Are the folks at Vandersteen ok?


No updates in their website and facebook for a while.  Used to have frequent updates.  Hmm or maybe I have too little to do these days..
asturias00
@bdp24 
I'd be interested in hearing what you think about the Sales division head.
PM me.
Though, to be fair, he wasn't the designer, like Richard.
I didn't know Richard was an oenophile, thanks for including that info.
B
Look, RV is a master speaker designer and business owner.  He is not running for office.  His nature is to be succinct and to the point.  That said, he has never been anything less than pleasant and courteous to me whenever I have spoken to him in person or on the phone (a few instances of each over the years).  I would rather have someone like him running an audio company than some glad-handing guy who is all smiles but lacks knowledge or accessability.  My $0.02. 
Importantly, people are singular human beings, and their time is limited. They have to work, not just communicate.

Different mental states take time to switch between and doing so constantly is stressful....and time consuming on it’s own.

When I (Ken, not Taras) was involved in running Goo Systems every day, the phone calls alone would have amounted to 50 or 70hrs per day, if not more - if I let people talk to me as much as they wanted to. Calls which were about Home Theater, Home theater audio, acoustics, projection, screens, projector technology, making of rooms, isolation of rooms, contrast, realization of contrast, seating, electrical systems, the intricacies of eye and ear function in science and mental wiring, and a hundred other things they wanted help with or wanted to share.

When I finally quit answering the phone as I was going mad and had zero spare time...there were 56 unanswered calls on the system. This is with me editorializing in real time and keeping people on track and limiting or zeroing verbal digression. This is with me dissuading people from taking my time but trying to remain viewed and known as a good guy who helps out.

Audio conversations from customers are arguably worse than that. When one possesses answers to questions which can fill in the blanks for others and thus open up even more questions, people tend to want to stay in that mode and just eat it up. Then they want to go back and do it again. Audio is emotions so it’s a deep hook.

It’s great to converse with people who have a deep knowledge of the field but it can also be quite draining for the ’knowledge resource’ person, with regard to life that is eaten up. It has to be moderated by one or both parties in the given moment or overall scenario.
Here's my recent Vandersteen story....

I bought a pair of Vandersteen model 3 for a very low price. The seller told me they had a problem, but the price was right and I could part them out for much more than I paid for them. I listened to the speakers, did a bit of testing and found one of the tweeters was not operational. I called Vandersteen, got their VM and received a call back on my VM from Richard. He left a brief, but detailed message regarding how to send the unit in for service. Jump ahead a month......

I followed the instructions on the Vandersteen website regarding sending a driver in for service. Shipped the tweeter on Thursday, 9/7/2017 and the tracking information showed an estimated delivery date of Monday 9/11. Early afternoon on Monday 9/11 (Eastern time) I received a call from Ray at VA. They had received the tweeter that morning, repaired it and Ray was calling to confirm the total COD fee for the return shipment. He also said the tweeter would arrive back to me on the following Friday 9/15. Sure enough, on Friday 9/15 the tweeter arrived and I gave the cashier's check to the UPS driver. Deal done. No drama, no issues and everything went EXACTLY as the folks at Vandersteen said it would.

In my opinion, the folks at Vandersteen are top-notch - I've never gotten better support.