Ugly Christmas Sweater

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/02) */
This is in response to my customer's complaint concerning a Warmoth guitar neck
He claimed that the neck is destroyed and that I'm responsible for itI don't quite understand what he means by destroyed and why it is I'm responsible
He
shaped and contoured the frets and prep sanded the neck for me to sprayBut while doing so he allowed the fine metal powder off of the fret wire to get in to the wood and stain the neck gray in many areasI told him to be very careful of that since hard maple will absorb stains and contaminants and they are virtually impossible to get out
Since all the gray would not come out he asked me to apply an amber tint to give the wood some color and to mute the grayHe approved the color via e-mail photos and told me to finish itHis customer though after seeing the neck's color didn't like itSo then it had to be stripped and lacquered again
He then took the neck and he stripped it with acetone which worked well but did not remove much more of the gray stainHe did sand it some in an effort to remove the gray stain but again it made little difference
He then gave the neck back to me and I lightly sanded it with grit paper to remove the scratches he left behindAnd then I finished it in a clear satin lacquerThe gray staining was still evident but he was still going to present it to the customer according to him
I did have trouble with the headstock logoThat's where our dispute startedThe first one lifted and came loose and the second appeared to have a split in itI sent him a photo of it and asked that he call me(I wanted to see if he had a solution for it since these logos seemed to be of poor qualityI finished a neck for him previously and we had trouble with the logos but the second worked outI recommended another supplier but he didn't want to change)Anyway, when he called I wasn't able to talk but called him back an hour later and had to leave a voice mailInstead of calling me he e-mailed and told me that the neck was destroyed and that he wanted me to pay for a new neck(Again I don't know where destroyed came from since he didn't even have it in his hands where he could look it over)
I then called him and had to leave a voice mailI was quite angry and told him that our relationship was through and I wanted his address so that I could mail it back to himHe then e-mailed me again suggesting that I replace the neck or that he would take further actionIn that e-mail he did include his address(I can send copies of our e-mails if needed)
He did all the preparation and he payed me $for a light prep sanding and lacquering
I didn't even get a chance to charge him for re-doing it a second timeI will not replace the neck, I did not do anything to "destroy" it
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The problem with String King's response is he refuses to understand the basis of the issueThe color of the original finish wasn't the primary issueHe did not mask the inlays that are silver in color and by doing so had turned the inlays goldThe primary issue with the finish was that it CAME OFF in my hand and REQUIRED the neck to be stripped to bare woodIn doing so, the dyes from the tint which were yellow seeped into the wood requiring the neck to be sanded into significantlyThis sanding took the neck out of spec and created more issuesThe gray String King speaks of was never really the issue at allThe gray didn't take the neck out of spec, the tinted finish did however because the only way to remove it was to sand into the wood significantly
The other reason the neck needed to be stripped was because String King failed to apply the decal under the lacquer correctlyThe decal goes under the finish.This decal lifted under the finish around the edgesString King claims these decals are substandard, they have been successfully used by other luthiers and myself without issueThe lacquer was applied on top of the decal and buffed out by string kingThe logo was then raised which is not what is supposed to happenIt should be flush with the surface of the finishMy customer pointed it out and said that it was unacceptableIn closing the fact remains, that if the neck did not have to be stripped because of quality issues it would still be usable.String King should replace the neckLet's remember here that the neck didn't need to be stripped onceBUT TWICEThis took the neck out of spec.Too much wood had to be removed to remove the finishThe second finish had to be stripped because the decal was destroyed under the lacquerAgain! Didn't charge me for the second finish? Why would I get charged again when it wasn't done right the first time? Unbelievable!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/15) */
This is my final responseThe yellow amber cannot seep into the wood because it was applied over a sealerHow he managed to rub through the finish, I don't knowHe claims the original shape is now changed because of meThis is just inaccurateIf anyone changed the shape of the neck it was him by over sanding while trying to remove the gray stainHe told me that he was going try to remove more of itHe also claims that other luthiers have used his decalsI would like to know who they areIf he was so unhappy with my work why didn't he go to one of them after the first finishing job
Final Consumer Response /* (3000, 11, 2015/10/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The String King clearly misses the point again!
WHY WAS THE FINISH SANDED to bring it out of spec?
BECAUSE HE MESSED UP THE FINISH and decals TWICE!!!! The neck needed to have ALL the messed up finish removedTHAT'S WHY!!!
The PICTURE evidence proves everythingThe yellow was applied over a sealer? Well, you didn't apply finish correctly, what makes me think you applied sealer correctly? As to who works on my stuff.It is really none of your businessHow about the fact that you yourself successfully applied one of them?
Same decalsPoint provenString King is responsibleProven through photos of substandard quality of serviceI didn't rub through the finishSimple carnaubba wax didThis doesn't happen and hasn't happened to me in my years of guitar playing on over guitars I've ownedThe finish itself is substandardThe workmanship provided by the String King is also substandardAgain, not just an opinionThe supplied photos show this is substandard.This messed up neck actually forced me to refund my customer because he was sick of waitingString King said days, had the neck close to monthsScrewed it up not once, but twiceIf anyone reserves the right to be angry here it is meThis mess up didn't just cost me It cost my business $3,since my customer was refundedI'm being nice by offering to settle this for the cost of the neck aloneIf we go to court which will be the next step, you will then be responsible for the entire cost of the sale in which your mistakes caused the refund ofI would be happy to supply even more photographic evidence of the work String King provided

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2016/10/06) */
We do acknowledge the mistake of placing the customer in the wrong areaWe have cancelled the customers purchase as of 9-13-and we sent the customer a credit memo of that purchase on 9-13-We will also send the customer another copy of
the credit memo as of today 10-6-::