I purchased a cable from Double Helix recently and am incredibly impressed with the build and sound quality. It's a beautiful cable. However, my experience as a customer did almost result in me cancelling my order.
I want to share my experience here for the benefit of others.
I understand that craft takes time.
I'm happy to wait nine months for something to be custom made if that time had been appropriately communicated. But when there is a message on a website that says that new orders will ship in a week, then I assume that my order will ship in a week. Or if that can't happen for some reason (I'm a small business owner myself, I know what it's like) then I'd anticipate that I'd get an email telling me what's up.
It's not complicated.
I placed my order on July 22nd. At that point in time, there was a banner on the website saying that new orders will ship in a week. We had a bit of back and forth about options, with all email responses coming in a timely manner (less than 24h, with many much quicker). I appreciated Peter's help picking the right parts for the cable. The final decisions of the loadout were made on July 25th. So at that point, I assumed that my cable would be made and sent out the following week (e.g. August 1st).
On August 9th, a week or so after I expected the order would be shipped, I requested an update via email.
I didn't receive a reply.
This was out of character, as the half a dozen emails I sent before ordering were answered within 24h.
On August 15th, I requested a refund: "Can I please get a refund for this order? Your website states that new orders ship in a week, however, it’s been three weeks since we last spoke. I reached out for an update last week, but haven’t heard back, so I’m guessing this hasn’t been shipped already(?)."
I got a response shortly after advising that "It’s in testing right now, I should have tracking shortly, sorry for the delay."
The cable was shipped the following day and arrived in Australia four days later.
So from when I finalised my order (Jul 25th) to when the cable was sent (Aug 16), it was three weeks.
Yeah yeah, I know, some people had to wait a lot longer. But that's not the point. If the website shows 1 week build times, then I expect 1 week build times. And when spending huge amounts of coin on a high-end product like this, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you'll be kept in the loop if there are delays.
As I said, it's a beautifully crafted cable. I love it. But I didn't love it when I feared that I had been ghosted or wouldn't get my cable for months. You see, it was only when I didn't hear back on the 9th that I found this thread. And it was after reading 120 odd pages of examples of unanswered emails and very long delays, that I requested a refund.
I shouldn't have to read a 120-page thread to know to "expect" poor customer service and delays! Just because someone makes great products, doesn't mean you should have to put up with that nonsense.
A customer should be able to trust the information on the website.
I know that people in this thread (including Peter) encourage customers to just keep emailing him if they don't get a response, but really, who has time for that? I shouldn't have to send an email every day in the hope that he sees it!
It's not that hard to keep on top of client communication.
Peter, if you happen to see this, I love the cable, thank you. I work with businesses to improve their processes, if you'd like to jump on a call at some point, I could help you put some simple stuff in place that'd make a massive difference for you and your customers. No charge. You have a brilliant product and it's a shame to see such mixed reviews here due to things that are entirely avoidable.
