Manufacturers

I have had the same high quality experience with Balanced Audio Technology (BAT).  One of the owners (Steve), and even the primary design engineer (Viktor) have spent time with me on the phone.  Excellent advice, tremendous help, very personable, absolute follow-through.  Awesome company in all of those respects, and the products sound fabulous.

And also Manley Labs.  I bought a Manley Chinook (phono stage) and it had a catastrophic failure in one channel, within a month.  I got a new replacement unit from the dealer, approved by Manley Labs.  After about 2 weeks the owner, EveAnna Manley herself, contacted me to be certain that I was satisfied and everything was functioning as it should be.  I felt that personal touch and respect it greatly.  I love the product performance and greatly appreciate the company. Absolutely first class!  

I have been a audiophile for 30 years and have had mostly positive experiences dealing with small audio manufacturers based in the United States. And mostly bad ones with some highly regarded  very large manufacturers. A small example of this is VPI turntables.Matt and his dad Harry are 2 of the most helpful, friendly and information people in this industry today. Although I have not been up to their office in Cliffwood  NJ since before  the pandemic, I will tell you that they treat all
of their customers like friends. The first time I went in there, Matt took me on a tour of the manufacturing facility. We then talked all things Audio for about an hour and I listened in as he talked to his staff about the best cartridge recommendations when customers call the office——amazing!  I once took my Classic 3 to have my new cartridge installed, fully expecting to pay dearly for this.
And to my surprise Harry himself did the install —-free of charge and then  he took be over the the VPI demo house to listen to records on it. It doesn’t get any better then that ! 

@mammothguy54, et all....I wholeheartedly agree with all of your commentary, really....

The ’little fishes in the big pond’ can and do compete by being more responsive and that much more sota than the bigger players. Some are better than others, but the fact that they manage to endure and stay in the field is a testament to their commitment to service as well as product.

If one has to be a tad more patient, it may be a small price to pay for the preferred item. ;)

Personal case in point, of some relevance....we just lost out on a project we bid in FL for items to enhance a hiking trail, as an addition to the company that ’does trails’ in subdivisions.

The fact that we lost out (by just a small figure, and a larger one) to the worlds’ largest company (based in Germany) of competing items....

We’ll take that as an ’off-hand compliment’, even as a loss on our part.

The winner is HUGE, in size and number of employees...full page color ads in major publications in our field and related.  We're 'word of mouth', and primarely an internet based sales player.

The federal government doesn’t classify us as a ’small business’; rather, we fall into the ’microbusiness’ catagory.

We’re the ant next to the elephants’ foot. And we nearly ate it’s lunch...well, more likely, it’s doughnut of relative size...

(Proving, once again, the ant Can run up that leg and give the ’phant a bite where it counts..*snicker*G*)

Competativelly yours, J

This is a very interesting thread. It made me think of all the attempts I had in the past to get in contact with the owner or manufacture or supplier about an item that, for whatever reason, I needed to discuss. I remember all of those that handled my inquiry within a reasonable time and I try to remember all those who did not. I just do not buy from the negative ones.
This may seem like an insignificant thing to many, after all, how is losing one customer that important. There are always others, right? Well, maybe and maybe not.
I retired this year after working and owning a small service and product business. We opened our doors in 1982. When I closed, we were the oldest establishment of this kind in the state. When the yellow pages were in existence, I noted that every year there were 10 to 20 new listings of similar businesses selling the same services and 10 to 20 old business no longer listed.
We tried hard to do our job very well and we were always selling our product at a higher cost than most of our competitors. I know; I checked. There others who were as good as we were but they did not last. Why?
The only thing that I think was different was our service. Whenever a possible customer called with questions, the secretary was instructed to get with the boss, me. If I was unavailable, she was to answer what she could or have someone else answer. If no one knew the answer, she got their phone number and I called as soon as I was available. I had the secretary continue calling, until we did get hold of them. If someone, other than me, answered the question, she was to get their phone number and I would call back at a time convenient to the customer. I verified that all her questions were answered, 95% of our calls started with women.
This just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. I guess it still is.