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No Response from Gallien-Krueger Part Deptarment
- Thread starter LB75
- Start date
Same here. Playing phone tag, sitting on hold, pressing 1 for this and 4 for that bugs the crap out of me. Just answer the damn email.
The OP just wanted a price check. If a business cannot reply to something that simple, why give the email address at all? That is just plain dumb.
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I should have done the same a few months ago. My repair shop tried to contact GK for 4 weeks and never got a response. I did the same and finally got through after 4 days of trying. Hopefully my experience is very uncommon.
I really like this amp and don't want to get rid of it I just want it to work consistently. I did buy it "used" although the guy bought it and never actually did use it so the problem wasn't apparent until I bought it and played through it for a while. I emailed instead of calling because it is used and not under warranty so I figured that would give them time to deal with me between actual warranty issues but I guess I slipped through the cracks. Actually the cost of a new circuit board will probably be as much as I paid for the amp so it may not be worth it anyway but I thought I would ask.
You never know, they might provide you with a new board "pro bono". Even though the amp is out of warranty, some companies will look at things like this on a case by case basis and decide to provide the repair at no charge. If it means keeping you as a customer vs you going to another manufacturer forever, it may be worth it to them. Never hurts to ask. Make sure you give a full history of the amp so they know what they're dealing with. Good luck.
Eh - life is petty.
I'm busy, and I don't want to waste my time.
If your customer service is bad (and having a customer service email to which you don't respond is bad CS) then I'll just find another supplier.
No thanks, instead I'll just take my business to a competitor.
There are a few companies out there whose bad CS regarding emails lost them hundreds of thousands of my procurement dollars.
...maybe it's older folks out there (I'm only 36) - but to folks of my generation and younger, email has replaced the phone in the same way that the phone replaced paper mail for businesses of preceding generations.
Hasn't happened yet.
When Vishay irritated me, I went to Sprague.
When TI irritated me, I swapped a whole product line over to Analog Devices chips.
When Xycom/Pro-Face irritated me they got replaced by another industrial PC manufacturer.
Ummm...actually quite a huge number of companies do exactly that.
Yes - and email fires are just as important as phone call fires are just as important as paper mail fires.
Prioritizing one of the other is just deeming some of your customers second class citizens.
Don't want to waste time on CS emails? DON'T BOTHER HAVING A CS EMAIL CONTACT. Don't have one and then ignore it.
...but we're not talking 30 minutes. We're talking about:
Writing a company off for not responding in 30 minutes - short sighted. Writing off a company for repeatedly over long periods of time not responding to CS emails? A long term time and headache saver.
Quite the rant I think. Question... you've never actually contacted GK, have you? I have. Many times. Always got my problem solved on the same day. Let's just drop this for the time being, shall we? The OP asked a question and GK responded here the same day. This thread probably should have ended there....
If this is the case i think GK should remove their email adress from their support page.
I, likewise, e-mailed GK to inquire about 800RB knob inserts in November and received no reply. Does anybody know if these are available?
I rang about my 1001-II blowing fuses pretty consistently. Long story short, Bob Gallien pm'ed me on TB (yup, he's a member) and checked to make sure that my amp was working properly once I got it back.
GK have awesome CS, on a par with Hartke and EBMM IMHO. Brian Clarke is new to me but it seems GK still have people on here, a board filled their customers. The fact that they resolve issues like this in public where we all can see the outcome says a lot about how confident they are about their CS. And it's not without good reason.
I hope you get your problem fixed, if not be sure to post back. GK will not embarrass themselves on TB.
GK have awesome CS, on a par with Hartke and EBMM IMHO. Brian Clarke is new to me but it seems GK still have people on here, a board filled their customers. The fact that they resolve issues like this in public where we all can see the outcome says a lot about how confident they are about their CS. And it's not without good reason.
I hope you get your problem fixed, if not be sure to post back. GK will not embarrass themselves on TB.
That was easy. Maybe GK should reword their contact web page, so instead of saying:
"You may also contact our various departments directly via e-mail:
Parts Orders: [email protected]
Parts & accessories, product manuals, schematics, service center locations."
they should just say:
"since we have no intention of looking at these emails, just start a TB thread to complain about GK customer service contacts that millions of people will potentially read, then we will be there for you in no time, because we are surfing TB instead of checking customers emails."
I know this isn't a GK specific issue, it seems like EVERYONE'S company's email address is really a black hole.
"You may also contact our various departments directly via e-mail:
Parts Orders: [email protected]
Parts & accessories, product manuals, schematics, service center locations."
they should just say:
"since we have no intention of looking at these emails, just start a TB thread to complain about GK customer service contacts that millions of people will potentially read, then we will be there for you in no time, because we are surfing TB instead of checking customers emails."
I know this isn't a GK specific issue, it seems like EVERYONE'S company's email address is really a black hole.
It's almost 2011
Companies need to have email and respond to it. You should be able to email on your time, and they should respond the next business day. At least acknowledge they got the email.
Email them before you buy to see if they're non-responsive, if they are, forget them, they won't be responsive via the phone either. In some cases you're not even calling the company, you're calling an outsourced answering service.
Only one exception to this rule is retailers who say "Call be best prices". It's only because manufacturers have MAP prices and you can get a better price by calling.
Companies need to have email and respond to it. You should be able to email on your time, and they should respond the next business day. At least acknowledge they got the email.
Email them before you buy to see if they're non-responsive, if they are, forget them, they won't be responsive via the phone either. In some cases you're not even calling the company, you're calling an outsourced answering service.
Only one exception to this rule is retailers who say "Call be best prices". It's only because manufacturers have MAP prices and you can get a better price by calling.
Too often, yes, but some MI companies are reknowed for their email responsiveness, almost as if this were the 21st century or something. The Future is Now! Talking them up in a GK thread would be crass, so they'll go nameless, but there's no reason why GK can't follow the model proven by others, except that they've chosen not to.
While I understand its easier to shoot off an email most people will stop what they are doing to answer a ringing phone. I cant however stop what Im doing every 5 minutes to check my email.
I do understand that the email should be returned after at least a few days, I myself however dont get half the volume of Email the guys at GK get.
Not trying to argue with anyone, just pointing out why even if you spend 30 minutes on the phone its time well spent.
The funny thing is you're replying to one of those "younger" folks. I have always pushed my company to adopt new ways of getting in touch with customers and suppliers, as long as we can follow through by properly using these avenues. Please don't get me wrong though. Yes, it *should* be the case that email is a prompt, efficient way to get certain tasks done. In practice, I use the method of communication that works best, rather than the one that *should* work best. This applies when I'm the customer at home or when I'm the engineer at work. I will visit in person, phone, text, or email whomever I need to contact depending on what I wish to accomplish.
I agree completely that if a business offers an email address for inquiries, it should service the emails frequently. Not doing so means many missed opportunities to impress/serve customers or make sales. But, I'll wager a lot that your company still uses plenty of paper mail and phone minutes. I'd hope your business doesn't start to tweet its procurement requirements.
Email is a big part of my work day, and it has a lot of benefits that phones don't have. It's a great way to exchange data or obtain non-instantaneous communication. That doesn't mean it's the new phone. It's another tool for the belt. There are people who use the wrong tool for the job out of either ignorance or arrogance. The phone is a better way to get some things done quickly (instant gratification). Customers will almost always be more satisfied dealing with a good rep over the phone rather than by email.
There are businesses with poor phone support. For that matter, plenty provide no useful support of any form. Let your dollars decide who's doing it right.
As for the OP, rather than waiting 3 weeks for an email back, picking up the phone might have yielded better results. Good or bad, it would have taken 30 seconds to find out.
odin70, try phoning GK or PMing/emailing Brian Clark who posted earlier. Surely you'll get a prompt reply.
I use the method of communication I need to use to get a job done - and if it inconveniences me, in the future I'll find other suppliers who don't feel the need to inconvenience me.
I do.
Thing is, I'm not going to go out of my way to help a company correct their issues. It ain't my problem, and it ain't my job.
You can either serve me as the customer in the manner I wish to be served, or my money will go elsewhere in the future.
I really think that the op's point was missed here. There are a lot of people saying that he should have been patient and not expected an immediate response from his email in 30 minutes. There is no reason for it to take over a month to answer an email. I understand that people are too busy at work to answer emails all day long. But, really... a month? That is ridiculous. I have never had a problem contacting anyone by email in the past. In fact, there are alot of companies that prefer emails. Because they are faster. It is a lot easier for the company to look at an email, and in their own time find the answer, and then get back to the customer.
The argument that emails take too long are just silly. It appears as though GK doesn't have enough time to answer emails, but they are on TB... How is this possible? The last time I checked the same machine allows me to access my email, as well as TB. Just a mouse click away! I guess that is too much to ask in these modern times.
The argument that emails take too long are just silly. It appears as though GK doesn't have enough time to answer emails, but they are on TB... How is this possible? The last time I checked the same machine allows me to access my email, as well as TB. Just a mouse click away! I guess that is too much to ask in these modern times.
