Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

tooloose wrote:I asked the same question on the RIC Forum in Feb 2011 after sending in the warranty card on my 330/12 and receiving no acknowledgement. Here's John Hall's reply:

"There is no response sent to warranty cards received. Anyone who wants some type of verification should use one of the various return receipt mail services or tracking.

We're working on a scheme to take this procedure online, however, that's still a way off as there's some security and privacy issues to settle."

Thank you for the definitive response!

Online registration would be great. My 330/12 MG came with the wrong warranty card. I emailed Ric's customer service about it. Still no response after a month. Not really a big deal. Three years are already gone from the warranty. It was a 2009 that hung on the wall until a month ago. The dealer has their own one year warranty, so everything should be okay.

I think I used to put mine in an envelope with Delivery Confirmation just to make sure that all important card made it safely.

Filling in my new Martin's warranty card got me a beautiful certificate with my name as original owner on it. But that was a special deal when they were celebrating their 175th anniversary. Still a very cool thing to have.

cjj wrote:...Has anyone ever sent in a warranty card to any company and gotten something back (other than advertising spam)?...

After I registered a new 2008 bass with Fender, they sent a letter:

"On behalf of the entire Fender Musical Instruments family of brands, I would like to thank you..."

It ran for half a page, then was signed with very best regards by William L. Mendello, CEO, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. I appreciated that letter, and I keep it with the bass.

bluewhale wrote:After I registered a new 2008 bass with Fender, they sent a letter:

"On behalf of the entire Fender Musical Instruments family of brands, I would like to thank you..."

It ran for half a page, then was signed with very best regards by William L. Mendello, CEO, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. I appreciated that letter, and I keep it with the bass.

You must be special! I registered a 2012 Fender Stratocaster recently and got diddly squat from Fender... Maybe they know I prefer Rickenbackers? Shhhh....

kiramdear wrote:Filling in my new Martin's warranty card got me a beautiful certificate with my name as original owner on it. But that was a special deal when they were celebrating their 175th anniversary. Still a very cool thing to have.

I recall also getting something back when I registered my Martin in '02 or so - and it was one of their cheapest models at the time!

Good question.

What happens if you do need Warranty work on a Rick? Do you send it back to Rick or do they just refer you to a local repair guy?

Larsongs

PS Martin is the best Lifetime Warranty in the business. I had my '75 D-35 (bought new) in for Warranty repairs a couple years ago. Sent it to the Factory & they pretty much rebuilt the Guitar. I paid for the Re-fret, adding Fishman Electronics & repairing a hole that had been there for about 20 years. Looks old but plays beautifully.

Gibson also does Warranty repair at Factory & comes in a close 2nd.

Fender 3rd, although that may not be fair as I've never had any problems with any of my Fender Gear. Except for the newest Amp & it turned to be nothing serious. But Fender refers you to a repair Guy not the Factory.

larsongs wrote:Gibson also does Warranty repair at Factory & comes in a close 2nd.

Really?

larsongs wrote:Good question.

What happens if you do need Warranty work on a Rick? Do you send it back to Rick or do they just refer you to a local repair guy?

If the instrument is still in warranty, the first thing you MUST do is call RIC customer service. They will look up the warranty card and advise you on how to proceed. AFAIK, they do not refer work to local luthiers--probably because it's impossible to guarantee quality at a distance, and a "factory authorized" repair scheme would be far too difficult for RIC to manage considering their limited clerical resources.

That having been said, RIC does refer out-of-warranty refinishing and restoration work to my shop...

Seriously now... no I don't think you get anything back. At least I didn't.
Has anyone ever sent in a warranty card to any company and gotten something back (other than advertising spam)?
Didn't think so...

Um, we got back a verification/certificate thingy from Martin when we needed to do an original owner repair on a D-18. Presumably the registration paperwork got lost somewhere (it was bought in 1976) and wasn't registered, but we had the original receipt from 1976 and re-registered the guitar. After that, we got the paperwork and then got the warranty work done.

So, I stand as the (possibly sole) exception to that ...


Nonetheless, thanks to everybody for letting me know to not expect a response from Rickenbacker. Although, that is a bit disappointing--sending back a nice certificate/congratulation letter/etc. is really just such a tremendously cheap way to garner goodwill and drive home the point that you purchased a high-end instrument.