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An annoying customer service experience

#141
Yeah, as far as good customer service... I had an SKB effects board that had one of those "wall wart" power supplies. When it went out, I couldn't find a replacement anywhere, including online. I even ordered one from a "bulk" online store but the polarity was wrong. I finally e-mailed SKB and relayed to them my experince hoping they could help me out. I fully expected to pay for the item but the guy replied back the same day asking for my shipping address and said he would have a replacement power supplied shipped to me over night... no charge. When I decided to finally upgrade my pedal board, which brand would you guess I went with?
 
#142
I see exactly what the OP is saying.. I would say that they aren't exclusive pots, go elsewhere don't waste your money dealing with having to buy something else you don't like or need! Mark this down as a place NOT to contact about the "little stuff". Spend your "big" bucks there, just hope you don't need anything small?
 
#143
Kingskippy2001 said:
I see exactly what the OP is saying.. I would say that they aren't exclusive pots, go elsewhere don't waste your money dealing with having to buy something else you don't like or need! Mark this down as a place NOT to contact about the "little stuff". Spend your "big" bucks there, just hope you don't need anything small?
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After thinking about this for a day I can understand the OP's position. I too have a Ken Smith and if anything happened to it I would naturally think of contacting Ken. Like KingSkippy said on the "small stuff" it might be more trouble than it's worth. I use the KS strings so the suggestion of buying a set would be ok with me. Ken offered the help the OP needed But, I can see how the OP was a little put off.
 
#144
That's amazing!!!

E-mail Yves Carbonne and ask him what Ken said to him at NAMM a few years ago. Outstanding diatribe for sure.......

82Daion said:
So, I recently traded for a Ken Smith BT5 Elite that needed some pots replaced, since one of the preamp circuit boards had been bent in such a way that it snapped the backs off the bass and treble pots.

I emailed Ken about the problem, and received this in return:



:spit:

Sterling service, indeed. I wish that the quality of service backed up the quality of the bass...
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#145
I only read the first 5 posts and skipped to the end....but im siding with the manufacturer. You didnt buy it new, you said you emailed him about the problem. You should have emailed him asking how much the parts were and maybe you woulda got them for free, maybe not, either way its not the manufacturers responsability to warranty the thing for life. Who knows what the original email said, maybe you were bitchy about a bass you didnt even buy from him and he was nicely telling you to go hug a root.
 
#146
maybe i misunderstood the post. when i first read it i thought you had a complaint about the bass and wanted it sent in and fixed..... If you were just trying to order parts why wouldnt he just bill you for them and the shipping? As someone who worked in an online business (motocross parts) Why not ship 2 little 5$ parts and charge 10$ shipping and make a happy customer? Who knows i can see if it said free shipping i wouldnt send them either but if your willing to pay the shipping i dont see whats a big deal.
 
#147
#148
GM60466 said:
Wow! I've been known to wave the flames for Ken's basses on this board, and I don't even own one. They are some of the finest instruments made on the planet. I don't not understand why their parts sales policy doesn't have any wiggle room for a new customer. Especially in these economic times.
Ken, bad ink doesn't always wash off.

G
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Could it be that it's because of these economic times, he's had to resort to minimum orders in order to cover processing fees and such? He's in business to make money and you don't do that by giving stuff away.

From a customer service standpoint and based solely on what the OP posted, Ken or whoever replied to the email could have probably handled the situation better.
 
#149
sound of bass said:
To me it doesnt matter that you're in business, throwing a customer of your product a bone every now and then IS standard practice, and to me is expected. What better way to retain loyal customers and gain new ones than with a little polite courtesy and occassional freebe?
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I give clients a lot of free service ... but not if they expect it.
 
#150
Gator cases would be a name on my list. They sent me new wheels for a rolling rack for free even when I offered to pay/be directed to a supplier.

Ernie Ball has been consistently good.

SWR & Avatar Speakers have been great whenever I needed service/advice.

On the DB side-New Standard Bass aka Arnold Schnitzer & Wil Di Sola have been more than amazing when I've had questions about my Cleveland. When I'm ready to drop major $$$$ on a bass, I am going to these guys first. If I only have $10-15k, a carved New Standard, but if i can get $20-30k, a bass made by Arnold.
 
#152
I've never dealt with Ken Smith, but I think he's totally outta line on this one.

I bought a used Ernie Ball Musicman Sterling that was missing the nob on the three position pickup selector. I checked around locally and couldn't find anything that fit, so I called EBMM to see if they either sold them or could point me in the right direction... the customer service rep said, "hey no problem man, give me your address, I'll drop one in the mail today, glad you like your new bass... is there anything else I can do for you?" I got the piece a few days later with some cool EBMM stickers, no charge. COOL!

Another experience of mine was with Demeter. I bought a new Compulator which worked like a dream for about a year and a half, when it started putting out nothing but high pitch squeals. I thought I was kinda screwed since the warranty had expired, but needed to fix the problem, so I called Adam at Demeter to ask if there was anything he could suggest. We ran through the trouble shooting process for a bit and he finally said "send me the pedal, and I'll see what I can do". About two weeks later, I called to see what was happening and Adam tells me, "we've checked your pedal out and everything seems to be working fine now, but we have had trouble with faulty switches in the past, so we're just going to build you a new pedal". Not too long after that I received a spanking new Compulator in the mail... no charge. AWESOME!

This kind of service makes all the difference. I would never hesitate to buy anything from either of these companies in the future because I know that not only are their products fantastic, but they stand behind them 100%.
 
#153
Kingskippy2001 said:
I see exactly what the OP is saying.. I would say that they aren't exclusive pots, go elsewhere don't waste your money dealing with having to buy something else you don't like or need! Mark this down as a place NOT to contact about the "little stuff". Spend your "big" bucks there, just hope you don't need anything small?
Click to expand...

Nope, sorry. Why spend the "big bucks" there and hope you don't get kicked in the nads on service??? There are plenty of quality bass makers out there that will sell you not only a great bass, but great service as well! I'd avoid dealing with someone like Ken Smith completely (having read numerous negative posts about his past track record...).
 
#154
theshadow2001 said:
Ken doesn't need to be polite, or good or bad service. He's going to sell basses anyway.
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Not as many, however. I know of a few people on here that were considering a Smith bass until they heard about his CS and overall miserable demeanor. They bought elsewhere.

I myself love the Smith tone, but would never buy one (new or used), based solely on his attitude! I ain't giving him the money, and I refuse to advertise for him by playing one!
 
#155
Eric618 said:
Not as many, however. I know of a few people on here that were considering a Smith bass until they heard about his CS and overall miserable demeanor. They bought elsewhere.

I myself love the Smith tone, but would never buy one (new or used), based solely on his attitude! I ain't giving him the money, and I refuse to advertise for him by playing one!
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The wait time is 3 to 4 months maybe longer on a bass which means he more than likely has a back log of basses to make for customers. Back log means he already has plenty of customers, if he loses a few because he is the way he is then I'm sure it makes absolutely no difference to his business. Since he can only make so many basses has a back log he only needs so many customers per year. I don't believe he needs the custom of those that refuse to buy one from him anyway.
 
#157
geeeeeez....

he sells the parts as a SET ONLY... he is willing to break up the set for you if you get a pack of strings to make up for it...

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He is willing to sell you those parts basically for the price of a set of strings...

end of story...

if you have a problem... buy the whole kit... then you will have extra parts and would have wasted lots of money....



P1070161.jpg
 
#158
Spector_Ray said:
He's in business to make money and you don't do that by giving stuff away.
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As has been pointed out in this thread a few times already, maintaining good customer relationships and, more importantly, creating a long-term relationship with the customer is better for business and justifies any small loss from shipping costs (which would be a few dollars loss, after all). Ideally, you don't want a customer who will shop one of your products once. You want a satisfied customer who will come back and purchase more products. Maybe next time he'll even buy a new Ken Smith and, more importantly, will tell his friends how satisfied he is with his bass and customer service.

A disgruntled customer would essentially refrain from any further business transactions and seek offers from competitors. What is worse, he's going to tell his friends about his experience (not to mention post his comments in public locations such as web forums).
 
#160
I love my Ken Smith and wouldn't give it up for the world! I've never had a bad experience with Ken so I have no issue there. I just got back from Sadowsky's in Brooklyn. I accidently kicked the bass/treble knob last week while the bass was on a stand. the whole knob wobbled like a weeble. So today I took a drive out to Rogers. Long story short they fixed the knob in 10 minutes and gave me a tool for removing the knobs... all at NO CHARGE! tha was very cool customer service. Thanks Jason and Roger. :hyper:
 

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