Like many people, I found Chris Marshall while looking to buy a piano. For most that meant his Sydney store, or via newspaper or his quirky television ads. For me however, it was on my mobile phone at a seafood restaurant (Fish Heads, Byron Bay) as I discussed buying a grand piano for my wife Anna – her lifelong dream.
I clicked on a poorly written Google Ad and came to his slightly dated website and looked at a few listings. He had a Yamaha grand piano in our price range (10k) and I made an enquiry. The next morning he called and was already talking me up to a 15k piano. I declined but he was keen for me to make a 50% deposit immediately. He was charismatic, a strong salesman and just slightly odd enough to forgive his overly familiar style.
Knowing what I do now, I wouldn’t have given him the money. But he was an established vendor and promised delivery as soon as the shipment from Japan arrived. Lots of people got the story apparently. I helped him improve his online advertising which went some way towards the remainder of my debt with him but despite his requests for more money, I insisted he would get the balance when I had a piano in the house.
The estimated delivery date came and went. Weeks passed, and then months. Every time we spoke the story got more complex. “It’s on the boat”, “It’s held up at customs”, “It’s being fumigated at quarantine.”, “I’m waiting for another delivery in your area” etc etc. I had some advantage others didn’t – I was helping him advertise. The service I provided him brought him many leads he would sell pianos to. Or at least, thats what I assumed. I also had the balance to pay him on delivery.
Our piano did eventually arrive, but to our surprise – it wasn’t the one we ordered! How do you deliver the wrong piano to someone who has paid over $10k? Lucky for us, it was an upgrade of sorts. An equivalent model Kawai we actually preferred. I paid the balance. I even took a video of the delivery and installation. The installers rolled their eyes when I mentioned the name Chris Marshall. They’d heard it all before many times.
Despite the dramatic story of the pianos oriental sea voyage, the Kawai that arrived clearly had a sticker from the 1980’s showing it was traded it been traded in Sydney around that time.
Soon after that, he stopped paying my invoices for work we’d done for him. He stopped paying Google too. Only a few days ago I wrote it off as bad debt in my accounts software and was happy to forget about him, when one of my colleagues recognised his name on an A Current Affair Report “TV Salesman Exopsed“. In the end, I was one of the lucky ones. Perhaps one of the few remaining people who actually received a piano at all.
Turns out Chris has traded his whole lifetime career of selling pianos for the ultimate classic long con and has taken all the money from outstanding orders and his own unpaid debts and is now living in the Philippines. His Sydney shop is deserted, and his house has been repossessed by the bank. Many customers have been left significant losses for outlays on pianos that never arrived.
The sad thing is Chris had talent, charisma and a solid business. He was an accomplished pianist, a gifted salesman and sold a big ticket product with good margin. It was easy to promote his products online via Google Adwords and we sent him hundreds of customers. What went wrong? At what point did his own business management and cash-flow fall behind so badly? I suspect it may have happened gradually over years.
Instead of facing his responsibilities and perhaps go bankrupt (maybe he was already?), he has apparently chosen to flee Australia and try his luck in the Philippines, presumably living off the remains of the money he duped from customers at the end of over 30 years selling pianos. A very long con indeed.
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I live in Angeles City, Philippines. I met and was befriended by Chris Marshall late in 2012. We had him around to dinner on many occasions and I was embarrased by his crass, unsophisticated and petty behaviour, always trying to get something for nothing (free lunch), and it was noted we were never invited to his place. I got the impression he was struggling with money but he told me he receives an Australian War service pension because he served in a non-combat role on a ship that was in Vietnamese waters for 2 weeks during the war, he related that situation to me as good as a legal scam. He came to me early 2013 asking for a loan of some 40,000 Peso (Au$1000) ostensibly to help a mutual acquaintance (an American who I had some liking and respect for) who was down on his luck, the mutual acquaintance being too embarrassed to approach me himself. After Marshall promised to guarantee the loan in the event of default after March 2013 I agreed despite a pressing financial situation I was under and gave him the cash. Big mistake!!! The repayment date came and went, no repayments. After 3 months Marshall scraped up 8000 Peso (Au$200) over a period of several weeks. Here we are in July, six months after the loan and he has long since stopped paying. I found out the loan was not for our mutual acquaintance and Marshall had used the money himself. Like a true con artist he schemed and manipulated events to create excuses for not repaying his debt. He had no intention of repaying that loan, ever.
Here’s a true story to give you an idea of the morality of this low life. Before he left Australia he met a local girl on the Internet. She was just 21 with a 2 year old child. For the first 12 months she refused to move in with him despite his claim that he gave her 12,000 Peso (Au$300) a week. The most she conceded was to spend one night a week at his place. I suggested to him that she was scamming him but he said the sex was too good to part with her. One day he told me that girl was moving out of the area and it turns out she is married to another local piece of crap who was wanted by Police on suspicion of murder. She fled the scene with her husband but returned several months later when they ran out of money. She took up with Marshall again and the arrangement resumed with him giving her money as before in exchange for sexual favors once a week.
These events shows Marshall as indecent, desperate and utterly devoid of any moral fortitude. It pains me to know that my hard earned money is being used to pay a worthless, morally bankrupt woman just to satisfy his lust. He has also been accused of having sexual relations with an underage girl in AC. Local Police take a very dim view of such behaviour and he runs the terrible risk of ending up in a hell-hole asian jail.
He teaches the Piano to about 22 locals and earns quite good money. He also plays piano for money in local restaurants. Despite his combined income from three sources, which is substantial, he lives in a one room hovel like a pauper, drives an old car which he scammed for very little money and yet feels no duty to repay his loan. Yet I know he is very shy about adverse publicity and doesn’t want his name publicized in advertising or media for fear that certain people will find him or the Immigration people will realize his visa does not permit him to work here. Angeles City is not a large city, population about 300,000. This shows him not only to be a con artist but also very very stupid and deluded. Does he believe he can continue with his old tricks of defrauding people that he used so unrepentantly in Australia? Seems so, but it will be his undoing because he will be deported and sent back to Australia to answer to the people he scammed with his piano business. He is on a circular path taking him back to face his past. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I wish my experience was as lucky as yours but I am one of many who never received hide nor hare from this conniving devil. He took close to 10k from me, led me on a chase for months and now it’s money down the drain. I wait for the day that karma catches up to this guy!