Delivery and Customer Service

[tcraft1]

Just bought my 2nd Gibson, (First was an ES 335 back in '79).

Has anyone been having problems with their orders?

I bought the ES 137 Custom on June 18th, 2011 (from Guitar Center) - was told it would ship on June 20th, and would have it by the end of the week. Never happened.

Then I was told it would ship on June 27th..... Never happened..... Now I am being told that it will not ship until July 25th??!!??

Anyone have any similar experiences?

 

Secondly - have written several emails to Gibson... They never responded... Finally spoke to a customer service rep who basically told me that it wasn't his job to let me know why my guitar is taking so long to be delivered.

Thanks.....

[jimmyl51]

Tell Guitar Center to immediately refund you your money......I would NEVER buy anything from Guitar Center............jimbo

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Cancel your order, and try this:

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=gibson+es137

[clayville]

If GC sold you a guitar they dont have, then cancel and order up the best sounding one that Wildwood has. You'll get an in-hand tone report from an actual guitarist whose advice you can trust, and a guitar set up the way you prefer rather than just a barcode on a box from a warehouse monkey (present company excepted, of course).

[CR9]

I'm not trying to sides here but I don't think Gibson told you a delivery date if you bought it from GC. Your complaint is with GC and Gibson customer service will not be able to tell you anything about pending orders for GC or any dealer. It sounds more like some sales dude stringing you along until he gets one. I second all the comments to call another dealer. I have not dealt with Sweetwater, but have done a LOT with Wildwood and you will only get first class treatment with them. You may also want to consider Rainbow Guitars in AZ as I have also done business with them and never been disappointed. If you still want to deal with GC, try calling GuitarSale as they are the same company and those guys know what stock they have and what will be coming in. I have done business with the guys at Guitarsale and not had any problems. Move on to a dealer that has what you want in stock. You may even get a better price than GC. I have bought from GC but only one that I could try and inspect. I trust the descriptions that I have been given by Wildwood and Rainbow over the years and feel safe ordering from them sight unseen.

[endpin]

Well, looking around on the Sweetwater web site, it looks like even they have trouble getting certain variations on that model - as much as I would love to bash GC, maybe they thought they could get it easily and ran into the same backlog.

 

"Worth Waiting For!

Gibson Memphis has informed us that this item has an unusually long shipping delay. Be assured we'll get it as quick or quicker than anyone else. Call your Sales Engineer, who can give you the most up to date details and possibly offer you alternatives that would ship sooner. We have a great relationship with Gibson Memphis and we'll receive this item as soon or sooner than anyone else in the country. We have the best service team in the industry, and free tech support for everything we sell. Call now. We promise you'll have it soon."

[stein]

That does suck all the way around.

 

The REAL issue, is that GC was the one who promised you a guitar, NOT Gibson. That makes it hard for Gibson to have an explanation. Gibson may not even have the order, but as has been said above, GC may have just placed a general order for stock.

 

Sometimes ordering something ends up being nothing more than being on a list when they finally get them.

[guitarzan55]

I ordered my es-339 through Musicians Friend/private reserve. The tech and advisor there, Chris Swope, informed me how many he had (0), when he expected to get some in, how many he was getting in, and when he expected them. Very professional. I ordered on March 15 and was told they were expected by may 1 at thre latest, but maybe sooner. I was told to call them by the third week in April for an update.

 

As it happened, they contacted me in late March and was told they had received five es-339's that fit my order. They picked out " the best one," and then did a set up -- again -- and I received it 5 days later.

 

I highly recommend Musicians's Friend/Private Reserve.

[guitaraddict1]

Just bought my 2nd Gibson, (First was an ES 335 back in '79).

Has anyone been having problems with their orders?

I bought the ES 137 Custom on June 18th, 2011 (from Guitar Center) - was told it would ship on June 20th, and would have it by the end of the week. Never happened.

Then I was told it would ship on June 27th..... Never happened..... Now I am being told that it will not ship until July 25th??!!??

Anyone have any similar experiences?

 

Secondly - have written several emails to Gibson... They never responded... Finally spoke to a customer service rep who basically told me that it wasn't his job to let me know why my guitar is taking so long to be delivered.

Thanks.....

 

That sucks! However I am not surprised. I ordered an es137 classic from GC in February as a B day gift to myself..I got it in late May. They told me it was a special order because none of the GC stores had one in stock. Honsestly, it's worth the wait. It's a great guitar for the price. None of the other stores in Los Angeles seem to have them either. Sam Ash had a few but I dont like them and they were rude when I went to look at one. Basically the way it was explained to me was the es137 is a non core guitar, meaning they do not regularly stock them. It's more of a special order. The cool thing is the guitar is basically being custom built for you. How cool is that!!I kept all the shipping labels that said "special order" and had my name next to it. It's as close to a custom order as i'll be able to afford for a while. I'd stay with GC, if you get a refund and reorder one elsewhere you could end up waiting longer. My guitar had a few small finish flawss that bug me. However I decided it was not worth the wait to return it and get a new one, or risk my guitar being damaged or stolen if shipped for repairs. Good Luck. Let me know how it works out. Be sure to post pictures.