Custom shop dissapointment

[jrstinkfish]

In terms of the packaging, the case barely fits in the box it came in...

Oh sweet jesus ... I guess the box was just for holding the label. I'm just a dude who sells/trades here on SSO, and I go waaaaay overboard on the packaging (check my feedback, it's almost comical that just about every comment mentions it). I don't think I could show my face in the Marketplace again if I shipped a guitar like those photos. They must ship quite a few, certainly they know better.

Maybe it's the new guy at the shop.

 

[JP Universe]

Why did I waste my time reading through this thread?

You kidding? These threads are the best to read through.... I'm enjoying every second

 

[cjms1997]

So, uh, OP. You gonna give us an NGD anytime soon? Maybe a pic or two? It could be a shitty cellphone pic, I don't care. Just give me something. PLEASE!

 

[poopyalligator]

You came back to post a picture of the case and no guitar WTF!

 

[Dominoes282]

 

[Erockomania]

Some could argue that putting padding around the case might make the box less rigid and more prone to being gashed. Padding on the inside won't stop anything pointy. Padding on the inside would, however, make the ride a little softer overall for the guitar

FWIW, my Skerv came packed very similarly if I remember correctly, and it was in perfect shape. This was after a trip from Poland to California. My guess is that UPS simply wasn't very gentle at all with the OPs package. They simply don't give much of a shit about anything. Skervesen should step up and make it right even tho it probably wasn't their fault.

 

[will_shred]

This whole thread... I don't even...

I'm with Alex, can we please just see the Skerv already?

OP pls.

 

[101]

A custom build thread and the only issue is the case is banged up? Is this an option? and no I didn't read it, F-me right?

 

[pushpull7]

n/m

I'm in over my head

 

[Hollowway]

Mod edit:

I'm wiping this out, but use another user's attempted sale out of context in this fashion again and there will be a long nap involved. Got it?

 

[Hollowway]

To weigh in on the actual topic, I can see the customer's standpoint that it arrived broken and it's not his fault. And my guess would be that Skervesen would have replaced the case if they knew for sure that the customer was honest and it arrived broken. I say that only because we all know customers who break crap and try to take advantage of others. Like the people who buy a wake board at costco in June and then return it for a full refund in September, saying they, "decided they didn't like it." I have no way to know if this is what Skervesen was thinking, but they don't have a reputation of shoddy customer service.
But I also totally agree that it's way easier to just refund some money or send out a case to make a customer happy in a situation like this. It's just a tough call to know what the real story is, and to guess what everyone is thinking. But I also can't help but feel like this isn't really that big of a deal, compared to the guitar I've had under construction for 3.5 years with no updates, or the guitar I will never get due to the luthier disappearing, or the neck that was supposed to be replaced 3 years ago that hasn't happened, or the $3500 custom with a screwed up paint job that the company won't address, or any of the other huge issues this profession seems to dole out to us on a regular basis.

 

[FromTheMausoleum]

I recently had something like this happen with a customer's case. It got banged around something fierce and looks like a forklift came into direct angry pointy contact with it.

I refunded the cash on the case and opened a ticket with Fedex. The guy received damaged product and its not his fault and he shouldn't just "deal" with a busted up case. I feel it's on the builder to make this right up front for the customer and for the builder to figure out the busted case on their own with the company that did the shipping.

All that being said, I've honestly heard really nothing but good things about Skervvy and I love their guitars. They'll set you right, even if they've taken a while doing it.

This was my case, reading through this thread made me really happy about how you dealt with that situation. Some shipping companies need a swift kick in the ass though.

 

[hikizume976]

You may have seen the guitar already, as it was featured in their facebook while it was in the making.

I'll get around to do a proper NGD. In the meantime, here's a couple of pics

Now I understand the complaints regarding cell phone pictures. This pictures do the guitar zero justice. Also the top color is much more chocolate than orange.

its really light, the thing demands to be played fast! looks great, sounds great, plays great.

It has ash body, spalted maple top. maple neck, ebony fretboard. bare knuckles a-bomb bridge, vhii neck. hanes bridge.

 

[JP Universe]

Browsing through the thread and just after one of Highgains posts about shipping and how a forklift once went through a case…..

 

[HighGain510]

See, this is why we can't have nice things. Here we have a luthier who has never screwed anyone over, participates actively on the forum and in this community, who reaches out and helps other luthiers and players for free, and who has expressed an opinion about how he sees this issue and you're calling him shady? Jesus Crist dude, if that's he case I'm going to call you shady for trying to sell a broken Carvin in the classifieds. You know full well this forum is chock full of people trying to pull a fast one on honest people (like the guy who tried to lie to get a free guitar from a luthier), and people who have a wildly unrealistic idea of what they should be getting for their money (a quilt too that wasn't the right amount of quilty in their mind). Have a different opinion if you want, but don't get your panties in a bunch trying to call out someone's business or character because they disagree with you. Want to know how Tom treats he customers? Here's an example: I bought an OAF 10 string from him and had custom Villex pups made. I got the guitar and the pups had the magnets oriented other than what I wanted. Tom took the guitar back (paid for shipping both ways), remade the pup shells, got Villex to remake them, and then got it back to me. He could have said it was on me, because I dealt directly with Villex. And then my O4P string broke a few weeks later, and I asked Tom about how he was able to get them to not break. So he bought me five more strings and had them shipped too me. That was WAY better service than I've had from any other luthier. It's why he's building three customs for me now. And he returns my emails and is an honest guy. So sorry if you don't like him defending his profession, but I hardly think you have anywhere near enough info to be making judgements about his business. What this forum needs is honest information about luthiers so we don't, as a group, keep getting screwed over. Coming in a talking out of your ass isn't helping anyone.

While it's great that he went through the extra effort to sort out your pickups for you (which honestly, sounds like he did more than he really needed to on that one, you shipped the whole guitar to him so pickups could be swapped...? ), but it doesn't change what he posted in this thread. Seems like it actually directly contradicts itself in fact, he's willing to pay round trip shipping and swap pickups out with the manufacturer yet an item damaged in shipping due to negligence on the packing materials and box size used is something he vehemently rejects as the fault of the person who is shipping to the buyer? It just doesn't add up.

To then return to the thread and drop this pearl of wisdom:

You call it a trend but I'd use the word culture. You can't approach a small manufacturer like it's Walmart.

No, the culture on this forum is that there is a reasonable expectation that after spending $2-4K on a custom built guitar, the builder should package the item according to the insurance guidelines set forth by the shipping company to avoid playing the game of "who should be left holding the bag?" if shipping damage should occur. We're all TERRIBLE people for having that expectation.

I think, sadly, the culture around here has become that of "I MUST have ______ (insert latest newbie small builder here) custom shop build me a sick guitar!!!" and people are apparently willing to shell out crazy money to some unknown guy for a "custom guitar" but there is little-to-no track record of the builder's performance or long-term builds out in the wild. Some have expectations set higher than they should when they're dealing with some guy who has less than 100 builds under his belt, but they should all have the expectation that if nothing else, the builder will package the guitar properly so should a shipping company damage something inside the box, they will be compensated for the damage as they were buying a NEW guitar and a NEW case, not "slightly used" or "partially-damaged" items.

I honestly don't think that's too much to ask of a builder, if you disagree then you would be wrong (ethically, morally and above all LEGALLY), feel free to argue but the minute someone opens up a case with their CC company, you're going to lose time and time again because it's been proven repeatedly the onus of ensuring an item is packaged safely falls on the sender, not the recipient or the shipping company (unless you're paying a UPS Store, FedEx Office or Mailboxes Etc. type place to pack it for you, in which case if they under-pack the item, it's on THEM but only because you paid them [entirely too much] to safely pack your item on your behalf).

But hey, if you're cool throwing a custom-built guitar inside the case and just putting that in a cardboard box without packaging like Skervesen did to this one, go for it! Just don't be mad when UPS kicks the ever-living shit out of the box all the way to the buyer's doorstep and something is obviously busted up on the inside when he receives it, and when the angry buyer asks you to take care of it you best be prepared to take it on the chin. They will win every time, that's why it's in YOUR best interest to just pack the damn thing correctly the first time so you don't have to deal with that shit in the first place.

I shouldn't even have to explain this, and if you're in the business of selling instruments (be it full builds or parts to assemble one) I do find it shocking to see so much fight from you on the subject of shipping/packing responsibility for sales, Tom. Despite what Hollowway seems to say, I still can't find any redeeming qualities from your posts in this thread since they seem totally contrary to his story about the customer service he received from you previously (maybe that scenario is what changed things for you? ).

Browsing through the thread and just after one of Highgains posts about shipping and how a forklift once went through a case…..

Also, lulz.

 

[Yianni54]

The manufacturer is replacing the case which I believe is a good business move but I don't believe that they are morally, ethically or legally obligated to do so, they didn't break it. And then this guy posts a thread about how disappointed he is when the manufacturer is actually taking care of him. WTF is wrong with people.

The manufacturer SAID they would take care of him and replace the case, has that happened yet? How many months went bye? 4 months! Has he received a new case?

Oh that's right they couldn't possibly have a Hscox case laying around they had to wait for a "shipment". What that is, is Skervesen hoping the OP would forget this whole thing and let it go. If that's not a run around not sure what is. Humm, sorry but as far as I can see the manufacturer hasn't done anything up to this point to make anything right! Saying and doing are two different things.

What if Skervesen didn't have any other cases BUT a dented case and they figured, "hey let's not hold this guys shipment up any longer, let's give him this dented case and blame it on UPS." Not saying this happened but it could be a possibility. And it goes right in line with the fact that Skervesen didn't have anymore cases and that's why they had to wait for a shipment.

And at the end of the day the OP probably just wants people to be aware of how Skervesen is dealing with customer complaints. This worries me considering I just put down a deposit for a Raptor 2 months ago.

This is the power of this forum. As a business Skervesen knows and understands these forums and NGD's are advertising mediums for them. This is without a doubt where there business comes from. Places like here and Facebook. This is where people show off there new axes and discuss luthier quality.

Now the one thing no one has said and hopefully the OP doesn't take offense, but there are 3 sides to every story (his, yours and the truth). Not saying OP is at fault or UPS is not at fault but we haven't really heard Skervesens side of the story. Yes we saw some emails but were they ALL the emails? Let's be honest when we are making a case for ourselves we like to omit info that could discredit our case and only focus on facts which strengthen the case.

Finally, even if it is the shipping carriers fault, if the carrier is not willing to take care of it, then the right thing for Skervesen to do is to replace the case or at least offer to pay 50% for a new one. Even if Skervesen pays 50% they are still ahead of the game considering they are making a killing. Of the Euro strength and the weak dollar. This is the price of doing business and as someone else said that should be built into the price of the guitar, which in my opinion is about 3 fold because none of these guitars are worth 3+ thousand when you actually take into account the materials and the fact that they are buying in bulk at half the price it would cost the average joe. However, basic economics shows that the market dictates the price and if you can create the perception it become reality but that's another discussion altogether.

In any event, people shouldn't rag on the OP. He did what I believe most would do, and that is bring light to a situation where a business owner is not doing what they should and let others on this forum know about it. So in fact, the OP is doing all who are interested in buying a Skervesen a favor by supplying information on how that business operates.

So in my opinion I say thanks to OP and now I know when my custom raptor shows up if the box is dented or something doesn't look right I will refuse delivery and/or make the case immediately.

 

[hikizume976]

He did what I believe most would do, and that is bring light to a situation where a business owner is not doing what they should and let others on this forum know about it. So in fact, the OP is doing all who are interested in buying a Skervesen a favor by supplying information on how that business operates.

That was the point of my post and that's the point of forums if you ask me, help each other out.

A lot of people chipped in with useful info, so thank you guys I think the post fulfilled its purpose.

 

[narad]

they are still ahead of the game considering they are making a killing. Of the Euro strength and the weak dollar.

No.

 

[Chokey Chicken]

One thing I will say is that that's a beautiful guitar. While it is a shame your case was ....ed, and I do hope that gets sorted, I'm glad it was just the case and not the guitar.

I don't think it says a whole lot about skerv though. Once in a while shit like this is going to happen, and this is the first I've seen of it. That packing is pretty iffy, though my km-7 came packed like that (albeit there was a second box outside of the one it was crammed into) from DCGL. Hope it works out for you in the end.

 

[Fred the Shred]

"Shady case"

*...looks at pics and sees a Hiscox...*

Alrighty then! It is absolutely no good to mention how my own Hiscox stuff has been around the globe with me and the guitars never had an issue, maybe because proper padding was sorted from the get go and they are resilient as all hell. Also, assuming the correct model was used, it fits all RG types quite well with no slips, yet I am unware if that was the case here at all, yet minimal padding gets the job done in any case and the guitar was indeed not damaged. I am yet to break one after 5 years of having them, and they did see a fair bit of road abuse. Now that that is out of the way...

On the subject of sending a new case, I do agree the Skervie crew was far too slow to compensate the buyer, yet they already admitted to that themselves. The guitars (and cases) I received from them were quite well packed, so this was a bit of excessive confidence right there, but without seeing the interior packing can't be sure of whether it was insufficient or just a remarkably aggressive hit. Since insurance does presume that the instructions were fully implemented though, it's a non-issue.