a bit of mesa controversy

[rainsong86]

so one of the output tubes in my Roadster blew at just about the end of my 6 month tube warranty.. I replaced it with a new Mesa tube and had good results for about a week at low volumes.. after a week I cranked the amp up for band practice for the first time in a while and noticed that the distortion sounded super fizzy.. I knew something was wrong that I couldn't fix so I took it to the nearest Mesa repair station (which was an hour drive).. now the repair station/store tells me that I have no way of proving that the tube blew within the six month warranty (which ended June 28th) since I brought it in for repairs on the 16th of July.. they said that a screen resistor blew as well and they want me to pay for parts and labor (they charge close to 70 dollars an hour)

sooo hypothetically even if a tube out of warranty blows and something else breaks in the process are you covered under parts and labor within the 5 year warranty?.. in this case I'd assume that you would have to pay for the tube and the parts that broke along with it but NOT the labor to fix the amp and put it back together .. in MY case the tubes were still under warranty when one of them blew but apparently my WORD as a customer means nothing without concrete proof.. how has Mesa been to you or people you know about delicate matters such as this?.. will they believe me or just assume that I'm trying to swindle them just like everyone else in the world?.. btw I know I should call Mesa about this but their offices are closed right now and I want to be informed before I call anyways

 

[ursinus]

call MESA. They will honor the warranty....

 

[Barry]

Absolutely call Mesa . They are closed on Fridays . Also the new tube you bought has a six month warranty . keep your receipt .

 

[rainsong86]

good.. I'm thinking that the store I went to is full of a bunch of jackasses.. it's CV Lloyde's of Champaign, IL.. I never liked the people there.. I bought a Mesa cab from there which sounded great at store volume but when I played it with my band I knew it wasn't gonna work for me.. I went the next day to return it and they said "no returns".. soo about a month ago I went in there acting like I was gonna buy a Mesa cab and I asked the same guy who said "no returns" if I could return a cab after a day or two if I take it home and don't like it.. he said "yea sure no prob".. F@#$ @$$#%*!

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Keep us updated on this.

I'm curious to see how it turns out, as I have another purchase in mind.

Best of luck.

 

[rainsong86]

well murphy I haven't gotten any BS from Mesa.. I just got the call from the store earlier today that the repair is not under warranty.. I think that's BS because I thought labor was under 5 year warranty even IF the tube had blown after the 6 months parts warranty was up.. I'm pretty sure that they think they can price gouge me and get a lot more money than they would get if Mesa paid for the operation.. so basically it's the store I brought it to which is being difficult and I'd say dishonest.. if I get a hassle from Mesa I'm going to discontinue buying new Mesa gear, from any dealer.. I've already spent 3 grand on Mesa stuff and I love Mesa but if they don't give me what I want I'm going to limit my Mesa endeavors to USED gear (this way they won't see any of my money).. basically the warranty is all that separates new gear from used gear and I'd rather pay 40 percent less and buy used gear than try to work with a sketchy warranty if they're gonna hassle me

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

Sorry to hear of your pain dude, no worries about the repair Mesa 'a got you covered. If you feel the SLIGHTEST bit of dishonesty DO NOT let them touch your amp! I've been in a very similiar situation to yours before and Mesa was totally cool and made it right. One thing I learned about the authorized repair stations and Mesa is that Mesa does'nt throw money at these guys. They give them a certain amount of time to diagnos and repair the problem at Mesas rate.Call Mesa tomorrow right when they open and get with Rich in repairs. He's NEVER let me down and came through for me. Now whenever I have a problem and I've narrowed down the pre/power/fuse without a fix I send it to Mesa and it always works out. You have to pay shipping to and they cover it back. I look at it as I spend the gas going to from repair staion verses shipping. Mesa even will arrange for UPS to pick the amp up at your house which saves fuel.Just gotta pack it really well. For my region I'm totally done with the repair dudes. They seem to have some sorta grudge towards Mesa maybe it has something to do with the above mentioned :?: Good luck man I'm sure Mesa will take care of it

 

[Boogiebabies]

Let's just say that a bad Chinese tube took the screen grid resistor out.
The resistor is $ 1.00, solder braid .25 cents, solder .10 cents and it would take 15 minutes to replace including pulling the chassis. You cannot really determine when a tube will go bad and what it would take with it. For some reason, I am hesitant to believe the resistor is even bad unless you had a serious red plating or a full catastrophic failure. I cannot fault Mesa, but that repair facility is trying to hose you hard. If Mesa replaces it under warranty, it would be about .5 hours billable at $ 37.50 per hour. So it would run Mesa around $ 18.75 labor, $ 1.00 for the resistor and $ 4.00 to ship the part. If you need it at all.

 

[Barry]

good.. I'm thinking that the store I went to is full of a bunch of jackasses.. it's CV Lloyde's of Champaign, IL.. I never liked the people there.. I bought a Mesa cab from there which sounded great at store volume but when I played it with my band I knew it wasn't gonna work for me.. I went the next day to return it and they said "no returns".. soo about a month ago I went in there acting like I was gonna buy a Mesa cab and I asked the same guy who said "no returns" if I could return a cab after a day or two if I take it home and don't like it.. he said "yea sure no prob".. F@#$ @$$#%*!

You should tell mesa how they treated you over their gear .

 

[Barry]

Pool with a rope is right . Talk to Rich Duvall . You have a warranty man . If you have to send it back they will issue you an RA # and UPS will pick it up . Let us know how it turns out . When you call Mesa have your serial number and when and where you bought your amp .

 

[Dynamo Hum]

rainsong, it sounds like you've got a pretty solid consensus here about mesa's stellar customer service but i thought i'd just throw in my own comment .. i was lucky enough to come in contact with steve mueller, one of the guys in mesa's upper management team who happens to live less than half an hour away from me .. my nomad was about six years old when i went to steve and told him i was having problems with crackling pots and volume drops and that my amp just didn't sound quite right anymore .. (i should mention that i'm not very knowledgeable about my gear so i didn't realize how often one should change one's tubes) .. steve invited me to bring my head over to his house and he replaced all my tubes and told me to take it to the local mesa repair shop and had about a hundred dollars worth of work done at no charge to me .. he stressed very heavily to me what a high level of importance mesa boogie place on their customers and has been extremely helpful to me every time i ever chance to talk to him, even about what kind of guitar i should buy! yeah, dude, these guys really are in it for the customers, as far as i've seen .. i am a confirmed mesa player for life because not only are they among the sweetest sounding amps ever created, but the company's high regard for their customers just can't be beat

 

[rainsong86]

thank you all for the replies.. I KNEW that it was the repair station that was trying to hose me.. and I'm sure that my call to mesa as soon as their offices open will confirm this.. thank you boogiebabies for the insight.. with your information I realize that the repair station is trying to string me along considering that they would get paid TWICE as much (67.50 an hour) if they get ME to pay for the repair.. I really, really hate these guys now and I wish their company (CV Lloyde's of champaign, IL) ran deeper so that I could have at least SOMEONE who cares about what's going in with this sketchy store.. I'll inform you guys about what Mesa does for me after the call, but things look pretty hopeful from the other customer service stories mentioned in this thread

 

[rainsong86]

Let's just say that a bad Chinese tube took the screen grid resistor out.
The resistor is $ 1.00, solder braid .25 cents, solder .10 cents and it would take 15 minutes to replace including pulling the chassis. You cannot really determine when a tube will go bad and what it would take with it. For some reason, I am hesitant to believe the resistor is even bad unless you had a serious red plating or a full catastrophic failure. I cannot fault Mesa, but that repair facility is trying to hose you hard. If Mesa replaces it under warranty, it would be about .5 hours billable at $ 37.50 per hour. So it would run Mesa around $ 18.75 labor, $ 1.00 for the resistor and $ 4.00 to ship the part. If you need it at all.

I just want to know this: so even if a tube that is out of warranty blows and takes the screen resistor out should the amp owner have to pay for labor to put the parts he bought back into amp?.. I mean there's still a 5 year labor warranty.. also the 37.50 an hour is what mesa pays repair stations to work on their under-warranty amps correct?.. and the mesa repair station should keep tubes at hand so that mesa doesn't have to ship them right?

 

[Boogiebabies]

If a screen grid blows after your tube warranty, it is probably the owners responsibility, but Mesa is an awesome company and will take good care of you. A Mesa authorized repair center does not have to stock Mesa tubes or parts. Most of them get shipped from the factory to the repair station on a needed basis. The rub is, unless you can visually verify that one of your screen grids is reading less than 1K or blown in two, I doubt Mesa is going to pick up the shipping on the grounds that those chuckleheads said it is. They may actually have to send you back to them with a warranty RA, Repair Authorization.

 

[Barry]

If a screen grid blows after your tube warranty, it is probably the owners responsibility, but Mesa is an awesome company and will take good care of you. A Mesa authorized repair center does not have to stock Mesa tubes or parts. Most of them get shipped from the factory to the repair station on a needed basis. The rub is, unless you can visually verify that one of your screen grids is reading less than 1K or blown in two, I doubt Mesa is going to pick up the shipping on the grounds that those chuckleheads said it is. They may actually have to send you back to them with a warranty RA, Repair Authorization.

I was under the impression RA means return authorization .

 

[Boogiebabies]

Repair Authorization for an official repair station. It's nothing but an open repair ticket. If he does not have one, or at least something official when he goes back they will just try to screw him again. Mesa is not into
$ 75.00 in shipping to repair a $ 1.00 screen grid from a blown tube.
I mean they are good, but they are not stupid businessmen.

 

[rainsong86]

well Rich Duvall really came through with that patented Mesa customer service.. he said that the repair station wasn't necessarily hassling me because the repair station considered the tube out of warranty since I brought the unit in two weeks past the 6 month tube expiration date.. and when a out of warranty tube causes a screen resistor to break the parts and labor on that fix are not USUALLY covered under warranty.. BUT he said Mesa has been talking about this for a little while and decided to side with the customer and include repairs such as this one under warranty since the average customer really can't be held responsible for the tube failure and subsequent damage.. I told Rich that I had actually tried to fix the problem simply by replacing the failed power tube (which would work usually) near the end of my 6 month tube warranty (late june.. I bought the amp Dec. 28th) and he said that despite the lack of paperwork he'd have Mesa cover tube replacement charges!.. overall an awesome outcome.. let's just hope the repair dept. in that store does their part

 

[Barry]

If your store still jerks you around i would send it back to mesa . It least you know it would be repaired correctly .

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Glad this worked out for you. Rich is a great guy to deal with.

If the store is hassling you, tell Rich. They are very particular about how their company is represented.