Originally Posted by DemonicLemming /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm not too sure what a "value-added comment" is, but my post was simply an open-ended statement about how things seem to be going in the market, coming from the viewpoint of a new guy who might very well have made a very expensive mistake without knowing it until it was too late.
I'm not trying to bash any of the manufacturers, say they make bad products, etc etc. There simply needs to be more personal responsibility among those companies as far as not taking orders when they have a large backlog, better customer support, and no "blackouts" when they simply disappear without any warning or reason, for months at a time.
If you walked into a store, saw a product, and said, "I would like to buy that." and either paid for it at that time, or gave them your credit card information to be billed later, then left the store, would it be acceptable for the store to not send your product within a reasonable timeframe without any warning ahead of time (like at purchase) that it would likely be a very long wait, to completely ignore all attempts to contact them, and to occasionally notify you that your product was either ready to ship or was being shipped, with absolutely no intention whatsoever to actually adhere to what they said? Furthermore, do you think that you should have to do in-depth research on a company just to see if they actually ship things when they say they will? That's sort of an expected thing - if I tell a client I'll be mailing something to them on a certain day, or give them a specific timeframe as to when they'll receive their product, I either ship it when I tell them I would, or I contact them as soon as possible to let them know something's come up and that their order will be delayed.
I'm simply confused as to why such practices are acceptable in this niche market, and even more confused as to why people who spend thousands of dollars on equipment feel the need to make excuses for the manufacturers they bought the equipment from when the aforementioned problems arise. I've seen extremely scathing posts by members on here while waiting for their stuff, then as soon as they get it, they do a complete and utter reversal of position and even go so far as to say they'd continue to do business with the manufacturer! When people like that defend the manufacturer, it makes it impossible for everyone else who is NOT happy with the service to really be able to do anything - because the manufacturers know as long as there are customers out there blindly defending them, that they'll be able to continue their business practices.
It just seems that too many members on here either don't want to say anything about specific companies - which, in a twisted sense, I can understand, if they have outstanding orders with those companies and publicly criticizing them might (note, I'm not saying it DOES happen, merely a hypothetical) cause yet more delays with their order - or that those who do are buried under the avalanche of, "He makes good products when he does eventually deliver them, just ignore all the bad aspects, like no communication, blackouts, false shipping dates and shipping confirmation. None of that is important!" posts. It just makes it even worse when a manufacturer pops back up out of nowhere, promises to take care of everything, then disappears yet again, making people who had given up on getting their stuff start to wonder, "Well, wait, is he really back? Does that mean I'm going to get my amp now? What's happening?" for another month, until they realize it's just a repetition of what happened before.
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