Problem with my SLATQH

[sambencuda]

OK, I\'ve offcially had now!

Update! I've been on the phone with Fender everyday this week and still could not get an answer until yesterday. They told me that it would be shipped out soon, but they were waiting for a tracking # from Corona and they would get me that tracking # ASAP. I was about to cal Fender again this afternoon when I got a call from Daddarios (the Fender dealer that sent it out) telling me that My guitar is in. This is awesome news! So I go down to pick it up and this is what I find

They replaced the G&G case with the standard ABS Jackson case. This was OK with me becasue I feel that they fit the SLATQH's much better than the G&G's, but IT"S A USED CASE! I wasn't sure at first, but it has a few scuffs adn there is one corner that is pushed in. It's used. Then I check out the repair to the finish cracks and it appears that they scuffed it up, resprayed clear over it and buffed it out. You cannot feel it anymore, BUT I CAN STILL SEE THE CRACK IN THE CLEAR OVER THE BINDING!. Technically, it's fixed, but cosmetically, it's not brand new. In my opinion, this hurts the value of the guitar. This was a brand new guitar. I paid a lot for it. Am I wrong in thinking that this is unacceptable? I will post a pic of it later tonight when I cool off.

I love Jackson guitars. I always have. I have a custom shop on order and the limited Chlorine coming at the end of the month, but I have to say that I am very disappointed in way that this has been delt with. It's my opinion that this is a "good enough" fix when it should have been a "like new" fix. Please let me know what you all think about this. I am going to call back Fender and see what they say, but I'm not hopeful that this will get resolved.

[LRGman]

Re: OK, I\'ve offcially had now!

No you are right. Get a refund, ship it out and get a refund from the shop you bought it from. Let them deal with it. They had their chance fuckit. Jackson can give them a discount and whatever. I would get on the phone and wouldn't stop until its resloved or your screwed. The case alone would piss me off.They should of shipped it in the used case, and sent yours back. Where is the case you paid for with your guitar. I would hit the roof, this **** would give me a heart attack.

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: OK, I\'ve offcially had now!

That's really disappointing news. **** FMIC, get a refund. No one who's shelling out the $$$ necessary to snag a new USA Jackson should have to put up with this crap.

[sambencuda]

Re: OK, I\'ve offcially had now!

I want to mention that having bought this through Scott at Vwall was a great experience and I will buy from him again. The reason I didn't send it back to Scott was 1)he is a Fender silver level repair facility which means he cannot evaluate or do any finish work plus, If I sent it back to him, he would have only sent it out to Corona and then back to Scott and back to me. Thats 4 times in transit and lets face it, I didn't trust that G&G case. Scott hooked me up with the name of the closest Fender gold level repair facility. I have no hard feelings with Scott on this at all.

I just got off of the phone with Ray from Fender Customer Service. He says that the best bet is to send it back through the same facility I sent it out the first time and that I have to be explicit about what it is I want done. So I will call the repair guy in the morning and explain to him what is going on. He has also been really cool about the whole deal. I am going to tell him that I want this guitar in brand new condition with a NEW case (ABS is fine BUT NOT USED) or a replacement SLATQH. He is my only connection to the guys at Jackson. Fender Customer Service is BS because they have to take your info and then talk to the folks at Jackson and then they never call you back.

This is unacceptable wether I paid $1 or $10000.

The thing that really sucks is that I just spent the last two hours playing it and aside from the finish crack, this is the finest quality guitar I have ever owned including Gibson and PRS. They are doing something right. They have a big problem with Customer service as far as warranty work goes though and that makes the quality non exsistent.

[LRGman]

Re: OK, I\'ve offcially had now!

Drop the repaired like new. You already gave them that chance. At this point I would go for replacement only.

[Tooling]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

I can't believe I must ressurect this post....I just received HuntinDougs replacement SLATQH TB and it has the same exact crack as the one in the pic...DAMNIT!!!

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

WTF?!?!
Now you have to think of changing your signature...
"I'd rather have an ESP today than wait 1 year to get my Jackson fixed!"

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

Here's FMIC's chance to step up to the plate and demonstrate some exceptional customer service to 4,196 potential purchasers.

[img]/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

[Tooling]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

[ QUOTE ]
WTF?!?!
Now you have to think of changing your signature...
"I'd rather have an ESP today than wait 1 year to get my Jackson fixed!"

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

[xenophobe]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

A small finish crack like that isn't considered a major defect. I know it's BS that the FMIC Support didn't handle you better, but warranty work is generally reserved for when something does happen, not if it's about to happen.

Certainly they're not at fault for what probably happened during the shipping of the guitar, but are trying to take care of you.

When people come in with repairs to their guns that might only take 10 minutes, they have to wait 2-3 weeks before our gunsmith can start work on a job. He's got work backlogged and needs to fix things in the order they receive.

Is that an actual crack in the binding, or just the clear coat over the binding? If it's just in the clear, then having them buff and reclear is the appropriate thing to do... not strip the whole guitar and refinish it.

Sorry, gotta take devil's advocate on this one. I'd probably be a bit upset too if it were my guitar, but gotta be reasonable.

I feel I need a disclaimer here :|

[sambencuda]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

Totally unacceptable. Mine is on it's way back for the second time now. I wish someone from Fender would read this thread, but I won't hold my breath. I hate to sound so negative, but to shell out that kind of cash to only have to wait for ever to get it and then it's damaged. You send it back, they do a shoddy repair, they you have to send it back again. My best bet now is to get a replacement, but is that better? That will take at least 6 months.

Hang in there and keep updating the progress here. It's good to let the group know how FMIC is taking care of these problems for better or worse.

[sambencuda]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

[ QUOTE ]
A small finish crack like that isn't considered a major defect. I know it's BS that the FMIC Support didn't handle you better, but warranty work is generally reserved for when something does happen, not if it's about to happen.

Certainly they're not at fault for what probably happened during the shipping of the guitar, but are trying to take care of you.

When people come in with repairs to their guns that might only take 10 minutes, they have to wait 2-3 weeks before our gunsmith can start work on a job. He's got work backlogged and needs to fix things in the order they receive.

Is that an actual crack in the binding, or just the clear coat over the binding? If it's just in the clear, then having them buff and reclear is the appropriate thing to do... not strip the whole guitar and refinish it.

Sorry, gotta take devil's advocate on this one. I'd probably be a bit upset too if it were my guitar, but gotta be reasonable.

I feel I need a disclaimer here :|

[/ QUOTE ]

I see your point Xeno, but come on. I paid for a brand new guitar and got one with a defect(doesn't matter if it is small or large). In my eyes, the should fix the defect. They didn't. They just covered it with clear and it's still visible. If I were going to sell you this guitar, would you consider it mint with a visible finish crack? I wouldn't If it's not mint, the repair isn't good enough. What about the used case! That is unacceptable in my eyes.

As far as taking a long time to fix it, I would be OK with that if they could tell me aprox. how long it would take, but I'm through with that. I want a replacememnt. Have no clue wether I will get one or not.

All in all, I appreciate you opinion and it gives me another perspective to look at it, but I still feel they should rectify the situation. I'm sure Fritz, Tooling, Doug and the others that this has happened to feels the same way.

[Tooling]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

[ QUOTE ]
A small finish crack like that isn't considered a major defect. I know it's BS that the FMIC Support didn't handle you better, but warranty work is generally reserved for when something does happen, not if it's about to happen.

Certainly they're not at fault for what probably happened during the shipping of the guitar, but are trying to take care of you.

When people come in with repairs to their guns that might only take 10 minutes, they have to wait 2-3 weeks before our gunsmith can start work on a job. He's got work backlogged and needs to fix things in the order they receive.

Is that an actual crack in the binding, or just the clear coat over the binding? If it's just in the clear, then having them buff and reclear is the appropriate thing to do... not strip the whole guitar and refinish it.

Sorry, gotta take devil's advocate on this one. I'd probably be a bit upset too if it were my guitar, but gotta be reasonable.

I feel I need a disclaimer here :|

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually tend to agree with you but look how they are treating Jim when all he is doing is asking to have it repaired. Mine has the notorious, "crack" on both the bass and treble side. It's bad enough that my fingernail can catch it and suppose it opens up in three years...can you imagine trying to explain/convince them to fix it if they are treating Jim like this from day one, not to mention the inevitable..."How can you verify it wasn't dropped or something" [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/what.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

My list of Jacksons is as follows:

SLATQH Tabacco Burst
SLATQH Trans Black with gratuitous(sp?) crack
SL2H Lightning
SLS Natural

All purchased new and none have anything like it on them so....what to do guys??

Upon receipt the case handle is slightly damaged as well...nothing major, the metal base plates that attach the handle to the case are bent up. The box is beat up and ripped in that area as well....I've got pics. of the box unopened and will take some more shots later.

[xenophobe]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

Yeah, the used case is F'd up. Especially when they charge you $150 for a G&G and then give you an old case.

I agree, I would be upset. Calling them and reminding them how long they're taking might also be a good way of having them do the most expedient thing as well. Maybe they were gonna replace it, but the SLATQH wasn't scheduled for another production run for a month, and since you couldn't wait, they did what they had to, to get it back out to you.

I mean, if you sent it to GMW, you'd have to wait, what nearly a year?

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Problem with my SLATQH

[ QUOTE ]
A small finish crack like that isn't considered a major defect.

[/ QUOTE ]

A defect is a defect is a defect. If FMIC wants to palm off slightly damaged goods on their customers they need to knock the prices down accordingly and mark them as seconds. I wouldn't expect a new car right off the showroom floor to have a big scratch in the paint and I expect brand new guitars bought at a premium because they are brand new guitars to likewise be flawless.