A tip, go to a authorized fender repair guy who you think will be cool about it. Its the repair guy that has A LOT of say when it comes to whether or not Fender will cover it.
My question: did the guitar go from cold to warm?or vice versa? Ive had guitars come in, they were in cold trunk, brought into a house, and without giving it time to warm up, they tried to change the strings. Sometimes a crack arises, sometimes a blow appears that no truss rod adjustment, or refret will straighten out.
Im just telling you this because I deal with fender, and anicdotal or not, its how its going to work.
I hope they do cover it for you, but like they say; hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I'd fix that for $100 give or take, as long as you dont want any fretwork done.

So now its the repair guys that are turning all these warrenty repairs down. I don,t under stand. You say the repair shop has alot to say so fender is not the problem. I think that if you take it to an authorized fender repair shop and it within the warrent period and its not obvious negelect they will repair it. This is the experiances that I have had so these blanket statements only your opinion.

sorry to see the neck
hope things work out but let me tell you a true story that happened to me
i bought a Fender American Deluxe Strat thru one of the big mail order companies
awesome looking guitar
but it needed a set up, the tremolo would pull off of the body as i tuned it.
need some minor adjustments.
I had my local tech do the work, this guy does awesome work and is pretty cheap.
i left the strat with him over night at his shop and picked it up the next day and it played like a dream, like a $1600 guitar should.
However he found a problem with the finish on the body and told me.
i tried to send it back for a replacement and mentioned i had to get it setup
is your tech a Fender certified tech??
dont kknow
call him
nope
mail order company wont take it back!!!!

said all of this to tell u if you had a tech do some work how is not fender certified they wont warranty it!

i sold that gtr because i was afraid the damage to the finish would spread.

good luck

_________________
1985 Fender Squier Bullet
1987 Kramer Striker
1983 Fender Strat Elite
1995 Fender Strat Plus
2001 Carvin DC127
1999 G&L Legacy
2002 Melancon Classic Artist
2009 Paul Reed Smith SE Singlecut
2010 Fender Deluxe American Strat
2006 Fender MIM Fat Strat

Bad advice, nobody should care who setup your guitar unless someone damaged it during a setup. The Mail Order Co only said that to scare you away. You should have then taken it to a Fender tech after they said that.

You: Is the finish problem anything to do with a guitar setup?
Tech: No
You: Thanks expect a call from the Mail Order company I'm sending it back
Mail Order: Thanks please send it back

Personally I wouldn't even have gone that far and said to the Mail Order Company they are not qualified to make warranty determinations over the phone without even seeing it.
I would have taken pictures and then sent it to them (only fair) to forward onto Fender if they required.

If they were not willing to take the guitar back then and there I would have sought a full refund plus out of pocket expenses if they asked me for an expert to inspect it.
After all if you receive something that's not merchantable quality its not up to you to do their legwork repairing it.

Well i already wrote some about this subject in the Tele section last night, but ok I'll write a bit more lol .
Windwalker, though I agree with most of what you posted here (and elsewhere for that matter), and though I don't know where you work etc, you certainly appear to have plenty of knowledge and experience....but things DO change and attitudes do Change. One of the things I've worked very hard to change in Customer Service is that very assumption that its the customers fault first and ours second. Judgements should be made after all the information that can be gathered...has been.

At the same time, I'm seeing posts like tbazzone's:


I don't really get that. If we screwed it up, or something we did or didn't do to it in manufacturing screwed it up.....we'll cover it.

In cases like the OP----it gets a bit more grey, because it is hard to tell sometimes what caused the problem.
If the guitar fell after your 2 year old knocked it over and the neck cracked....or yes, as mentioned, if you torqued the truss and the neck cracked....that is user error not Fender error.
So, yeh we do some due diligence on problems presented....but I don't believe that we are assuming its customer caused from the git go.

I've asked our techs to make the best calls that they can....do the right thing...and tie goes to the runner. If its grey area....and we really can't tell what caused the problem for sure......the right thing to do is take care of it.

So I'm not seeing where our warranty is useless....someone explain that to me.
What's the expectation?

Anyway....My tummy's demanding nourishment.....ttyl.

All the best,
rob

_________________
______________
rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

Great post Rob and an outstanding re-affirmation of FMIC's commitment to its customer base!

Rawk on!

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

+1 on Arjay's post. I have worked with dozens of large corporations, both as a customer and as a supplier, and have several good friends who work in customer support for MI companies. Nobody is interested in making a long term enemy of a customer. Bad customer services stories are almost always the result of somebody walking in with a attitude that will not be satisfied.

http://youtu.be/jgi7QCu1qAo

_________________
Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

Rob your point is mine also I don,t think Fenders Warrenty is useless at all. I was replying to what windwalker is sayin. To me it sounds like he,s saying the warrenty is useless.

ahhhh!! tbazzone, i see!! Sorry for my mis-perception of your post!

Aside for the "assume" part of Windwalker's posts, i thought he had a decent take on what the deal is....at any rate I don't want to continue to pontificate (too much) on this subject too much tho.

But hey, if there ARE ways to improve our service, I'm all ears. Never know when you're gonna hear something that hasn't been mentioned or tried.

Hope you all have a nice weekend. I'm gonna jam a bit, sleep a bit, and probably hit middle earth and beat up on some orcs and gobbies a bit

Cheers,
rob

_________________
______________
rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

Sounds like you got a full weekend ahead of you

I agree,and thanks Rob for taking the time to post!

Indeed! And some more, "Infallible Web Dogma" has been nipped in the bud!

_________________
You dig?

fought this thing tooth and nail , they were ok with taking it back until i mentioned to the lady that i wasn't happy i had to have a 1600.00 guitar set up.
i went way up the line and they flat out refused although they did eventually give me 400.00 off the guitar

_________________
1985 Fender Squier Bullet
1987 Kramer Striker
1983 Fender Strat Elite
1995 Fender Strat Plus
2001 Carvin DC127
1999 G&L Legacy
2002 Melancon Classic Artist
2009 Paul Reed Smith SE Singlecut
2010 Fender Deluxe American Strat
2006 Fender MIM Fat Strat

Rob

I think that maybe you're the person who solved my problems in getting Fender to uphold it's warranty and If you are that person, I want to thank you.

Three years ago I got back into playing by purchasing an new EJ Strat. It was my first electric guitar and not only did I buy it on a whim at the urging of my GF but I bought it at night just before my local dealer closed and paid with cash.

It was a week or so later before I took a critical look at the instrument and that was after I noted that the High "E" string was running off the fretboard (Which seems to be a common flaw in EJ Strats.) and took my instrument back to Zone Music. It just happened that the local Fender tech was in house and he, the shop owner and I went over the guitar carefully and they pointed out the misaligned neck, along with a very loose neck pocket and a possibly misaligned bridge. We all agreed hat the FC Tech would take my guitar and repair it under warranty.

To make a much longer story short, The Fender Tech kept my guitar for several weeks, claiming that Fender was refusing to authorize him to fix my guitar under warranty, before finally returning it with a neck plate looking like this:









Of course the Fender Certified tech said he knew nothing about the new damage and swore that it happened after he returned the guitar to me (Despite the fact that he returned it to my dealer!) so there I sat with a ruined $1700 guitar.

Next, I picked up the phone and talked to Fender's Customer service reps twice, getting blown off both times, so I finally threw the whole mess into my dealers lap and my dealer contacted Fender and finally you. Frank (My dealer) loaned me one of his personal Strats while he dealt with Fender Fender and we waited for a replacement to appear.

After waiting on pins and needles for three or four more weeks, it was a happy day when I was finally given one of the finest Strats that I've ever had the pleasure to handle, along with a new case, fresh case candy a new warranty certificate and some fresh strings!

So Rob, if you're the guy I talked to at Zone Music and the person who selected this beautiful EJ for me, Thank you! It's a beautiful guitar and I'm still blown away every time I open the case. I'll know I'll keep it through thick and thin and I've already promised it to my Grandson, when I'm gone.

OTOH, when I called Fender Customer Service seeking help, it was obvious from the first minute, that my warranty was not going to be honored under any circumstances. The rep I spoke to didn't care that the guitar had been worked on by a Fender certified tech, he didn't care that the damage occurred while my dealer and I were following what we understood was Fender's protocol and they refused to let me speak to a supervisor, to a manager or to direct me to anyone who might be of further assistance.

What I'm saying is this: AFAIK, everyone followed the correct chain of command but if my Fender Dealer hadn't known who to call for help, either he would have had to eat the loss or I'd have been screwed and on my way to court. Oh, and our local Fender tech? That guy is less than worthless and he'll never touch one of my guitars again.

No, I'm not down on Fenders per se. At this point I own My EJ, a MIM beater Strat and two Squires but I am under no illusion about the Fender corporation upholding it's warranties. My treatment by Fender's Customer Service reps speaks for itself.

That's nothin. Does it play or feel any different? If not, consider it character and continue to let 'er rip! Ever see EVH's #1, SRV, EC? Steve Morse? Character all the way. If you ever become a star they will make a replica for sale with the crack and all the other flaws and you will collect royalties.