Esp ltd Qc. Dire!

TTBZ

That's a disappointing response. I've always liked LTD guitars and never played one with issues like that, but this sort of thing puts me off a company.

RaymondLin

skunkwerx said:

grungebob said:

Well there’s reason enough for me never to buy an esp ltd then. They obviously couldn’t give a f@ck. 
my last two buys were Rivolta and Lucem. Both fantastic instruments made overseas but properly inspected and set up, they play and sound great and both less than £800 new. 

Yeah its a bit disappointing. 

That person who does the inspection and set up must've been off that day from Covid because there is no way this has been.

Sassafras

On the bright side, they do appreciate you reaching out to them!

UnclePsychosis

I doubt their customer service people in the States even looked at the pictures. It'll be a "policy says distributors deal with Europe, send the default answer and move on" thing.

Which is piss poor but sadly to be expected these days.

I'd send it back, get a refund and buy a guitar from a shop/distributor/manufacturer that gives a fuck. 

skullfunkerry

I agree with pretty much everything people are saying here. Very disappointing, ESP always gave the impression of being a good company to deal with.

I know it’s not a Snakebyte, but I think you should get a refund on it, buy yourself a nice Jackson Kelly and put a Het Set in it

Rich210

It beggers belief that could even get you. Get your money back man! Maybe give it a few weeks just to let the disappointed fade before venturing out to a shop floor somewhere? 

MattW

That’s really disappointing. I was considering picking up a PS-1000 to scratch a semi hollow itch - the same neck carve, radius and XJ frets I love on the Eclipse ‘87 plus P90s - seemed a perfect fit. Now I’m not so sure, nowhere local stocks them and I’m not so inclined to take a punt on ordering online if they think that level of QC is acceptable.

skunkwerx

skullfunkerry said:

I agree with pretty much everything people are saying here. Very disappointing, ESP always gave the impression of being a good company to deal with.

I know it’s not a Snakebyte, but I think you should get a refund on it, buy yourself a nice Jackson Kelly and put a Het Set in it

Yeah I’ve been looking at alternatives actually. 

Theres the Kelly, or the schecter E-1’s basically up toward the higher end of the scale/similar spec.  

The Gibbo ones look nice but they’re more old skool, not modern metal as such. 

I hear mixed things about Schecters which casts doubt.. though I found one model, a purple E-1 FR S, which looks great, Ss frets, fishmans, neck thru, etc. 

But as usual nowhere in stock in the UK haha.

I’ve never played a Jackson but those who do seem to have good things to say! 

Only thing about the Kelly’s are the floyds. Guess its not a deal breaker mind.

Should hopefully hear back from GG today about the return though.

skullfunkerry

skunkwerx said:

skullfunkerry said:

I agree with pretty much everything people are saying here. Very disappointing, ESP always gave the impression of being a good company to deal with.

I know it’s not a Snakebyte, but I think you should get a refund on it, buy yourself a nice Jackson Kelly and put a Het Set in it

Yeah I’ve been looking at alternatives actually. 

Theres the Kelly, or the schecter E-1’s basically up toward the higher end of the scale/similar spec.  

The Gibbo ones look nice but they’re more old skool, not modern metal as such. 

I hear mixed things about Schecters which casts doubt.. though I found one model, a purple E-1 FR S, which looks great, Ss frets, fishmans, neck thru, etc. 

But as usual nowhere in stock in the UK haha.

I’ve never played a Jackson but those who do seem to have good things to say! 

Only thing about the Kelly’s are the floyds. Guess its not a deal breaker mind.

Should hopefully hear back from GG today about the return though.

Yeah, the hardtail Kellys are a bit thin on the ground lately. You could always block the trem?

prlgmnr

Do Feline still have that purple Kelly (shaped guitar) in stock?

skullfunkerry

prlgmnr said:

Do Feline still have that purple Kelly (shaped guitar) in stock?

I believe so:

https://felineguitars.com/collections/guitars/products/feline-k-explorer-black-and-purple

Jon let me have a go on it when I was there the first time: it really is lovely to play. I still can't afford it though...

DanR

https://m.thomann.de/gb/solar_guitars_e1.6_jensen_g2.htm?o=5&search=1592310975

My Solar is very well put together I only found one minor issue on it on the back.

rossi

The customer is now the quality controller so send the  dud one back .It should be factored into any prices  Its the same on any imported Asian products.You doing part of the assembly process .They just shove  it in a box  and out the door to fullfill their orders .The shop doesnt bother checking them so its our job now .

aroof

DSR is on your side here. This looks like an instrument they have sent out hoping someone doesn't have the ability or energy to send back.
I am actually stunned at how bad this example is, especially the fretboard issues.

Hope it works out for you.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

To be honest, given this experience I wouldn’t entertain buying an ESP. The QC on that guitar is utterly unacceptable at the price point or anything close to it, and from what you’ve said it’s a replacement for a replacement since neither of the others were good enough either. On top of that the company seems to have no interest in its customers.

It’s sad when this happens to a brand you used to admire, but frankly I would just move on. A company with this level of disrespect for the people it relies on simply doesn’t deserve your (or anyone else’s) money.

Yeah, I was a huge fan and recently found some excellent looking stuff but I'd steer clear for a while, the customer service sounds too bad. 

skunkwerx

Is pretty shite. Will deffo be sending it back. 

Emailed GG and the Uk supplier, sound services, who arent actually that far away, yesterday, thought I might hear back from one today but nowt yet. 

Will chase em tomorrow. GG that is.. 

jeztone2

Am shocked at that. My nephew had one of the weird pointy ESP’s in the early 2000’s. It was immaculately made. 

Didn’t I read they’d had industrial labour relation issues recently? Or was that Cort? 

hassleham

Surely if you buy a dud guitar from a shop, you take the issue up with the shop because they're the ones who should have checked it before selling it? I can't really see why ESP themselves would do anything to help you beyond pointing you in the direction of the responsible party.. 

skunkwerx

hassleham said:

Surely if you buy a dud guitar from a shop, you take the issue up with the shop because they're the ones who should have checked it before selling it? I can't really see why ESP themselves would do anything to help you beyond pointing you in the direction of the responsible party.. 

I agree. The store didnt even put an invoice in with it, or a receipt.. thats another story.. 

They didnt check it at all, it came in, they slapped a shipping label on and out it went. 

But...! 

Its all well and good just keep sending them back for the store to either resell as b stock or take up with the supplier, but its not solving the issue. 

The store and Uk distributor are merely middlemen who have zero influence.
The contract is with the store so they’ll obviously be dealing with it by way of a refund (I hope). 

From what I understand, LTD/Esp guitars are made in the factory then go to Esp’s central facility in the US where they are set up and inspected. 

Esp US then ships them to the regional distributors, who should inspect them, then ship onto the stores. 

My point to Esp themselves is, this is the 5th Ltd signature model I’ve had in the last 6 months, and they’ve all had serious QC issues. 

Esp themselves in the Us handled them and signed off on them. So they are the responsible party really. If their factory is slacking, thats their responsibility to sort too. Either way the guitars shouldnt have made it past Esp in the States. 

Clearly the distributor in the UK and the store didnt check at all, or did but didnt care. 

I thought I’d bring it to their attention that not only is the factory churning out shite but their own team passed it for it to have even made it to the Uk. 

Esp really need to take it up with the factory. 

One or two would be acceptable duds, but 5? All from the same Korean Factory and ending up in the same UK distributor’s warehouse is a bit much In such a short timeframe. 

But they also need to take it up with the UK distributor. They’re sending these out to stores who are authorised dealers, who are clearly also not checking properly. 

I would have thought both of those agents would have a certain responsibility to ensure the goods are of sufficient quality before showing em to the public. 

In the end its Esp’s reputation though thats getting a bad view because of it. 

I thought they might want to look into it. 

I dont know who Sound Services answer to mind.  Maybe they are an independent importer for many brands. But i’m not sure why Esp want the end user to be contacting them directly, unless they are an international arm of Esp themselves.. 

I know Fender have a hq over here, who operate under Fender’s name and have always been great. Maybe its a similar set up to that. 

Though they didnt answer a couple of my questions, such as if this example is the general level of quality for the model. I figured as the people who employ the manufacturers they should know that.. but they’ve referred me to a distributor to gain the ‘accurate and reliable content’ lol! 

I dunno. Maybe I have just been unlucky with them! 

hassleham

@skunkwerx I can see your point! Maybe try on the esp forums as there seem to be ESP employees who are quite active on there and may take you more seriously.