Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

"I'd post pictures but I don't think they are necessary. It looks like a new MID 4003"

I have read that the new formula Midnight Blue is darker and less metallic. How is yours?

Ian - not to drag this out, but in reading John's post I got the impression that you would not have been covered under the US-Canadian warranty as the bass was not technically new, having moved between several parties before it got to you. Yes the bass was unplayed, but I don't believe the RIC warranty is transferrable from the original owner. If I'm wrong here someone please correct me. Anyhoo I hope you are enjoying the bass and can look beyound the "optics".

Here is the RIC warranty Policy:

Rickenbacker International Corp. guarantees this instruments to be free from defective materials and workmanship to the ORIGINAL PURCHASER for five years, except for the finish, which is guaranteed for one year. This warranty begins upon the date of manufacture as stamped on this card.

Should a defect become apparent during normal use, this instrument will be repaired free of charge, subject to the following conditions.

What's Not Covered
The warranty is void if, upon inspection by RIC factory personnel, the defect is determined to be the result of damage due to misuse, exposure to environmental extremes, modification, or the use of replacement parts, including strings, not in conformity with factory specifications, or due to damage not resulting from a manufacturing defect.

This warranty does not extend to strings or deterioration of items subject to routine wear and tear, nor shall it apply where the serial number has been removed or defaced.

How To Obtain Service
You must obtain a Return Authorization (RA) number from the factory prior to return of instrument. Ship the instrument prepaid to the address below, with the RA number prominently showing outside the carton, and include your name, address, and description of the problem. RIC will return it, shipping prepaid, following repair.

How To Register For Warranty
The instrument's original and unaltered warranty card must be completed and mailed to RIC along with a copy of your sales receipt as proof of purchase, within 10 days of purchase date in order to obtain service under the limited warranty. You may wish to retain a copy of the card and original sales receipt in case further proof of ownership is requested.

Where It's Valid
The warranty card is valid only in the United States and Canada: it is not valid in any other country. Authorized RIC distributors in other countries provide warranty administration appropriate to the laws of their country.

Hi,

I bought the bass as being 'brand new' from what turned out to be an importer. I assumed I was getting a UK bargain price for a normal imported product.

It turns out it went to a US store and then was brought over here by a dealer who took a large amount of the store's Ric stock. That doesn't make it 'third hand' when I got it. It makes it 'moved stock', but I don't want to keep regurgitating that argument. The area covered by warranty supercedes all other issues.

I was certainly the VERY first to take it out of the case. I've said ALL ALONG that the warranty card was only for the USA / Canada - so I never completed the card. The warranty doesn't apply for me, sadly.

The bass was made Nov 04 and was first taken out of its case in July 05. The problem was noticed when the bass had been used over a period 6 months (Jan 06). If the bass was in the country covered by the warranty, it would have been within the warranty period from date of purchase, not date of build.

I have never ever disputed the warranty issue. I pointed it out to all concerned myself. I can read the warranty card for myself and did so.

If you read my e-mail to John Hall, I ask for advice and assistance from Ric towards a cure for the problem. I never expected it to be done under warranty. I openly gave the warranty area info and detailed exactly how I bought the bass.

The main thrust of my later posts has been all along that a Rickenbacker bass shouldn't have such a rubbish finish durability. It's pretty unforgivable. Warranty or not. It is beyond argument that the finish durability IS appalling.

It appears that Ric have sent a load of instruments out which qualify as 'seconds' quality. Bravo. I am not the only poster in this thread and in others with the 'colour bleed' problem.

I was slightly taken aback that John Hall and Customer Services were only apparently concerned with telling me it was my hard luck (and their own good luck) that the bass wasn't under warranty. No advice, nothing, except basically to go away and be quiet.

Mind you, he did have the courtesy and efficiency to respond quickly to my email to give me 3 great reasons why the bass is not covered by any warranty, at the speed of light.... even though I knew it wasn't covered already.

Helpful advice costs nothing, which is why I posted on here.

All I want for Christmas is a way to get the blue out of the binding - not reminders of the warranty card script, which I may as well set to music and release, as I know it so well!!!

Product recall? I know a bassist who also got the same one MID4003 as me and he had this prob, I have had my MID a few years now and didn't believe the prob when he first told me! Where did you get the bass Ian?

Hi,

The bass was bought effectively 'brand new out of the box' via an EBay dealer in July last year. It's dated Nov '04.

It could be bad batches or something - I honestly don't know. I thought the problem was totally unique to myself til I posted about it and other people with the same problem popped up.

Some people are lucky and some aren't, I guess.

Personally I think no matter where it makes its way in the world if you make a product that fails because of manufacturer defect you should fix it no questions asked. Its not like these people took a power saw to their Ric and then asked for a replacement. They just played their basses which is what they are meant for no? I guess guitar making is sometimes not an "exact" science as the binding on my Ric shows. I still love rics but would not buy a newer midnight blue bass now or in the future because of this problem. But then again its not really my favorite ric finish to begin with. As a show of good faith I think the original posters bass should have been fixed or replaced as long as he agreed to pay shipping there and back. Just my 2 cents.

If I was Rickenbacker, I wouldn't really want substandard finishes out around the world with dissatisfied customers who could possibly badmouth Rickenbacker, or may already have done so. Sure many of these instruments aren't under warrenty, but perhaps RIC could head all of this off by offering to refinish in some other color for a price reduction? I'm sure a lot of the people with these problem color instruments would take them up on it. Sure it would be a little extra work, and RIC is already very busy, but I'm sure they could work out some schedule if they wanted to make sure regular production didn't get impacted too badly. Then they would have some very happy customers who might buy some more instruments from them in the future, and all the bad publicity would go away too. Just a thought....

Hi,

These last two comments are very supportive. Thanks.

I fully accept that my warranty issue is my own problem and that John Hall has actually done everything that he was obliged to in my case. He even offered to meet with me when in the UK - devotion beyond the call of duty.

In any other cases where the warranty applies, I am sure his guys are doing everything to everyone's satisfaction. Evidence of that certainly exists in this thread.

There can't be that many guitars with this problem out there - Ric would have been quick to sort the paint problem out, once it came to their attention.

My own mutterings about this are in no way an attempt to 'badmouth' Rickenbacker or any individuals. Bad publicity isn't (and wasn't) my intention. I can't even be bothered to tote the bass to a trade show and ask Ric's people about it. At one point I felt like doing that, but later realised that they won't really be able to do anything about it either. I'd like to make that crystal clear at this point.

As to offering to refinish guitars that aren't under warranty... Even given Ric's proven past good will, I don't expect that is really practicable or possible - as even though we are not talking that large a number of guitars, Ric are surely just not able to put staff time into fixing 'everything'. That would set a dangerous precendent!

As far as I am concerned, the finish on my own bass is just a little messy, but the neck now doesn't feel sticky like it used to, so it's probably gone as bad as it's going to, so I am fairly happy to take a deep breath (the paint odour has calmed down too!!) and let my last angst go on this one now and get on with the business of playing the hell out of the instrument, which is still a bit of a classy beast.

Amen.

I didn't want to stick my nose in here since I don't really have anything helpful to say, but I kind of like the looks of the blue binding. Under the circumstances, though, I'd be dissatisfied too if it were my bass. But if the bleeding would have been more consistent, I would have actually considered it a bonus.

If I was Rickenbacker, I wouldn't really want substandard finishes out around the world with dissatisfied customers who could possibly badmouth Rickenbacker, or may already have done so.

Right. Well, what about a product that IS broken out of the box, and they DO have a fix for and are completly ignoring their customers on. You really think RIC cares? The paint defect only affected the MID color. ALL of the 4004CII5's were/are non functional. Yet, not a single word about that, except that the fix exsist's and will be made available when someone feels like it.

Yeah, tricky situation (warranty schmaranty), it's a shame we get a raw deal but as people have said. It's bad that no one at Ric seems overly concerned about it. Just another example of Brits getting ripped off (not just on about Rics here!) What's the issue with the 4004CII5?

It sucks that Ian has been stuck with a bad finish. I feel for him but I am afraid that RIC has done nothing wrong. The RIC distributor in the UK undoubtedly signed a big dollar distribution contract for the privilege. Instruments shipped to the UK without going through that distributor effectively cut him/them out of the loop - take money out of his pocket. RIC is obligated to protect that arrangement any way it can. Honoring the warranty in this case would probably have put RIC in a breach of contract situation or at the very least could have annoyed the distributor. It would not be good business any way you slice it.

This is weird. Having followed this thread I was surprised yesterday when I was in my local Rick dealer and one of the employees showed me the MB 4003 he was packing up for return that had the exact same problem! He's swapping it for jetglo- I think the blue looks cooler, though. I know a few other 4001CS owners have had some discoloration problems like myself, but there's no way I'm letting mine ever get away!

Hmm...Brits getting ripped off...I'm gonna have to cook up some potatoes and mull that one over...