I am after some advice....
I ordered a custom guitar from Frank Brothers guitar company last November and it arrived this week. The guitar plays well and sounds great but it has some flaws in the finish, namely a run / drip in the lacquer and some black specks that are under the finish. I am rather unhappy with the flaws, especially considering the price of the guitar, please see photos below:
https://imgur.com/kbQsqCyhttps://imgur.com/u3CvjG7The first thing I did was reach out to Frank Brothers and ask if there was anything they could do or suggest so that they had an opportunity to help and hopefully fix the issues. There response wasn't particularly helpful and I am unsure how best to proceed though. Please see their response below:
I'm so sorry to hear that you're disappointed with those nonuniformities in the finish. Thank you for bringing them to our attention - we are always seeking to improve our craft, so we really appreciate your feedback. In the art of guitar making every instrument has its own unique indications of being a handcrafted object. We always strive to exceed expectations, and I hope we have done that in other aspects.The guitar itself plays and sounds great as I mentioned above and part of me thinks I should just try and get over the finish flaws. The problem I have is that the run / drip really bothers me and I can't help but think that an expensive guitar should't have a run in the finish, regardless of whether it is handmade or not. So thought I'd ask some of you guys how you would respond / what you would do.
Any thoughts or opinions are very welcome.
Comments
Frank Brothers are going to get a very bad name unless they address this.
I would also be having a chat to your credit card company.
The dismissive and patronising tone of that response has me incandescent on your behalf. It’s amazing how many guitar builders manage to avoid such unique indications…
Assuming you’re happy with the instrument, perhaps the best fix would be for them to meet the cost of getting the issues rectified by someone competent in the UK?
Even if you have to cut your losses and pay for the work yourself it doesn't look like it will be expensive, and you can then make things uncomfortable for them on social media if you have to.
I assume what looks like a deep scratch on the inside of the cutaway is actually a bit of wood figuring too! (Medullary ray.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Now it's just a case of damage limitation. A proper apology and covering the costs of rectifying the defects here in the UK are in order at the very least.
This is poor. I can't see a PRS, Suhr or Musicman at half the cost leaving the factory like this. You have cause to be unhappy but the question is now how to resolve it with them after their inappropriate response.
IMO the ideal option would be to have a uk finisher touch it up (I assume nitro) at their cost or agree a discount.
If you bought anything from a big box shifter like Thomann a partial refund is almost considered standard practice.
I honestly wouldn't expect them to give two shits about what UK players and the UK market think of them as a company, or their quality. How long has the company been building guitars for?, how many do you honestly think they sell in the Europe, nevermind just the UK every year, single digits, double digits?
And what good would that do when it's obvious from their website that they really don't care about getting or attracting business from outside their native market, you'll get more from pissing into the wind.
Jurisdictional conflicts are often the first part of any contract case that involves an international border.
Most of the time for a custom order the contract for sale will state the laws that apply within the text. And it's never outside of the sellers location. Why on earth would they worry about complying with every law in other countries? Simply - they won't.
Even in UK to UK contracts like for your credit card it will state what jurisdiction the parties are agreeing to use for any dispute resolution. And once the order has been made the terms have been accepted. The terms are there in case you use your UK card in the USA and realise you might get punitive damages there... but you already agreed that England & Wales law applies when you got the card in the first place.
So no - you can't rock up in Canada and rely on the UK Sales of Goods Act, and if you try to sue in the UK (if the Canadian company even has any UK assets to make it worth a go) the court (after you've spend 3 days of lawyers fees arguing about it) will likely say the item is made in Canada, sold in Canada, then shipped elsewhere so Canadian law applies and the claimant should sue in Canada.
The Unfair Contract Terms and Conditions Act doesn't apply for this either.
The Chinese made TV is a red herring. It might be made in China, but it's sold in Currys / Tesco / whereever which is a UK company. It's not in the same ballpark, it's not even the same sport.
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
Not acceptable QC (none of my HB’s have had such poor finishing!) and not acceptable as a reply to your concerns about the issues.
Id send them a reply stating that you’re going to be making a YT video to let other buyers know about the “nonuniformities” in the quality of their work.
Also contact your payment provider and let them know that the quality of the item you ordered isn’t up to the standard you expect and that the seller is not being co-operative in resolving the matter to your satisfaction.
Once the threat of a chargeback hits their inbox I’m pretty sure their attitude will change
Good luck in getting this resolved