Victory from the jaws of defeat

[Bassman Steve]

There is a thread on here at the moment which talks about naming and shaming a retailer over the level of service (relating to a guitar which may be ex-demo). The idea is that the place won't be named if the service is good.

That set me wondering (not good in a bass player I accept). I think it's just as good to know the dealers that handle complaints and deal with them well. Two examples if I may;

1. Andertons - bought an Ampeg PF350 and took one home still in its box. Worked fine on day 1 but didn't work the next day. I had already attached it to the lid of the cab but that was no problem.

I took it back and was not only able to exchange it without the feet etc. but was also allowed to upgrade to the 500 with only 15 quid to pay after my loyalty points were taken into account. The guy even did all the swapping the head onto the cab lid for me.

To my mind Andertons deserve credit for excellent customer service and I will go out of my way to shop there in future as a result.

2. Digital Village (DV247) - I have recently been changing all my various Precision cases for SKB Precision cases and DV247 do them at a great price. The first one I bought was not the most recent spec (the catches were different on the newer models) but was otherwise fine (it was in a sealed box and was clearly un-used).

I didn't expect them to change it as there was nothing actually wrong with it but they made no attempt to fob me off and offered to let me keep the first case until the newer spec'd one arrived (which would have left them with a used case to dispose of).

Again, I will go out of my way to use them for certain things.

Ok, neither of those are too earth shattering but I think the mark of a good shop is how they handle things when there's a problem more than anything else.

Any other examples out there?

Edited December 14, 2012 by Bassman Steve

[hollywoodrox]

Jolly good, I think I have used dv247 before , I will bear these two in mind when making future purchases, good post, cheers man

[Leen2112]

I ordered an Ibanez 1205 VNF from GuitarGuitar in Edinburgh, and when I got it home I couldnt sort the intonation. Turns out the bridge was wrongly placed! But a quick call and they took it back and ordered a new one, pretty fast turnaround. I can't help but think they should have had it set up for me picking it up in the first place though....given the price.

[51m0n]

DV247 completely ballsed up their 'next day delivery' and although they knew it was going wrong they didnt get around to letting me know

So on the phone they promised £50 back aby way of apology (on an already great proce). Then they didnt actually do the refund (it didnt turn up on my credit card at all after a week).

So I'm spitting feathers at this point, when I phone up again though, they firstly didnt suggest I was talking nonsense or trying it on (a lot of theses places will suggest that you aren't being entirely honest with them or whatever), they had accurate notes that anyone on the team could read about my first call, so it was easy to chas eup the guy who was dealign with it in the first place. They managed to phone me and leave a comprensive answer phone message apologising for the issue again, and ensuring that they had sorted it now, from the original chap who was trying to sort it all out. And sorted it was. Double trouble balls up, but they stil lmanaged to turn that around, and I would shop with them again, amazingly they actually made me feel that it was just 'one of those things', of course if it happened again I wont go near them afterwards - they've had their 'opportunity' now.

By contrast dont buy anything from alpha-batteries.co.uk their service after sales is rubbish, their communication is apalling they routinely dont do what they say they will and they are a complete bunch of useless idiots IMO. Had a very very trying time with them over a car battery that failed in warranty, and they just were so unhelpful over the course of several weeks that I wouldnt ever ever buy anything from them again, or let anyone I know take that risk - you have been warned - other than that though they are shiny (not).

Edited December 14, 2012 by 51m0n

[Lozz196]

I had a similar incident with Andertons, and also with an Ampeg PF - though the 500 version. They couldn`t have been more helpful, and the amp I bought from them in its place, a Markbass Little Mark tube 500, they even price-matched for me, with nearly £100 off of their listed price.

To quote Steve "To my mind Andertons deserve credit for excellent customer service and I will go out of my way to shop there in future as a result."

[neepheid]

I remember a few years ago I ordered something from Axesrus - something small like a switch. It never arrived. When I told them it hadn't arrived they sent a replacement, no grumbles, no questions asked.

Months later, the original one finally appeared. Queue much puzzlement from me. I did the right thing and offered to send the delayed one back but they just told me to keep it.

I can't think of a time when I haven't got stuff next day when ordered early enough the day before. Free postage too. Great service, my go-to place for little nick nacks like screws, switches etc.

[Judo Chop]

Marshall repaired my out of warranty amp within two weeks of me contacting them, they even arranged to pick it up from me for free

[cheddatom]

I bought some newtones strings recently. when they arrived the C string snapped straight away. I sent an email explainign I realised it could have been my bridge or something, but could they sell me another one ASAP as I couldn't wait for the normal lead time. They wound me a new one with a thicker core to make sure it wouldn't break and sent it out FOC. Very impressed!!!

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Jack Cahalane' timestamp='1355487173' post='1898999']
Marshall repaired my out of warranty amp within two weeks of me contacting them, they even arranged to pick it up from me for free
[/quote]

Fine company, Marshall. When I bought a DBS 7400, I arranged for a service as it was fairly old. Took it up there, had a look round whilst they were dealing with the amp. When all was done, asked how much. No charge, we only charge if we`ve had to fix anything, was the reply.

[Jellyfish]

Not strictly music related, but an independant company that go by the name of Jaben.net sell mainly 'audiophile' type gear from about £50 upwards. They're actually out in the far east but supply international shipping on all their goods.

Anyway, I purchased a £61 pair of headphones off them and about a year later I was wearing them and running past the bed when the wire got caught and actually snagged an earphone clean off the wire! I e-mailed and asked them if there was anything I could do in terms of repair or replacement and offered to pay for a new pair if I had to, simply because I loved the sound of the earphones so much. They replied back with 'send us a photo and we'll send you a new pair free of charge'. I didn't really deserve them but who was I to argue.

On the other end of the scale, I had to wait [b]6 months [/b]for PMT in Birmingham to give me store credit for a bass guitar that had an electrical fault. It was the third time it was getting sent away with the same fault and I was told 'Don't worry dude, three strikes and its out, we'll give you in store credit as soon as they sort it.' It was extremely long-winded as you can probably imagine, and I won't go into detail, but suffice to say that's the last thing I've ever purchased from them.

[Bassmurf]

Ordered the standard gramma pad from Dolphin Music, had an email to call them back, did so and as they were out of stock of that one they offered me the great gramma for the same price, it promptly turned up when they said it would!

Excellent service in my book.