My son's NGD and a problem.

Bod

My 17-year old son blew his savings on a Jackson Rhoads X Series that arrived yesterday from Guitar Guitar.

A few minutes of playing revealed fret buzz in several places along the neck, and my fret rocker showed that frets 3, 5, 15, 17 and 20 were all high - a poor show on a £600 quid guitar designed for metalheads.

Anyway, I've emailed them on his behalf and I'm waiting for a reply, but does anybody have any experience with GG addressing these sorts of issues?  My boy would be happy to accept a discount to cover a professional fret level locally rather than return, but is that something they'd be likely to entertain?  It's looking like between £75 to £100 to get it sorted.

rlw

Get a refund and get one from somewhere else. 

DefaultM

I'd be very surprised if they leveled frets at the factory on a guitar at this price point, and I wouldn't expect the shop to pay for it either. 

BillDL

I have never bought anything higher in price than £400 from GuitarGuitar and they were used guitars.  I would be curious to know what their response will be.  I would imagine they might suggest that it was a one-off QC issue and suggest swapping it for another one the same that they might promise to inspect before shipping.  Curious to see what others say about this and how GuitarGuitar respond, because it could affect any of us in the future.

Bod

DefaultM said:

I'd be very surprised if they leveled frets at the factory on a guitar at this price point, and I wouldn't expect the shop to pay for it either. 

Personally, I've never paid this much for a guitar ever, but all the guitars I've bought have all been fit for purpose, which this isn't.  I'd expect it to have no fret issues at £600.

bazxkr

I'd return it and find another one that is perfect. Guess that's the downside of online. At least in the shop you would have picked up on the buzzing. Sounds like they never play checked it

BillDL

Bod said:

Personally, I've never paid this much for a guitar ever, but all the guitars I've bought have all been fit for purpose, which this isn't.  I'd expect it to have no fret issues at £600.

That's exactly what I feel about any guitar over about £300.  £600 might be a drop in the ocean to some people prepared to pay £250 for a pair of jeans, but to many others it is a significant outlay, and when you can get a budget guitar for around £200 that has perfect frets I don't think you are being unreasonable to expect the same and better in a guitar 3 times the cost.

Bod

Had a speedy response from GG.  They've asked for video/photos which I've provided, including me stepping up the neck with a fret rocker.  They've offered options of a straight return/refund or to take it back and get it inspected rectified by their own techs.  They said they'd rather not have somebody else work on it as that would void any warranty.  They haven't ruled out a partial refund though.

BillDL

That's the response I suspected.  Be aware that at the moment you are exercising your rights under what was The Sale of Goods act whereby the guitar is flawed, not fit for purpose, etc, and as such you should not be paying for return shipping.  They then reserve the right to fix it or replace it and they should be given the chance to do so before requesting a complete refund if it still isn't right.  Resist the 14 day "change of mind" return covered by the Distance Selling Regulations where you are liable for return shipping costs.  Let them arrange and pay for the collection and make sure it is packed as well as it was on receipt.

Funkfingers

Depends on the individual guitar.

A friend of mine ordered one of GG's roasted maple neck MIM Stratocasters. Apart from a defective nut, the guitar was exceptional.* My recommendation was that my friend keep the guitar, chisel away at GG for a refund and have the nut problem rectified locally.

* IMO, this guitar is better than the guy's American Ultra Stratocaster.

DefaultM

Ah sorry I didn't realise it was one of those threads where you've got to agree with what the OP has already said and done.

BillDL

I'm sure he read your comment as well as I did, but we each have our different opinions and have all had our own experiences that flavour and form those opinions.  Nobody said your opinion was wrong or that the experiences which have influenced your opinions are false.

Stevepage

My experience with them was a real pain in the arse.

I bought a Prs A50E from them. You couldn’t fret a note past the 10th fret as the action was too low even with a big truss rod adjustment. Sent it back to get it repaired or replaced.

I didn’t hear anything from them for over a week. Finally they get in touch and ask what I want them to do. They were told I’d like it fixed as I really liked that particular guitar.

another week goes by, I hear nothing and send emails asking what’s going on.

then a refund appears in my bank account with no mention of what was happening with the guitar. Had to phone them and ask why they refunded me when I wanted it repaired and they didn’t give me a straight answer.

ok, I got my money back but the communication was pretty awful and felt like I’d wasted my time.

Teyeplayer

I picked up a Taylor T3B from guitar guitar that on testing it transpired it had an electrical fault -guitar guitar were excellent in resolving it. In fact when it came back the problem was not only resolved, but the guitar had clearly had a set-up. Yes, they had to fix it or refund it, but I have absolutely no complaints about their quality of service. 

DefaultM

I was trying to be funny, but I'm also trying to stop typing 'haha' on the end of everything that's intended to be funny cos I annoy myself with it... Haha.

BillDL

I gave you a LOL for that  

bertie

DefaultM said:

I'd be very surprised if they leveled frets at the factory on a guitar at this price point, and I wouldn't expect the shop to pay for it either. 

as in the shop should return it  as its not fit for sale ?

Guitar is not fit for sale,  if it were tried in the shop, no-one would buy it -  shop has two choices,  fix it or return it

ICBM

While I’m against returning something with trivial set-up faults that can be easily sorted out by the owner, or a tech for very little - basically no more than you would usually do the first time you want to change the strings anyway - uneven fretting that’s going to need professional attention and would void the warranty if someone other than the shop does it, is well beyond that. The shop needs to sort it out properly - not just by raising the action and calling it good enough - replace the guitar with one without the problem, or refund… in my opinion. £600 is easily expensive enough that a guitar shouldn’t have this sort of issue.

Rocky1991

Can't talk for all the stores but the birmingham ones customer service is top notch. 

hollywoodrox

Stevepage said:

My experience with them was a real pain in the arse.

I bought a Prs A50E from them. You couldn’t fret a note past the 10th fret as the action was too low even with a big truss rod adjustment. Sent it back to get it repaired or replaced.

I didn’t hear anything from them for over a week. Finally they get in touch and ask what I want them to do. They were told I’d like it fixed as I really liked that particular guitar.

another week goes by, I hear nothing and send emails asking what’s going on.

then a refund appears in my bank account with no mention of what was happening with the guitar. Had to phone them and ask why they refunded me when I wanted it repaired and they didn’t give me a straight answer.

ok, I got my money back but the communication was pretty awful and felt like I’d wasted my time.

That’s quite shocking 

hollywoodrox

£600 is a great deal of money I expect anything costing that to be absolutely perfect 
  I’m guessing it’s a lot to a 17 year old lad too, all his savings you say, which sounds about right 
  It’s a shame that it should leave the shop in this state . Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction