ComplaintsforMusic Go Round

• Initial Complaint

  12/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Guitar was purchased online from photos and description (receipt & listing photos included). Guitar was listed in "very good/mint" working condition. The guitar I received was far from the listing. In addition to the cosmetic dents and chips damage to the tail, the discoloration, and the gouged neck that were clearly left out of the listing photos, there were several issues with the actual function of the guitar. The knobs did not freely turn, rather they would grind and make a white noise sound. The bridge and neck pickup switch was installed backwards, and the screw/bridge pin that holds the floyd rose bridge was misthreaded at an angle. The misthread will cause the guitar to go out of tune whenever the bar is used; thus making it unplayable. (I have a video demonstrating these defects should you require them) Upon contacting the store a few times and speaking with both the store manager and owner we were told cosmetic issues were not warranty issues, but the function issues were. We were told to return the guitar and we would be credited. Since it was a warranty issue, the 20% restocking fee would be waved. When asked for a prepaid return shipping label, the store owner refused but finally agreed to send one when we said that we would dispute the charge with our credit card company. Upon return of the broken equipment, we were only issued a credit of $719.99 rather than the full $998.09. There was no explanation as to why the full credit was not issued. We are guessing that the owner is trying to recoup his shipping charges. This is unacceptable based on all the functional problems and the overall misrepresentation of the guitar. Additionally, the store manager admitted that the functional issues were covered by the warranty. Due to: "Deceptive Trade Practices” we believe that we are entitled to a full refund including shipping.

  Business response

  12/28/2023

  Mr. ********* called our store and spoke with one of our sales associates.  The call lasted an estimated 35 - 40 minutes with the Mr. ********* using extremely foul language and berating our associate on the phone who was simply trying to understand the nature of the complaint to see if there was an issue we could easily resolve.  Mr. ********* then hung up on our associate.  The store then received a call from ******** ******, the "band manager", that was taken by our store manager.  Our manager again explained our return policy and sent a copy to her via email ( we had also included a copy of the return policy with the receipt for the order that was included in the shipment).  Ms. ****** asked for a return call from the store owner.  The owner returned her call immediately and again explained our return policies  He attempted to have her explain the nature of the issues to again see if there was anything we could help easily resolve - all of our shipments are checked prior to leaving the store and we try to determine if something had been damaged in shipment or overlooked on our end prior to simply having the product returned.  Ms. ****** said they wanted to return the guitar and that it was "unplayable".  She asked that we provide a return authorization and send a shipping label.  She was instructed to simply take the guitar to UPS and return it to us.  We explained that when we received the guitar, we would review the issues and provide a refund per our return policies.  She again asked that we generate and provide the return label which we did immediately per her demand.
  
  Our store received the guitar back on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 and we reviewed the issues relayed to us with our technical person the following morning.  According to Ms. ****** and Mr. *********, the guitar was "unplayable".  This, in fact, was not the case.  The knobs, which did not turn freely, are press fit on the potentiometers and had been pushed down against the pick guard.  Simply prying them up approximately 1/16 inch corrected that issue.  The pickup switch did switch down for the neck pick up and up for the bridge - whether this was original to the guitar or simply the preference of the previous owner is unknown.  However, by loosening the nut on the pickup switch and rotating the switch 180 degrees, that issue was resolved.  The bridge was reviewed and, while the angle of the screw is slightly off of vertical, it is tight and had not been mis-threaded. There is no issue with the guitar going out of tune using the bar as claimed by the customer.  As far as discoloration, the guitar color is white - there are over 150,000 shades of white.  If the guitar color is not suitable because it doesn't match another Jackson in the customer's possession (which is also a different model), there is nothing we can do about that.  Regarding other cosmetic issues, this is a used instrument (stated in our listing) and there was nothing in our listing that represented the guitar as "mint".  In fact, the guitar is in very good - excellent condition with the exception of minor paint chips on the tip of one of the wings (common with this style of guitar in used condition) and some surface scratches on the back of the neck.  The pictures of the guitar on our website accurately represent the product that was being sold.
  
  In this case, all of the "functional failures" were easily resolved and could have been addressed over the phone with the customer.  The customer insisted the guitar was in "unplayable" condition which is not true.  The color was accurately represented in our listing but was not what the customer wanted/expected.  The condition of the guitar was stated as "Used" and we felt the pictures accurately conveyed the condition. Our refund reflected our policy of a 20% restocking fee and shipping costs on all products shipped and returned that were not damaged in shipping.  In this case, we would have happily worked with the customer to come to a satisfactory resolution if they had been willing to rationally work with us.

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