Gold S.
MY FENDER CUSTOM SHOP EXPERIENCE
Update: Within 24 hours of reaching out to Fender Consumer Relations, I received an email from the Consumer Relations Manager. He quickly got to the bottom of why my guitar was taking so long, sorted out some order confusion, and moved my guitar to the top of the Fender Custom Shop queue. He offered an additional guitar or amp of my choice for my troubles. I was immediately sent an Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, and within two weeks my custom Jazzmaster electric arrived on my doorstep with a personal note from master builder, Ron Thorn. And dang- is this guitar a thing of beauty! Thank you Fender corporate, consumer relations, and Ron for making my dream of having a custom Jazzmaster happen- and thank you for renewing my faith in a brand that I've loved since childhood. ------------------------------ In June of 2020 I put an order in to The Fender Custom Shop for a Jazzmaster. It was a dream my whole life. But you don't want to hear about my dream. So let me tell you about my nightmare. I was told by Fender that the guitar would take 6-9 months and I put in a nonrefundable deposit. The deadline was extended to 12 months. But I was patient. In June 2021 I was told that the finish was tricky and they wanted to give it more time to set. In August 2021 I was told that the neck was made of rotten wood and that it would be a couple more months. In October 2021 I was told that the bridge was out of stock due to supply chain issues. In February 2022 I saw Jazzmasters from the shop's Instagram with the bridge I ordered, so I asked what the deal was. They said those were "special" builds but the bridge would be in soon and I'd have my guitar in April 2022. Today, April 8 2022, I spoke with my dealer. The deadline has been extended to June-July 2022 with no other reason given other than those previous reasons were not true. My dealer believes that the guitar has not been started due to the "cryptic" nature of his conversation with his Fender sales representative. If Fender had been honest with me- told me that they didn't have enough staff to take on all the orders that were placed. That there was no expected deadline. I would have understood. But these lies show that Fender cares nothing about their customers. It just took advantage of the fact that many were stranded at home with nothing to do during a pandemic so they took on more orders than they could deliver with nonrefundable deposits. And now we're all (still) waiting. Waiting for the truth and waiting for our guitars.