Peavey/Crest Warranty Service Issues

raytsmith · #1 09-10-2010, 01:14 PM

Thought I'd share this in case anyone is interested...

On July 25, my Crest CC2800 crapped out on a gig and started tripping the circuit breaker, so I pulled it and put a CA9 in its place to finish the gig.

Got the amp home and tested it again, and it tripped the house breaker soon as it was turned on, with nothing else hooked up except the power cord. So I called Crest Customer Service, left a voice mail, got no answer. Sent an email, still no answer. Waited a week, sent two more emails and two more voice mails, still no response.

After two weeks, I started calling every Peavey/Crest dealer I could find, and finally found one in southern Indiana who would help me out. (Most Peavey service centers are not allowed to service Crest products for some reason).

So the dealer gets an RMA # and sends the amp to Peavey, and now after being sent off for over a month, the DEALER cannot get Peavey to call or email them back. I keep calling the dealer's service dept. every week, he keeps telling me that he calls and emails and no one ever gets back to him. I think he's more miffed/embarrassed about this than I am.

Its bad enough they won't call a customer back, but what kind of company won't even return calls to their own dealers ?

I've already bought a used Crown XTI ( my first non-Crest amp) to use in the meantime, and I don't begrudge a long repair if they are that backed up with broken amps, but how long does it take to simply return a phone call or email?

thumpbass1 · #2 09-10-2010, 01:38 PM

WOW! So the legendary Peavey customer service has now joined the lower ranks of the "Just ignore them and maybe they'll go away." school of customer service that plagues so many companies these days. Sorry about your trouble. Maybe you might want to let both Crest and Peavey know that you've been talking about your issue on a public musician forum looking for help and advice, since they don't seem to be acting like they are concerned at all. Maybe that'll wake sombody up. I hope you get an answer from somebody soon. I got a feeling it's some confusion, and maybe back and forth nonsense, between both Crest and Peavey people as to who is responsible to sort out your issue.

raytsmith · #3 09-10-2010, 01:51 PM

Actually, the dealer just now called to say that Peavey finally called him back -

Word is their 'box-opener-guy' is a week behind schedule, and that once the box gets opened, it could take up to two more weeks to make the repair.

So it'll be at least 3 more weeks before I get anything back, but at least Peavey Service finally raised their head and acknowledged that the outside world exists...

If only they had done this sooner, I might have bought another Crest for a spare instead of the Crown.

thumpbass1 · #4 09-10-2010, 02:06 PM

I'm glad somebody finally answered back. I hope they get it fixed and make things good with you.

seamonkey · #5 09-10-2010, 02:42 PM

I sure like companies with warranty exchange programs. Just exchange it.

None of this ship it in, wait until it's fixed, then they ship it back.

raytsmith · #6 09-10-2010, 04:00 PM

Yeah, really. An exchange program would be great.

I'm having a similar issue with Panasonic - 8 month old 50" plasma with a bad main board. Part has been on backorder since at least late May, and they won't even entertain the idea of replacing the set or taking a part out of one in the warehouse to fix mine. They just make me wait.
Talk about a racket - they sell TVs, give out a warranty, but don't bother to make spare parts. Sounds borderline criminal to me.

Warranty services have been burnin' my butt lately.

Stu L. · #7 09-10-2010, 04:26 PM

I had a brand new Crest CD1500 pop a brand new PAS speaker. Brand new as in just opened the box for the install. Amp went straight dc and blew the speaker almost instantly. They replaced the amp, but I was on the hook for a recone. Still pretty pissed over that one. And the speaker shop, Freeman Tuell in Dallas, verified the speaker was not the issue. Another reason why PV/Crest is not used by me.

MNAirHead · #8 09-10-2010, 07:13 PM

Next time call Meridian direct.. will save a ton of hassle.

Plstrns · #9 09-10-2010, 07:26 PM

I've called Peavey customer service 3 times in 3 weeks. Each time I spoke to someone, so I didn't need to leave a voice message.

raytsmith · #10 09-11-2010, 12:36 PM

Well, I have not tried to contact Peavey myself, it was the Crest bunch that was ignoring me. The dealer is the one who couldn't get a call back from Peavey.

Looks as if both Crest and Peavey service centers are in Meridian, but with different street addresses and phone numbers.

From the 8 or so calls I made to Crest over 2 weeks, I learned that their 'Customer Service Group' consists of one guy named Anthony. No one would relay a message, they would only forward me to Anthony's voice mail, and he would not pick up or return phone calls.

They ought to just consolidate service centers and ignore customers from a central location...

raytsmith · #11 09-11-2010, 01:02 PM

I guess that last one sounded bitter, and I suppose it was.

If Crest is going to publish voice mail and email addresses, they should answer them. Or at least have someone answer calls as they come in and take it upon themselves to relay information.

Had they done so, I could have gotten an RMA and sent the amp in myself. I shouldn't have had to beat the bushes for 2 weeks trying to get help.

This would have put me a couple weeks ahead in the broken amp queue, saved me a trip to Indiana, and saved the dealer from having to get involved in something that they don't stand to make any money from to begin with.

I'm sure they will make good on this eventually, but their communications need some attention. People who spend their dollars on new equipment these days deserve better.

BassmanPaul · #12 09-11-2010, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raytsmith

Yeah, really. An exchange program would be great.

I'm having a similar issue with Panasonic - 8 month old 50" plasma with a bad main board. Part has been on backorder since at least late May, and they won't even entertain the idea of replacing the set or taking a part out of one in the warehouse to fix mine. They just make me wait.
Talk about a racket - they sell TVs, give out a warranty, but don't bother to make spare parts. Sounds borderline criminal to me.

Warranty services have been burnin' my butt lately.

You mean you didn't buy a Sony??? Tsk tsk!

Paul

raytsmith · #13 09-12-2010, 11:09 AM

You got me there...we had a Sony in the exact same spot for 18 years and it never blinked.

I bought into the hype on how great the Panasonic sets were though reviews of Consumer Reports, Amazon, Crutchfield, etc.

live and learn...

raytsmith · #14 10-12-2010, 04:36 PM

As an update, I called Peavey today after several recent emails went unanswered, and after being on hold for about 40 minutes, they told me they had gotten the amp in and took it over to the Crest service folks.

They wanted to transfer me to Anthony's voice mail, which I thought would be more lost effort, but I guess the service guys conferred amongst themselves, being that my amp had been there for > 2 months, and after a few minutes Anthony came on the phone.

He told me that it was on the bench and they were having some problems with it but would finish it up today one way or the other and ship it out tomorrow, and thanked me for my patience. He seemed like a good guy, knew what he was talking about etc. and said they wanted to try and figure out the problem because it was something they had never seen before, but if not they would put in a new board and wrap it up today.

So hopefully this will end well in a few days.

But still they probably need to hire a few more people in both service departments - if nothing else, to free up people to communicate with customers. Happy customers are usually repeat customers.

MNAirHead · #15 10-12-2010, 04:54 PM

Next time .. get a customer service rep assigned to the task with a case number..

It's your secret.

rpsands · #16 10-12-2010, 05:02 PM

This is what you get for trying to amplify your instruments with toothpaste.

bassplayer8953 · #17 10-12-2010, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

Next time .. get a customer service rep assigned to the task with a case number..

It's your secret.

...that's IF you can ever get to talk to a live body...

...sounds like Peavey/Crest's c/s is going the way of their guitar/bass manufacturing: nonexistant. Next they'll be following Loud Technologies: right down the tube...

MrHeadfirst · #18 10-12-2010, 08:11 PM

my pv1600 bipack amp has been gone for repair, for 4 months now. and no one knows where it is. friggin ridiculous. granted, its the only piece of peavey gear i ever had break. still over the line. the music store owner gave me another one to use in the meantime, thankfully.