Customer Service in High-End Audio

My experience with HEA manufacturers and dealers alike has varied. A lot of these folks really aren’t savvy, having nary a wit of business acumen. It’s a cottage industry after all, chockful with a lot of failures due to missteps. Pissing off an investor group, a banker, or even a landlord of the space used for a factory or showroom often creates instability. Pissing off customers in even the slightest ways, like not returning phone calls or following through with promises foster a lot of animosity among customers. A lot of manufacturers and dealers are brilliantly successful at this game, as the word of mouth endorsements will attest. 

I would agree it is a mixed bag.

Without naming anybody there are a few highlights and some severe letdown over the years.
Highlights?
Sending an email to a small company on a sat afternoon so maybe Monday might get a response but getting the reply and info I needed within 1 hour! 
Sending an email to a much larger company sat morning with same expectations to have the chief designer reply with 2 hours.
These are recent and give me hope that some guys out there actually get it!
But of course we then have train wrecks of sinking companies where instead of handling their downfall they just go dark or make lots of empty promises until all their customers have lost faith entirely.

Personally customer service is very important to me, I can handle a few mistakes or problems if the company steps up takes ownership and makes good, after all we are all human!

I have had mostly positive experiences with dealers and manufacturers.
I would say if any company has poor customer service, I would avoid them.
B

@uberwaltz. Agreed. Those dealers or manufacturers who respond to emails over a weekend—often in less than 15 minutes—get my attention and a memory slot in the positive impression brain bank. 

Since the advent of the Internet, Google, and forums such as this one I’ve rarely if ever had a poor customer service experience. My approach is that before purchasing any audio product I research customer and user feedback on the manufacturer or dealer. If what I find raises doubt in my mind about customer service and support, that manufacturer or dealer becomes a non-starter as far as I am concerned. My feeling is that there will always be comparably good alternative products that are available from suppliers who are responsive, responsible, and supportive. And I’d rather give my money to that kind of supplier even if a transaction would eventually work out ok with one who doesn’t meet those criteria.

Outstanding reputations for customer service and support are one reason why companies like Daedalus, Herron, and VAC are represented in my system.

Regards,
-- Al

There are two people on the phone or face to face. Don’t forget that you represent one-half of that equation. 

If you are getting crappy customer service then you are dealing with the wrong people.  In a service industry, there is no excuse for poor service.  The best try and put themselves in their customer's shoes.....i.e., if I were a customer and contacted my company, what would make my interaction awesome and memorable?

Each company has a culture that is largely shaped by the leadership.....or, lack of leadership.  Some of the best industry people I have worked with have been one or two-person companies, but some have been much larger.  The best are great at being both responsive and friendly while meeting your needs.   

I used to try and limit my gear to "made in the USA" products but more recently, I have been working with two overseas companies, in two very different parts of the world, that both have provided extraordinary customer service.  I have purchased multiple products from one company and both companies have performed upgrades on my gear.  During the upgrade process, with both of these companies, communication was excellent and turn-around time was as-predicted or better. 

To summarize, the good guys are out there, you just need to find them.  Don't put up with crappy communication or crappy customer service.  Excuses don't cut it. 

From a previous post earlier this week:
I want to say a good word for JRDG customer service. I own a consonance preamp that is now 26 years old. An absolutely wonderful preamp. Early one morning during a "late night" listening session I made a boneheaded move and while adjusting the line level gain, put that module back in the preamp one pin off. That module became toast as soon as I turned it back on. Duh. The following Monday morning I called JRDG and to my surprise was able to talk to Jeff himself. He looked in his inventory & was able to find another module for the consonance (a 26 year old preamp!) of which I bought instantly. It was shipped out that day & I bought another fuse to put in the preamp itself. Long story short, I couldn't get it to not blow a fuse instantly when powered up, so prior to putting in the new module, asked Jeff if the new module would fix that issue. He said the module would not fix that, so I packed the whole thing up & sent it to him for repair before messing it up any further myself. He received that preamp on a Friday & the following Monday his secretary called me and stated he had it fixed.There was an issue with the power supply (as well as the toasted line module). I received it today & it sounds better than ever. Again, mind you this is a 26 year old preamp that he apparently made a priority of to fix. The new upgraded module & power supply cost a few hundred dollars and his labor charge to check this preamp out & fix it, was minimal. He certainly wasn't prompted by financial gain to fix my mistake, much less make it a priority. That my audiophile friends is great customer service.  

Some really good feedback here...

Good to hear that most folks are having positive experiences. I think that a little bit of customer service goes a long way, and I hope that manufacturers and dealers realize that we are taking notes.

Has anyone every purchased a product from a dealer or manufacturer who you knew or suspected had sub-par service, but you purchased the product anyway? I've noticed that some of the most talked about products on Audiogon have mixed reviews about customer service, but I suspect that some buyers (I'm guilty of this too) sometimes ignore them, and purchase the product anyway based on product reviews or hype.

I've had great service. The two standouts are Wilson Audio and Jeff Rowland.

I know a speaker company that quite by accident, left out some screws from one of the bottom woofers of the speakers I had bought. I told them that I didn't have those type of screws for a substitute. They sent me a padded envelope with the correct screws via UPS Next day air. Now THAT is what I would call customer service!!!! Pretty expensive screws for them to send, but that told me they really cared.

And another success story of a large company only a couple months ago.
I purchased a Dynavector p75 mk3 phono stage used from a member here, great deal and phono btw.
I decided I wanted to play around with the gain and settings which are changed by internal jumpers.
When I opened it up I found there were no extra spare jumpers over and above what was already being used and I needed 2 more to make the change I wanted.
I emailed Dynavector USA sales contact to ask if I could purchase some jumpers.
They replied within a couple of hours that they would send me some free of charge instead, and I had told them I had purchased it used !
Again outstanding service and makes me keep these type of companies in mind for future purchases both new and used.

With the greater interconnectivity of forums like this and the internet generally being available, dealers and manufacturers need to be more proactive with maintaining good communication and service with their customers.