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My terrible Mike Arnopol experience

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#41
Sorry for your experience but lets be big boys...
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Really?

Really???

After all the poor guy has been through you're bottom line is Monster needs to: "grow up"?

That aint right.

If a mechanic installed the same dead battery in Monster's car... 4 times... it would not be unreasonable to conclude there was a competence shortfall. Moreover, he shouldn't have to pay a fee for such a hot mess.

Monster deserves a 100% refund and an apology IMO - not insults.
 
#43
nomatic said:
Not suggesting being quiet just being discerning at the implications of ones actions....
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i'm pretty aware that i posted up over $1,000 to get a cab that had a defect, which i got to use for a year, and now i've been without a functiong cab since May of 2013. the only reason i might end up with a functioning cab in the near future is becuase kind people are offering to help me out with their time and energy.

i'm not taking one for the team just because every other person who sent Mike $1,000 got a working product.
 
#44
I dont typically trash anyone in this fashion on a public forum
because I don't roll this way and I find Mike to be the most responsive builders I have worked with.
Sh*t happens sometimes in small operations and only when there is a pattern do I advocate this kind of thread.
 
#45
nomatic said:
I dont typically trash anyone in this fashion on a public forum
because I don't roll this way and I find Mike to be the most responsive builders I have worked with.
Sh*t happens sometimes in small operations and only when there is a pattern do I advocate this kind of thread.
Click to expand...

I have not seen any trash? Monster gave an over view of his experiance. It was factual.

What is your beef here?
 
#46
Monster is posting honestly and calmly about his experience. This experience took place over an extended period, during which there was ample time and opportunity for the problems to be made right.

When I review or report on a product, I can only relay *my* experience. That's what everyone does, and only by seeing all the individual reports can you discern a pattern. Are you suggesting every buyer has to wait for bad reports from other buyers before reporting their own bad experiences? That would leave everyone waiting for everyone else.
 
#47
nomatic said:
I dont typically trash anyone in this fashion on a public forum
because I don't roll this way and I find Mike to be the most responsive builders I have worked with.
Sh*t happens sometimes in small operations and only when there is a pattern do I advocate this kind of thread.
Click to expand...

If no one ever talks a not their problems how will anyone aside from the vendor notice the pattern.
Some one has to speak up first.
Monster did this is a respectful and plain spoken way.
He has my respect.
 
#48
I had a near parallel experience a few years ago with getting a vintage tube head repaired. The guy was very competent with an EE degree and good reputation, an impressive looking test bench, and he was a nice guy in person. His shop was a two hour round-trip drive away from me. I had to bring the amp to him a total of three times, with a wait several months long between drop-off #3 and the final trip (the fourth time to his shop and back). It was a total of 8 months, 8 hours driving, and a bill of almost $300 that was fair, but certainly not discounted even a little.

What it all came down to after all the back and forth, was that this guy did not test the amp with a real bass cab. He plugged a bass into it, and only listened at low/practice volume through an all-purpose small 12" cab that looked more like a guitar cab than a bass cab. But he never cranked it, the way it is played live, so he never experienced the problem (a loud pop at peaks, like an arcing somewhere), until the last time he had the amp (after I had left a 15" Trace bass cab I owned with him to use for testing).

I do business with a local car mechanic who is affordable and very good. I asked him one time when picking up my car what made him so good. He said he test drives every repair job before he calls the customer to tell them it's ready to go.

Quality control and quality assurance are very imporatant!
 
#49
monsterthompson said:
i'm pretty aware that i posted up over $1,000 to get a cab that had a defect, which i got to use for a year, and now i've been without a functiong cab since May of 2013. the only reason i might end up with a functioning cab in the near future is becuase kind people are offering to help me out with their time and energy.

i'm not taking one for the team just because every other person who sent Mike $1,000 got a working product.
Click to expand...

As I've already expressed, this situation saddens me. I haven't bought from Mike but I don't like to think that he was trying to 'pull' anything. I'm more saddened by what you've experienced and had to go through. The point of the Authorized Builder system is to get builder that you can feel confident in both the service and the product.

I can also say that with a speaker cab, why wouldn't you switch out the speaker FIRST thing? It makes no sense to me. Even if you take that speaker and 'test' it in a different box or return it for warranty later, that cab should go out with a speaker that isn't in question and in new condition.

In terms of customer service, everyone should get at a minimum decent service. People who unfortunately end up with a faulty or damaged product for whatever reason (flaw of parts manufacture or build) should get extra attention to excellent service. It's only fair. AND its the way to turn a bad experience into a good experience.

I had something hand built and there was a problem. The maker took plenty of time, phone calls, and trouble shooting from across the country. Then sent a call tag, rushed the unit back across the country, put it at the top of his priorities, did trouble shooting, upgraded a number of related and unrelated parts then shipped it back to me 2-day. Not only did it turn a bad situation into a good one, I have total and full confidence in both the product and the builder.

I had a situation with a custom built bass with a long wait. After lots of optioning and 'handpicking' woods and components the production sheet somehow had been entered with incorrect information. When I got the first shots of the build, I said said Uh-oh...that's NOT the right design. They checked both their production sheet for the instrument then went through ALL our years old email correspondence to confirm what I had actually ordered...Again, halted production, rebuild from scratch, new woods chosen, including an offer to 'open the vaults' to even nicer and more exotic options at no charges, extra attention to details. After a 3 year wait, it turned a potentially disastrous situation into a good one.

This all didn't need to unfold this way.
 
#50
A thread headline with "my terrible experience with" is harming or trashing a reputation
whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.
This is a philosophical difference and I won't comment further..
Good luck to all involved.
 
#51
mbelue said:
If no one ever talks a not their problems how will anyone aside from the vendor notice the pattern.
Some one has to speak up first.
Monster did this is a respectful and plain spoken way.
He has my respect.
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Biiiiig +1

This is one of the primary purposes of an Internet forum such as Talkbass.

Monster shared his experience. That is exactly what he is supposed to do. I'm at a loss trying to comprehend why anyone would say that Monster should not have started this thread. But hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion. :hmm:
 
#52
nomatic said:
A thread headline with "my terrible experience with" is harming or trashing a reputation
whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.
This is a philosophical difference and I won't comment further..
Good luck to all involved.
Click to expand...

Monster had a terrible experience. The thread title is pure perfection IMO.

You are, of course, perfectly welcome to disagree, good sir. ;)
 
#53
nomatic said:
A thread headline with "my terrible experience with" is harming or trashing a reputation
whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.
This is a philosophical difference and I won't comment further..
Good luck to all involved.
Click to expand...

OP was totally correct in his assessment, he had a terrible experience with him and then calmly explained it (like a "big boy") and politely answered any and all questions to the best of his ability.

If somebody doesn't want their name trashed they should not go into business, especially if they aren't going to go the full way for customer satisfaction. You are not adding anything here, and neither am I, so let us both stop wasting space in Monster's thread.
 
#55
nomatic said:
A thread headline with "my terrible experience with" is harming or trashing a reputation
whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.
Click to expand...

Bad work and bad communication is harming or trashing a reputation whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.

Reporting on this kind of thing from ones own experience is potentially protecting others from experiencing the same.
 
#57
BurningSkies said:
I can also say that with a speaker cab, why wouldn't you switch out the speaker FIRST thing? It makes no sense to me. Even if you take that speaker and 'test' it in a different box or return it for warranty later, that cab should go out with a speaker that isn't in question and in new condition.
Click to expand...

my thought on this is that with a one-man shop and an expensive driver, he may not have had inventory to do a swap. i now know that swapping drivers is super simple (unscrew the grille, unscrew the mounts, and then disconnect with two thumb screws; no soldering or cutting wires). however, you can't do it if you don't have one in inventory.


also, i will say that my posting in the greenboy forums had a direct impact on Mike's communications. he even thanked me for opening his eyes to this issue. i do honestly hope this thread could be a similar tool to help him improve down the road. after all, if we don't know our weaknesses, how can we improve?

i'm aware this thread will get some traffic. i'm also aware that Mike probably won't post in it. i can understand and respect why he wouldn't. this isn't meant for us to have a public back-and-forth airing of dirty laundry. as i said, i posted it to be an honest account of what happened to me. YMMV. i certainly hope all his future customers have better experiences, and not that i damage his business.
 
#58
nomatic said:
Sh*t happens sometimes in small operations and only when there is a pattern do I advocate this kind of thread.
Click to expand...


As a small business owner I will say yes **** does happen. And as a Small business owner I will say he should have made it right. Ive redone work for free and Ive given refunds when things couldnt be made right even if it was because the customers expectations were unreasonable (not the case here). Its part of the game. You deliver what you promised even if it means you lose money in the process.

nomatic said:
A thread headline with "my terrible experience with" is harming or trashing a reputation
whether or not it is delivered in a calm tone or not.
This is a philosophical difference and I won't comment further..
Good luck to all involved.
Click to expand...

The headline is not whats harming. Its the fact that he could solve the issue.p He should have either built him a new cab using all new parts or refunded him his money after the second try.
 
#59
nomatic said:
Sorry about your experience man but It sounds like we are talking about a different
guy than I know? I think one should be careful when titling a thread on a forum "My terrible experience with" on the internet unless someone has show a pattern of dishonesty or incompetence. Mike Arnopol is the a man of high integrity and skill and yours is the first time I have heard something negative on this forum as a customer. When we put stuff like this out there it comes up in google searches and can have a bad effect on these small boutique operations. Titling a thread like this feels vindictive as we all know the implications at this point with the web. If Mike was like Dr Bass I would be all for letting the hounds out but this is not the case and I see no pattern of impropriety.
Sorry for your experience but lets be big boys.......
Click to expand...

+1 Worth repeating.
 
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