Just a head's up on the new factory and my dealing with them.
About a month ago, I purchased an M-20 sunburst new from an authorized dealer. When he went to ship it, he noticed all these scuffs on the guitar (brand new):
http://imgur.com/a/inPNn
So, he told me he wasn't comfortable selling it. Which was cool. He placed a new order, and they said it would be 3 months!
I wrote Guild and asked them if they could do anything for the troubles. I asked if they could offer a rebate on the next Guild I buy, a free factory tour, etc. Just anything since it was turning out to be a very bad experience. They told me they would ship me a free t-shirt...then they said they would ship the guitar directly to me instead of the shop. In theory that's cool (because I had two guitars recently cracked by UPS), but in doing so I lost out on the free setup that the shop was going to perform on it. When I asked Guild to just set it up for me, they declined.
I don't know if I'm being picky, but it felt like a crappy experience.
Anyway, it turns out the guitar didn't take 3 months to build. They have one ready today and ship it out, so it was 3 or 4 weeks. But that is still a long wait for a new purchase. That part doesn't bother me as much as how little they were willing to throw me some type of comp, even if it were on a future purchase or a rebate, etc. I was open to anything, and the best they came up with was a free t-shirt. I asked for a specific t-shirt that I liked, and they wouldn't even do that. They gave me whatever they decided on.
Am I wrong to be upset? Is this good customer service in the guitar industry? I've only had to deal with customer service on a guitar once before, and it was with a Gretsch electric guitar, and they were AWESOME. I went from "I'm never buying a Gretsch again" attitude to a full supporter just because of how they handled the issue (two guitars, including the replacement, with warped necks -- they had Joe Carducci hand inspect and setup the 3rd one to get it right, even doing a $200 bridge pinning free of charge...just amazing).
Anyway, I was really unimpressed with this Guild transaction. I hope the guitar is killer and makes up for all this at least, but it leaves a very sour taste, and I am not sure I'd buy another new Guild because of this.
About a month ago, I purchased an M-20 sunburst new from an authorized dealer. When he went to ship it, he noticed all these scuffs on the guitar (brand new):
http://imgur.com/a/inPNn
So, he told me he wasn't comfortable selling it. Which was cool. He placed a new order, and they said it would be 3 months!
I wrote Guild and asked them if they could do anything for the troubles. I asked if they could offer a rebate on the next Guild I buy, a free factory tour, etc. Just anything since it was turning out to be a very bad experience. They told me they would ship me a free t-shirt...then they said they would ship the guitar directly to me instead of the shop. In theory that's cool (because I had two guitars recently cracked by UPS), but in doing so I lost out on the free setup that the shop was going to perform on it. When I asked Guild to just set it up for me, they declined.
I don't know if I'm being picky, but it felt like a crappy experience.
Anyway, it turns out the guitar didn't take 3 months to build. They have one ready today and ship it out, so it was 3 or 4 weeks. But that is still a long wait for a new purchase. That part doesn't bother me as much as how little they were willing to throw me some type of comp, even if it were on a future purchase or a rebate, etc. I was open to anything, and the best they came up with was a free t-shirt. I asked for a specific t-shirt that I liked, and they wouldn't even do that. They gave me whatever they decided on.
Am I wrong to be upset? Is this good customer service in the guitar industry? I've only had to deal with customer service on a guitar once before, and it was with a Gretsch electric guitar, and they were AWESOME. I went from "I'm never buying a Gretsch again" attitude to a full supporter just because of how they handled the issue (two guitars, including the replacement, with warped necks -- they had Joe Carducci hand inspect and setup the 3rd one to get it right, even doing a $200 bridge pinning free of charge...just amazing).
Anyway, I was really unimpressed with this Guild transaction. I hope the guitar is killer and makes up for all this at least, but it leaves a very sour taste, and I am not sure I'd buy another new Guild because of this.
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