Another One Bites the Dust - Failed NGD

[SouthpawGuy]

Well it seems that buying a new guitar online these days is now a crap shoot, a process that is in the lap of the gods.

As the deadline for delivery of my second Schecter PT Special is now mid October I decided to try something different.

So I ordered a Harley Benton acoustic, the CLA-15MCE and it arrived on Tuesday. ( Well I actually bought and paid for one 5 weeks ago but after I paid it suddenly was not in stock at all ... but a B stock appeared for sale the next day ... )

The online reviews and ratings are very good so I thought it was nearly guaranteed to be good.

Nope.

Fret buzz on all the strings but the low E at the second fret, and fret buzz from the second to the seventh fret on the G and D strings. I adjusted the truss rod 4 times, a quarter turn each time, and tuned all the strings up a half step and left it over night 4 times. Even after 4 nights / days of this the fret buzz remains and the action is now higher than required and the neck still has a rise or hump in it.

So I'm guessing it's a combination of a humped neck and nut slots cut too low. Even if I get a bit of relief in the neck the truss rod will not make the buzzing at the 2nd fret go away as it's too close to the nut.

A shame really as it's a very well finished guitar, with no flaws in construction, no sharp fret ends, and perfect intonation.

The buzz isn't extremely bad, if strumming it's not noticeable, but when playing fingerstyle or scales the notes are choked and don't ring out properly at all.

So it's going back to Thomann.





https://www.thomann.de/ie/harley_benton ... mce_lh.htm

[captain.bondage]

Cheap asian guitars are very well built nowadays but what lacks is proper fret dressing and nut filing.

It takes time, knowledge and very good hand tools.

[SouthpawGuy]

Cheap asian guitars are very well built nowadays but what lacks is proper fret dressing and nut filing.

It takes time, knowledge and very good hand tools.

It certainly looks that way, I've been buying guitars online since 2006 ( Am Deluxe Strat from Southpaw Guitars in the US), and I've only ever returned two ... the last two

[SouthpawGuy]

It's now Friday October 7th ... and I still have not received shipping labels from Thomann

So the guitar is still here waiting to be returned

I don't have a printer, and I don't know anyone who has, so I can't post the guitar and have to wait for Thomann to send me printed labels.

Last time I had a printer in the house was with a brand new Windows 98 PC, a 486DX I think. 24 years ago

By contrast when I returned the Schecter to Gear4music in August I arranged the collection date of the guitar online on their website and DHL turned up with a pre printed shipping label. I only had to hand over the box to the driver, who turned up at the house.

Now with Thomann I have to wait for labels and then get the boxes ( a guitar and a case) to the post office myself. Just as well I didn't buy a drum kit or a piano from them !

And the irony is that Gear4music.ie is based in the UK ( but is a German company) ... and the UK is not even in the EU anymore, but it's way easier and faster to deal with them than Thomann !

[SouthpawGuy]

Seriously ?????

They only sent me one printed shipping label. I have to wait another 12 days now for the second to arrive by snail mail.

Never returned anything to Thomann before, I expected much better from them.

[Misery-corde]

This is normal.
There are more expensive shipping than the cost of the guitar !!!!!!
Honestly I don’t understand that we’re still building guitars for more than 1000€ when there’s Harley Benton, shiver or Stagg ?
Well, one is a toy the other a musical instrument.

[SouthpawGuy]

This is normal.
There are more expensive shipping than the cost of the guitar !!!!!!
Honestly I don’t understand that we’re still building guitars for more than 1000€ when there’s Harley Benton, shiver or Stagg ?
Well, one is a toy the other a musical instrument.

The Schecter PT Special I ordered from Gear4music was ordered on a Friday, I received it on the following Monday, three days later. And that's from a country that is no longer in the EU, from York in England. So much for Brexit delays.

I decided to return it about 2 days after I received it so I booked a return time online on Gear4music, and the courier came to collect it on Friday. That process took one week in total.

With Thomann I haven't even got both shipping labels yet and I decided to return both guitar and case on 24th September ... 18 days ago now. I noticed on the envelope they only posted that one shipping label to me on the 4th of October, 8 days ago, even that was 10 days after I asked to return it on their online portal.

So the blame is fair and square on Thomann I'm afraid. It says on their website that it is 3 to 5 days shipping from Germany to Ireland but the Godin ordered in March took 10 days, and so did some strings in July, another 10 days.

In this fiasco I ordered the guitar and case on a Monday ... the case arrived on Saturday, 5 days, and the guitar arrived on Tuesday .. 8 days.

Now I'm finding out that their returns process is a complete pain just because I can't get a label printed.

A lot of the delays are due to the Irish postal service, An Post. They have the Thomann contract for Ireland, they only deliver, they will not collect. Even when I asked them to print off my shipping label from my phone in the local post office they couldn't .. and there is a printer in the post office right behind the person who told me they couldn't.

Another day / another rant

[SouthpawGuy]

... and the comedy continues.

Took them 5 days to realise that they now need to send me a second printed shipping label.

Yay. Now another 10 day wait for that to arrive.

[SouthpawGuy]

So the second shipping label arrived today, after only 3 days. I have now posted the case back to Thomann, today on 21 October.

So it will be maybe another 10 days before I get a refund to my bank account.

The entire sales to actual refund process with Gear4music took 10 days, from ordering to having the refund back in my account --- 10 days

Thomann are definitely lacking in the after sales care area, at least in my limited experience.

[SouthpawGuy]

Final update on this ....

Finally received the refund for the second part of the return, the guitar case, in my bank account on Wednesday 2nd November.

So from when it was shipped, 14th September to refund complete ... six weeks and two days

This has of course killed any interest I might have had in trying another Harley Benton product, or indeed from buying anything from Thomann that may need to be returned.

Final Score

Gear4music .. 10 days

Thomann .. 44 days ( and all because I don't have a printer !!!! )

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This may be a one off, I have been a Thomann customer since 2009 but this is my first experience with their returns process.

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And on another note I ordered an item from Gear4music on Wednesday Nov 2nd and received it the next day Thursday.

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edit : took me 4 days to decide to send it back so 44 - 4 = 40 days. Still not good.