Communication or lack of. Is it me?

arm

Wammer
Wammer
Nov 8, 2018
681
571
98
Toronto
AKA
Anthony
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I’m an independent sales rep for a company in Canada , with head office in Montreal. Customers can’t get through to my CS and they are backed up 2-3 days on responding to emails. One CS rep is away cause he got married , another has covid , so one person is working the phones , email and local walk in customers. To further exasperat things we have 3 people missing from shipping too due to covid etc. Its frustrating for sure but it’s what we are working with. People are hard to find for shippping and CS positions.
 
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StingRay

Legend Wammer
Wammer
Apr 27, 2016
13,040
8,521
163
Suffolk coast, UK
AKA
Ray
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I'm often surprised at how good some companies are in responding to technical questions.

I’m in UK and NAD is in Canada, but if I ask a question via their BluOS control app > Help > Online Support, I get an immediate acknowledgement and a proper reply within a couple of days by email that I can reply to if necessary – I do hate “No Reply” emails! Once or twice with particular problems, I've received an international phone call from a senior advisor and in one instance, they have taken control of my PC to get a particular qlitch fixed. No complaints.

With Avantgarde Acoustics in Germany, I’ve also received excellent service, after raising a question via their UK distributor that was beyond their knowledge. Again, within a couple of days, I received photos and detailed instructions on how I could cure a couple of problem that had developed with my 17 year old Unos. I followed these (after buying a couple of small resistors) and fixed both the start-up bass amp thump and the "scratching" noise that I was hearing on one bass driver on some tracks.

Best to deal with companies that value their reputation as both NAD and AG seem to do.

Peter
Unfortunately my experience with BluOs was not so good. After the update they did in April my streaming of Qobuz has had problems, these never happened before the update. Yes someone did respond but nothing I tried worked, so they just blame my network or anything apart from themselves. They even closed the ticket as resolved even though nothing has been resolved. Others have had similar issues with BluOs. I have hardly used my steamer for the last 2 months. I dont think they care, probably accept they will lose some customer, there will be new ones.
 

Carlbkk1

Wammer
Wammer
Sep 27, 2014
457
156
63
Bangkok
AKA
Carl
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
This is a sign of modern times and to me it’s very poor business, bordering on ignorant. I find it with a plethora of different companies I like to email - car rental companies, goods companies, holiday companies and the worst….airlines. many try to avoid any form of communication if they can. Others are unreachable by phone and put up an email address, which is pointless if they‘re not willing to answer them.

As a business trainer, I strongly convey that any business that makes it hard for you to contact them, doesn’t so much as acknowledge an email with an SLA or doesn’t allow you to email customer services at all, doesn’t deserve your time or money. They need to learn the hard way and go backwards to communication and service values...and that definitely includes hifi dealers.

When I had my own business I wouldn’t dream of not responding to an email or returning a call.
 

Andy Stephenson

Legend Wammer
Wammer
Feb 8, 2022
9,227
11,813
148
North East England
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
This is a sign of modern times and to me it’s very poor business, bordering on ignorant. I find it with a plethora of different companies I like to email - car rental companies, goods companies, holiday companies and the worst….airlines. many try to avoid any form of communication if they can. Others are unreachable by phone and put up an email address, which is pointless if they‘re not willing to answer them.

As a business trainer, I strongly convey that any business that makes it hard for you to contact them, doesn’t so much as acknowledge an email with an SLA or doesn’t allow you to email customer services at all, doesn’t deserve your time or money. They need to learn the hard way and go backwards to communication and service values...and that definitely includes hifi dealers.

When I had my own business I wouldn’t dream of not responding to an email or returning a call.
My old boss taught us that "the customer is not an interruption of your business, they are the REASON for your business".

Any company who neglects this won't do well.

Andy
 

Rockchild

Formerly Radiant Red 🎶
Wammer Plus
Jun 22, 2011
10,723
15,277
208
Launceston UK
AKA
Jonathan
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Two more UK Hifi companies that have failed to come back to me in the last two weeks.

However, I will name two that have shown excellence in their customer service

Peter and his team at Cymbiosis, Peter even came back to me while he was off with Covid!

Origin Live, excellent communication on some questions that led to an order.
 

maddog_007

maddog_007
Wammer
Oct 17, 2018
1,145
1,678
183
Waterfoot ,Glasgow
AKA
dennis
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
On a slightly related note, I found that the bigger the company I dealt with, the worse they were for settling their accounts at the end of the month. "The cheque's in the post" "He's on holiday" "It's on the accountant's desk" I've heard all the excuses! Yet, when they want an order processed, it's needed yesterday!
Conversely, small one man bands usually paid on collection.

I'm so glad I've left it all behind!

Andy
About time this practice was outlawed,and laws enacted to protect small businesses in this country.
 

Andy Stephenson

Legend Wammer
Wammer
Feb 8, 2022
9,227
11,813
148
North East England
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
About time this practice was outlawed,and laws enacted to protect small businesses in this country.
There was talk of it some years back but as usual it was all talk and little actually achieved.

I imagine that the perpetrators of this sort of practice have the collective ears of those that could do something about it.

I'm not saying that plain brown envelopes actually change hands, but it wouldn't surprise me. Even if the contents were promises of future employment rather than actual wedge.

Andy
 
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