Randee,
I wanted to let you know that I took the trek out to Rockford this morning to return the Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker combo. Short of the bad tubes,it was returned exactly as I received it.After yesterdays drama and your assurance that your company would make things right, I had low expectations and the highest hopes for a positive outcome.Boy, was I disappointed.First,lets recap.I contacted Nathan Ambruster through a Craigslist ad.Offering my strat as a trade for the combo straight up.He accepted the offer and we agreed to meet. He offered to meet me in Belvedere. telling me that this transaction would be going through your store.He also reiterated that the amp was in perfect working order and in mint condition. Knowing what the amp does,and knowing it is going through a retailer,vs a private party,I decided to take his word that everything was in order.
The amp worked for about ten minutes. It was blowing fuses.I contacted Nathan about the issue.Instead of reassuring me that the problem would be resolved, he gave me nothing but defensive excuses and tried putting blame on me.I calmly told him that I would go to Radio Shack to get more fuses.I was also going to contact Mesa Boogie to troubleshoot the issue.I feel that he knew that at least the tubes were suspect,You can't plug the amp in at the local Walmart parking lot.I also noticed that the footswitch cord was not included.The speakers were also suspect, as the back label was ripped off both speakers.The Mesa tech did conclude that they were the original speakers when I gave him the product number.They also concluded that nothing I did would have caused the amplifier to malfunction.
With a Mesa Tech on the phone,I proceeded to test the amp per his instruction.This took several hours and fuses. We concluded that the rectifier tube, as well as all the power tubes were suspect.They were probably never changed from the original owner.It was also clear that one of them was blown,as it was glowing much more than the others.My definition of "mint"means perfect working order As from the factory.This amp was clearly not mint.I also understand that tubes do fail without warning sometimes.They should have been properly tested before the trade happened.When I called Nathan, I should have been offered new tubes or at least a checkup from the local tech.I called Nathan back and got more of the same excuses of how I was responsible for the amp not working properly.I hung up on him and tried calling you several times.Only after a threat of a call to the Rockford Police department,did you speak to me about this issue.You seemed to understand my situation. You told me that you also spoke to someone at Mesa about this issue and they told you there may be an other issue altogether with this amp.Remember?I confided that I was still in need of a good amplifier.I said that if you could cut me a deal on something else,I would feel satisfied with that.You told me that you would have a conversation with the "amp guy" working this morning and he would take care of me.Do you remember that?
I took the 55 mile(each way)trip to your store this morning.When I brought the amp in, I was greeted with more accusations and excuses about the situation.He "didn't want to argue" but insisted that the amp was "mint" and was working perfectly when it left your store.He also wondered why I didn't invest in buying a new set of tubes?Are you kidding me? On an amp that I had ownership of for ten minutes? Did he expect me to shell out 100 dollars on a retube,not knowing for sure if this was the real issue? He asked me what I wanted to do.I explained to him that I talked to you yesterday. I told him that I am out a great deal of time and money.If I were to do a trade, it would have to be worth my while. This is when he informed me about "his loss of a working amp". Really? Where on earth do your employees get their customer service skills?This is where I told him to give me back my "f*&ing guitar".I inspected it and left very upset.
I work for a major paint retailer in the Chicagoland area. I have 15 years of retail management experience. If either of those employees would have treated a customer in that fashion, they would have been fired.Yes,I did get my guitar back. So what am I out?I am out 30 bucks in gas money.I am out my time. I am on vacation right now. I could have utilized the 12+ hours I lost on this endeavor towards something more relaxing.I make 29 dollars an hour, btw.That is roughly 350 dollars.Then there are all the tolls.Am I expecting money in return? No.I want you to know that bad customer service can impact folks more than you may know or possibly understand..I have learned two things from this colossal failure of a transaction.
1. Don't ever take for granted that an amplifier is in good working order. ALWAYS try it out for a while first and inspect the tubes.
2. NEVER shop at Randee's Music read more