Hosed by Repair Shop

Well, apparently I wasn't hosed after all. I spoke to the manager this morning. Apparently the person I spoke to yesterday didn't know exactly what was going on.

This is what happened:
They opened the amp up and—hey presto—found that resistor R576 was completely open, and another was fractured. So they replaced all of the plate load resistors, which (in my lack of electonic understanding) do something with the phase inverter preamp tube, which they did replace for the aforementioned reason of testing the amp to make sure it's working correctly—insuring that the terminals aren't rattly or gummed up or busted, I guess.

I explained to him that I just wanted the resistors fixed and that I have a set of new tubes for it that I want to use, he said it was no problem and put my old tube back in. He also said it was no problem for me to keep the tube he put in free of charge, but I said I was more comfortably getting the same thing back. He understood.

So, in the end, all I have to say is that they did what was asked, it was covered under warranty, and the phone call I had yesterday was obviously with someone who was mistaken. They're a pretty big shop, and have people dropping off amps all the time, so I'm sure it was just a mix-up. No big deal.

The fact that it is a fairly large shop with a lot of turnover is what worried me in the first place, though. In the end I'd say they were helpful and professional. I'll use my own guy for the real work, but if there are any other warranty-covered repairs I wouldn't hesitate to have them work on it again.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, btw. When I spoke to the manager today I felt almost over-prepared... you know... when you show up to your 11th grade history test almost wanting to show off? :D
 
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I dropped of an Epi - Valve Jr about 4 weeks ago at a local shop. I had turned it on, and it just didn't work. Tried everything I knew, didn't have time to mess with it anymore. They call today to tell me that it's ready....$94.00.........

I was at work so I didn't have time to argue with them, I'm going down in the morning to see wth they did that cost $94.00 bucks. That's almost enough to buy another one ffs! :eek:
 
Glad it ended well.

My first Epi Valve Junior was $99 and it was a dud. I returned it the same day for a working one. Best of luck with that.
 
starbuck26 said:
Well, apparently I wasn't hosed after all. I spoke to the manager this morning. Apparently the person I spoke to yesterday didn't know exactly what was going on.

This is what happened:
They opened the amp up and—hey presto—found that resistor R576 was completely open, and another was fractured. So they replaced all of the plate load resistors, which (in my lack of electonic understanding) do something with the phase inverter preamp tube, which they did replace for the aforementioned reason of testing the amp to make sure it's working correctly—insuring that the terminals aren't rattly or gummed up or busted, I guess.

I explained to him that I just wanted the resistors fixed and that I have a set of new tubes for it that I want to use, he said it was no problem and put my old tube back in. He also said it was no problem for me to keep the tube he put in free of charge, but I said I was more comfortably getting the same thing back. He understood.

So, in the end, all I have to say is that they did what was asked, it was covered under warranty, and the phone call I had yesterday was obviously with someone who was mistaken. They're a pretty big shop, and have people dropping off amps all the time, so I'm sure it was just a mix-up. No big deal.

The fact that it is a fairly large shop with a lot of turnover is what worried me in the first place, though. In the end I'd say they were helpful and professional. I'll use my own guy for the real work, but if there are any other warranty-covered repairs I wouldn't hesitate to have them work on it again.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, btw. When I spoke to the manager today I felt almost over-prepared... you know... when you show up to your 11th grade history test almost wanting to show off? :D
Click to expand...

It's entirely possible that that is what happened. It's also possible that they were trying to run a scam on you and backed down when you called them on it.

I once brought my old SVT to a big music store shop, and they replaced all the power tubes to the tune of $400 without calling me about it. I told them I wasn't paying that and to put the old tubes back in. I picked up my amp and took it to a small independent shop, and their amp guy cleaned up some solder joints and rebiased the amp for $35. The amp worked perfectly after that for more than 3 years. Guess who gets my business now.

EDIT: I won't name the first shop, but the guy who does all my amp work now is Chuck over at Guitar Resurrection here in Austin.
 
I was actually wondering last night--what prevents them from double-billing both me and fender for the same warranty work?
 
Wizard in Atlanta, GA screwed me in a similar fashion, a few years ago. Brought in a Fender bass amp, gave them specific instructions that if the issue was NOT warranty, to NOT fix it. They fixed it, anyway. Wasn't warranty. The freakin' OWNER of the shop told me I had two choices- pay the bill or lose the amp.

I will NEVER go back to Wizard. That's Wizard Electronics in Atlanta, Georgia.
 
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