About 11 years ago, I bought a guitar: a Tacoma six-string cutaway. Loved it, still do; wonderful sound, nice action. I couldn’t play it for quite a while due to some hand/elbow trouble, so I slacked off the strings and cased it for a while.
Recently took it out to see if could start playing again, and discovered the finish is coming off the body, bubbles and strips lifting off. Now, one reason I bought this was the lifetime warranty(yeah, you see where this is going), so I took it to a Tacoma rep nearby, where the conversation went like this:
“Did you buy it new?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the receipt?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent, you’re covered!”
So, I thought all was well. Especially since he told me this was not an uncommon problem(so they ought to be ready to deal with such, right?) Until.
He called the other day to inform me he finally got hold of Fender(who handles this) and they informed him “Oh, we don’t fix that anymore.” They offered to
Exchange it for another guitar(brand & model I don’t remember, guitar guy said he did NOT recommend this) or
They’d buy it from me. As he said “It’s just the finish that’s a problem so if you like it, personally I wouldn’t do that either.”
So, since the ‘lifetime warranty’ doesn’t mean squat anymore, I’m going to have to either find someone locally or get some careful advice on how to refinish it myself.
And Fender Guitars? You can kiss my ass.
3 comments:
Well, "warranty" means they'll make you whole for the covered issues.
Doesn't mean they'll guarantee to fix it; an offer of replacement or refund is still a valid warranty.
It means more than squat; it just ain't what you want.
When I bought it the warranty basically said "We will fix any problems." Which I really liked. Seems they changed their mind over the years.
As evidenced by the "We don't fix that anymore."
Post a Comment