kentucky mandolins

[mgnoble]

i wanted to start pickin mando and i always wanted a kentucky. should have done more research.i bought a ky.from mandolin hut in knoxville tenn. after a year and a half the top caved in and the back was cracking.i had it checked out,and was told it was junk.the mandolin hut was of no help the ky's only have a 1 year warranty that was my fault for not checking saga will not answer my e-mails so beware of people that do not stand behind there product

[Soupy1957]

Didn't own my Kentucky mandolins for all that long, (MAYBE a "year") before I sold them, but they seemed fine. I owned the KM620B and the KM 700 (I think it was). Both were in good shape when they came in, and didn't change over the time I owned them, so I can't say I had any trouble, personally.

-Soupy1957

[onassis]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Customer service does not seem to be Saga's strong suit. One of the down sides of large, ubiquitous companies, I guess.

[nathanlivers]

I still have my 1985 KM1000, its a great little mandolin, if your gonna get a Kentucky get an older one, they were made better, the 1000 series or the 1500 series, are the best I've heard, out of Kentucky mandos anyway

[rgray]

Sorry to hear of your trouble. I can't speak to my limited experience but I did a lot of research before buying my Kentucky 505 and never heard of this problem. I am curious as to what model you had. As bad as this is for you, I don't think that you can fault The Mandolin Hut (if you are). Saga should answer your e-mails simply because their website states that a qualified rep will answer. But due to their large corporate identity, I would expect the answer to be that their warranty period is as advertised with no exceptions.

[MikeEdgerton]

You don't mention a model number, or the conditions it was stored in. I've never had a problem with a Kentucky product. You didn't come in asking for help on the product, it looks more like a drive by slam on the seller and the manufacturer and those don't play well here. Perhaps you could post a picture of your mandolin so we could see where it failed.

[nathanlivers]

sounds like it was left in the hot sun:whistling:

[BadeInBulverde]

bought new from Elderly ... Still hanging in there ... no problems ... it's pretty heavy compared to other F5's I have and have played ... but always sounded OK to my uneducated ear.

[Ken Olmstead]

Sounds like a rare incident. I guess I would not expect much from Saga in terms of top flight support, would be nice, but unusual for a company of its MO.

I can name at least 3 big name, high enders that I have heard about similar occurances.

Would be nice to see Saga come through for you depending on the circumstances. Sorry about your mandolin, that kind of stuff leaves a mark!!

[Alex Orr]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'm gonna posit you're in the extreme minority on this one, which is certainly not much consolation. Personally, I've had a KM380S for about three years and it's taken it's share of beatings and keeps playing. No complaints.

[Jim MacDaniel]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but based upon feedback aboout Kentucky mandolins I've read here in the MC forums, it sounds like yours is a rare occurence. I can't speak to Saga's customer service from a first hand basis, but I've owned three late-model all-solid MIC Kentucky's (KM-250S, KMK-174, and now a KM-172), and have enjoyed playing them all with absolutely no issues.

[Ted Eschliman]

Grievances, personal and corporate: The Cafe discussion board is intended to be a nurturing community. While it is fair game discussing vendor corporate policies, malevolent harassment of individual employees, including posting names, email address, or any other personal contact information will not be tolerated. For example, a concern about a manufacturer's warranty policy or a reseller's return policy is permissible. Using the board to malign or leverage personal advantage in a conflict is strictly forbidden. Though intent or motivation are not always provable, the moderators reserve full right in deeming whether or not comments made are consistent with policy, and may take action to edit, delete, or when necessary, revoke posting privileges. (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/faq.php)

Just to be clear, there are some bold and unsubstantiated details outlined in the original post. First time poster, fuzzy and undocumented correspondence between customer, retailer, and manufacturer, we really don't know any better if this is a coarse attempt to publically slam some parties or not. While the complaint may well be legitimate, there is not enough proof that steps to resolve this privately have been taken.

This is not the venue to simply vent. Let's try to resolve this offline first.