I got my Strictly 7 Boden and....

[The Spanish Inquisition]

*flameshield on*

I must pick sides with Jim. I know receiving an instrument with a small thing wrong isn't exactly what you'd like on such an expensive guitar. But when you contact him calling him an idiot and not only mocking his builds but also insulting him and his company of which he is proud, I can totally understand he is pissed and has had it with these kind of things.

Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for everyone who had a faulty instrument, and he shouldn't have put the blame on others. He also has to take a bit of the blame, because it's his company. But he's not the only one in the company. And people seem to forget that he's a busy man, running 2 lines. The Boden and his own S7G line. He ain't got no time fo' that. The main thing in this story, I think, is the patience. But apparently no one has patience anymore.

 

[xCaptainx]

yeah I feel for the guy. Difficult situation for all involved no doubt, and sure he could have represented himself a bit better and refrained from a few things he said. He's obviously frustrated however.

Sitting on the fence on this cause quite frankly, I'm not a customer or involved with either company. Again, refreshing that he even bothered putting up such a detailed insight into his company. I bet the BRJ customers are dying for something like this, regardless of content.

 

[The Spanish Inquisition]

yeah I feel for the guy. Difficult situation for all involved no doubt, and sure he could have represented himself a bit better and refrained from a few things he said. He's obviously frustrated however.

Sitting on the fence on this cause quite frankly, I'm not a customer or involved with either company. Again, refreshing that he even bothered putting up such a detailed insight into his company. I bet the BRJ customers are dying for something like this, regardless of content.

He's just a man desperately trying to justify the acts of his company.

 

[RickSchneider]

Well to play devils advocate, it's hard to feel empathy for a man who apparently doesn't have time to fulfill the excess load that the Boden brand added to his work, yet still took it under his care and tried to deliver.

Call it overambitious, say he lacked foresight and is just trying to right wrongs, either way - mistakes were made on his part and he is now paying for them. He's getting more flak than he deserves? Perhaps. But in his own words, if someone is unhappy, the internet will hear about it. For some this isn't a problem, as good companies avoid such extensive bad rep, but S7G has gotten a fair bit lately

 

[Captain Butterscotch]

Ok, you don't EVER call out a customer, by name, on a video that now thousands of people will see. You take care of shit. Get it done. Don't make an angry video to make yourself feel better. You also don't bash people you've worked with or other people who aren't even in the picture anymore. It's unprofessional. No, screw that, it's immature.

He kept talking about "inane" issues with flaws, finish, and wood choices. When people are spending 2-3k on a guitar, then an "inane" finish flaw is a big issue. For that much money, I expect a perfect guitar. That's a whole lot of money for people that aren't Justin Bieber that make 2-3 million every time he blows a pound of glitter out of his ass.

I see his side of the story and I understand it, but Jim is going about this with the finesse of of a drunk elephant. To be clear, I feel for the guy and his situation. But he needs a PR guy or something because that vid annoyed me to death.

 

[technomancer]

I'm watching this now. All I can say is if you watch this video and want to do business with somebody with that attitude you deserve what you get.

I'll also address the brilliant excuse for using low quality wood and tops: it's bullshit. Saying cheap wood is more interesting is a great ploy if you have a market dumb enough to buy it. PRS doesn't buy all the good tops, there are plenty of suppliers that can deliver 4A and 5A tops in quantity IF the builder is willing to pay for it. So to translate the marketing speak: "It's more interesting and PRS buys all the nice tops" = "It's cheaper and easier to source and puts more money in my pocket". If a customer ORDERS a guitar with large knot holes and a lower grade / wildwood top that is an entirely different matter, but sending somebody that on something like a Strandberg is assinine.

And so much for Jim's argument about Ola doing nothing to make it right:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/3576937-post203.html

sometimes customer service goes beyond the letter of the contract

 

[RickSchneider]

I thought that myself. Seems like he tried to put himself at a point of higher public standing, and Ola just threw him wayyyy down

 

[watson503]

Wow... He's about gone over the edge with all of this:

 

[will_shred]

I kinda feel bad for him. I mean i'm sure he actually is a nice dude. Just the stress of owning a company that's going down the shitter is obviously huge.

The one place I don't feel bad is the guitars. Building guitars is really, really hard. If you're just going in blind (more or less), your going to have a bad time. If you are going to start a guitar company without having formal luthier training, you're going to have a bad time. If you then get one artist under your belt, then proceed to take way more orders than you can fill. you're going to have a REALLY bad time.


If you they think they're going to start a successful guitar company without formal luthier training I don't know what they expected when real guitar snobs got their hands on them. So, i'm kind of in the middle. I kind of feel bad for jim and I kind of don't at the same time, because well... I don't know what he was thinking.

Also, I guess he didn't realize that an imperfection making something better doesn't really appily in guitar building as much as it does in music

 

[Yimmj]

Alright seriously, adress all of the customer you complaints you want, but being a dickhead to the customers then calling them out in facebook is just straightup the worst idea ive heard, i cant believe he names people out and where they live and that he calls them idiots for having complaints, you run a ....in business, thats your job is to make the customer happy

 

[technomancer]

That video is insane. The fact that he thought that was a good idea tells you everything you need to know about S7.

Yep I'll say here what I said in the thread about the videos, if you watch those videos and want to do business with somebody with that attitude you deserve what you get.

leonardo7: I hope you paid by credit card and/or have a lawyer as the demands of the immediate return of the guitar and refund in 3-4 months are complete bullshit

I have now offered to assume the responsibility for delivering the outstanding orders as well as the currently agreed replacements from S7.

The customers involved will be given the option of staying on with S7 to receive their original order, or having it fulfilled by Strandberg Guitars in Sweden.

Also this is incredibly classy, and shows that at least Ola understands that sometimes customer service and making things right goes beyond the letter of the contract

 

[Suho]

I have now offered to assume the responsibility for delivering the outstanding orders as well as the currently agreed replacements from S7.

The customers involved will be given the option of staying on with S7 to receive their original order, or having it fulfilled by Strandberg Guitars in Sweden.

Mr. Strandberg, I don't have any guitars on order with S7, but it is this kind of exceptional response that makes it almost certain you will have a custom order from me in the (hopefully not too distant) future! Kudos!

 

[Nonservium]

I feel him. Whatever dipshit is claiming its dry should probably just stfu. As gung-ho and carried away as some of the over-entitled twats I see around the interwebs go, I don't honestly blame Jim. Some folks lack sense and straight deserve to get called out, it may not be the most professional move but sometimes cold hard reality is what some folks need. Every once in a while, I'll have to get in someone's ass in much the same way from my job which is also exacting work with little room for error. People that don't work with the finer points of something are often ignorant to the realities of it which tends to lead them into having unrealistic expectations.

He's wasting his time however, these kids have mostly been raised to believe they can do no wrong in most cases and would rather die than face the reality that they are wrong.

 

[SDMFVan]

Was I the only person unaware that they had the CNC work done on the bodies by an outside company?

 

[Tom 1.0]

Man...After reading what Ola just said I wished I had been messed around by S7.

I hope everybody comes out of this in one piece.

 

[crg123]

I thought that myself. Seems like he tried to put himself at a point of higher public standing, and Ola just threw him wayyyy down

I have now offered to assume the responsibility for delivering the outstanding orders as well as the currently agreed replacements from S7.

The customers involved will be given the option of staying on with S7 to receive their original order, or having it fulfilled by Strandberg Guitars in Sweden.

Wow, thats ridiculous he's that fed up that he'd take the blow. Those outstanding orders are some lucky SOB's. They expected S7 Boden's but they end up with REAL Strandbergs... if I'm understanding him correctly.

 

[Deadnightshade]

I believe Ola and/or Jim should have informed the public about the stuff that would cause differences from the picture beforehand (like the different oil),as well as the way the tuning mechanism works.

 

[Captain Butterscotch]

Ola earned a customer from me today.

 

[Winspear]

I watched the long video and to be honest I can't take issue with anything he has said...Though the anger is understandable but doesn't come across well at all

 

[JaeSwift]

EDIT: Nevermind, stating the obvious wont get us anywhere.
I just hope this will work out for everyone, somehow.