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Jay is refusing to refund my $55 in shipping costs. The Heritage H150 I had paid $1610 arrived with binding issues. As a result, I chose to return the guitar as I was extremely perturbed that the guitar made it thru TWO quality control processes (Heritage's and Jay's). Jay's return policy states the customer is responsible for shipping both ways unless he is in error.

Wouldn't you call it an error when the description is quot;one of the finest we've ever seenquot;...and there's binding issues?

I know some of you have had great experiences with Jay Wolfe. I, on the other hand, have just gotten screwed. He claims he credited my card yesterday morning (which he may have).....but I've yet to receive it. He's not returning my emails or phone calls regarding the shipping costs. I've asked him to inspect the binding and give me his honest opinion as to whether it's still quot;one of the finestquot; he's ever seen. Instead, he is choosing to keep my $55 and ignore me.


Originally Posted by chcjunior

Wouldn't you call it an error when the description is quot;one of the finest we've ever seenquot;...and there's binding issues?

Yes

Chuck -

I like you have heard nothing but rave reviews about Jay and his service. I'm suprised that you're having issues. I've had several conversations with Jay regarding the special order of a 150, and have been please with his service.

I know that he is busy, and that is no excuse for poor customer service. I hope that true to his reputation, he makes the situation right with you. It's easy to say when it's not your money, but I would guess that things will work themselvs right in a day or two.

Best of luck.

i agree sounds like and error to me and pretty crappy of him that he would screw a customer over for $55.

-Mike

Call your credit card company and claim fraud. That'll get his attention.

Hey where are the Heritage bashers?


Originally Posted by WattageHey where are the Heritage bashers?

Us Gibson guys don't stoop to that level.


Originally Posted by Scott_FCall your credit card company and claim fraud. That'll get his attention.

Jay is a very nice person. He doesn't deserve this, Scott.All it takes is some time man. Hell I've waited a long long time for my custom order - but DAMN was it worth it !!! - And I got a discount too because of the wait.

I'm sure he's not ignoring you. He is really that busy... He wasn't returning my emails for a while either, but responded to all of them eventually. He was also great on the phone.

What kinds of binding issues do you have with your 150? Jay is explicitly refusing to refund your shipping costs?

All I have to say is my experience in dealing with him has been awesome.


Originally Posted by Frantic_RockJay is a very nice person. He doesn't deserve this, Scott.

All it takes is some time man. Hell I've waited a long long time for my custom order - but DAMN was it worth it !!! - And I got a discount too because of the wait.

I'm sure he's not ignoring you. He is really that busy... He wasn't returning my emails for a while either, but responded to all of them eventually. He was also great on the phone.

What kinds of binding issues do you have with your 150? Jay is explicitly refusing to refund your shipping costs?

He wasn't too busy to charge my credit card within minutes of my order! I am just about to the point of hitting the credit card company with fraud...about one business day away.

There was at least four issues with the binding. There was bleeding on the top side in the area of the single cutaway section and a smudge print (where I'd see it EVERY time I played). On the side of the neck (facing the floor when you play) there was a vertical streak of stain, as well as a horizontal streak, both between the 7th and 9th frets. On the other side of the neck (facing you when you play), there were taping issues on the binding both near the nut and the neck joint. At the nut the stain line was actually quot;squigglyquot;, and at the joint it was diagonal for half an inch.

Did he explicitly refuse to pay the shipping charges? No....but the refund he claimed he processed Monday morning did not include the shipping charge (the partial refund still hasn't hit my credit card). He refuses to answer the question in emails...he's just quot;sorry I didn't like the guitarquot;.

What I didn't like was the misrepresentation of the quality of the guitar....and his refusal to admit he screwed up. It's the principle....I'll waste more money via opportunity cost of my time than I'll make if he pays what is rightfully mine. He screwed up, and doesn't want to make good on it.

I hope you resolve your issues. 1600 - should get you a really good quality guitar in my opinion.

Did you plug it in though? Maybe it just sounds so wicked it makes you cry??

Sometimes you gotta be philosophical about these things. Mine for instance already got a sh1tload of pickscratches above the strings in the laqueer, and beltbuckle rash on the back... For me it's all about how they sound.

But I do hope you solve your problem man.

I think that the real problem should be identified as the Heritage guitar, not the shipper (Store).

Keep trying to get your money back!

It took me over 6 months to get mine from Warmoth (That $#@$#@ company) and I had to get my credit card holding bank involved, plus the BBB.


Originally Posted by Frantic_RockJay is a very nice person. He doesn't deserve this, Scott.All it takes is some time man. Hell I've waited a long long time for my custom order - but DAMN was it worth it !!! - And I got a discount too because of the wait.

I'm sure he's not ignoring you. He is really that busy... He wasn't returning my emails for a while either, but responded to all of them eventually. He was also great on the phone.

What kinds of binding issues do you have with your 150? Jay is explicitly refusing to refund your shipping costs?

All I have to say is my experience in dealing with him has been awesome.Hey, I had great dealings with him, highly recommended him on NUMEROUS occasions, way numerous. But if he sent out a guitar with finish problems, then refuses to refund the shipping, I have a big problem with that.

If Jay won't return the guys calls, or whatever was reported, I'd call the credit card company and complain. Whenever a consumer uses the magic quot;f' word to a credit card company, their entire response protocol changes.

I surely don't think Jay frauded anyone, but that fraud word gets the credit card companies attention. In this instance, I'd say Jay deserves to be held accountable. I like the dude a lot, bought from him, will probably do so again some time, but if he sent me a problem guitar, I'd expect a full refund.

That $55 in shipping is going to earn him a huge amount of negative pub. Not worth it if you ask me.

I had a great experience buying my 535 from Jay, but the quot;binding issuesquot; you describe are unacceptable and you should get a full refund.

Please let us know if Jay makes things right for you (or not). I sure hope that he does, although he's already lost some credibility here. It never ceases to amaze me how pig-headed business people can be sometimes in terms of generating lots of bad karma over a relatively small dollar amount. (Several unhappy former-customers of a certain un-named custom guitar parts manufacturer come to mind immediately.)

The flip side is how much great publicity a guy can get for doing the right thing - like Bob at Visual Sounds taking back my Route 66 and One Spot, testing both, and replacing the One Spot. (A bad noise problem had developed that was driving me crazy.) All I had to do was pay to ship them out to him. This was way past the official warranty period too. Would I buy from him again, HELL YES!

Chip

Dropping a significant amount of money on a guitar that has issues is a major bummer, I feel for you - I recently went through the same thing with a Gamp;L I purchased, Gamp;L wouldn't do squat but the dealer I purchased the guitar through resolved the problem with Gamp;L and now I'm happy. I would call heritage and talk with them, they offer the warranty on the product - tell them what your issues are (send pictures if you have them - a wise thing to do for anyone who received a guitar that isn't up to the advertising) and see if heritage will pick up the shipping costs. I've never dealt with Jay but I have dealt with heritage on a problem and they were very very customer service oriented - perhaps you can get Heritage to make the guitar you wanted and charge you the price you paid from Jay less shipping?? Give it a try. I wish you the best of luck and remember be cool, be polite but be firm.


Originally Posted by WattageHey where are the Heritage bashers?

The ex-employees of Gibson who work for Heritage were actually the security guards who worked in the lobby at Gibson!

Otherwise, they wouldn't have screwed up the binding and put Aria headstocks on them!


Originally Posted by GearjoneserThe ex-employees of Gibson who work for Heritage were actually the security guards who worked in the lobby at Gibson!

Otherwise, they wouldn't have screwed up the binding and put Aria headstocks on them!

i can't help it...that was funny!!!

back to the topic...i bet it's something like what has been mentioned...him being extremely busy and it will more than likely be worked out...i can understand your frustration and disappointment though...i would be pretty hacked off too!!!

The partial refund came thru on credit card sans shipping charges, and Jay has now ignored my last voice mail and two emails. On to the BBB and credit card company.

The thing that really tweaks me is the feeling I've been dismissed. He won't come out and say the binding is great, or that it's defective....he just ignores the issue exists one way or the other. Hello? I can do math...and there's less in my pocket now than before you sold me the crappy H150.

I'll keep you all posted. The whole experience is definitely souring me on internet guitar buying.

I sympathize with your wanting a guitar without stain streaked all over the binding. But if I was Jay, I'd be ignoring you, too, or at least shuffling your e-mails to the bottom of my to do list. If you're breathing fire, spouting words like quot;screwedquot;, quot;crappyquot;, and quot;fraudquot;, the level of service you get is going to drop to that level.

Did you start off the return process in this mode? If this were my guitar, I would have send Jay a clear, polite, respectful letter outlining my complaints, documenting them with pictures, and specifically itemizing what I expected in return, i.e. full refund for guitar AND shipping.

Has Jay even seen the returned guitar yet? Unless he has, he has every reason to just write you off as another wack-job, overly-fussy guitar player (nothing personal, there are plenty of them out there). Once he has the guitar in hand, a business-like discussion of it's faults should result in a complete refund. But if you've been talking to him the way you write here, it may be too late for that. Calm down, be polite, and hope he isn't reading this forum. Good luck.


Originally Posted by Rich_SI sympathize with your wanting a guitar without stain streaked all over the binding. But if I was Jay, I'd be ignoring you, too, or at least shuffling your e-mails to the bottom of my to do list. If you're breathing fire, spouting words like quot;screwedquot;, quot;crappyquot;, and quot;fraudquot;, the level of service you get is going to drop to that level.

Did you start off the return process in this mode? If this were my guitar, I would have send Jay a clear, polite, respectful letter outlining my complaints, documenting them with pictures, and specifically itemizing what I expected in return, i.e. full refund for guitar AND shipping.

Has Jay even seen the returned guitar yet? Unless he has, he has every reason to just write you off as another wack-job, overly-fussy guitar player (nothing personal, there are plenty of them out there). Once he has the guitar in hand, a business-like discussion of it's faults should result in a complete refund. But if you've been talking to him the way you write here, it may be too late for that. Calm down, be polite, and hope he isn't reading this forum. Good luck.

I did exactly as you stated. I'm 38 years old and a business professional. I began as being polite, indicating there was issues with the binding, and that I intended to return the guitar and should receive my shipping costs along with purchase price of the guitar. And I'm thinking of some more emphatic substitutes for quot;screwedquot; and quot;crappyquot;.....

Jay has seen the guitar. He's now indicating that he found nothing quot;out of the norm for a hand made Heritage Guitarquot;. So apparently subpar binding is acceptable for Heritage guitars.

I've filed a complaint with BBB as well as Heritage. I'm now calling the credit card company. It may all be for naught......but at least I've tried and learned a lesson about online dealers.


Originally Posted by chcjuniorI did exactly as you stated. I'm 38 years old and a business professional. I began as being polite, indicating there was issues with the binding, and that I intended to return the guitar and should receive my shipping costs along with purchase price of the guitar. And I'm thinking of some more emphatic substitutes for quot;screwedquot; and quot;crappyquot;.....

Jay has seen the guitar. He's now indicating that he found nothing quot;out of the norm for a hand made Heritage Guitarquot;. So apparently subpar binding is acceptable for Heritage guitars.

I've filed a complaint with BBB as well as Heritage. I'm now calling the credit card company. It may all be for naught......but at least I've tried and learned a lesson about online dealers.

Sounds to me like Jay is being an ASS! My Heritage has no binding issues at all and none of the others I've see have.

Luke