I recently approached both Cedar Creek and TKL case companies to establish a standard case line for the musical instruments I build. TKL owns both. The rep I spoke with from Cedar Creek was so arrogant and unaccommodating that I moved on to TKL. TKL's cases are made in China or Canada, depending on the price point. Cedar Creek's are made in the USA. So, reluctantly, I moved on to TKL.
I spoke (via email) to Laurie Apple, who seemed to welcome my business. She gve me her number but never took my call or returned my call. I ordered a couple of cases and they arrived about two weeks later. Both cases had flaws with the latches, but one was so severe I couldn't possibly resell it to one of my customers. The latches rattled and would pop open at the slightest bump of the case. TKL requested I send them pictures orf the case flaws, which I did, but they did not acknowledge they had received them. A day or so later, I contacted the sales person who took my order, Stephanie Hensal, again and she stated she had not received the email and asked me to resend the pictures.
My order was placed on 4/2/2014 and after hounding TKL I received an RA for the defective case, which I returned to them. UPS tracking confirmed they received the returned case on 4/16/2014. Over the course of the next 41 days there were 10 email exchanges with Stephanie Hensal on one threrad, and 22 on another. After getting nothing but pure runaround, and no promised updates from Stephanie, I contacted Laurie Apple,the manager. After another 7 emails in the final thread to Laurie, and a cursory new delivery date of 5/12/14, which came and went, I gave up and contacted Master Card to have my money returned.
At one time, TKL manufactured nice cases, though at that time, the owners had the same attitude to custom guitar builders as the person currently at the Cedar Creek office (they share the same facility I'm told). They apparently don't value customers unless you order cases by the hundreds. The ( barely acceptible) TKL cases of today appear to be made by the Canada Case Company and are also carried by Elderly Inmstruments; However, these are simply overpriced. Even at the supposed "builder price" of $159.00/per, they are about double the retail price they're worth. And, they are inferior products. Flimsy 3-ply cases, thrown together.
The sad thing about all this is that a company like TKL would take money from customers and excessively delay shipment of the purchase. It's also extremely disappointing to see a company that started out as "American" build nothing American, and only import substitutes from China and Canada for its product line. It's just under-engineered, cheap garbage at an ever increasing price to the consumer. I would urge anyone buying one to a few cases a a time go to a reputable company, with consistently good products. TKL is essentially defunct for anyone who remembers their once decent products.
TKL Products Corp Reviews
I recently approached both Cedar Creek and TKL case companies to establish a standard case line for the musical instruments I build. TKL owns both. The rep I spoke with from Cedar Creek was so arrogant and unaccommodating that I moved on to TKL. TKL's cases are made in China or Canada, depending on the price point. Cedar Creek's are made in the USA. So, reluctantly, I moved on to TKL.
I spoke (via email) to Laurie Apple, who seemed to welcome my business. She gve me her number but never took my call or returned my call. I ordered a couple of cases and they arrived about two weeks later. Both cases had flaws with the latches, but one was so severe I couldn't possibly resell it to one of my customers. The latches rattled and would pop open at the slightest bump of the case. TKL requested I send them pictures orf the case flaws, which I did, but they did not acknowledge they had received them. A day or so later, I contacted the sales person who took my order, Stephanie Hensal, again and she stated she had not received the email and asked me to resend the pictures.
My order was placed on 4/2/2014 and after hounding TKL I received an RA for the defective case, which I returned to them. UPS tracking confirmed they received the returned case on 4/16/2014. Over the course of the next 41 days there were 10 email exchanges with Stephanie Hensal on one threrad, and 22 on another. After getting nothing but pure runaround, and no promised updates from Stephanie, I contacted Laurie Apple,the manager. After another 7 emails in the final thread to Laurie, and a cursory new delivery date of 5/12/14, which came and went, I gave up and contacted Master Card to have my money returned.
At one time, TKL manufactured nice cases, though at that time, the owners had the same attitude to custom guitar builders as the person currently at the Cedar Creek office (they share the same facility I'm told). They apparently don't value customers unless you order cases by the hundreds. The ( barely acceptible) TKL cases of today appear to be made by the Canada Case Company and are also carried by Elderly Inmstruments; However, these are simply overpriced. Even at the supposed "builder price" of $159.00/per, they are about double the retail price they're worth. And, they are inferior products. Flimsy 3-ply cases, thrown together.
The sad thing about all this is that a company like TKL would take money from customers and excessively delay shipment of the purchase. It's also extremely disappointing to see a company that started out as "American" build nothing American, and only import substitutes from China and Canada for its product line. It's just under-engineered, cheap garbage at an ever increasing price to the consumer. I would urge anyone buying one to a few cases a a time go to a reputable company, with consistently good products. TKL is essentially defunct for anyone who remembers their once decent products.