Does anyone know what has happened to Busker Gear? I ordered a worker's vest back in March for the - now past - spring festival season and since the initial communication about my order haven't heard a thing from them. No responses to email inquiries. Has this company a bad reputation?

Unfortunately, you're not alone. Although Bobby Maverick and Busker Gear have always had a reputation for long turnarounds and poor communication, over the past year an undetermined number of customers have paid for items they never received. I was one of them. Over the course of several months, the few phone conversations I managed to initiate with Mr. Maverick (before he stopped answering my calls) made it clear to me he neither intends to ship my order or refund my purchase price. Hiring a lawyer to persue a $75.00 refund frankly isn't worth it to me, but I'm sure your vest cost much more than that. It is up to you to decide how far you wish to persue this. I wish you the best of luck.

Here is Busker Gear's contact information, obtained from their website when it was still up:

10328 Manassas Ct.
Independence KY 41051

877-291-2734
859-359-0015

If you cannot get a resolution this way, you can try filing a report with the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau and the Kentucky Attorney General's office.

Cincinnati BBB: http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/

KY Attorney General Consumer Complaints: http://ag.ky.gov/civil/consumerprotectio......ult.aspx

I had to get my money back through a Paypal dispute. He tried settling things by sending a vest that was way oversized and then telling me I should have my tailor adjust it and he would reimburse me. Ha! What a joke. I would never have seen a penny from him and how does a tailor adjust all the pockets, including the one that runs across the back.

Stay away and if you paid through Paypal, initiate the dispute!

I've just been ripped off by Bobby Maverick in the same way... the really sad thing is that before I ordered a vest from Busker gear I considered Bobby a friend. now it's two months since I ordered a vest, he ignores my pm's through Facebook and constantly lies to me that my order has been shipped (but mysteriously won't supply a tracking number)....

It is sad to hear that. When the website was online, I had a look at the vests. But I did not order any because it would have been to expensive to import them. And I was not sure that the vest looked good enough for me.

The design looked perfect for magical uses. Maybe someone has stored the photos? Or already has a vest and can make photos for others? There was no real invention with these vests - it included topits and a lot of pockets. I have started some years ago altering my stage clothes myself. In most cases I alter existing vests but at the moment I sew a complete new vest for my tailcoat.

It seems nobody knows what happened to Bobby Maverick. Obviously his business did not suceed. He cannot fulfill the incoming orders. He seems to have serious finacial problems. That is not uncommon for small businesses in very specialized markets. It is sad that he does not communicate his problem openly. I am sure that he hopes to solve the problems. But he should be correct in his customer relationships. When a business goes bancrupt, customers who have already paid in advance usually risk loosing their money.

I guess Busker Gear was a small part time one man business. And there were not enough customers. And maybe his main business did not work. Or he simply is ill and cannot run his businesses and is in serious financial trouble. I hope the best for him and that he will satisfy his now unlucky customers in future.

Sorry if this constitutes necro-posting, but then I've hesitated in touching dead things, so what the hey.

I've Bobby for years as a friend, and I didn't even know he had an online business... If the site is gone, I wouldn't expect anything further, as that's how these things usually end up working out, but it's sad to hear all of this. I've always known him to be a stand-up kind of guy. He's serious about what he does, and my personal talks with him have always given me the impression that he has high ethical standards.

I only see him when he's in New Orleans, and he's always busking, working long hours to support his wife and son back home. I never expected to see anything like this being said about him... I'm not sure what to think of it all.

I'm sorry to hear that people have had these kinds of problems in doing business with him. I've never known him to be like that to anyone, but then I've only ever known him in the context of us being buskers. I'm interested in hearing what he has to say about it. I'll do what I can to try and find out what's been going on with all of this the next time I see him, okay?

I'll let you all know whatever I can find out. Not getting the things you pay for is a bad scene, so yeah.

...should have read:

"...but then I've never hesitated in touching dead things, so what the hey.

I've known Bobby..."

Sorry for the typos, I needed coffee.

Wish I would have seen this before I wired Bobby $185.00 for a vest 4 months ago. He has never sent it, and then claims it is lost in the mail. Then he claims his wife forgot to send it and then it's still at his house and the lies just keep going and going. Never able to provide a tracking number. I've tried being patient but am at the end of my rope. The guy stole $185 from me and seemingly has no guilt whatsoever. I would give everyone fair warning that this man seems to be a fraud. Beware of doing business with this guy.

Real good to know,

I've known Bobby for a number of years and never had any issues.
Although I've never ordered anything from him.

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes, when I see Bobby I'll ask what happen.

Nickoli, Mortimer,

I can appreciate you sticking up for a friend, I truly can. However, a search of Café will review well over a dozen instances just like this one, of people placing an order and never getting a product or a refund.

I'm not sure what your point is when you say you've know him a long time, you've never had issues, but you've never bought anything from him. I didn't see anyone accuse him of not being a nice guy, a descent friend, a good performer, or anything EXCEPT an unprofessional business person which has ultimately resulted in, effectively, theft.

It would, of course, be fantastic if you can bring about a positive resolution for dsachoff and all the others who have lost their money. But, not to be over cynical, I've seen folks defend Bobby and say they will get his side of the story and facilitate resolution, but I've not seen a single report of any of the affected parties being made whole.

I think that this is crazy for Bobby to take the money and then not send the goods.
And believe me I'm not defending him.
If your really looking for him your best bet is to contact Kozmo.
They are very close friends.

I was actually one of lucky ones. I bought a vest from him several years ago. It did take much longer than expected, but I did get what I paid for. It looks like about 6 months after that was when the bottom fell out.

It's really a shame... I really liked what I got and would have readily ordered 2 more with some minor tweaks. I think there is a small business opportunity for a tailor / seamstress who could replicate his basic design and offer a casual "street" version, and a more elegant "dress" version. I've gone to 2 seamstresses "locally," and while they tried, they don't "get it" and I cant get a usable vest, with the features I want, made.

Again, if it were ME who was in the bind... its not right that I pull Kozmo into it.. It would be between me and Bobby, and not right for me to make it anyone else's problem.

Not saying you need to pull anybody else into anything.
Was just telling you who to contact if you needed to track him down.
Apparently you don't so nuff said.