[leezhunjin]

Thank you Ricmi for putting so much care in your posts, you have my respect.
I think that Grado should really change their shipping method, it makes no sense at all to send something that costs so much via normal post without any securities, it's just asking for trouble. It really wouldn't hurt to take that one extra step to send it through registered.
 
It was really bad of them not to fix it the first time and then ask you to pay shipment the second time. Though their warranty stated that shipping is to be paid by the customer, but it's their own fault that it wasn't fixed the first time round. Grado is a big company, but that still doesn't mean that they aren't responsible for their customers after they buy something, imagine if Apple suddenly didn't want to provide any customer service.

 

[ricmiclaw]

Thank you Ricmi for putting so much care in your posts, you have my respect.
I think that Grado should really change their shipping method, it makes no sense at all to send something that costs so much via normal post without any securities, it's just asking for trouble. It really wouldn't hurt to take that one extra step to send it through registered.
 
It was really bad of them not to fix it the first time and then ask you to pay shipment the second time. Though their warranty stated that shipping is to be paid by the customer, but it's their own fault that it wasn't fixed the first time round. Grado is a big company, but that still doesn't mean that they aren't responsible for their customers after they buy something, imagine if Apple suddenly didn't want to provide any customer service.

Precisely. And ... thank you.

 

[sidel]

We're really not in disagreement about what happened vs what should have happened, Ricmiclaw.  I was only stating that with more products / more employees comes more confusion and more, well,  monumental lapses of decent service and judgement. (No excuses being made-  just a rationalization of what could have happened here and why an even smaller company may be able to manage things of this nature better)
Pertaining to whether it was done on purpose: again, total agreement.  This was only referencing the additional shipping cost.  I just can't even stand to imagine the person cutting the checks fully looking into this and saying no;  it's really a ridiculously rudimentary customer service dealing.   IMO it just got killed before making it to another ear or desk.
 
To me it seems like you caught the brunt of a combination of horrid luck and a few very poorly executed procedures.
 
Thanks for documenting all of this.  Maybe it'll even lead to some positive fixes.

 

[ricmiclaw]

Quote:

We're really not in disagreement about what happened vs what should have happened, Ricmiclaw.  I was only stating that with more products / more employees comes more confusion and more, well,  monumental lapses of decent service and judgement. (No excuses being made-  just a rationalization of what could have happened here and why an even smaller company may be able to manage things of this nature better)
Pertaining to whether it was done on purpose: again, total agreement.  This was only referencing the additional shipping cost.  I just can't even stand to imagine the person cutting the checks fully looking into this and saying no;  it's really a ridiculously rudimentary customer service dealing.   IMO it just got killed before making it to another ear or desk.
 
To me it seems like you caught the brunt of a combination of horrid luck and a few very poorly executed procedures.
 
Thanks for documenting all of this.  Maybe it'll even lead to some positive fixes.

Thank you.  We really are in fundamental agreement.  However, what has gone on here will only effect change at Grado if someone there sees these exchanges.  Meanwhile, as I stated from the beginning of this thread, I hope we can use it as an opportunity for a serious discussion of customer support issues facing a community of people who spend money lavishly on equipment that would beggar the imagination of most people.  
 
What are our expectations from the companies that support our tastes?  What's reasonable and not?  Is there any way to get our feedback to the right people at these organizations so it counts for more than mere spleen venting?  Are there other companies that should be discussed with the purpose being to provide positive reinforcement of good customer service and discouragement of poor customer service?  
 
I think companies and individuals that provide good customer service should be rewarded with enhancements to their reputation by identifying the specific acts of which we approve.  By the same token, companies and individuals that provide poor customer service should have their questionable conduct specifically identified and discussed publicly so they don't earn a falsely good reputation or continue trying to rest on an old one that may no longer be valid.  Additionally, if they have an already poor reputation for customer service, that reputation should be verified and reinforced by describing continued bad actions.  This type of public discussion may be the only real power we have to attempt to effect change for the better and preserve what's already good.     
 

 

[maverickronin]

I just have to say, Worst. Luck. Ever.
 
Here's hoping for better luck in the future...

 

[lazysleepyboi]

 
Quote:

I just have to say, Worst. Luck. Ever.
 
Here's hoping for better luck in the future...

LOL that's what i was thinking the entire time i was reading his opening post. I was like O.o......your luck must be pretty bad for all three to go bad at nearly the same time, but i guess it does happen. 

 

[ricmiclaw]

Quote:

 


LOL that's what i was thinking the entire time i was reading his opening post. I was like O.o......your luck must be pretty bad for all three to go bad at nearly the same time, but i guess it does happen. 

 
Yup.  World's worst luck.  I look at it as being "pre-disastered".
 
 

 

[sferic]

Quote:

I'll let you know whether I agree with you.  I'm still waiting for tracking information for the replacement HE6 that was supposed to be on its way last week.  I gave them my complete address and telephone information but they confirmed an address without a zip code.  I immediately notified them of the problem and they already seemed aware of it but they have not responded nor have they communicated with me since then.  They only said tracking information to follow.  Last week.
 

 
Wow, you got 2 bad PS1000's, bad LCD2's, and bad HE6's and 2 bad Pontiac Grand Prix? That's some pretty bad luck. Sorry for your trials.
 
I do think we can all agree Audeze does exceptional customer service - hope they stay profitable so they can continue to deliver amazing products!!!
 
 
 

 

[leezhunjin]

Quote:

 
Wow, you got 2 bad PS1000's, bad LCD2's, and bad HE6's and 2 bad Pontiac Grand Prix? That's some pretty bad luck. Sorry for your trials.
 
I do think we can all agree Audeze does exceptional customer service - hope they stay profitable so they can continue to deliver amazing products!!!
 
 
 

He got 1 bad PS1000 which they failed to fix properly.
 
I really hope Audeze comes out with a semi-portable ortho though

 

[ricmiclaw]

 
Wow, you got 2 bad PS1000's, bad LCD2's, and bad HE6's and 2 bad Pontiac Grand Prix? That's some pretty bad luck. Sorry for your trials.
 
I do think we can all agree Audeze does exceptional customer service - hope they stay profitable so they can continue to deliver amazing products!!!
 
 
 

As stated by another poster, 1 bad PS1000 that Grado failed to fix properly and stuck me with second shipping charge and stuck recable man with shipping charge to me (they wouldn't reimburse him either), 1 failed LCD2 that Audeze paid all costs for shipping and acted quickly, 1 failed HE6 that I'm waiting for replacement from China - probably another 3 weeks I was told today, and, yes, 2 crummy Grand Prix cars. On the Grand Prix, after many efforts, also failed to fix it, I tried to contact GM customer service, who were worthless children taught to say "I'm so sorry you aren't happy with your Pontiac driving experience - birdy chirp, birdy chirp!!" and did nothing. I then read a story about Jack Smale, then chairman of the GM executive committee, who, the article claimed, was trying very hard to save GM from itself. I tried to contact him. My call was routed back to worthless customer service who told me, basically, to "Stop wasting your time trying to reach important people at GM - your complaints will only get routed back to us - hahaha, evil birdy chirp, evil birdy chirp, hahaha".

Angry at this rebuff, I obtained a cross reference directory of American boards of directors memberships and locate Jack Smale also as a member of the board of Proctor & Gamble where I write to him at the address in the directory. My letter begins something like "I'm writing to you at Proctor because they told me at GM that my plight there was hopeless and I should stop trying to reach the head who would want to know about the lousy products and service from his company, etc.". About 1 week later, I received a letter from Jack Smale on his personal Proctor stationary saying, essentially, "I have nothing to do with day to day operations at GM but took the liberty of forwarding your letter to someone who might be able to help you". I thought that was the nicest blow-off letter I ever received and forgot about it.

1 more week passes and I get a phone call at work. The man says his name is Jack Middlebrook (yes, everybody at GM is named "Jack"). I said I didn't know him. He continued to say that he was the general manager of Pontiac Motor Car Division of GM and that "your friend, Mr. Smale", asked him, Middlebrook, to personally see to my problems. That week, a senior engineer from GM flew in to Virginia, where I live, and worked with the dealership until my car was fixed. After my Grand Prix was fixed, Middlebrook's personal secretary called me at work to tell me that Pontiac was sending me a voucher that I could apply to purchase any Pontiac of my choice. I got a loaded Bonneville, which I drove for the next 12 years until it was destroyed in a collision with a deer. (The deer was clearly a secret agent for GM.)

It isn't whether you sometimes have really bad luck. It's whether you do something to change your luck or just bend over and take it. I chose to act to change my luck and wait for the evil deer to show up and put me back in my place. But I had 12 good years with that Bonneville and the pleasure of not feeling powerless in the face of corporate indifference.

 

[lazysleepyboi]

Quote:

Quote:

 
Wow, you got 2 bad PS1000's, bad LCD2's, and bad HE6's and 2 bad Pontiac Grand Prix? That's some pretty bad luck. Sorry for your trials.
 
I do think we can all agree Audeze does exceptional customer service - hope they stay profitable so they can continue to deliver amazing products!!!
 
 
 

As stated by another poster, 1 bad PS1000 that Grado failed to fix properly and stuck me with second shipping charge and stuck recable man with shipping charge to me (they wouldn't reimburse him either), 1 failed LCD2 that Audeze paid all costs for shipping and acted quickly, 1 failed HE6 that I'm waiting for replacement from China - probably another 3 weeks I was told today, and, yes, 2 crummy Grand Prix cars. On the Grand Prix, after many efforts, also failed to fix it, I tried to contact GM customer service, who were worthless children taught to say "I'm so sorry you aren't happy with your Pontiac driving experience - birdy chirp, birdy chirp!!" and did nothing. I then read a story about Jack Smale, then chairman of the GM executive committee, who, the article claimed, was trying very hard to save GM from itself. I tried to contact him. My call was routed back to worthless customer service who told me, basically, to "Stop wasting your time trying to reach important people at GM - your complaints will only get routed back to us - hahaha, evil birdy chirp, evil birdy chirp, hahaha".

Angry at this rebuff, I obtained a cross reference directory of American boards of directors memberships and locate Jack Smale also as a member of the board of Proctor & Gamble where I write to him at the address in the directory. My letter begins something like "I'm writing to you at Proctor because they told me at GM that my plight there was hopeless and I should stop trying to reach the head who would want to know about the lousy products and service from his company, etc.". About 1 week later, I received a letter from Jack Smale on his personal Proctor stationary saying, essentially, "I have nothing to do with day to day operations at GM but took the liberty of forwarding your letter to someone who might be able to help you". I thought that was the nicest blow-off letter I ever received and forgot about it.

1 more week passes and I get a phone call at work. The man says his name is Jack Middlebrook (yes, everybody at GM is named "Jack"). I said I didn't know him. He continued to say that he was the general manager of Pontiac Motor Car Division of GM and that "my friend, Mr. Smale", asked him to personally see to my problems. That week, a senior engineer from GM flew in to Virginia, where I live, and worked with the dealership until my car was fixed. After my Grand Prix was fixed, Middlebrook's personal secretary called me at work to tell me that Pontiac was sending me a voucher good for any Pontiac of my choice. I got a loaded Bonneville, which I drove for the next 12 years until it was destroyed in a collision with a deer. (The deer was clearly a secret agent for GM.)

It isn't whether you sometimes have really bad luck. It's whether you do something to change your luck or just bend over and take it.

wow....just wow....you have so many cool stories about customer service, haha, what an interesting story. I think for the vast majority of people, they would just have quit and remember to never buy from GM again, but you took it in another direction. I think the thing that most of us have trouble figuring out is where do you draw the line on giving up on their customer service, it's a difficult task because maybe you just need to get high enough to solve your problem or maybe that's what their entire company is. I've had the fortunate luck of not getting into bad situations like you have so I'll really be sure to check out customer service now, hopefully nothing happens to me with bad customer service.........actually, it might be inevitable eventually....here's to hoping

 

[ricmiclaw]

.

 

[ricmiclaw]

wow....just wow....you have so many cool stories about customer service, haha, what an interesting story. I think for the vast majority of people, they would just have quit and remember to never buy from GM again, but you took it in another direction. I think the thing that most of us have trouble figuring out is where do you draw the line on giving up on their customer service, it's a difficult task because maybe you just need to get high enough to solve your problem or maybe that's what their entire company is. I've had the fortunate luck of not getting into bad situations like you have so I'll really be sure to check out customer service now, hopefully nothing happens to me with bad customer service.........actually, it might be inevitable eventually....here's to hoping

The GM story is actually atypical of my experiences with terrible customer service. Like, I suspect, most people, my typical experience with terrible customer service winds up like the Grado result. I walk away empty-handed and asking myself how people could be like that. I lose most of the time. Very rarely do I prevail even when, as here, the facts seem to be very much on my side. In the cases of the large corporations, I think the posters who mentioned rigidity, bureaucracy and other noted failings of large organizations have the best explanation for poor customer service. In the cases of small or family-run businesses, I think it's much harder to make those arguments. I think those situations boil down to a basic weakness of human nature - our common difficulty to see things from the other person's perspective. I have never yet figured out how to consistently overcome this problem with human nature and it might not be possible if it is hardwired into us. If anyone has ideas about dealing with this problem, I'd certainly like to hear them.

 

[ricmiclaw]

My PS1000 died again today.  Two Grado repairs and I can't get more than a couple or few hours out of it.  Total use since receiving it back from the last warranty repair was 3-4 hours, give or take.  It never really sounded truly fine when I first received it back from the last warranty repair so I wanted to give it a chance to "break in".  I sat down today and listened for a few hours.  Both drivers failed.  The right is completely dead.  The left momentarily emits loud electronic static if I move it around some.  I just notified Grado by e-mail and am waiting for their instructions.  My other headphones all work fine.  Otherwise, I'm speechless. 

 

[leezhunjin]

This is seriously screwed up, can't they fix it properly for once?
I can understand your frustration.