Fuming about Yamaha Cust. Service for a minute...

[J Gold]

Are you sure you’re not a guitarist or lead singer?
Sorry man, the guy was doing his job.

 

[JRA]

Fuming about Yamaha Cust. Service for a minute...

I have been trying to obtain a part number for a replacement pickguard for my Yamaha BB234 bass.

i gotta believe you made chris's list, too! i'm with @EngrSorenson: you lost sight of the goal! better luck next time!

This was the most boomerific op I've seen in a while.

 

[buldog5151bass]

And another vote for OP was the only one doing something wrong.

 

[ardgedee]

Another one!!!

On my next birthday
I’ll start threads in wrong forums
Hoping for haiku

With no season ref
it's actually senryu
rather than haiku
however it's still quite good
and may I suggest tanka?

 

[two fingers]

YAMAHA BASSES - Pickguard Planet

 

[Smooth_bass88]

one of the first rules of dealing with corporate customer service is to be very very kind and courteous to them, even if you're fully entitled

 

[DrBnz]

Now he started the conversation saying that he'd give you the info. The rest of his statement about Yamaha not recommending modifications should have gone on deaf ears. Ya coulda made the conversation a lot shorter and had a lot less frustration in your life if ya just ignore his statement and JUST focus on obtaining the info you need. .

 

[Aloe]

heck, the guy said 'we will give you the information and you'll be able to order the parts, but I'm obliged to warn you, your mods are at your own risk'. what's wrong with saying 'yeah, that's my risk, let's proceed and give me the part number'? what's the point of convincing the guy, his warning is pointless?

Yamaha basses always have been a tough platform to mod, but at least in the latest BB incarnation they finally have standard-sized pickups (but still that non-standard bridge holes on 5-stringers). when I replaced a preamp in my TRBX, I've found out that they use non-standard pots probably of some metric size and I need to take woodworking tools to be able to fit a regular CTS pot there.

 

[vegas532]

Yep..... you were. There were so many better ways you could have handled this.


I'm not a boomer..... but comments like yours still bet my back up. So only boomers can be rude to call centre staff?

This comment wasn't directed by his rudeness as much as the verbiage itself. I've worked in retail for a very long time and his choice of words in "giving them a piece of his mind" is a dead giveaway.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Sounds like you were unecessarily hostile.

Not any more so than one might get if you called an auto dealer to order a set of their fancy, factory hubcaps and was given grief about how modifying your car could damage it.

 

[eddododo]

Not only is this asinine, but if my experience on the internet is informative at all, then OP has posted a version that is somehow more flattering than what happened in reality

 

[E2942]

He was going to give you the information at the beginning of the conversation, now it's very unlikely that he will.
I've learned to smile & go along with the game to get what I want, because then you get what you want.

Right now you accomplished nothing, nada!

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Put yourself in their place. They are just doing their job. When our customer service/tech support gets a question from an end user about modifying one of our products, we need to give warnings as we do not know the skill level of the stranger on the phone. In the past, we learned about this the hard way. If we advise on how to do a modification to a product and then the customers screws it up, there have been times when they have called back saying we owe them complete replacement product. Also, if the customer starts using foul language, we consider that abuse of an employee and they are allowed to hang up on the customer. Just sayin.

I get what you're saying about the company covering its arse. But this was a pick guard, not new pickups. The company should account for what is being replaced and temper their response thusly. The OP was not asking for modification advice, he simply wanted a part. The guy at Yamaha made assumptions about the OP's skill level.
What should have happened was... "I can give you the part number, but we are required to tell you that mods can lead to damage. End of conversation. It should not have been the back and forth that it turned into.

 

[eddododo]

Not any more so than one might get if you called an auto dealer to order a set of their fancy, factory hubcaps and was given grief about how modifying your car could damage it.

Car manufacturers DO regularly warn of stuff like this

I think the "but they're professionals" was lame and over all the "Script" is kinda BS.People change pickguards everyday.

I also feel like that’s a fabricated quote, that OP is telling the story in an entirely narrative fashion, and that very little of the dialogue is accurate

 

[Geogio]

I thought it was ?

Maybe.... I counted 18... "I'll" is a conjunction. The Japanese used conjunctions but the particular conjunction for "I" and specifically for I being used in a future tense is different.

"~you ni naru” can be used again to express being able to do something in the future. "

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm niggling too much but I used to tinker with haiku on those midwatches when suddenly the watch activity slows down and the coffee gets brewed (2 or 3am).

After I was corrected from using conjunctions by a formal teacher of Japanese poetry who was Japanese, I had to get a little constructive in my approach.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

all companies will tell you not to modify their products. legally they need to so if you modify it, get hurt, they arent liable. it also voids any warranty, many people will try to modify something, screw it up, and expect warranty to cover it. not going to happen. doesnt matter if the biggest electrical component imaginable or the tiniest piece of plastic that does nothing. so just let them say it and move on. you went out of your way to be an a$$.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

It should not have been the back and forth that it turned into.

I agree with this. but it was the OP that choose to prolong the back and forth.

 

[J_Bass]

Well, you are from a country where everybody sues everybody for nothing.

Yamaha is just preventing that. I bet if I call Yamaha Europe I won't hear that. I think it's a good move from Yamaha.


Just go on Google and you'll find dozens of ridiculous disclaimers, just to avoid the famous American lawsuits.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

all companies will tell you not to modify their products. legally they need to so if you modify it, get hurt, they arent liable. it also voids any warranty, many people will try to modify something, screw it up, and expect warranty to cover it. not going to happen. doesnt matter if the biggest electrical component imaginable or the tiniest piece of plastic that does nothing. so just let them say it and move on. you went out of your way to be an a$$.

I totally agree. But was there any question about the bass being under warranty?
IMO, the guy at Yamaha went off-script when he said, "Well, they are professionals."
That was uncalled for. It carried implications. Up until then, the conversation seemed amicable.

So what's next? We can't change strings?
Does John Deere own Yamaha?

 

[Geogio]

Why I don't like D-tuners...

I one ordered one, put it on used it twice maybe three times and it blew apart so I called the store that I ordered it from and they basically said no can do, unless I remove the part and ship it back... did I lose it? No...

So I called back a couple days later talk to somebody different explainedwhat happened and explain how I was told that by another employee that I needed to send the part back... and he said basically what? That's stupid... and shipped the replacement.

So my advice to the op is to call them back, talk to somebody different, which you probably will, and try a different tact.
Or go to pickguard planet....
Or order a blank and fashion one.