Review of Gibson USA's current customer service and my new Ebony ES-335

[335LPsm]

This is my review of Gibson USA's current customer service and a warning to anyone who is considering buying a guitar directly from Gibson.

Everyone who is on this forum and reading this post know what it's like to be excited to get a guitar.  Whether it's been on order for months or you finally made the decision to go to your local guitar shop and buy the guitar you've had your eye on for months, you know the excitement.  Well for me, after playing a friends vintage ES-335, I decided I needed one.  I decided to order a brand new Ebony ES-335 from an online store I've bought from before.  Well after numerous delays and disappointment, I thought I'd check Gibson's website, just on the off chance they would have one in stock and low and behold, they did!  I cancelled my other order (after 5 months of waiting!) and ordered my new one, paid for overnight shipping, and sat back feeling like a kid on christmas eve!  Silly yes, but again, if you're reading this, you know the feeling.  Getting my guitar the next day and having to wait to open that box while the guitar was properly warming up was brutal, but I did, and when the time was right, I opening the case!  First thing I see is the guitar is covered in saw dust.  Next thing I see what looks like burn marks in the finish between the volume knob and the bridge and scratches near the f-hole. Then I see cracks in the coating at the nut, on both sides of the neck.  Needless to say I was not happy but I figured Gibson would take care of everything.  I took pictures of the issues, emailed them to customer support, and then called.  They apologized and sent me a return ticket and said they would examine the guitar and send me a new one.  In a situation like this, for a $3400 guitar, you would imagine they would send a new guitar immediately after confirming they had one in stock and it was in "BRAND NEW" condition.  Well this is what actually happened...  I sent the guitar on a Monday, they received it Wednesday.  I gave them until Friday to get back to me but heard nothing.  I called customer service that day and they had no info for me but promised to call me Monday.  I accepted but asked if they had seen the email I sent.  No one had even seen the images I sent nor could they even access them.  I heard nothing from them on Monday so I called and was told I had to be patient, they had to examine the guitar first before they could release a new one.  Obviously my expectations of getting a new replacement immediately was a mistake so I patiently waited. It took almost 2 weeks for my new guitar to come.  I  thought that after all the issues the first guitar had and the time it took Gibson to make sure I was getting a brand new guitar, it would be worth it!  Well I was wrong... the "new" guitar came with all the same issues as the previous guitar BUT this time with the addition of wet epoxy and deeper scratches in the finish.  At this point all my excitement over getting this guitar has been ruined...  And now, as I pick it up to decide if I really want to post this, the pick guard is loose...

I love Gibson guitars but this experience has really hurt my opinion of the brand as it stands now.