Return or Refund - guitar bridge has been used.

guitarfishbay

@Misterg I agree with the sentiment of it (hopefully) being a misunderstanding, and I agree offering an exchange is the correct course of action. I would be pretty disappointed to have given the company my money at the start of the month but through no fault of my own had to wait til the end of the month to receive what I paid for (a new bridge) when at the time of ordering that is what I agreed to buy. What I will say is this - the shop has not yet responded to my message sent on Thursday asking for clarification on how long a return/exhange would take, or how much compensation they'd offer to keep it. In contrast PRS have answered my multiple emails, and have offered to speed up the process by stating they are willing to ship the bridge directly to me upon the shop receiving the return rather than it neefing to ship to the shop to then come to me. The shop is not based in the UK but PRS Europe parts division is. So what I'm going to do now is email the shop again and propose the resolution that PRS have offered - meaning I don't have to wait as long. Got to say A+ to PRS so far, but not too impressed that the shop didn't reply within a working day given a dialogue had already been started.

guitarfishbay

Apologies for the paragraph bug, forum does that sometimes.

guitarfishbay

Ok.  I sent my message to the shop on Thursday during working hours, I have now received an email this morning (Saturday), which is slower than I'd expect for an ongoing customer service issue.  I did expect a reply during Friday business hours if I am honest.  

Here are the emails, direct copy paste except for names removed.

---------- Their reply to me

Dear,

thanks for your mail and the information.

 

We have talked to our colleagues about this situation.

They informed us that we would like to offer you a discount of 30.00 EUR if you would agree to keep the ‘PRS ACC-4005 Stop Tail’ in the received condition.

Please let us know if you agree with this solution – otherwise we’ll arrange the return of the article back to us to have it replaced for you.

 

Kind regards

-------- My response

Hi ,

No.  I will not accept 30 Euros this is too low - if I wanted to change to new posts they would cost me £44 direct from PRS Europe.  http://shop.prsguitarseurope.com/product-details.aspx?product=187

I would like to return the bridge to exchange for a new bridge.  Please can you arrange collection.  Please inform me of when it will be collected from the delivery address - it is a business address so it must be done Monday-Friday.

I would like to inform you that I have been in contact with PRS Europe over this issue.  They have informed me that if I return the bridge to you they will arrange to ship me the bridge directly from them in order to save time.  If you would like a copy of emails sent to    I can forward them to you.

Please contact PRS parts manager    to arrange this.  -

[details removed]

Thanks,

--------

guitarfishbay

I'm basically using this thread as a customer service blog at this stage, it looks like PRS are going to get this sorted for me even if I'm disappointed with the shop.  I know I could phone the shop, but I want this all in writing to avoid any other issues.

Hopefully they can arrange a collection early next week.  30 Euros off a 255 Euro item for a s/h condition is quite frankly way too low - not to mention actually replacing the posts to new ones would cost more than their proposed compensation.  Plus they were pretty slow to respond to my messages.

guitarfishbay

And actually I've given the wrong part number.  The nickel studs are £54, I think the £44 studs I mentioned are the wrong part.  

http://shop.prsguitarseurope.com/product-details.aspx?product=152

Either way 30 Euros compensation is 

a) too low for a 255 euro item which is second hand but sold as new, and 

b) not enough money to cover any replacement studs from PRS so I'd actually wind up out of pocket to replace the damaged part.

ICBM

Very poor, bordering on insulting. That's far too low for the difference between new and second hand, and is barely enough to count as a token offer for the hassle this has caused you.

I think you should name the shop once you have got the replacement parts from PRS.

guitarfishbay

ICBM said:

Very poor, bordering on insulting. That's far too low for the difference between new and second hand, and is barely enough to count as a token offer for the hassle this has caused you.

I think you should name the shop once you have got the replacement parts from PRS.

Agreed.  Total A+ to PRS so far though.  I have forwarded the messages on to PRS parts Europe and given them my customer service reference number with the shop.  With it being Saturday I'm not expecting PRS to be in the office, but the shop clearly are answering emails today so with any luck I'll get some kind of response today about collection.

Dave_Mc

grungebob said:

ICBM;343191" said:

Dave_Mc said:does that shop rhyme with…In this case no, so it might be better not to raise the suspicion even though it was my first one too.

I'll edit my original rhym as it seems I was wrong

LOL

Iamnobody

A poor effort, they've probably lost you now as a future customer - one who is potentially a big spender (evident by this purchase and guitars you own).

Someone there is not very switched on...

guitarfishbay

Ok I have a reply.

----------- Names removed

Dear ,

thanks for your mail and the confirmation.

 

It would be much appreciated if you would be able to forward the e-mail conversation with PRS on to us please.

 

We are sorry to hear there was a problem with your purchase. We will arrange the return of the ‘PRS ACC-4005 Stop Tail’to have it replaced.

 ---------

The rest of the email details the returns process.  

I have forwarded the emails with PRS Europe to the shop as per their request.  The item will be on the way to the shop on Monday.  

guitarfishbay

I will keep updating this thread/customer service blog with further developments as they happen, and will name the shop at the end with the intention of it being an accurate blog of my personal experiences with this incident.  

I believe I'm acting in a fair way by doing this, rather than naming and shaming the shop for sending me the bridge right away in post 1.  I do believe that mistakes can happen but I do think how people deal with them is important.

By copy pasting the emails (removing personal names, and shop name for now) and photographs I'm hoping to allow people to make up their own mind about how the entire incident has been handled, before the shop is named.  Then you can make up your own mind as to whether or not my experience affects your decision to use this shop.

I hope it is clear that I am not bashing companies here - I don't believe it to be a useful practice and especially not when the incident has not yet been fully resolved.  But I do feel I have a right to detail my experiences as a customer here.

Iamnobody

The problem with naming and shaming is it could be an isolated incident.

For example a new member of staff or a disgruntled member of staff.

I'd like to think that if made aware of the situation the management would take steps to ensure this never happens again.

If so then damaging their reputation by naming them on here might not be appropriate.

Obviously it's up to you what you decide to publish.

Hope you get it resolved quickly anyway. Good luck!

Dave_Mc

^ Sounds sensible to me

scrumhalf

The offer you have received is frankly insulting. You have been mis-sold a second-hand item. Rather than put their hands up and send you the item you thought you were purchasing and then retrieving the mis-sold item they are trying to fob you off.

Did you buy the item on a credit card? You need to ensure that you don't end up with no replacement and a credit card charge. Might be an idea to contact the credit card company and tell them what's gone on as they are a party to the contract.

They've had a chance to act nicely and they've blown it.

guitarfishbay

@Iamnobody I have had emails from two people with the same first name but different surnames - unless the person has changed their name in the past few days I assume I've been talking to two people.

Furthermore the email suggests other people have been involved in the decision, unless this is a language barrier issue, but I doubt it is.

"We have talked to our colleagues about this situation.They informed us that we would like to offer you a discount of 30.00 EUR..."

guitarfishbay

@scrumhalf I paid via paypal, I haven't involved them yet and hopefully I won't need to. But a fair point.

Iamnobody

guitarfishbay;344342" said:

@Iamnobody I have had emails from two people with the same first name but different surnames - unless the person has changed their name in the past few days I assume I've been talking to two people.

Furthermore the email suggests other people have been involved in the decision, unless this is a language barrier issue, but I doubt it is.

"We have talked to our colleagues about this situation.They informed us that we would like to offer you a discount of 30.00 EUR..."

True. Depends on the company I guess - if they are a big animal then anyone with any real clout probably isn't even aware of it.

If it's a small co. then the management could already involved.

No question though you've received substandard customer service.

streethawk

Mother bought a telephone from Tesco last week.

It had an answering machine message already recorded on it from an elderly Irish man!

Dave_Mc

I'm not that old :-S

guitarfishbay

Update - these are the messages I've received since sending the shop my email exchange with PRS.  These were all received during Monday working hours, I got the final message at lunch time here (before 1pm).  They're ahead of us, but this was still within their working hours.

The shop has agreed to send me a bridge out before receiving the other one back.  I have not yet received any email confirmation that they have done this, but my package is back on the way to them already.  

The shop now shows 'available immediately' on the item page and I first noticed this yesterday, as opposed to next shipment due on the 19th which is what it showed when I started this thread.

---- All emails received yesterday

---------- Reply to me sending them the PRS emails

Dear ,

thanks for your mail and the information.

We had this situation double checked with our colleagues from the responsible department for you.

We would actually prefer to take care of sending you the replacement ourselves. In order to speed the procedure up for you, we can offer you to dispatch the replacement to you beforehand – without waiting for the faulty one to arrive back here.

Please let us know if you agree with this solution and, if yes, please confirm your correct delivery address in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

Kind regards

-------- My response

Hi ,

Yes this works for me.  

Please send to :

[removed]

I will be sending you the faulty one today once I get to the post office.

Thanks,

------- Their reply

Dear ,

thanks for your mail and the confirmation.

We will dispatch the replacement to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards