New to G&l but looking for a bit of help

[element925]

I have been a Strat player for quite sometime, but have always been interested in G&L based on the rave reviews, and quality expressed from their loyal players! So I took the plunge, and purchased a new 2014 Fullerton Red Legacy USA model from musicstorelive.com. The case it arrived in seems to be a poor sample as the stitching is cracked in a few places, and there are gouges in the front. The guitar itself is lovely except for a crack in the finish near the bottom jack plate screw. It appears to have been over torqued resulting in the crack. The top of the screw head is sharp as well. So overall, I am not as elated as most the loyal people here. I did contact musicstorelive. com about my concerns, but all I received was accusatory conversation. I also tried to contact the factory via phone and email with no response. I must say, all around, disappointed...

Anybody here have advice?

[Craig]

I have been a Strat player for quite sometime, but have always been interested in G&L based on the rave reviews, and quality expressed from their loyal players! So I took the plunge, and purchased a new 2014 Fullerton Red Legacy USA model from musicstorelive.com. The case it arrived in seems to be a poor sample as the stitching is cracked in a few places, and there are gouges in the front. The guitar itself is lovely except for a crack in the finish near the bottom jack plate screw. It appears to have been over torqued resulting in the crack. The top of the screw head is sharp as well. So overall, I am not as elated as most the loyal people here. I did contact musicstorelive. com about my concerns, but all I received was accusatory conversation. I also tried to contact the factory via phone and email with no response. I must say, all around, disappointed...

Anybody here have advice?

I'd be disappointed, too.

Where are you located? When was this purchased and received? When did you contact the dealer and G&L Support?

Not knowing much about the dealer (except that they sell online), I checked out their website and found their shipping and return policy:
They offer Free shipping, 14 day return policy with free return shipping.

Assuming you just received the guitar and because you did not receive that customer treatment you would expect (based upon what they say on their website),
I suggest you take advantage of their return policy. I also suggest you take photos of this guitar and case, showing the issues you describe.
Once you get your money back, post your experience and the photos on their Customer Experience page.

Or, being that this week is Winter NAMM week, you might try calling the dealer again next week. Ask to speak to a manager and see if they will be more responsive and
work these issues out to your satisfaction.

Whatever you choose to do, please do post a followup here. I will then pass this on to my G&L contacts.

Best of luck.

[yowhatsshakin]

Musicstorelive.com claim to fame is that they have a FREE Return Shipping policy. Think you should point that out to them.

- Jos

[element925]

Here is the reply to my email that I sent along with the pictures I took showing a crack in guitar near jack plate. By the way the difference in temperature between outside and the room I opened package was 8-10 degrees different which wouldn't affect anything adversly!

"Hi Paul -

Well, the only issue here is that you did not wait the 24 hours to open the guitar once it arrived to you, so I cannot be certain that the crack was not caused by that. You called me only about an hour and a half after your tracking number said the guitar was delivered. That definitely was not enough time to let the guitar acclimate. I'll be honest, my owner wanted you to pay for the damage. But to be frank, I think that's a bit ridiculous since we can't actually prove what happened. So we'll just have to eat it on this one and re-sell it as a B stock guitar.

I've started your return and you should be getting a label Monday morning. "


So when I receive the label it is going back!

[guitar_ed]

I call <censored word> on Music Store Live. Is there a msg on the box not to open the box? If not, it's their problem, with out all the passive aggressive bull crap.

IMHO.

edg

[ShawnP]

Wow! What a terrible email to send to a customer! Did they actually tell you not to open your guitar for 24 hours? That's hysterical. They'd be hard pressed to get me to wait 24 seconds when that package hit my door! I love that he tried to put the guilt onto you for the issues. I deal with a few online dealers and have never seen a response like that to an issue. That would certainly be my last dealing with them. Good luck!

[Fumble fingers]

Paul where are you located ?? ..... I can vouch for three dealers that I know are excellent and personally dealt with .... my local dealer Centerville Music a Dayton Oh suburb ... Music Source witch is near Chicago ..... and The Guitar Store Seattle in Seattle Wa. all three of these dealers are excellent and will ship with no problem to you , I'm sure there are many more but I have purchased from all three of these dealers and would give them a 10 out of a 10

[element925]

Hello,
I am in upstate NY and I appreciate the help. What I have done is I hopped onto Reverb.com and I found a Spanish Copper Metallic Legacy made in 2011 that I got a decent deal on in mint condition. So I have the original guitar in question all boxed up and ready to ship back tomorrow and have this one on the way. However, I am sure there will be more G&L's in the future as I won't base my overall opinion on this initial experience, so knowing respectable dealers will be a great help. Thank you.

[Case24]

Glad you got it resolved but what a ridiculous claim by the dealer. Is a gigging musician supposed to wait 24hrs before opening the case when hauling his equipment out of the van? I have guitars with nitro finishes that have never developed finish cracks when taking them from cold to hot.

[element925]

well I am on the way to getting it resolved. I will see what tomorrow holds as the company has " started the return process". Hopefully they send the return label and don't drag their feet with the return. But I agree completely about the 24hr waiting period. Completely un realistic when it comes to needing it. In their defense there was a cautionary sticker on the box recommending that wait period. There was nothing that required me to do so, and the environment I opened the guitar in was within 8-10 degrees of the outside temp that day. At the end of the day, the condition of the guitar, case and crack are not the result of not waiting 24 hrs.

[GentlemanJim]

I can not believe that email. I do hope this is resolved and that the on line dealer's policy, is questioned by G&L if in fact they are a legit G&L on line dealer.
Dam, this one takes the cake boys. Never heard of such B.S in all my dealings.
J/p

[element925]

Well Monday has come and gone and no return label. I reached out to them as a reminder so I could keep the process moving. The guitar is all packed up and ready to go. The only response I got was that the tech was going to ask them to send the label, but nothing has happened as of yet. We shall see what tomorrow brings...

[MHoepfl]

I actually purchased a G&L bass from MusicStoreLive recently as well; my bass arrived on the same day that Paul's guitar came.

As far as customer service goes, my experience was the complete opposite - my rep was patient, capable, and knowledgeable. They were able to handle a few requests, and didn't up-charge me when they had multiple chances to do so (different strings on dealer setup, strap buttons, etc). Reading that nasty email Paul got, I wouldn't be surprised if it was from the same rep - the language and cadence seem to be about the same. However, that's just a guess. There's every chance in the world that I'm wrong, so I don't want to name names.

My instrument arrived in its case, which was in new condition. The case was in a cardboard box with a G&L logo - I assume it was the factory box. There was a yellow label on my box as well, indicating that I should not open it for 24 hours - however, this label was across the opening of the box, and it had already been cut - I'm assuming by the dealer, when it arrived from the factory.

No one mentioned a 24-hour waiting period to me, and I have never read a NBD/NGD thread in which anyone mentioned waiting 24 hours to open their instrument. I was a little confused, and I called MusicStoreLive to get clarification. No one picked up, which was a surprise.

I googled a little bit, and decided to let the closed case/instrument sit for about 90 minutes, until it was no longer cold to the touch. After that, I opened the case, and let the instrument sit for about 30 minutes until it had warmed up as well. All seems to be well - the instrument is playing like a dream, and there are no blemishes in the finish.

I'm actually really disappointed that MSL reacted that way to this sort of request.

[KenC]

I'm not sure that I'd feel the need to wait 24 hours with a new guitar, but since I prefer really early Leo-era instruments I do give new arrivals several hours to settle in if there could be a big difference between the temperature in my house and where they've been for the previous day or two - especially if they could have been on a delivery truck in sub-zero cold for hours, or on a hot truck when I have the air conditioning running. I would hate to be the one to trash a 30+ year old nitrocellulose topcoat...

Ken

[element925]

Just looking to post a follow up to the original situation. I was able to finally nail down the return label Tuesday night, so I shipped the guitar out first thing Wednesday morning. It arrived back to them on Friday, so I am now awaiting confirmation that they received it and are processing the refund. I will let you know when I talk with them next and hopefully we can put this awful situation in the past.

[element925]

In Conclusion... I received my full refund from musicstorelive.com today. Thus ends my dealings with this store. Thank you for the comments and advice given. I truly appreciated all the support. I hope others have a much more positive experience if they venture to send that company their hard earned money. Cheers!

[teefus]

i had a great experience with musictorelive. they took the time to weigh several guitars i was looking at and find the right one. shipping was fast. there was a "do not open for 24 hours" sticker on my box. i let the case acclimate a bit but certainly did not wait 24 hours. communication was always fast and courteous. sorry to hear about your bad experience.

[KenC]

In Conclusion... I received my full refund from musicstorelive.com today. Thus ends my dealings with this store. Thank you for the comments and advice given. I truly appreciated all the support. I hope others have a much more positive experience if they venture to send that company their hard earned money. Cheers!

Glad to hear that it worked out to your satisfaction. Have you received the 2011 Legacy yet?

Ken

[element925]

Yes I have. I received the 2011 Spanish Copper Metallic Legacy and have been thoroughly enjoying it for a few days. It was absolutely mint, and was in fact, in better condition than the "new" one i had ordered. I am much more excited about how everything went with this transaction. Thank you for following up!

[KenC]

I'm glad to hear it all ended well. Please post some photos when you have a chance.

Ken

[Fumble fingers]

post a picture ... Copper metallic is beautiful

[glvourot]

Thank you for posting about your experience with MSL. It would certainly give me pause before I bought anything from them. I am glad you were able to find another Legacy and the transaction went smoothly. Post some pics and stay awhile, this is a great forum with a lot of smart friendly members.