Heritage/Guitar Gallery/Tippin – Outstanding!

[jaymarsch]

This is an appreciation thread for the outstanding customer service that I received after a recent unfortunate guitar shipping incident. I have shipped guitars back and forth for over a dozen years now (using various carriers – mostly one) without incident. I have had my Heritage insurance policy for 15 years and have not had to file a claim. But, back in May, I shipped a guitar to Robin Weber at Guitar Gallery for consignment. She and I spoke on the phone, agreed on the appropriate sale price and I shipped the cased guitar in a well-packed guitar box. In spite of my vigilance in best practices packaging, it arrived damaged. From this moment on I was completely taken care of. First from Robin who was kind enough to even tell me exactly who to contact at Heritage. At that point, Beth, the claims rep, was phenomenal – responsive, clear communication as what to expect, how to notify the shipper, etc. She gave me continual updates on the status of things. The three of us were on the same page as to who was providing what and in what time frame. Robin highly recommended Bill Tippin to assess the damage and do the repair. I am familiar with Bill’s wonderful guitars and knew he was a first-rate luthier so the guitar couldn’t have been in better hands. Bill did a fabulous job with the repair and the guitar is now cosmetically clean, structurally sound, and available for sale as a repaired guitar rather than a used guitar. (The claim covered reimbursement to me for loss of value.) Someone will grab a fabulous instrument at a lower price due to the fine efforts of Robin, Beth and Bill.

So, even though life isn’t perfect and we all know what can hit the fan at any time, it is great to be able to work with folks who love what they do and go the extra mile to make sure that their customers are well taken care of and treated with respect. I know that the guitar community is filled with some wonderful people and I wanted to give these three an extra shout out. Highly recommend them. Very grateful for their fabulous customer service.

Best,
Jayne

[UncleJesse]

Good to hear you were taken care of. I recently got insurance through Anderson for my very modest couple of nicer guitars.

[The Growler]

Sorry to hear what happened, but it's great to hear how well it went.

[Yrksman]

Haven’t had to deal with Heritage (fortunately) but Robin and Bill are great people.

[JJI]

Great post Jayne.

[BrunoBlack]

It’s nice to read good news like this. Kudos to Guitar Gallery and I’m glad this worked out so well.

[Goodallboy]

I'm sorry you had to have that experience, but pleased to know it was handled in the excellent manner in which you describe.

It's also nice to know about a real-world experience with Heritage. I became a customer about a year ago and one always questions how things will go at the time of a loss. Thank you and good luck with that sale.

[Glennwillow]

That's a really fascinating story Jayne! I'm glad that so many people helped you out after your lovely guitar was damaged!

- Glenn

[colins]

A cloud with a silver lining. Great that so many people helped out in a stressful situation.

I can't get Heritage here in Oz but I can get Andersons and they cover all my guitars. While I have not had to make a claim, in day to day maters they are great to deal with.

Col

[Don54]

Glad to hear things worked out.

[jaymarsch]

Thanks to those who have responded to this thread. Usually when someone posts a customer complaint thread, it goes on and on for pages and pages and you post to share about a great experience and the thread sinks like a stone.
Not enough drama to hold people's interest, I guess. That's okay, I'll take the serenity of a smooth customer experience any day.

Best,
Jayne

[HFox]

I've just paid Heritage my 3rd yearly premium for my small collection.
$245 for FULL REPLACEMENT value. based on replacement values from SCGC and Gruhn.
Heritage is a very good company and Robbin and Gina are great at customer service.
Glad to hear of your good experience Jayne