Kiesel's customer service sucks!

[mooncobra]

I have a build in queue and after reading this kind of just want to tell them keep my 20% and good riddance.

Maybe I got lucky, but I got an A6 and it is awesome, but mine has a Floyd on it. it plays phenomenal, and sounds great. I dealt with Chris and he was cool.

Like I've said to you before my man, I'm truly glad you have had better experiences

I've been clear that I was very pleased with the aesthetics, the fit to finish, and the tone the guitar had but the action/playability and the customer service pretty much all around through the whole thing......Pitiful.

I agree, totally, what happened to you is so lame. The crazy part is hat it wasn't just one incident, it was multiple!!!

 

[Hiveheart]

Man I remember a while back on sevenstring where a guy sent in a picture as a reference for what colour he wanted (a cool blue). What he got was probably the ugliest blue and as far from the supplied image as could be, while still claiming it to be blue. They refused a refund, even for the colour match. That alone stopped me from buying from them. You're REALLY LUCKY you got a refund.

Edit: found it. It's even more infuriating than I remember.
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showth ... p?t=309923

 

[carl roa]

I think Kiesel are making some of the best guitars available today. I've played a couple of dozen of their instruments, both by friends who have ordered them, and also at the NAMM show. And now I have a Vader V6X on order! Every single instrument I touched was top notch. The craftsmanship was top tier. None better imo. The finishes and options are also incredible ... and perhaps most importantly, their instruments sound excellent!

This all from a custom shop that allows you to select your choice of woods, colors, finishes, etc. And their prices are half of what you would pay from another boutique vendor. I would have to say that Kiesel is clearly the best value in today's market.

Just wanted to let you all know my experience ... from what I have seen, most players really dig their guitars. Highly recommended.

Rock on.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Ok I gotta chime in here. I know MetalHead Mike has a legit issue and a few others seem to be chiming in with shitty customer service stories. But I don't get some of the comments. I just got a Kiesel VM7 and frankly it's flawless... anything but "dead sounding" and downright kicks ass. So I'm not sure what's going on here but I can only go by what I received from them.

All the other crap aside, there do seem to be a lot of comments pertaining to "dead sounding" or "lifeless" Kiesel/Carvin guitars, and I guess everyone hears things differently. My 2013 Carvin sounds great, its an all walnut neckthrough model and its my main player; love its tone.

I also stand by my initial comment and say the guitar I had all the action issues with sounded phenomenal in regards to tone.

I even commented this in my original NGD post on Sevenstring:

"The other thing I was skeptical of was how much punch and sustain it might or might not have in relation to weight. I was pleasantly surprised and despite being relatively light (6.8 lbs), this thing has tons of punch and sustain. I now know what people mean when they describe a guitar as being "alive" or "lively"."

That's why I was so put out to have to return it. Really wanted them to correct the issues I had.

 

[mrcak]

Highly recommended, my ass. If I waited and received a guitar with that bridge setup I wouldn't be able to send it back fast enough.

 

[phil b]

Another member mentioned this, and I'm not sure if this picture shows the neck angle/pocket as maybe contributing to the issue I had with saddle height, but here is the only pic that would show that relationship:

Holy crap!! Given the pics of the bridge saddles height and the thickness of the neck in that pocket, Jeff Kiessel should be embarrassed that that guitar went out the door to begin with. Thats some amateur work/design right there..

 

[Hiveheart]

I think Kiesel are making some of the best guitars available today. I've played a couple of dozen of their instruments, both by friends who have ordered them, and also at the NAMM show. And now I have a Vader V6X on order! Every single instrument I touched was top notch. The craftsmanship was top tier. None better imo. The finishes and options are also incredible ... and perhaps most importantly, their instruments sound excellent!

This all from a custom shop that allows you to select your choice of woods, colors, finishes, etc. And their prices are half of what you would pay from another boutique vendor. I would have to say that Kiesel is clearly the best value in today's market.

Just wanted to let you all know my experience ... from what I have seen, most players really dig their guitars. Highly recommended.

Rock on.

Well now we know that the ones from the NAMM show were good at the expense of parts from already paid in full guitars from other customers. That's inexcusable. There is also a reason that they are cheaper than other boutique companies. This thread and the one I linked earlier are prime examples. How little does a company have to care about a customer in this day and age with huge forums and they tell you that they might butcher your paid in full guitar for parts. That's fucking shameful.

 

[ob1clyde]

Ok I gotta chime in here. I know MetalHead Mike has a legit issue and a few others seem to be chiming in with shitty customer service stories. But I don't get some of the comments. I just got a Kiesel VM7 and frankly it's flawless... anything but "dead sounding" and downright kicks ass. So I'm not sure what's going on here but I can only go by what I received from them.

..

Im glad you got a good one! If you go to the Kiesel page, like any other brand website it will be full of happy people with beautiful guitars. One bad grape doesnt ruin the bunch. Things happen, it just sucks when it happens to you!

Ive had cheaper guitars of all sorts that play better than expensixe ones, which is why I havent ever held onto a Les Paul Custom until recently. They never played or stayed in tune as good as my old carvins.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I've got two Carvin's and am thrilled with both. I know shit happens, but I also read these kinds of threads with a grain of salt. It's like any relationship "conflict": when you only know one side of the story, the narrative tends to favor the only side you've heard. People are so eager to take to the internet to complain anyway. Until you know both sides of the story, you don't really know when a gripe is legitimate, or a retaliatory response when their unreasonable demands were rebuffed, or somewhere in between. Anyone who's worked in customer service knows what I'm taking about. I'm not suggesting that the OP's complaint isn't legitimate by any means, just that unless a company has a disproportionately high incidence of poor customer satisfaction, situations that seem like they're "exceptional" might in fact be the exceptions. FWIW.

I don't know about Kiesel's overall customer satisfaction in regards to total sales out the door, but taking into account the responses I've read here and in the same thread I posted on Sevenstring, the incidence of poor customer service and incidence of guitars having inexcusable QC issues is " disproportionately high"; by a very wide margin.

 

[Shawn Lutz]

I wouldn't have hung up on the asshole myself and torn into his ass right then and there... and requested one of two things...a full refund and/or a face to face visit just to see if he'd be a dickhead in person and willing to engage in fist-a-cuffs if he was a dickhead I'd get a refund either way haha.

With the comments about raping parts for NAMM...I wouldn't touch their products with a 10 foot pole. I get the importance of NAMM for MFG's but if you neglect customer service and general day to day business then you don't need to be in business to begin with. I work in broadcast and get similar from some MFG's on the NAB show...shit like we're delayed because we're preparing for NAB...we can't get you a price quote because your sale slugs are NAB blah blah blah

 

[MYLILSS]

I think Kiesel are making some of the best guitars available today. I've played a couple of dozen of their instruments, both by friends who have ordered them, and also at the NAMM show. And now I have a Vader V6X on order! Every single instrument I touched was top notch. The craftsmanship was top tier. None better imo. The finishes and options are also incredible ... and perhaps most importantly, their instruments sound excellent!

This all from a custom shop that allows you to select your choice of woods, colors, finishes, etc. And their prices are half of what you would pay from another boutique vendor. I would have to say that Kiesel is clearly the best value in today's market.

Just wanted to let you all know my experience ... from what I have seen, most players really dig their guitars. Highly recommended.

Rock on.

This has been my experience as well, and I even have buddies playing kiesel now as a result of trying out my guitars. I definitely don't dispute the original poster's story, and issues arise with every company but my experiences have been top notch

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I wouldn't have hung up on the asshole myself and torn into his ass right then and there... and requested one of two things...a full refund and/or a face to face visit just to see if he'd be a dickhead in person and willing to engage in fist-a-cuffs if he was a dickhead I'd get a refund either way haha.

With the comments about raping parts for NAMM...I wouldn't touch their products with a 10 foot pole. I get the importance of NAMM for MFG's but if you neglect customer service and general day to day business then you don't need to be in business to begin with. I work in broadcast and get similar from some MFG's on the NAB show...shit like we're delayed because we're preparing for NAB...we can't get you a price quote because your sale slugs are NAB blah blah blah

I hear ya. I don't know how I kept my cool TBH, because the way he was talking to me would have been enough to get Mother Teresa fighting mad. I was beyond pissed for sure and really wanted to tell him to just refund my cc right then and there, but I didn't want to let this douche cause me to cancel a build I had been anticipating for three months. In hind sight I must of been out of my head to have let them ship it to me in the first place after his comment regarding them potentially robbing parts off my complete, ready to ship, paid in full guitar for the NAMM show.

 

[xzacx]

Until you know both sides of the story, you don't really know when a gripe is legitimate, or a retaliatory response when their unreasonable demands were rebuffed, or somewhere in between.

Kiesel's side of the story is the backwards neck angle and jacked up bridge saddles. Even if 100% of the customer service complaints were made up, that's a poorly made guitar.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Until you know both sides of the story, you don't really know when a gripe is legitimate, or a retaliatory response when their unreasonable demands were rebuffed, or somewhere in between.

Kiesel's side of the story is the backwards neck angle and jacked up bridge saddles. Even if 100% of the customer service complaints were made up, that's a poorly made guitar.

Not saying your accusing me of fabricating the conversation with Mr. Jones and I understand its the nature of these situations to have doubt in one side of the story or the other, especially when you don't know a guy from Adam, but what I posted is 100% word for word how that conversion went. Absolutely zero fluff, exaggeration, or fabrication. If I could have recorded the conversation, what you read here is exactly what you would have heard had you been able to tap into the conversation.

 

[Bluplirst]

I think Kiesel are making some of the best guitars available today. I've played a couple of dozen of their instruments, both by friends who have ordered them, and also at the NAMM show. And now I have a Vader V6X on order! Every single instrument I touched was top notch. The craftsmanship was top tier. None better imo. The finishes and options are also incredible ... and perhaps most importantly, their instruments sound excellent!

This all from a custom shop that allows you to select your choice of woods, colors, finishes, etc. And their prices are half of what you would pay from another boutique vendor. I would have to say that Kiesel is clearly the best value in today's market.

Just wanted to let you all know my experience ... from what I have seen, most players really dig their guitars. Highly recommended.

Rock on.

Hopefully your Vader doesnt have any issues! Let us know when it shows up.

 

[animal]

So who else has Keisel here?

I have like I said seen a few of you guys rave about them but a common description I see online is "thin and lifeless" I have personally never played one. Have been curious but also have been turned off by that description above.

They can look great and for a custom the price seems great but for me at the end of the day, how does it play and how does it sound?

What do you expect with the rage of woods that people can't even pronounce let alone have an idea what it might sound like in a guitar?

Its 100% aesthetics only

 

[mniel8195]

It is much cheaper to call a customer and say there was a build issue and just redo it then to loose potential customers through forum discussions like this.

 

[godgrinder]

Seems like a common issue with them - if you check the photos on their IG page some of these hipshot loaded guitars have their saddles nearly maxed out too...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRbnNQ6hNBI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRKvYQBByWu/

 

[xzacx]

Until you know both sides of the story, you don't really know when a gripe is legitimate, or a retaliatory response when their unreasonable demands were rebuffed, or somewhere in between.

Kiesel's side of the story is the backwards neck angle and jacked up bridge saddles. Even if 100% of the customer service complaints were made up, that's a poorly made guitar.

Not saying your accusing me of fabricating the conversation with Mr. Jones and I understand its the nature of these situations to have doubt in one side of the story or the other, especially when you don't know a guy from Adam, but what I posted is 100% word for word how that conversion went. Absolutely zero fluff, exaggeration, or fabrication. If I could have recorded the conversation, what you read here is exactly what you would have heard had you been able to tap into the conversation.

Sorry man, didn't mean to imply that at all - was just saying there was no need to give them the benefit of the doubt when the guitar's problem spoke for itself.

 

[prodrigu]

I am surprised people at Kiesel seem to be ignoring this thread, I do follow them on Facebook and was considering a build at some point but this is definitely a red flag.

Many years ago I commissioned a Suhr build from one of their dealers, Standard Carvetop. When the guitar arrived the book match of the top was really not great, no so much their fault as the problem really was the asymmetric nature of the wood when the carving was done which yielded quite different patterns on each side; the guitar was great but that cosmetic thing was bothering me a bit. Exchanged some emails with John Suhr and he asked me to send the guitar back; he sold to another dealer at a good discount (I believe) and build me a brand new one (no charges). Since then I have bough 10+ new guitars from them.