Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Have been browsing around Harmony Central checking out the reviews on the 620/12 and other Ricks (deriving some sort of smug satifsfaction from owning something that everyone thinks is great, I guess...), and the issue of when the warranty begins comes up in quite a few posts. According to the RIC website, the warranty is from the date of manufacture - so if I buy a guitar which has been sitting in a dealer's stock room for 2 years I only get the balance of the 5 year warranty, rather than the full 5 years - if there's a finish defect then there's nothing I can do about it, as the finish is only warrantied for a year.

I live in the UK, and mostly when I buy something like, say, a washing machine or a television, I get the full manufacturer's warranty from the date I buy it, not the date it was made. Granted, items like washing machines and televisions tend to shift quicker than guitars might (for one thing they are re-designed every five minutes), but I am curious - is starting the warranty from the date of manufacture a US thing, a guitar thing, or just a RIC thing?

PS Nothing's ever gone wrong with my 620/12 and quite frankly I don't suppose it ever will...

Being within the E.C., it's a total non-issue for you since you have your own set of warranty regulations as administered by our distributors.

The warranty was rewritten as is a number of years ago when warranty fraud started to become prevalent. Numerous instruments which had been out on 30 day exchange periods at Guitar Center, for instance, were showing up for warranty repair, not so surprising considering there was no owner with a real attachment to the instrument likely to be concerned for its care. Guitar Center also used to permit any saleperson to generate a duplicate sales receipt that showed the current date instead of the real date of sale. Finally, too many examples of Photoshopped receipts were beginning to appear and it was necessary to implement this policy.

Thanks Guitar Center! :-0

John, What is the reason for a non-transferable warranty? If we did that in the automotive industry we would be out of business (discluding emmission warranties regulated by Federal law).

Gee John, I can't imagine why you pulled your product from Guitar Centre

So basically it's a classic case of the greedy/negligent/dishonest few ruining things for the careful/considerate/honest many... Mankind! When will you learn?