Help! Exchange or refund of a multiple-time repaired brand new guitar

[EnterOblivion]

I bought a Musicman guitar end of September 2018. Immediately after I took it home, I started having issues with this guitar. It has been in repair shop of the store I bought it from 4 times already and new issues keep arising. Last time I took the guitar for its last repair to the store, the luthier guy could not care at all, and threw the guitar bridge (which was disassembled) multiple times on the guitar, that caused 6 dents on the guitar body's surface. They are visible. The previous time it was in repair, I picked the guitar up with a few more scratches, dings, and dents than it already had when I initially bought the guitar. You could imagine that my beloved Musicman, the guitar of my dreams, is in pretty bad state right now. Its electronics are messed up, it's missing parts that the customer service hasn't still sent the repair shop, and its cosmetics are ruined. I wasn't too naive and in fact, did mention to the luthier guy that I noticed the scratches, dings, and dents. But I'm shy so I didn't follow this up any more, and didn't say anything to his manager.

The issues with this guitar seem to never end and it has caused me more trouble than good. I've only enjoyed this guitar for a few of days since I bought it, and the rest of the time, it was either waiting for repair, or causing issues that made it unplayable. The store doesn't carry Musicman guitars anymore, and this was one of their last ones, that had a discount on it as well.

I desperately would want to either get a refund, or exchange this guitar for a brand new one. The store people have been nice to me and I have been very polite with them as well, but I'm not sure given that this guitar was purchased last September, they would get it refunded or exchanged for me. I don't know whether the Musicman could step in and help me with this frustrating problem. I'm not sure what I can do at this stage. I've put all my hard earned money into this guitar that didn't serve me with its intended purpose. I'd be grateful if you could give me some advice. Any help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[DrKev]

Where do you live?

 

[Tollywood]

Hello, and I'm sorry to hear the bad news. I was wondering what the issue was that necessitated the repair?

 

[EnterOblivion]

I live in Quebec, Canada.

 

[EnterOblivion]

Sorry, should have included the issues in my initial post.

The neck was tilted when I bought it. I made a few posts on this forum about it before. It is better than before, but still the string slides off the edges of the fretboard easily. The neck still moves, and from time to time I have to loosen the bolts, readjust the neck, and retighten the bolts again.

The guitar was breaking way too many strings. I went through 8 full sets and a few single strings the first month I had the guitar. Musicman exchanged the whole bridge.

The new bridge they sent had a dead piezo saddle on the 5th string. They sent new piezo saddles, that sound distorted. Not sure if this is an incompatibility between the new piezo style, and the old preamp that's still in the guitar. The luthier guy who was trying to solder the new piezos in, broke one of the new piezo saddles. So I'm here, with 5 saddles in my guitar that sound distorted, and I can't use my guitar, and I don't know when I'll be able to use it again. It has been 5 months of this situation on repeat unfortunately.

I wish I had taken the parts home and soldered the piezos myself. I think I would have been more competent, and had done a better job at soldering, while not putting many scratches, dings, and dents in the guitar. He did it all in front of me. So I wonder what he would have done had I dropped the guitar at the store and left. Every time the guitar was in repair it came out with more scratches and dents. I started to think this guy did this on purpose, but still I'd like to give people the benefit of doubt and think that he's probably a terrible luthier with bad coordination.

The neck pickup (Dimarzio) cannot be raised. It is currently in the lowest position. I don't know if this is a feature or an issue with the pickup mounting screws. The bridge pickup can be raised or lowered easily though. I tried to take the neck pickup out and installed it again, but it didn't help.

As I mentioned in my original post, the cosmetics of the guitar are ruined for a brand new guitar. Because the shop didn't take enough care of the instrument in repair. So, it breaks my heart every time I think of my guitar or look at it.

You could imagine my frustration at this point. I don't know what to do, and what is within my consumer rights in this case. I haven't returned or asked for an exchange of anything before, and hence my lack of knowledge. Thank you all again in advance for your suggestions and advice.

 

[Kinjin]

Sounds like the luthier is the issue with a lot of what you have going on- your complaints should be directed at the store and the luthier it employs.

 

[EnterOblivion]

Sounds like the luthier is the issue with a lot of what you have going on- your complaints should be directed at the store and the luthier it employs.

Yes, the cosmetics part is luthier's fault. The rest of the issues I described however, were QC and factory problems.

 

[johnnyboogie]

It seems to me that you were very lenient towards that bad luthier.

 

[EnterOblivion]

It seems to me that you were very lenient towards that bad luthier.

What do you recommend me to do? Should I go and ask for a refund for the compensation of the damages?

 

[Kinjin]

What do you recommend me to do? Should I go and ask for a refund for the compensation of the damages?

Yes. From what you've said, he did cosmetic damage, and incorrectly installed the replacement bridge, which is led to what seems like most if not all your subsequent issues. Defective bridge was replaced by EBMM- they're not liable for a poor install by an incompetent luthier not in their employ- that's the responsibility of the guitar store you bought it from.

 

[GWDavis28]

I'd contact CS and see about sending back to EBMM for them to evaluate. Sounds like your having a lot of issues and that's really too bad, sorry to hear about it.

I hope it all works out for you. You bought it new right?

Glenn |B)

 

[threeminutesboy]

If guitar was new it must be un warranty send it to music man to fix piezo and neck. Which model it is ? Petrucci ? Majesty ? Not that many guitars with piezo nowadays

 

[johnnyboogie]

What do you recommend me to do? Should I go and ask for a refund for the compensation of the damages?

Most certainly. You should have protested the moment you saw him treat the instrument with disrespect.

 

[EnterOblivion]

I was really in a hurry that day. Had a doctors appointment shortly after and a work meeting in the afternoon. So had to run, and wasn't in the best state of mind that moment to stand and argue and cause dispute.
The guitar was bought new from the store, and it had its factory barcode stickers on it when I bought it. It is a Music Man JP-6 model in Mystic Dream.

I'm not sure how to protest at this moment, but I think my best chance is to simultaneously pick this up with the store manager and the EBMM customer service, until a unanimous agreement is reached such that it protects my consumer rights.

With the current state of the guitar, I won't even be able to sell it. Up here in Canada, EBMM isn't very popular with folks too. Even if the guitar is repaired, with the state of cosmetics of this guitar I'd be looking at half the price I paid for it if I were to sell it. I'm beyond frustrated.

 

[look_at_her]

So sorry to hear that Enter , used to have 10+ MM guitars during last 10 years , have never had ANY issues no matter if I bought them new or used . Hope your problems can be solved soon

 

[EnterOblivion]

So sorry to hear that Enter , used to have 10+ MM guitars during last 10 years , have never had ANY issues no matter if I bought them new or used . Hope your problems can be solved soon

It is heart-warming to hear good stories about these guitars. I love this JP model. But luck hasn't been with me with this one. I hope I can get it exchanged at least.

 

[johnnyboogie]

So, cosmetic damage has been done by the store's luthier (if one can call him that).

What else are you having a problem with right now?

 

[RSG]

Since you haven't reported any of the damage or goof-ups to the store manager at the time you discovered them, you're going to have a hard time proving the tech (let's face it, he's no luthier... or a decent tech for that matter) did it. In fact, if he's that incompetent he very well may deny it and what's the store manager going to do then?

I suggest getting a friend or relative who's a good communicator to go with you to talk to the store owner. If you can't articulate your case, then your friend can help. Just make your case, show the owner the damage, explain the multiple repairs, speak the truth and stick to the facts and hopefully the owner will help you. I don't think EBMM CS can be of much help since they didn't perform any repairs and they provided all the replacement parts that were needed under warranty.

Worst case, if you paid for any of this on a credit card, make your case with the credit card company and see if they can help.

 

[EnterOblivion]

Since you haven't reported any of the damage or goof-ups to the store manager at the time you discovered them, you're going to have a hard time proving the tech (let's face it, he's no luthier... or a decent tech for that matter) did it. In fact, if he's that incompetent he very well may deny it and what's the store manager going to do then?

I suggest getting a friend or relative who's a good communicator to go with you to talk to the store owner. If you can't articulate your case, then your friend can help. Just make your case, show the owner the damage, explain the multiple repairs, speak the truth and stick to the facts and hopefully the owner will help you. I don't think EBMM CS can be of much help since they didn't perform any repairs and they provided all the replacement parts that were needed under warranty.

Worst case, if you paid for any of this on a credit card, make your case with the credit card company and see if they can help.

Thank you for your advice. I will certainly do that. I've been in the store so many times, pretty much everyone there knows me. That could play in my favour a bit. I haven't spoken to the manager of the store though. I should have probably done this months ago, when I found that the guitar I purchased had issues. But I thought I can get a few simple warranty replacements and that would be the end of trouble. But I was wrong.

Musicman have been very good with CS providing the replacement bridge that was needed. But now with the cosmetics of the guitar in the state I described, I wouldn't want to keep this guitar. Best case scenario is that they'd replace the guitar for me, or give me a refund. I would like to know how I may maximize my chances of getting a replacement or refund. Any advice on that?

 

[beej]

Hi-

Very sorry to hear about your issues. Sounds like somewhat of a complicated issue (MM provided warranty parts, and you say the store damaged your instrument), and I'm not sure that any of us (community) are going to be able to help you out and get to the bottom of it. I don't know who the QC distributor is, but they should probably have been involved along the way.

You really need to contact Music Man support next week and ask for their advice on the matter. Anything we suggest, without knowing everything, is really just speculation.

Up here in Canada, EBMM isn't very popular with folks too

Speaking as another Canadian, I don't agree with that! I see a ton of them around. (At least in Toronto.)

Good luck.