Sorry to hear of the bad turn of events Phil.

I'd have to cause all kinds of trouble for Capital One though mate. Downright scummy company, their head office is near me. They were in and out of the news here for a while, years back.
Can't you get onto the banking ombudsman about them?

I was initially interested in these fake guitars. I thought, well I should be able to get one playing right with a bit of work. After a days hard work I couldn't get the thing playable to any appreciable degree. 5 minutes and the wood had shifted sending the thing out of tune.

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No no and no

I'm not sure where to leave the attitude of " Oh Well, I'll just make do with this fake copy".
This only fuels the problem, I'm sorry for your financial loss, but it is not that much money and red-flags should have been raised when the price was so far below the average legitimate items.

If you buy online and it is chinese made, due diligence is your responsibility, bargains are a dime a dozen and the best reason to insure that what you are buying does not infringe upon piracy laws concerning imports.

The only chinese made instruments I have ever bought are the ones made by Eastman, a Violin, a Viola and I have played their acoustics and archtops.
A friend of ours, Matt D'Ambrosio, a very well respected archtop luthiers had a business association with Eastman, specifically a model that he designed and still produces today.
" The El Rey " semi acoustic carved top.

Eastman guitars and instruments are not cheaply made nor priced, but they are very affordable and can be found on the second hand market.

Too many people insist (at their own peril) on acquiring quality instruments, at bargain basement prices. This is a fallacy and a myth.
Be it truly Custom built homes or Custom built instruments, artisan made means that it is inherently time and labor intensive thus reflecting this in the price tag.

If you buy counterfeit, or employ services at what seems too good to be true costs then you will get burned, that is a fact of life's realities.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I guess we should end this by saying "you don't always get what you pay for...but if you get it, you pay for it!". If you buy anything you can't actually see, don't pay more than what you can afford to throw away. And, don't blame the Chinese. They deal with foreign companies that want them to make a product for a penny so they can sell it for a dollar. It didn't take a minute for them to realize they can beat the capitalists at their own game.