Kaz-Maz
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2022
- Messages
- 39
- Reaction score
- 74
Koaloha has great service in terms of the lifetime warranty.
I received a new ukulele as a replacement just about a week ago, and here is my story to share.
So I had a minor issue on my Koaloha Opio Tenor which I purchased in June 2021. The Opio was made in 2015.
It was obvious that so many ukuleles were left without extra care in the empty stores during the lockdown for about a year, yet it seemed that the OPIO I purchased was okay on the surface. Also I really liked the Sapele OPIO more than the new Acacia ones. So I decided to purchase it at a new price.
At the time of the purchase, I asked the store to check for any sign of issues since it already had the weather checks on the neck and back already.
The music store brought it back to a Japanese official dealer and the dealer checked the condition for about a week, then promised nothing wrong with the instrument.
Had no issue for a few months but come to think of it now, the ukulele has started to shrink sometimes before or after the purchase. The first issue I noticed was sharp frets, then I started to notice the bulge/sink of the top around the bridge, and then some wood movements on the side and the bottom top of the ukulele. It did still look okay on the surface but when I touched the ukulele I could feel the unevenness.
I own a few other ukuleles and none of the others showed such signs of wood movement or shrinking in such a short period of time so it was clear that the OPIO had the issues.
So I brought it back to a music store to identify or hopefully to get it repaired before the 1 year warranty that the store offers expires.
The official dealer in Japan checked it for a few weeks again, and it came back to me without any repair. What the dealer told me first was that it was torelate-able deformation of wood, and could happen to any ukulele in Japan since Japan has severer weather in terms of humidity compared with Hawaii.
I instantly noticed what they were trying to aim at, so I asked the dealer to check with Koaloha HQ if the Koaloha would have the same opinion about their products having shorter durability in Japan.
The dealer then told me that this is OPIO not Koaloha, so it is not warrantied by the Koaloha HQ.
At this point I realized that bringing this issue to the dealer in Japan is just a waste of time, since they show zero signs of cooperation here but just try to mince the word, and try not to be responsible for any issue that arises after the purchase.
They offered me an extra guarantee period though since they acknowledged the issue, but had remarked that the instrument still could be unrepairable and they might not be able to do anything about this issue.
Anyway, I felt that the warranty for ukulele is meaningless if such deformation within a year of our purchase is not well looked after, so I decided to contact Koaloha HQ in Hawaii since I have nothing to lose by asking.
Mr. Griz, the head of the repair team gave me a reply within a day, and just asked me to check the year of ukulele made. later on he looked at pictures of my ukulele, and confirmed that the OPIO I had was the batch similar issues has been claimed; earlier batch without liner installed inside.
He instantly offered a replacement for a new one, and the process was very simple. I just needed to send the OPIO back to the factory in Hawaii.
Unfortunately, since there was no Acacia stock, he offered me a Spruce top instead.
It was actually a bit of a challenge since it was my first shipment sending a ukulele overseas, plus I knew that the global shipping market is currently chaotic; we hear many stories that shipping takes more than a few months due to backlogs in the states. (Fortunately it only took 5 days from Japan to Hawaii, and took another 5 days only when the Koaloha sent it back to me in Japan.)
Before this, I thought K-brands from Hawaii are a bit expensive but now I changed my mind. K-brands ukuleles are worth purchasing if we look at the fact that they offer the lifetime warranty in such an honest and customer-satisfied manner.
So I added on my Wishlist to visit Hawaii, and purchase a ukulele from the factory directly from their repair team.
I can't wait for the day of the pandemic, the war between Ukraine/Russia and the global inflation come to its end sometimes soon, and we get to travel overseas a lot as before.
I received a new ukulele as a replacement just about a week ago, and here is my story to share.
So I had a minor issue on my Koaloha Opio Tenor which I purchased in June 2021. The Opio was made in 2015.
It was obvious that so many ukuleles were left without extra care in the empty stores during the lockdown for about a year, yet it seemed that the OPIO I purchased was okay on the surface. Also I really liked the Sapele OPIO more than the new Acacia ones. So I decided to purchase it at a new price.
At the time of the purchase, I asked the store to check for any sign of issues since it already had the weather checks on the neck and back already.
The music store brought it back to a Japanese official dealer and the dealer checked the condition for about a week, then promised nothing wrong with the instrument.
Had no issue for a few months but come to think of it now, the ukulele has started to shrink sometimes before or after the purchase. The first issue I noticed was sharp frets, then I started to notice the bulge/sink of the top around the bridge, and then some wood movements on the side and the bottom top of the ukulele. It did still look okay on the surface but when I touched the ukulele I could feel the unevenness.
I own a few other ukuleles and none of the others showed such signs of wood movement or shrinking in such a short period of time so it was clear that the OPIO had the issues.
So I brought it back to a music store to identify or hopefully to get it repaired before the 1 year warranty that the store offers expires.
The official dealer in Japan checked it for a few weeks again, and it came back to me without any repair. What the dealer told me first was that it was torelate-able deformation of wood, and could happen to any ukulele in Japan since Japan has severer weather in terms of humidity compared with Hawaii.
I instantly noticed what they were trying to aim at, so I asked the dealer to check with Koaloha HQ if the Koaloha would have the same opinion about their products having shorter durability in Japan.
The dealer then told me that this is OPIO not Koaloha, so it is not warrantied by the Koaloha HQ.
At this point I realized that bringing this issue to the dealer in Japan is just a waste of time, since they show zero signs of cooperation here but just try to mince the word, and try not to be responsible for any issue that arises after the purchase.
They offered me an extra guarantee period though since they acknowledged the issue, but had remarked that the instrument still could be unrepairable and they might not be able to do anything about this issue.
Anyway, I felt that the warranty for ukulele is meaningless if such deformation within a year of our purchase is not well looked after, so I decided to contact Koaloha HQ in Hawaii since I have nothing to lose by asking.
Mr. Griz, the head of the repair team gave me a reply within a day, and just asked me to check the year of ukulele made. later on he looked at pictures of my ukulele, and confirmed that the OPIO I had was the batch similar issues has been claimed; earlier batch without liner installed inside.
He instantly offered a replacement for a new one, and the process was very simple. I just needed to send the OPIO back to the factory in Hawaii.
Unfortunately, since there was no Acacia stock, he offered me a Spruce top instead.
It was actually a bit of a challenge since it was my first shipment sending a ukulele overseas, plus I knew that the global shipping market is currently chaotic; we hear many stories that shipping takes more than a few months due to backlogs in the states. (Fortunately it only took 5 days from Japan to Hawaii, and took another 5 days only when the Koaloha sent it back to me in Japan.)
Before this, I thought K-brands from Hawaii are a bit expensive but now I changed my mind. K-brands ukuleles are worth purchasing if we look at the fact that they offer the lifetime warranty in such an honest and customer-satisfied manner.
So I added on my Wishlist to visit Hawaii, and purchase a ukulele from the factory directly from their repair team.
I can't wait for the day of the pandemic, the war between Ukraine/Russia and the global inflation come to its end sometimes soon, and we get to travel overseas a lot as before.
