Getting the shaft on a warranty repair

I have a Line 6 Pod X3 Live, which fried in January. I originally purchased it from Guitar Center with an extended warranty option. I used the warranty option, and I got a shipping label to ship it to a place in MA (I have the name of the place, but I'm not sure if I should be saying it online just yet).

-After one week, a lady at the warranty center said that they hadn't received it yet.

-After two weeks, I checked the FedEx tracking, and it said that they had previously signed off for it after they said they didn't have it. I called them, told them that someone signed off that it was received, then the lady told me, "A tech is looking at it, we'll call you when it's done."

-After three weeks, I called them back, and I got a guy who said, "Someone just put it on their work bench right now, we'll call you when it's done." Also, the man told me that they didn't know what was wrong with it. I pressed him for an estimated time of completion, and he wouldn't give it to me.

-Four weeks now this week, I call them, and I get a general voice mail. I called Guitar Center's warranty call center, got transferred to the administrative side, then I sat on hold for fifteen minutes before hanging up.

It's one thing if there was a difficult repair which was taking them awhile, but after three weeks of non-answers and a voice mail this week from the service center and being blown off by GC's call center, I'm in a rut. Anyone have any idea as to what I should do, or should I just be more patient? Thanks!

[Stumbo]

Maybe visit the store you bought it from and explain your situation to the manager.
Have them call the warranty center or the repair shop and speak to their manager.
I wouldn't leave until it was resolved.

[Godbody]

I bought an extended warranty on a bass I got from guitar center a while back. A month later, I ran into some issues with the electronics. I called the 800 number that came with the documentation, and they gave me the runaround on whether or not it was even covered.

I went down to GC and bitched quietly to my favorite guy there. I've spent my fair share there, and I've gotten 95% of it through him. Basically I told him I was making my problem into his problem, and he would continue to have a problem until he made it right. It was kind of a dick move, but he took care of me by the end of that day.

So go lean on somebody. Its easy for someone on the other side of the phone to stonewall you, but get in someone's face, and things might work out.

[chrisisnotevil]

i work in retail, and i have to agree, the best way is to go to the shop, and just politely and calmly explain your situation to whoever is in charge, gently but firmly insist they do something about it and explain you feel the treatment you have received so far is unfair and substandard.

if someone comes into my shop with a problem like this with say, a plasma tv, and is polite, calm and reasonable about it i'll go out of my way to sort it out, maybe chucking in an upgrade and a free warranty or installation or something. just don't lose your temper and start shouting, because you'll probably end up worse than you were when you started. call us petty, but we retail monkeys can bear some pretty serious grudges!

Strange coincidence that I got three responses after I got the ball rolling finally. I guess I did something similar to what you guys mentioned. I called GC's warranty center again, and I got one of the operators to move it up to the supervisor's level, and now the service center is moving on the repair. At least the ball is rolling now, and the glass of water remains perpetually half full.

Oh wow, I'm absolutely infuriated. The service center finally shipped it back to me, after nearly two months, and one of the knobs is missing which wasn't missing before! It's one thing if I lost the knob, but for them to not put a knob back on is unforgivable from a customer service standpoint. Of course, given reviews I've seen of this service center (whom I'm highly tempted to name, but I don't want to draw liability to Talkbass), I should be thankful that it didn't come back in worse shape.


On a very positive note though, I called Line 6, took two tries (probably busy the first time), but got a hold of somebody, and he's shipping the knob out to me no questions asked. Big +1 for Line 6 customer service!