)

Andromalia said:


> the handwritten brushstrokes make it look different.



I would like to believe it is from this (i know nothing about the language). All i know is if you looked at my writing of English letters a lot of ypu would scratch your and go 'wtf is that '.


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## narad (Mar 19, 2020)

This is the kanji: 乱

It looks to be the same as the Kurosawa movie, even if it's pretty heavy stylization. I have a ton of trouble just reading kanji not in my phone's font, but these sorts of things are everywhere.


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## ethanwu00 (May 9, 2020)

Marty666 said:


> Signs of life on the FB page. No idea what that (I'm assuming Japanese) sign means.
> 
> View attachment 78385


乱 means confusion , muss
and it's pronounce close to ran


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## chopeth (May 9, 2020)

Must be sad for a 30 or more years company this all ended like that, a joke about phonetics and kanjis. I hope they are not desperately broke, resumed their lives in some other way and every client got what they paid for or at least something worth it.


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## 2liveis2die35 (May 9, 2020)

I hope they some how can come come back.seems unlikely but who knows.i love ran.i own a 7 string crusher and a 6 string invader.which are just awesome guitars.Jeff waters got me lusting after the invader.finally got one just a couple months before ran went down.i actually got into ran cause of vogg.i forget what custom he had from them.


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## MadYarpen (May 11, 2020)

I think it was thor.


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## Musiscience (May 11, 2020)

crackout said:


> So he took the money and RAN.



Came in here just to make that joke, but it seems it already RAN it's course.


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