Be very careful when cleaning your guitar

[sbeirnes]

Originally Posted by DesolationAngel

So, on the great scales of reason, am I right in thinking that what we see here is more than 180 years of reputation, tens of thousands of guitars made and sold per year, and many, many thousands of quite happy customer experiences being outweighed by a chap on the internet with some low res pictures?

OP, I'm not saying you don't have a grievance and I'm not saying that the fault is yours. I don't have a clue. I really don't. Because it's literally impossible to know what the problem is, how it happened, or whose fault it is, based on the information that all of us, here, have. I genuinely hope you get the problem sorted to your satisfaction (because it sucks to have something like that happen) and, to a lesser extent, I hope we get some kind of definitive answer to the questions posed by the marks.

But this story shouldn't really sway anyone, either way, about Martin guitars... having worked in product marketing during the rise of the era of 'internet outrage', this stuff depresses me.

There is absolutely nothing preventing Martin from coming here with their side of the story....

[DesolationAngel]

Originally Posted by sbeirnes

There is absolutely nothing preventing Martin from coming here with their side of the story....

And if companies took to the internet to put 'their side of the story' every time there was something like this then everything you wanted to buy would be a whole lot more expensive...

[Ergoetal]

Originally Posted by DesolationAngel

And if companies took to the internet to put 'their side of the story' every time there was something like this then everything you wanted to buy would be a whole lot more expensive...

For a marketing person, I'd think you'd know that it's not unusual for companies to monitor relevant forums.

I'd actually like to see a few words on behalf of Martin, just to know that they're taking the situation, or at least thread, seriously. I'm guessing someone at Martin has seen it by now.

And the "Martin is a great big company, so they haven't the time/resources/energy to deal with so insignificant a matter" excuse doesn't cut it. If it's too insignificant a matter for them to address, then I'd consider my next new-guitar purchase too insignificant for them to care much about.

[ahorsewithnonam]

Originally Posted by sbeirnes

There is absolutely nothing preventing Martin from coming here with their side of the story....

You can not be serious.

[DesolationAngel]

Originally Posted by Ergoetal

For a marketing person, I'd think you'd know that it's not unusual for companies to monitor relevant forums.

I do know that, yes.

I'd actually like to see a few words on behalf of Martin, just to know that they're taking the situation, or at least thread, seriously. I'm guessing someone at Martin has seen it by now.

I'm guessing they have too... the problem is whether to make that decision to engage or not. Engage and it goes well, yay, winners all around. Engage and it turns into a flame war, boo, everyone loses.

And the "Martin is a great big company, so they haven't the time/resources/energy to deal with so insignificant a matter" excuse doesn't cut it. If it's too insignificant a matter for them to address, then I'd consider my next new-guitar purchase too insignificant for them to care much about.

Which is not what I said, thanks for not putting words into my mouth.

[buddyhu]

I am posting because I want to see this thread reach 300 posts (at least). It is getting close. And that seems as good a reason as any.

So interesting to see the range of opinion and emotion that is manifest in this thread. It is like the old Rorschach ink blot test. Truly fascinating to see how the same ambiguous input can yield such a varied response.

I feel bad for OP. He has a guitar that is damaged, is getting little sympathy here, and little accommodation from Martin (which is my to say that Martin should be accommodating; it just stings a bit when you want some help, and the response is "not me").

[ahorsewithnonam]

Come on, Martin has sold millions upon millions of guitars and has never come across this. The guitar was "wiped down with some cloth" and then black streaks showed up on the guitar.

Pretty easy to figure out. Let's see the cloth used to wipe it down. Oops, did you happen to accidentally grab the cloth someone was cleaning off a black paint brush with?

[Ergoetal]

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

Come on, Martin has sold millions upon millions of guitars and has never come across this. The guitar was "wiped down with some cloth" and then black streaks showed up on the guitar.

Pretty easy to figure out. Let's see the cloth used to wipe it down. Oops, did you happen to accidentally grab the cloth someone was cleaning off a black paint brush with?

That's why it's surprising that Martin apparently* didn't ask for the cloth.


*please tell me if you know differently.

[darrwhit]

Just wanted to acknowledge and thank the OP for changing the thread title, which may have been partially responsible for defensive/pile-on posts at either extreme. Good to see a measured take on this, particularly from the person most negatively impacted.

[la palma C]

Originally Posted by Ergoetal

That's why it's surprising that Martin apparently* didn't ask for the cloth.


*please tell me if you know differently.

Why would Martin ask for the cloth? So they could spend money to run a forensic investigation on a cloth that they have no conclusive evidence was even the same one that came into contact with the guitar?

[Ergoetal]

Originally Posted by la palma C

Why would Martin ask for the cloth? So they could spend money to run a forensic investigation on a cloth that they have no conclusive evidence was even the same one that came into contact with the guitar?

I guess it comes down to whether or not you believe the OP. Apparently you don't, and apparently neither did Martin.

I just think that Martin does itself a disservice by acting like a big, impervious corporation and seemingly not caring much about what customers, including those of us on this public forum, might think.

Why spend money on the cloth? I can think of a bunch of reasons, not the least of which has to do with possibly improving their own products. Another reason might be to show that they care enough about a customer's bad experience that they'll try to resolve it.

[cigarfan]

Reaching max thread length. I think the horse is pretty well beat up but if you all want to continue start a new thread please.