How much can you use an amp/cab before returning it?

[ValerieK]

I have ordered a whole bass rig because buying it is the only way that I can try it, but I'm wondering how strict the return policies (Sweetwater and Musicians Friend in this case) really are... I can only really try this stuff in a useful way with bands, which means hauling it around to shows/rehearsals.

Normally I'm against this kind of behavior, but the rest of the world seems to be a lot more laissez-faire about these things than me. Can I haul an amp and cab around for a few weeks to play with my 3 different bands before deciding to return it and not be a bad person? Obviously I'm not going to be spilling stuff on it or anything, but it's not going to be totally perfect.

I've never returned anything that wasn't defective before, always just lived with things whether or not they really met my expectations.

 

[agedhorse]

Read their return policy closely BEFORE buying it, or ask their sales folks. Generally if it gets dinged up and road rashed, there may be a restocking fee.

 

[ValerieK]

Read their return policy closely BEFORE buying it, or ask their sales folks. Generally if it gets dinged up and road rashed, there may be a restocking fee.

Thanks for the help. I hadn't thought of that.

Anyone have a real world answer?

 

[agedhorse]

Thanks for the help. I hadn't thought of that.

Anyone have a real world answer?

Ummm, that IS the real world answer.

Had I realized that it was you asking the question, and given your lack of respect to ANYBODY trying to help you in the past, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to help.

I have a question of my own... why are you so darn caustic in your responses? Nobody on TalkBass has done anything to earn this kind of treatment.

 

[ValerieK]

Ummm, that IS the real world answer.

Had I realized that it was you asking the question, and given your lack of respect to ANYBODY trying to help you, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to help.

I have a question of my own... why are you so darn caustic in your responses? Nobody on TalkBass has done anything to earn this kind of treatment.

I assumed you were here to insult me in the first place because that's your MO.

I asked a simple question. If I wanted the official policy I know where to find it. Why would I need help with that?

 

[Stylee Mousse]

His answer was perfectly neutral in tone to me.

 

[ValerieK]

There's a whole spectrum of conditions between "new in sealed box" and "dinged up and road rashed" - apparently, as usual, I wasn't clear in asking my question. I didn't need help in finding the official policy or knowing that I can't beat the things to hell. I thought that would have been obvious.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

There's a whole spectrum of conditions between "new in sealed box" and "dinged up and road rashed" - apparently, as usual, I wasn't clear in asking my question. I didn't need help in finding the official policy or knowing that I can't beat the things to hell. I thought that would have been obvious.

As customers (I use Sweetwater a fair bit), we're unlikely to know (e.g.) Sweetwater's return policy better than Sweetwater themselves do. Beyond their stated return policy, and whatever else you might glean from talking to a rep there, it's unlikely that anyone here would have any extra knowledge to convey. Hence the answer in post #2.

 

[agedhorse]

Sweetwater:

Musician's Friend:

Note the stipulation about condition... which is WHY I suggested what I did in post #2.

 

[J Wilson]

That . . . is not something I would do, but it's none of my business.

I'd feel like I was using something I didn't pay for or planned to keep to make a gig and then return it. I'd prefer not to feel like that, though justification is a slippery slope. BTW, @agedhore's answer was completely legit: Return terms vary from seller to seller.

But again, that's up to you.

 

[ValerieK]

Yeah, so taking it out of the box is already beyond the stated policies.

I have read that already.

It's my understanding that people don't follow it to the letter like that.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Yeah, so taking it out of the box is already beyond the stated policies.

No, not really. They didn't say that. You can take it out of the box, and even play it, but save ALL the packing materials and include them all if you return the thing. Within the specified time, of course.

 

[ValerieK]

No, not really. They didn't say that. You can take it out of the box, and even play it, but save ALL the packing materials and include them all if you return the thing. Within the specified time, of course.

It's still going to be identifiable as not brand new in that case. So we're talking about a matter of degrees?

That's what I was asking about.

 

[agedhorse]

No, not really. They didn't say that.

Of course they didn’t say that, she is continuing her irrational and dismissive behavior that she has exhibited EVERY time somebody has tried to help. It gets old, very old.

 

[pisces_bass]

my perspective….you gig it, you own it. Ownership has its upside. For example, you can sell it or trade for something else.

Setting the rig up in a rehearsal/studio space is different, assuming it’s a clean, odor-free environment. The gigs I do have no guarantees of cleanliness and alcohol is sold, so there’s going to be odors.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

It's still going to be identifiable as not brand new in that case. So we're talking about a matter of degrees?

That's what I was asking about.

Yes, you're right, there are degrees. But nobody here is going to able to correlate those degrees with what you might expect in a specific refund situation with a specific seller. Only the seller can do that. The seller is going to decide whether to refund and how much to refund on the basis of (a) their policy and (b) their assessment of how your use of the item conforms to their policy. Nobody here is going to be able to provide any superior info about that. We'd only be able to guess, and that's not really worth anything.

 

[ValerieK]

Yes, you're right, there are degrees. But nobody here is going to able to correlate those degrees with what you might expect in a specific refund situation with a specific seller. Only the seller can do that. The seller is going to decide whether to refund and how much to refund on the basis of (a) their policy and (b) their assessment of how your use of the item conforms to their policy. Nobody here is going to be able to provide any superior info about that. We'd only be able to guess, and that's not really worth anything.

So no one here has ever returned anything that they have tested out and just plain didn't like? The moment you lay hands on it, you change the condition and break the official terms.

I haven't done it, but I assumed I was the weird one. That's why I asked.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

So no one here has ever returned anything that they have tested out and just plain didn't like? The moment you lay hands on it, you change the condition and break the official terms.

Of course we have; no one ever said we haven't. I certainly have. But I returned the items in as-new condition, with all the original packing materials, as the policy specified. (And got charged a restocking fee, because the item then had to be sold as an open-box item. Perhaps not all sellers do this, but many do.)

As was already explained (see post #12), no, you don't break the terms--at least, not the terms quoted above--simply by laying hands on an item. That doesn't automatically make the item unreturnable.

 

[gtirard]

That . . . is not something I would do, but it's none of my business.

I'd feel like I was using something I didn't pay for or planned to keep to make a gig and then return it.

Or planned to make a NAM capture and then return it, like when we were borrowing CDs from the public library to convert them in mp3?

 

[Saetia]

Funny how the original post is really about semantics, ethics and ultimately conjecture that runs through out this thread.

Sometimes things are absolutely literal and others can’t answer the semantic and the ethical aspects when there’s premeditated conjecture.

Mods, maybe we close this one?

I don’t think any of us can add more than what Andy was kind enough to outlay.