Top shelf customer service from Breedlove/Two Old Hippies

I received a very nice Breedlove American series Uke in a trade about 2 months ago-this would make me the second owner. Two of the tuners(Gotoh Open back) had issues of being unusually stiff to turn. I removed the tuners, lubed them, took them apart and could find no reason for any of this.

I first thought to contact Gotoh to see if i could send them for replacement or to be reworked, but for some reason sent Breedlove an email. I stated clearly that i was second owner and offered pictures, serial number of instrument, and to send what i felt was defective parts, to them for inspection.

The very next day i received an email from a very nice lady from Breedlove and she said unfortunately the tuners were not covered via warranty since i was second owner-but due to my honesty and candid email, they wanted to ship me a new set.

The new Gotoh set arrived today, were excellent and have been installed.

This goes beyond excellent customer service.

Thank you Breedlove and Two Old Hippies(and thank you Anne for your very professional way to attend to the matter)

daryl crisp

Ok I'm new to Uke world but I'd say that was above & beyond the call, regardless of the product. Fantastic!

when I contacted Gotoh about a tuner issue, they told me to go to the instrument manufacturer for a solution. I'm glad Breedlove came through for you.

For a $1300.00 uke, you would think they would use the higher end Gotoh uke tuner, instead of the low end guitar tuners. They use Waverly's for the other ukes.

It's great they backed you up though. That "2nd hand voids your warranty" stuff is not good business.

i'll also add that i've become so impressed with this lower level American series tenor that my eyes are most definitely set on the all koa Breedlove Tenor-instead of a small shop or luthier instrument that i had previously been interested in.

combined with the new Oasis Tenor string offerings, this sitka/sapele Tenor rings out in all registers and has extremely impressive bell note quality for the fingerstyle type play i enjoy. the sound, playability, and build is just superb.

add in customer service of the order i experienced and its a no brainer for me.

d

Skinny Money McGee said:

For a $1300.00 uke, you would think they would use the higher end Gotoh uke tuner, instead of the low end guitar tuners. They use Waverly's for the other ukes.

It's great they backed you up though. That "2nd hand voids your warranty" stuff is not good business.

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they were the higher end Gotoh tuners to begin with-two tuners had issues-which i've experienced the same issues with Waverly open backs and Grover-it happens.
most any builder i have ever known only offers warranty to the original purchaser-guitars/ukes/banjos. that goes for instruments from $199 to $5000 that i have owned/own.
every once in a while one will hear where a company or person steps up and provides superior service-this being one of those times.
i have Grover, Waverly, and Gotoh tuners on different Ukes/guitars/banjos. these open back Gotohs are excellent and i like the tuning ratio especially.

daryl crisp "glass half full"

darylcrisp said:

they were the higher end Gotoh tuners to begin with-two tuners had issues-which i've experienced the same issues with Waverly open backs and Grover-it happens.
most any builder i have ever known only offers warranty to the original purchaser-guitars/ukes/banjos. that goes for instruments from $199 to $5000 that i have owned/own.
every once in a while one will hear where a company or person steps up and provides superior service-this being one of those times.
i have Grover, Waverly, and Gotoh tuners on different Ukes/guitars/banjos. these open back Gotohs are excellent and i like the tuning ratio especially.

daryl crisp "glass half full"

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The American Tenor uses Gotoh SE series guitar tuners. Was only saying what I said because I've heard many complaints about that tuner in the guitar world, and just figured it was a cheap tuner. I have the Gotoh UK700's on a uke and love them, 15:1 smooth as silk.
That Koa Breedlove looks very nice!

I believe Martin warranties are transferable, they don't say otherwise. The Limited Lifetime probably means just that. 1 lifetime, not 2 or 3 people's lifetimes. But you have to agree, it's not good business to cancel a warranty on a new instrument just because someone sold it to get something else. Koolau warranty looks transferable too. KoAloha says you just need a receipt that it was purchased from an authorized dealer. Kamaka says non-transferable, but they have warranted one of mine that was 2nd hand much like your Breedlove.


O well, Cheers anyway !!

Curious, dc. Was it still within the warranty period, or is it a lifetime original owner warranty?

coolkayaker1 said:

Curious, dc. Was it still within the warranty period, or is it a lifetime original owner warranty?

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not sure as i don't know when the original buyer purchased this Uke-i'm thinking he got it within the last year to year and a half. The Uke is like new in appearance and such. The previous owner is a really good classical player and thought he would enjoy the Uke-just didn't take to it.

i have not inquired about the warranty period to Breedlove so i'm no help on that part of the question either.

sorry
d

Skinny Money McGee said:

The American Tenor uses Gotoh SE series guitar tuners. Was only saying what I said because I've heard many complaints about that tuner in the guitar world, and just figured it was a cheap tuner. I have the Gotoh UK700's on a uke and love them, 15:1 smooth as silk.
That Koa Breedlove looks very nice!

I believe Martin warranties are transferable, they don't say otherwise. The Limited Lifetime probably means just that. 1 lifetime, not 2 or 3 people's lifetimes. But you have to agree, it's not good business to cancel a warranty on a new instrument just because someone sold it to get something else. Koolau warranty looks transferable too. KoAloha says you just need a receipt that it was purchased from an authorized dealer. Kamaka says non-transferable, but they have warranted one of mine that was 2nd hand much like your Breedlove.


O well, Cheers anyway !!

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yes, these can be used on a guitar-they have 18/1 ratio, which i like. I play clawhammer banjo and am used to the 4/1 ratio and on to guitars i have anywhere from 15/1 thru 21/1(may be 22/1 can't remember).

they are very smooth, and i like that precision of the 18/1 since i'm used to that ratio a lot. the other thing i like about this tuner set is the length of the shaft for the button-i can use any speedwinder without hitting the Uke headstock-i've had some of the Uke specific tuners and to me the shafts are on the short side-just a personal preference.

d

Skinny Money McGee said:

The American Tenor uses Gotoh SE series guitar tuners. Was only saying what I said because I've heard many complaints about that tuner in the guitar world, and just figured it was a cheap tuner. I have the Gotoh UK700's on a uke and love them, 15:1 smooth as silk.
That Koa Breedlove looks very nice!

I believe Martin warranties are transferable, they don't say otherwise. The Limited Lifetime probably means just that. 1 lifetime, not 2 or 3 people's lifetimes. But you have to agree, it's not good business to cancel a warranty on a new instrument just because someone sold it to get something else. Koolau warranty looks transferable too. KoAloha says you just need a receipt that it was purchased from an authorized dealer. Kamaka says non-transferable, but they have warranted one of mine that was 2nd hand much like your Breedlove.


O well, Cheers anyway !!

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i've never known Martin warranties to be transferable in the guitar world, i do not know the stance they take regarding Ukes but i would guess it to be the same(limited to initial purchaser). i do know of Martin stepping up and taking care of a warranty issue with a second owner-not always, but its something of a case by case situation.

most of the instruments i've dealed with-especially guitar, do not allow warranties to transfer to a second owner. Taylor has a high reputation of helping out if an issue surfaces irregardless-as long as its not owner neglect. i think Weber used to allow a rewarranty if you were not the initial purchaser, but there was a charge for that and i think you had to send it to them for inspection.

it would be interesting to find out about the warranties of the different Uke brands. might be a good thread to start.

d

I also want to share my great customer service experience from Breedlove as a second owner. I purchased a blem American Series model used on UU. It has always played great and sounded wonderful, but the C string was always sharp going up the board. I tried over 5 different brands of strings but same issue. The original owner had added a pickup and shaved down the saddle, so that could have contributed to it. After a year or so playing on it in this condition, I finally emailed Breedlove customer service to see if I could buy a new Tusc blank from them. Even though I told them I was the second owner, Anne in their customer service department said they would send me a new one free but their recommendation was to send it in. So per their instructions, I emailed them the model and serial number and fedexed the uke. Anne said it woud take around 4-6 weeks. Two weeks after they received it, I received an email from Anne that they were going to work on it that week. A week after that I received another followup email from Anne that the shop had worked on it for a few days, was having trouble getting perfect, that the person was going on vacation next week and apologized that it would take another two weeks. Two weeks after that, I received an email saying it was done and they were going to ship it back free of charge because of the delay. I responded that they had gone beyond the call of duty to repair my secondhand uke at no charge and offered to cover the return shipping. Moreover, not only did they setup my uke with a new saddle, they set it up with the fresh pack of Southcoast Mediums that I sent in with the uke. It was just a wonderful experience dealing with them from start to end. I would not hesitate to buy a new Breedlove in the future.