Hercules stand WARNING!!!

[jpd]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

Fine if you’re in the US. If you’re in any other country on Earth you can fuggeddit, they don’t give a tinker’s cuss and they refuse to take any responsibility, they dump it back on the dealer you bought it from. In my case, the dealer offered 20% off the price of a new stand. I told them where to shove their 20%, and I won’t be buying any more Hercules products.

That's a bad bit of customer service, even though it's outside the U.S.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Twitch

They'll replace your stand if yours has the known problem.

Only if you’re resident in the US and purchased it there (see my earlier post). If you’re not in the US (and, BTW, that’s the vast majority of the world’s population) and/or purchased it outside the US, they aren’t interested in your problem and will do nothing, other than refer you to their distributor in your country. It’s up to the distributor to decide what, if anything, to do to solve the problem - mine offered 20% off the price of a new stand. I told them to shove their 20% where the sun don’t shine and bought an Ultimate G1000.

Originally Posted by Twitch

What more could you ask of them?

That they treat every purchaser of their products equally, irrespective of where they happen to live.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[JohnW63]

What more could you ask of them?
That they treat every purchaser of their products equally, irrespective of where they happen to live.

I believe some guitar manufacturers have the same issue. Warranty IN the US vs warranty OUTSIDE the US. Martin may be one of them.

I think camera companies are all like that. They even have models designed to sell in different regions of the world. You buy a camera that was not intended for your part of the world, you have no warranty. In the USA those are called " Grey market" items.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

I'm in the UK, and I have single, double and triple Hercules stands.

The two singles are fine, but the double and triple both have the 'sticky rubber' syndrome. Having heard the great service the US guys wo had this problem got from Hercules, I reported my problem to the UK distributor for Hercules. It took a month for them to reply, and they basically said, "We've never heard of that before, send us photos to prove it, and include your original receipts".

How do you photograph a 'sticky-feel'?

I gave up. No more Hercules stands for me.

Yes, been there. First option seems to be to either blame the customer, deny all knowledge of a problem and, basically, wash their hands and palm you off to someone else.
I had a similar experience with the long defunct London Resonator Centre from whom I bought (after a phone call), a Santa Cruz Tony Rice model. Upon opening the case I was greeted with green frets, a banana neck, deep gouges in the pickguard and clear dings done to the sides of the neck just below the headstock where it had been on and off a wall hanger and banged around. They hadn't even bothered to dust the thing.
They were initially dismissive of my complaint and basically wouldn't believe me until they had the guitar in their hands. Got my money back eventually and shortly afterwards the owner did a runner and the shop closed. Not altogether a bad thing considering their appalling customer service.

https://mel-isaacs.blogspot.com/

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Yes, been there. First option seems to be to either blame the customer, deny all knowledge of a problem and, basically, wash their hands and palm you off to someone else.
I had a similar experience with the long defunct London Resonator Centre from whom I bought (after a phone call), a Santa Cruz Tony Rice model. Upon opening the case I was greeted with green frets, a banana neck, deep gouges in the pickguard and clear dings done to the sides of the neck just below the headstock where it had been on and off a wall hanger and banged around. They hadn't even bothered to dust the thing.
They were initially dismissive of my complaint and basically wouldn't believe me until they had the guitar in their hands. Got my money back eventually and shortly afterwards the owner did a runner and the shop closed. Not altogether a bad thing considering their appalling customer service.

https://mel-isaacs.blogspot.com/

I went to that shop - not in Denmark Street - somewhere in north/east London(?) Great stocks, and met Mel.
fortunately I didn't make a purchase.

http://www.resocentre.com/

a lot of people - customers, suppliers and other music retailers got burned I'm told.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by tonyo

Sadly the lifetime warranty isn't honoured in Australia.

I've bought Hercules guitar stands, mic stands, speaker stands all because I liked the quality and trusted them. Just had a guitar stand fail because of faulty plastic and they aren't interested in honouring the warranty.

After posting this I went to the Hercules site and used their contact form to complain in the nicest of ways that my stand had failed. In my case it's not just that the plastic is sticky, it's that the detent built into that part has failed.

Still no response from their contact form. Very disappointing. I'll be looking for something other than Hercules.

I've bought other products with a lifetime warranty and those vendor get what it means. You don't have to bring in a receipt proving when / where you bought it, you bring in the faulty goods and they are replaced without question. And when that happens I go back and buy more of that product next time I need something.

You can tell a lot more about your "relationship" with a supplier when there is a fault and with how they handle it compared to if nothing ever goes wrong. Some companies delight their customers in how they handle complaints and warranty issues. I'm still hoping Hercules might do that for me.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I went to that shop - not in Denmark Street - somewhere in north/east London(?) Great stocks, and met Mel.
fortunately I didn't make a purchase.

http://www.resocentre.com/

a lot of people - customers, suppliers and other music retailers got burned I'm told.

The last time I was in London this store was one I wanted to visit, but I only had an afternoon to visit Denmark Street and Ivor Mairants. The Resonator Centre was further afield and, running out of time, I skipped it.

It doesn’t appear that I’ll get a chance to go by the next time I’m in London, now, either!


whm

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by tonyo

After posting this I went to the Hercules site and used their contact form to complain in the nicest of ways that my stand had failed. In my case it's not just that the plastic is sticky, it's that the detent built into that part has failed.

Still no response from their contact form. Very disappointing. I'll be looking for something other than Hercules.

I've bought other products with a lifetime warranty and those vendor get what it means. You don't have to bring in a receipt proving when / where you bought it, you bring in the faulty goods and they are replaced without question. And when that happens I go back and buy more of that product next time I need something.

You can tell a lot more about your "relationship" with a supplier when there is a fault and with how they handle it compared to if nothing ever goes wrong. Some companies delight their customers in how they handle complaints and warranty issues. I'm still hoping Hercules might do that for me.

I had a great customer experience with G7th. After posting on a capo discussion thread here that my Performance 1 had fallen apart after several years' use, I was contacted by G7th and offered a new P2 free of charge-and they didn't even want to see my failed example. That's a company which stands by its products and respects and values its customers-and that's how it should always be, but sadly seldom is in today's disposable world of consumerism.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

I had a great customer experience with G7th. After posting on a capo discussion thread here that my Performance 1 had fallen apart after several years' use, I was contacted by G7th and offered a new P2 free of charge-and they didn't even want to see my failed example. That's a company which stands by its products and respects and values its customers-and that's how it should always be, but sadly seldom is in today's disposable world of consumerism.

i don't care for G7 capos but that's irrelevant (or is it your elephant?) anyway, I happen to know that the guy who sold my my first Collings In the Acoustic Centre is now the Customer Service manager for G7.
His name is Seamus Brady, and he is one of the good 'uns.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

His name is Seamus Brady, and he is one of the good 'uns.

Is he the same guy who ran the Vintage Guitar Centre in Norwich? I seem to recollect he was called Seamus, and had worked for George Lowden for a period. If it’s him, he is indeed one of the good ‘uns! Apologies if it’s a case of mistaken identity!

I’ll also second AndrewG’s comments re the G7th Capo Company. I also commented on a thread, perhaps on AGF, perhaps elsewhere, that my Performance capo had developed a ‘looseness’ in the gearing, and they sent me a silver one to replace the faulty capo, plus one of the black ones which they were just introducing, ‘to see what I thought of it’!

Hercules could learn a lot from those guys!

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[colder]

I am not sure I can read the whole thread, nor separate fact from fiction here. How do you know if your Hercules stand has the issue that causes it to fail?

I have a one guitar stand that is about 5 years old and still works the same as the day I bought it, so far as I know, but I don't know how to inspect it for signs of trouble, either.

[Spyvito]

Originally Posted by tonyo

After posting this I went to the Hercules site and used their contact form to complain in the nicest of ways that my stand had failed. In my case it's not just that the plastic is sticky, it's that the detent built into that part has failed.



Still no response from their contact form. Very disappointing. I'll be looking for something other than Hercules.



I've bought other products with a lifetime warranty and those vendor get what it means. You don't have to bring in a receipt proving when / where you bought it, you bring in the faulty goods and they are replaced without question. And when that happens I go back and buy more of that product next time I need something.



You can tell a lot more about your "relationship" with a supplier when there is a fault and with how they handle it compared to if nothing ever goes wrong. Some companies delight their customers in how they handle complaints and warranty issues. I'm still hoping Hercules might do that for me.

Because I’m always looking for a bargain and I like to fix things I bought a Hercules stand on ebay cheap that had exactly the problems you mention. The spring-loaded catch to adjust the height/length was broken at a key stress point because the plastic they used was very weak and brittle. Also, the surface had degraded to that sticky/tacky texture you mentioned.

I thought maybe I could buy a replacement part but Hercules has no viable customer support so I just modified the stand to accept a knob-screw for the adjuster. Worked for me because I like to tinker and have a parts bin. But if I bought one new I would be disappointed.

If you have one of these stands, I would certainly suggest that you inspect it.

[vintageom]

Originally Posted by colder

I am not sure I can read the whole thread, nor separate fact from fiction here. How do you know if your Hercules stand has the issue that causes it to fail?

I have a one guitar stand that is about 5 years old and still works the same as the day I bought it, so far as I know, but I don't know how to inspect it for signs of trouble, either.

The defective part is the black plastic adjustment piece that has a spring-loaded lever that you squeeze and then slide up or down as needed for the guitar height.

If yours is a problem, it will feel VERY STICKY, like the glue side of duct tape, and gets more gooey as it deteriorates. If you let it go long enough, you will see cracks develop where the pivot pin goes though the mechanism. Eventually, the stress of the spring breaks the pivot rod loose from the plastic holders and it will no longer adjust. But before that, you will easily notice the sticky squeeze handle in your hand when gripping it.

If yours has not done this in 5 years, you are probably okay. Just look for cracks around where the pin goes through.