Re: Do we need to establish CUSTOMER POLICY when dealing with GUITAR REPAIR ???

Charlie X wrote:
think the point of my post was that consumers, in the type of
instance
cited, are "protected" by the power of the marketplace. If you don't
like
the way a store treats you, take your business out of it and go
somewhere
else. You, as the consumer, can go to the store, confront, demand,
complain,
raise your voice, create a scene.

You also have a Dept of Consumer Affairs, a Better Business Bureau,
a small claims court, and a state Attorney General's office as
'consumer protections'. Store owners have nothing at their disposal.
They have the right to create their own in-house 'rules', designed
to protect themselves. That's it.

Yes..i guess we can do all that after the fact...but this is exactly
what I would like to avoid. I should not have to go to some shop who
didnt bother to do any work after 3 months and have to yell at them
and threaten them with legal action. A
simple policy up front saying that i can pick up my guitar after a
month if you arent working on it would eliminate having to go in and
scream at the owner. ALso...the main problem is that before you hand
over your guitar, YOU DONT KNOW how a repair guy will behave. You only
find that out after the fact.
I know when folks come to me for financial services (my profession) i
am required by law to let them know exactly what to expect (and what
not to expect) from me.
When i drop off a guitar, i have no idea what to expect.
I am very surprised that there are no players on here who expect
anything from their repair guys. I guess everyone has a great guy who
does great work and does it quick and for a good price. PLEASE tell me
who these guys are!!
I live in philly and its nothing but horror stories here. I have to
drive to NY ...or Baltimore to get work done.
I am going to try a guy in baltimore..but according to the net, there
are many horror stories around this guy as well.

If everyone is happy with the way they get treated then I guess the
status quo will remain. All i know is that I am waiting 3 months for a
refret on a strat...and waited another 3 months before that for
another guitar and there is no way to avoid it.
Some of the NY guys think that is a SHORT wait time and the wait time
at Mandolin bros is 4 to 6 months per their repair dept.
I will try a new guy, but have no idea what to expect and no effective
recourse (unless you count ranting and raving as recourse) if he
doesnt perform.
Again..it appears im the only one?
charliex.com


I see. You're the guy who brought up the refret waiting time in, I think,
another thread. I understand your frustration.

Brother, you must play an awful lot to require refrets that often. I haven't
had a guitar refretted since I was a kid and thought you were supposed to do
it as you would an oil change in your car. Thanks heavens that none of my
guitars need refrets now.

But, again, your frustration appears to be a direct result of that there
aren't enough guys out there willing or wanting to do that work. We must ask
ourselves why that is?

There was an excellent bakery across the street from my office that had a
long-time reputation and was there for perhaps 40 years. About 5 years ago,
they closed down without fanfare. They put a big sign in the window (and
this is a true story) that said something like this (paraphrasing necessary
because I didn't memorize it, sorry):

"We are not closing because of financial problems. We are not 'going out of
business'. We are closing because, after all these years, we have found
people like you to be too difficult to deal with and not worth the trouble."

I guess they had one too many complaints about how the cakes in the Keyfood
next door were cheaper (home-made vs not home-made) or one too many people
who would return a 3/4 eaten cake after a long weekend, say that it didn't
taste right, and want their money back.

I am a practitioner in the same neighborhood. I know exactly what they meant
by their sign.

I think that, as consumers, we have a responsibility to be respectful of our
local small business people, refrain from nit-picking and finger-pointing,
and take some responsibility on ourselves for things that go wrong. We have
developed a too 'consumer-protectionist' mentality in our society and now
that we're paying the price for it because there are fewer and fewer mom n
pop stores and fewer private artisans, we're not happy.


.

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