Agreed. I was just answering another user's question. My initial question to Mat was regarding contacting the CS directly versus the current path I'm stuck on in having a customer service person in the middle. As far as the dealer, it took so long that I missed my return window and they cannot take back a guitar once its been replaced by Gibson. I did try to force the issue of keeping the first guitar and getting it authenticated but Gibson insisted on having the guitar returned to them directly. I did receive a nice discount from the dealer for all the trouble, so a refund/repurchase would end up costing me more at this point.All this being said, I am going to hazard this is not in Mat's wheelhouse, respectfully.