The 2 guitar shops that I have used as drop-points in the past have offered no guarantees as it relates to their servicer relationship which appears rather 'loosy goosy'.
For
non-warranty work that's probably par for the course.
BUT:
In the case of your "Martin authorized" provider, the big reason for "authorization"
is for warranty work.
In that case I'm sure that the shop that sold the new warranted guitar needs to use an authorized provider in order to guarantee continuance of warranty (and that clause is also probably part of their dealer's franchise), and that protection is also part of the subcontract between them and the repair shop.
BOTH parties need to be authorized by the maker or the maker probably won't pay for the warranty repair.
The maker is primarily concerned with making sure the shop that's authorized to make repairs is capable of determining what actually qualifies for warranty repair, AND won't cause
new warranty claims or invalidate it through shoddy repairs.
If something goes sideways because of a bad warranty repair, the dealer is protected because they complied with the terms of the warranty (use an authorized repair center) and thus
you're protected.
That's the way it worked with Guild when Fender discontinued factory repairs:
The first step is always to contact the dealer who sold the guitar.
They will then handle the warranty claim either in-house or by subcontracting to the authorized repair center.
Repair centers are not necessarily retail establishments and may not need the types of licensing associated with "normal" retail businesses.
THAT's what I was getting at yesterday.
Some shops just really
don't want to deal with an end customer.
They
don't advertise because they
don't want every Tom Dick and Harry calling 'em up or just walking into the store with a bunch of questions about why their repair will cost anything.
When they only deal with professional dealers the common industry practices are already mutually understood and they don't have to re-build that wheel for every job.
IF he decides to take on a customer directly it's at his discretion.
Although I agree that a cash-only model and lack of local business licenses would raise my eyebrows too.
Admittedly I did not ask a lot of specific questions....and I didn't give it much thought. As I move forward in the world of guitar repairs...I will be certain to do so.
Right.
For NON-warranty work you need to proceed just like anything else and if they don't give a disclosure before taking in the job, ask 'em what the warranty on the repair will be, just like with autos.
Seems like I can recall at least one story here of the store pointing the finger at the repair shop and disavowing any responsibility for brokering the work.
Seems like exactly the reason for the principle of caveat emptor.