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Is good customer service about dead?

I’d like to know from other members of Audiogon how they find customer service today. Not the resellers so much as the manufacturers themselves. I had a bad experience with a really late delivery. I also have a tone arm I bought in a first production run when a setup manual was not yet available – the manufacturer will not respond to my emails. I wanted to audition a rather expensive pair of speakers that were not available in my area. I contacted the manufacturer (from his own website) to ask where I could go to audition and purchase these – but no response. I have however had amazing support from the good folks at VAC and Jeff Rowland.
So I am now searching for new speakers but customer service is my first criteria and everything else is second. I'll be looking in the 5K-10K price range. I’d be very interested in other people’s experiences.
dat1
sprks
29 posts
 
JP1208, did Vapor Audio offer you any other option for a full refund for the damaged speakers or just the third party contingency offer? After they offered a full refund in the last thread I was shocked to see that they were trying to run this refund through another buyer. How does the company not have funds to reverse this transaction since they make it sound like sales are soaring and mentioned numerous times that they are doing quite well?

I think Stringreen makes a very valid point here. Sending money to a compnay on the brink sounds like a disaster waiting to happen or they have the money and are just playing games with the customer.
luvs2listen
63 posts
 
Sprks, JP1208 would have received ALL his money back, minus the shipping charges he would have incurred in returning them to us for inspection. That was offered and refused.

Mtruong34, giving a full refund on items that we hadn't inspected first would be the height of foolishness. If anyone else were to buy that set of speakers, they'd be remiss if they didn't do the same.

Finally, Sprks, sometimes, the customer just can't be pleased, no matter what you do. The fact remains that he was offered a full refund, but refused the terms. His part in the entire process would have been limited to packing them up and shipping them back.

Stringreen makes the case for sticking with the larger companies that charge you for their advertising, distribution, sales force, etc. That's fine. But if you don't mind working with a new and growing company here in America that eschews all that extra overhead in order to offer you a superior product for a lower price, well, that's the customer we're looking for.
jp1208
502 posts
 
Stringreen makes the case for sticking with the larger companies that charge you for their advertising, distribution, sales force, etc. That's fine. But if you don't mind working with a new and growing company here in America that eschews all that extra overhead in order to offer you a superior product for a lower price, well, that's the customer we're looking for.

I was this customer so how do you figure my 6k pair of Cirrus speakers are superior? You shipped them with a 1 1/2" gouge down one side that you were well aware of and purposely left this side of the speaker out of the pictures you sent before payment and shipping. Is this the American way to you? It's not the first time Vapor Audio has done this either. It actually saddens me to see you using the word America in your marketing.

Would anyone want to know about a known flaw before purchasing? When I place an ad for them here am I required to disclose this flaw?

Vapor Audio now wants me to trust them AGAIN! LOL

Dat1 started this thread and owned these same speakers in which he sold shortly after.
ghasley
2,507 posts
 
luvs2listen/Vapor, why don't you just take care of this situation? Imagine if you had rectified this problem over a month ago and then you had spent that time to fullfill your stated order backlog.

I also find your cheerleading/shilling in another thread a put-off as you are talking about all of these new models you are working on and yet, you can't seem to solve a simple customer service issue nor can you seem to compress the timeframe for deliveries to those who already have deposits placed. At one point, I simply thought that you guys were in the middle of a steep learning curve, now I believe your issues are likely more serious and potentially detrimental.
audioconnection
1,271 posts
 
(((Stringreen makes the case for supporting well known larger companies that charge you for their advertising, distribution, sales force, etc. That's fine. But if you don't mind working with a new and growing company here in America that eschews all that extra overhead in order to offer you a superior product for a lower price, well, that's the customer we're looking for.))

What Stringgreen is pointing out is for the customer to have some facts.
With successful dealer distribution it will cost the customer less.
The experienced manufacturer can then count on consistency with sales allowing purchases of loftier parts in larger quantity equals less costly runs equals Superior product.

Example a garage tech would have to charge 125K
to build a Rav 4 where Toyota can do for 24K
Lets look at the Parts, technology in a Vandersteen 2CE Sig 2 with 4 lofty drivers and compare to a well painted,Veneered 2 way box
with all the money in the veneer,paint job whats left over to spend for drivers etc
Which speaker do you thinks gonna be playing music besides jingle bells at the end of the day?
Cheers JohnnyR
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