Fender Rumble 100 v3- Blown components and Warranty issues

drbeanz456

drbeanz456

Feb 3, 2019
13
9
4,551
Burlington, Vermont
#1
After lurking theses forums for years I have a post that I think is worthy to get out there

I'm gonna try to keep this short but the TL: DR scoop is:
"A couple capacitors in my Fender Rumble 100 v3 blew up while it was still under warranty and Fender, nor Guitar center, nor my local Fender dealer couldn't help me till I bitch to Fender my self for a second time, and got a new amp for free"

I had a lot of difficulty finding anything on this issue and either its a super isolated incident or no one has said anything.

Day 1: A couple capacitors in my Rumble 100 blew while I was playing it-there was a loud POP! associated with a bright flash of light and smoke from the amp. I called Fender and they told me I should go to an authorized dealer 1hr 45min away. Instead I called a local boutique music store that sells Fender gear and they told me they can take care of the warranty work (sending it to Fender) as long as I have the receipt even though I bought it at Guitar center. I actually got the owner of the store on the phone and he told me that they are a authorized Fender dealer.

Day 2: Get my receipt and the amp over to this music store.

3 days later: I get a call from my local music store saying that they can't help me because I bought the Grey Limited edition Rumble 100 from Guitar Center-which was a guitar center special thing.

I call Guitar Center again telling them what this local store told me and again they won't help me if I didn't get pro-coverage. however they give me the warranty people phone number for Fender and I call them.

I get on the line with a Fender customer service rep. I tell him my store up to this point and they tell me I have to go to this service center 1hr 45min away. At this point I'm getting sick of this, this Rumble 100 broke under warranty and no one will do anything about it!!! I give they guy a lot of s**t (not going into detail here) and he them talks with his manager. The solution was for me to send a video to them proving the amp is broken, the sales receipt, and the serial number, and they'll send me a new one.

I get my amp from my local store, send Fender what they need and BAM! 5 days later in the mail a new Rumble 100 get's dropped off at my apt.

Don't get my wrong here guys, I love Fender and what they have done for the bass guitar and bass amps, but getting gear repaired under warranty shouldn't be this hard. I'll sways be a customer of theirs for as long as I need kicks ass amps and maybe a p-bass down the road. I'm just posting this because no one else has seem to have the issue and putting it out there may be able to help other navigate warranty service. You should always try to go to the store first before calling Fender.

What blows my mind about all of this is two things:
1. Why does Fender not know that this local store is an authorized dealer?
2. It's insane that with all the money and logistical power Guitar Center has that they can't help me at all.

Since it no longer matters if I get my broken Rumble 100 repaired anymore, I took it apart and found the issue....two. little. surface mount capacitors. burned up and did the whole thing in.
 

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#5
mmbongo said:
Yeah it was up to them, your local shop should not have been involved at all.
Click to expand...

I wish it was that simple :/ Guitar Center wouldn't even think about it if I didn't have pro-coverage. I think my local shop got involved because they are authorized to do that warranty return, they are also great people to work with, but unfortunately couldn't do much for me.
 
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#7
Wow. My opinion here, but you're way off base. You turned down GC's pro coverage (I would too). You took the risk that the amp would not need service (I would too). You gambled, you lost - so would I if my amp had failed. Fender asked you to return the amp to an authorized repair center.... OK, what did you expect? All the running around you did to "skip this step" is on you. Your local mom and pop might be an authorized Fender dealer, but are they an authorized Fender REPAIR center... ummm, my guess is probably not. They were going to send it back to Fender BUT they couldn't because the amp in question was exclusive to GC. That's not much of a stretch or a surprise. So your only avenue was to ship the amp to the Fender REPAIR center or drive it there yourself. But that's the only avenue you had to begin with. Then Fender steps WAY up and sends you a new amp without you returning the old. And your post reads like you're bashing Fender's service policy. The title to this thread should have read FENDER IS AWESOME AND STANDS 100% BEHIND THEIR AMPS.
 
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#9
Ducerro said:
Wow. My opinion here, but you're way off base. You turned down GC's pro coverage (I would too). You took the risk that the amp would not need service (I would too). You gambled, you lost - so would I if my amp had failed. Fender asked you to return the amp to an authorized repair center.... OK, what did you expect? All the running around you did to "skip this step" is on you. Your local mom and pop might be an authorized Fender dealer, but are they an authorized Fender REPAIR center... ummm, my guess is probably not. They were going to send it back to Fender BUT they couldn't because the amp in question was exclusive to GC. That's not much of a stretch or a surprise. So your only avenue was to ship the amp to the Fender REPAIR center or drive it there yourself. But that's the only avenue you had to begin with. Then Fender steps WAY up and sends you a new amp without you returning the old. And your post reads like you're bashing Fender's service policy. The title to this thread should have read FENDER IS AWESOME AND STANDS 100% BEHIND THEIR AMPS.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feed back. No i didn't mean to have it read that way. Yes they are great that they sent me a brand new unit, however I still don't understand why my local store wasn't in Fender's system for authorized repair/warranty. They have been in business with Fender for 10-15 years. I still think that's on them.
 
#11
drbeanz456 said:
I ended up talking to the store manager and my local Guitar Center.
Click to expand...

i suspect the issue may be the store manager, not guitar center. next time - although hopefully you won't have a next time - call corporate if the manager isn't willing to fulfill the company return/exchange policy. unfortunately a bad manager for any kind of store can leave customers unwilling to return, but i've bought from several local stores recently with no problems on returns/exchanges.
 
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#12
When you buy most anything these days, once you're out of the time window for a store return (7-30 days), you have to deal directly with the manufacturer for any warranty issues. This is not unique to Fender. That's why there are stickers or papers with lots of things that say "Do not contact store for warranty issues". The manufacturer will then do as Fender did and direct you to get the unit to the nearest authorized service depot (not the authorized dealer) for repair. If it's unrepairable, then they replace it.

I don't see anything unique or outrageous about the OP's situation. The only exceptions I can think of are local chain store auto parts or tools with a lifetime warranty. In that case you do the exchange where you bought the part or tool.
 
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#13
okcrum said:
When you buy most anything these days, once you're out of the time window for a store return (7-30 days), you have to deal directly with the manufacturer for any warranty issues. This is not unique to Fender. That's why there are stickers or papers with lots of things that say "Do not contact store for warranty issues". The manufacturer will then do as Fender did and direct you to get the unit to the nearest authorized service depot (not the authorized dealer) for repair. If it's unrepairable, then they replace it.

I don't see anything unique or outrageous about the OP's situation. The only exceptions I can think of are local chain store auto parts or tools with a lifetime warranty. In that case you do the exchange where you bought the part or tool.
Click to expand...

outrageous? no, but GC has i think a 45 day policy, and the store manager not only didn't live up to it but apparently lied about it.

as far as fender goes, i thought they came through nicely. many companies make you mail things in on your dime.
 
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#15
Well, I know you got some aggravation but I don’t think you were messed with all that much, and you got a free amp out of it. Repair the old one yourself and sell it. Maybe sell both and get a 200, or use the second one as a cab with the first one if possible.
 
#16
drbeanz456 said:
Thanks for the feed back. No i didn't mean to have it read that way. Yes they are great that they sent me a brand new unit, however I still don't understand why my local store wasn't in Fender's system for authorized repair/warranty. They have been in business with Fender for 10-15 years. I still think that's on them.
Click to expand...

Your local store owes you nothing. You gave them nothing. They offered to help you out on their own dime and obviously discovered that they couldn't submit the claim.
The issue here seems to be the 90min drive you didn't want to do or the patience to deal with Guitar Center as they process your warranty repair.
 
#17
drbeanz456 said:
Thanks for the feed back. No i didn't mean to have it read that way. Yes they are great that they sent me a brand new unit, however I still don't understand why my local store wasn't in Fender's system for authorized repair/warranty. They have been in business with Fender for 10-15 years. I still think that's on them.
Click to expand...

selling fender products doesn't make a store an authorized repair center. and btw, i don't recall ever seeing any amp repair done at GC stores - guitar/bass repairs, yes, but amps, no.
 
#18
I would seriously consider going to your local store for your next gear purchase, even if it costs a bit more than GC. I very much prefer to patronize the local Mom & Pop shop when possible, as long as the price difference isn't extraordinary.
 
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#19
Since everything is made in China these days, getting repairs is a total pain in the ass.
Like TV's and everything else electronic, today's amps are viewed as cheap and disposable.
I owned a music store for 20 years. When I was a dealer we had a service dept and warranty repaired stuff for Fender, Peavey, etc and they would reimburse us at a fair rate. Nowadays, the stuff is really hard to work on, difficult to find parts for, and the reimbursement is so low, techs don't want to mess with fixing it. They can make more money repairing keyboards, pro audio and tube amplifiers.
GC has the worst repair support in the world. In most markets, they don't have a local repair staff and they ship everything off for repair to Atlanta, at least they do here in the SE, and then you wait........
As for Fender, I own 3 Rumble amps a 40, 100 and 500 and they have all been great with no problems whatsoever. I feel better about owning the Fender stuff than I do about TC (Behringer) or the rest of the brands that have even less name recognition. A friend of mine had a nightmare experience with his Markbass and GC, it cost him $500.00 to fix an amp head that he paid $800.00 for, the wouldn't honor the extended warranty that he bought.
Fender is still a good company, from what I can tell, and I'm glad they stood up and did the right thing. They replaced a bad amp under warranty and that is an encouraging thing for the rest of us to know when selecting an amp brand.
 
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#20
laklandplayer said:
Since everything is made in China these days, getting repairs is a total pain in the ass.
Like TV's and everything else electronic, today's amps are viewed as cheap and disposable.
I owned a music store for 20 years. When I was a dealer we had a service dept and warranty repaired stuff for Fender, Peavey, etc and they would reimburse us at a fair rate. Nowadays, the stuff is really hard to work on, difficult to find parts for, and the reimbursement is so low, techs don't want to mess with fixing it. They can make more money repairing keyboards, pro audio and tube amplifiers.
GC has the worst repair support in the world. In most markets, they don't have a local repair staff and they ship everything off for repair to Atlanta, at least they do here in the SE, and then you wait........
As for Fender, I own 3 Rumble amps a 40, 100 and 500 and they have all been great with no problems whatsoever. I feel better about owning the Fender stuff than I do about TC (Behringer) or the rest of the brands that have even less name recognition. A friend of mine had a nightmare experience with his Markbass and GC, it cost him $500.00 to fix an amp head that he paid $800.00 for, the wouldn't honor the extended warranty that he bought.
Fender is still a good company, from what I can tell, and I'm glad they stood up and did the right thing. They replaced a bad amp under warranty and that is an encouraging thing for the rest of us to know when selecting an amp brand.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree. I m glad they replaced it too, I just wish I didn't have to bee a jerk about it :/ . I knew from the start that because it's a solid state made over seas it would have to get replaced. No one I know in my area will deal with solid state amps. I love solid state stuff, I have no problem with Fender making a solid stat amp, its how they make amazing amps for cheap!
 
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