I received... the wrong guitar?

[Zeka_]

A few years down the line you’ll be selling a partcaster, whoever put it together. Unless you have or can get a receipt stating ‘Fender AmPro ll FSR Stratocaster’, it’ll be hindrance forever.

agreed.

 

[CyFan4036]

The photo makes it very hard to tell but it's PROPER butterscotch blonde. I have 2 BSB teles (Pro II and vintage II '51) and the colour is identical... I did see a roasted pine tele before which was MUCH more dark/orange/brown. Ah well, it's gone!

Yeah, not worth talking about any longer. I still can't believe you didn't look under the pickguard when you had it.

 

[Zeka_]

All I c

Probably the same employees that were fired earlier in 2022. Someone was multi-tasking with assembling the necks to the bodies & screwed that up. They probably scanned the body bar code thing without realizing they have 2 guitars assembled with the wrong serial number necks on them. There's either another out there that bought the Roasted Pine but received a Dark Night instead. That or there's a box at a music store somewhere with that Dark Night body & neck that was originally intended for the Roasted Pine.

All I can say is that it's 100% NOT roasted pine but BSB. They fired someone about 1.5 months ago because he was messing with stock too. Leading to incorrect displays of stock on their webshop. Who knows.

 

[Zeka_]

Yeah, not worth talking about any longer. I still can't believe you didn't look under the pickguard when you had it.

I'll regret it one day. The thing is I just couldn't be bothered as the search for my strat and tele has been pretty exhausting and I just couldn't care anymore. I didn't even ask for a swap for the correct item, I just asked my money back and left. The guy in the store didn't know what happened either but he assumed fender error since they apparantly aren't allowed to open up brand new boxes from fender? they also fired someone recently for theft.

I'm now waiting for my ultra strat next week in texas tea which I think is stunning. If the pick ups suck, I'll change those. Here's hoping this one doesn't turn out to be yellow.

 

[Lewbypls]

It's a strange one. Only BSB Strats I can find were from the original Am Pro 1 series.

I have seen factory errors before though. One guy got a maple neck on an American original Tele that didn't come with maple necks. He was quite happy with it.

Also have been curious about Bax for a while, they usually have hard to find stuff in stock and often at a good price. Cheers for stopping me from wasting time and money there.

Sounds like that guy bought it from sweetwater since they had one a few weeks ago with a maple neck when it is suppose to be rosewood

 

[Namelyguitar]

No Custom Shop Stratocaster?

Hold the phone! Hopefully the box or other data indicated the exact model of the Blondie. Since it seems like a nice MIA Fender, I would attempt to accurately determine the model from documentation before calling anyone for a return tag. The street price may be close or the same, and it sure is a beauty!

 

[Zeka_]

No Custom Shop Stratocaster?

Hold the phone! Hopefully the box or other data indicated the exact model of the Blondie. Since it seems like a nice MIA Fender, I would attempt to accurately determine the model from documentation before calling anyone for a return tag. The street price may be close or the same, and it sure is a beauty!

Just a basic ***** pro II production guitar. Serial number shows dark night build in march 22 and the box it came with from fender had labels on it mentioning ´dark night´

 

[StratUp]

The whole world has gone that way, it must be a generational thing - many people do it with clothes. Most companies have free returns services so some customers will buy several articles, try them on, maybe keep one or two & return the rest. They are within their legal rights but what an appalling way to treat a retailer! How wasteful & selfish!

I suspect that the rise of places like Amazon is part of the problem. There is no personal contact (even some deliveries are by drone) so returning stuff doesn't make you feel guilty like most of us would do if we were constantly returning stuff to a local store where we know & liked the staff & Managers. Loyalty has gone, on both sides. Loyalty used to hold the retail sector together

But we're all old. Who cares what a bunch of boomers think?

But it's intentional by the vendors! Amazon and others use it as a sales technique.

A key principle of "Sales" is "Remove the barriers that are stopping the customer from buying". With on-line sales, especially clothing sales, the biggest barrier is "it might not fit". So by allowing returns without reason and often for free, they take that out of the sales process and the customer buys.

Companies like Amazon have realized that that extends to every buying decision for every online product so they extended it to everything. The volume of returns is far, far less than the increased sales due to removing that barrier.

It's like "100% moneyback lifetime guarantee" offers. The number of people who actually take it vantage of it, even if they don't like the product or eventually find it defective, is tiny in comparison to the increased sales on the policy. Meanwhile, it removes sales barrier of "it might not work well for me" or "I might not like it".

 

[Zeka_]

But it's intentional by the vendors! Amazon and others use it as a sales technique.

A key principle of "Sales" is "Remove the barriers that are stopping the customer from buying". With on-line sales, especially clothing sales, the biggest barrier is "it might not fit". So by allowing returns without reason and often for free, they take that out of the sales process and the customer buys.

Companies like Amazon have realized that that extends to every buying decision for every online product so they extended it to everything. The volume of returns is far, far less than the increased sales due to removing that barrier.

It's like "100% moneyback lifetime guarantee" offers. The number of people who actually take it vantage of it, even if they don't like the product or eventually find it defective, is tiny in comparison to the increased sales on the policy. Meanwhile, it removes sales barrier of "it might not work well for me" or "I might not like it".

If it's there, why not use it. The shop knew I was going to try some products and send back the ones I didn't like btw. They have them in stock but not their physical shops...

Anyway, what I buy and send back is my business.

 

[stratman323]

But it's intentional by the vendors! Amazon and others use it as a sales technique.

A key principle of "Sales" is "Remove the barriers that are stopping the customer from buying". With on-line sales, especially clothing sales, the biggest barrier is "it might not fit". So by allowing returns without reason and often for free, they take that out of the sales process and the customer buys.

Companies like Amazon have realized that that extends to every buying decision for every online product so they extended it to everything. The volume of returns is far, far less than the increased sales due to removing that barrier.

It's like "100% moneyback lifetime guarantee" offers. The number of people who actually take it vantage of it, even if they don't like the product or eventually find it defective, is tiny in comparison to the increased sales on the policy. Meanwhile, it removes sales barrier of "it might not work well for me" or "I might not like it".

The fact that Amazon think that something is a good idea does not mean that it IS a good idea! Bearing in mind how many small businesses Amazon has wrecked around the world (whilst paying no taxes to the communities they are sucking dry), I would prefer to take the view that anything that Amazon think is good for Amazon is very likely to be damaging to almost everyone else.

 

[stratman323]

Anyway, what I buy and send back is my business.

Until you decide to write about on it in a public forum like this, at which point everyone is free to comment as they see fit.

 

[StratUp]

The fact that Amazon think that something is a good idea does not mean that it IS a good idea! Bearing in mind how many small businesses Amazon has wrecked around the world (whilst paying no taxes to the communities they are sucking dry), I would prefer to take the view that anything that Amazon think is good for Amazon is very likely to be damaging to almost everyone else.

But it's not just Amazon. It's a very, very old sales strategy/theory. Remove the obstacles, make more sales. Tried and true.

Now, "how can I put you in this car today?".

 

[Yves]

OMG! I actually read the whole thing!
Well... Wish you the best of luck for your upcoming early ultra Xmas.
Looking forward to hear about those pickups.

 

[Tylerlayne]

This whole story sounds a little off to me. Way to much weird stuff going on.

 

[Zeka_]

This whole story sounds a little off to me. Way to much weird stuff going on.

Simplified: I bought a guitar and it came in a colour that doesn't exist from a shop that gave me trouble before.

 

[Zeka_]

The fact that Amazon think that something is a good idea does not mean that it IS a good idea! Bearing in mind how many small businesses Amazon has wrecked around the world (whilst paying no taxes to the communities they are sucking dry), I would prefer to take the view that anything that Amazon think is good for Amazon is very likely to be damaging to almost everyone else.

I'm aware of the issues and how it has an impact on environment but it's not like I'm doing it 24/7 and for every item I touch.

 

[Zeka_]

Until you decide to write about on it in a public forum like this, at which point everyone is free to comment as they see fit.

Oh everyone is allowed to say whatever but at this point it's no longer relevant to what I initially asked about.

 

[Intune]

But it's not just Amazon. It's a very, very old sales strategy/theory. Remove the obstacles, make more sales. Tried and true.

Now, "how can I put you in this car today?".

I’m well aware of the barriers that are removed. It makes it way easier for people to curl up into a ball even more now. Point and click, wait for your items via a tracking number. Like robots, no human interaction whatsoever so yeah returning a item is a no brainer if it’s not right.

I was kind of getting at the hassle part. For the stores themselves with the(probably way more then you think) massive amount of returns. Is that item factory original? Was it tampered with, did a snot nose kid sneeze all over it? Did someone try those jeans on with no underwear?

Am I buying that returned item at the same price as the previous buyer even though it may have been to a few houses around the world already? There was even a member here awhile back, even changed the user name because they were associated with a “neck switcharoo” thread. Asking if a store would even know if you ordered two of the same and swapped the best looking parts around to make the more better version.

Does those massive amount of items get tossed out or sanitized and put back in stock?

Guitar shopping and searching should be fun or a least it used to be. Now all you here is about ordering and “should I return it”. Even though there’s probably a few guitar shops local. Strange times but hey it’s convenient. It’s like everyone is being molded in that meme lady that always wants to speak to a manager.

 

[bluejazzoid]

Does those massive amount of items get tossed out or sanitized and put back in stock?

Amazon burns a lot of crap.

 

[Intune]

Amazon burns a lot of crap.

Yeah they probably do, lots of places do. What about the massive amounts guitars though? Free returns, no hassle purchases.

What if the OP decided to get out a screw driver and start diving head first into this mystery. I’m sure all these online guitar shoppers wouldn’t do that though. I wouldn’t want that guitar. This is what I’m sure happens and it just gets returned. Then we see a new thread stating fenders QC problems with misaligned necks or pickguard screws loose. I wonder if it was a (insert whatever store) return and just sent back out to its new owner.