Getting in touch with Singlepower?

[spartan123]

LOL, "Hush your mouth" ?? I think not... when you pay good money. You should receive "good" service. He was FAR from providing good service on my purchase. His customer service standard are on the order of not even existing...

I should not have to call to find out status of a unit. He should have no problem taking two seconds out of his day to respond to an email. The ONLY time he responded to any email was when I was asking about options... Once he got my money he never responded to another one that I remember.

I should not be lied to multiple times about when an item will ship. I should not of had to ask for my money back just to even get it shipped. He should of provided a new tube and the receipt as to which he promised. And for what I paid I should not of gotten a scratched unit.

He needs some basic customer service skills. Period. I have gotten WAY better service from the Chinese gentlemen I bought amps from and they are thousands of miles away!

To be honest, it is his loss in the long run. I love upgrading my toy's and at this point I would not even consider buying another amp from him.



Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 Hush your mouth. Mikhail is the most caring, meticulous and energetic businessman and artist, I have ever known. He will not rest until he gets it right in your opinion. He has just added more staff and sometimes things fall through the cracks. Keep at it, you will never be disappointed.

 

[rgbyhkr]

I don't think any of us can comment specifically on spartan's experience with Mikhail. That's between them 2. However, his comments about unresponded emails and late delivery are not without precedent here on the forums. More than one Singlepower amp owner has posted here about those exact same issues. In the end, they all pretty much seemed to forgive the issues as the resulting product was very much to their liking.

I myself am waiting on an amp from him that is running late but I prepared myself for a longer than advised timeline after seeing comments about that before I ordered. I also had an email or 2 go unreturned and a few pieces of information come later than promised. I'm pretty sure that I'll love the result but I chimed in here earlier to try and set reasonable expectations for prospective customers.

That seems to be something that Mikhail has difficulty with (specifically as it relates to job timelines). I think he's the kind of guy that wants to work with each customer and explain everything to them, which can obviously be very time consuming. He also wants to go the extra mile to make sure the products are built right. It's good to hear though that he added personnel and hopefully that will alleviate some of the burden.

Jeff

 

[Luco]

This seems to be a common problem with the amp manufacturers. See http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57635
and I've ordered an amp from Headroom that's taking 2 months to arrive so far. Maybe demand for amps has grown too quickly?

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 Hush your mouth.

"Hush your mouth" Where do you get off telling ANYONE that?

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spartan123 I know I will get flamed for this post..... But, You better add a week or two to the time you were quoted.... And don't get too excited when they tell you it will ship by a certain date. I heard that four times. When I asked for my money back I finally got my unit shipped overnight. (with scratches on the top, bad tube and no receipt) Makes me wonder if they just sent a used unit??? Called Single Power and told them about the bad tube (never offered to replace it) asked for a receipt (have still not seen it) Never mentioned the scratches, figured nothing would be done about it any way. ( I did speak to the owner) I just hope I got the upgrades I ordered... The unit is very nicely built and sounds great with the right tubes. But the customer service from Single Power was very poor. IMHO just sucked.

I'm assuming you posted this in the feedback forum, right?

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloco I'm assuming you posted this in the feedback forum, right?

I agree...the right place for much of the discussion in this thread is the feedback forum.

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom I agree...the right place for much of the discussion in this thread is the feedback forum.

Who reads that?

The person is asking how do I get a hold of Singlepower (0riginal question) now he thinks he is going to get a new amp built from singlepower

in 2 weeks. (so some of us who have had to wait way more than 2 months are thinking no way

so we tell everyone it may take longer.)

I love Mikhail and just a week ago he told me 6 weeks wait on a new Supra and wait to send my MPX3 in for a up grade to an SE for a week.

This seems like the perfect place for this kind of thing.

PS, Hi Tom.

 

[sjt78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 Hush your mouth. Mikhail is the most caring, meticulous and energetic businessman and artist, I have ever known. He will not rest until he gets it right in your opinion. He has just added more staff and sometimes things fall through the cracks. Keep at it, you will never be disappointed.

What are you sleeping with the guy? Who are you to say this to another member? Definitely fanboyism to the max right here.

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjt78 What are you sleeping with the guy?

Thats not nice.

We are all try-in to help each other here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 Quote: Hush your mouth.

I don't think ken was trying to be rude.

 

[rgbyhkr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx Who reads that? The person is asking how do I get a hold of Singlepower (0riginal question) now he thinks he is going to get a new amp built from singlepower in 2 weeks. (so some of us who have had to wait way more than 2 months are thinking no way so we tell everyone it may take longer.) I love Mikhail and just a week ago he told me 6 weeks wait on a new Supra and wait to send my MPX3 in for a up grade to an SE for a week. This seems like the perfect place for this kind of thing. PS, Hi Tom.

I agree about using this forum instead of the feedback one. That forum really seems to be geared more towards individuals as buyers/sellers vs businesses like Singlepower. I never would have thought to go there to look for info on Singlepower. There is some feedback there on Mikhail, but it's 2 years old. He also doesn't participate on the forums much - 55 posts since registering in March of 2003 - so I wouldn't have thought to look there for feedback on him specifically.

Jeff

 

[nanahachi]

re: contacting Mikhail

Call him. IME, vendors in all sorts of industries aren't always wonderful replying to emails, but phone calls do get good responses.

Re: feedback forum

I agree with E-T, this is not the correct place for posting experiences with a Vendor or an individual. That is in fact why that forum exists. Just because people have failed to post feedback about Singlepower/Mikhail does not mean that such a thread is useless.

There are threads on several vendors in the feedback forum, but perhaps buyers should try to post their impressions there more often, since the "Mikhail" thread, for example, is a bit stale* [edit: spelling corrected]. The same could probably be said for all of the Vendor threads there, I don't think people post about their buying experiences often enough when it comes to the vendors.

Again, Vendor threads DO exist. I just ran a search and got over a full page of hits, ranging from Jan Meier to TTVJ to Headphile to the notorious Shellbrook Audio.

This is a fine place to ask about ways to contact vendors, but recounting one's feedback on their buying experience (good or bad) really needs to be in the right place.

fyi: Mikhail's feedback thread

 

[patrickamory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx Patrick could you tell me why the XLR inputs are important on an unballanced amp? Thanks.

Eh, they're not. I just have a BAT linestage that only has balanced outputs. So all my ICs are balanced. I'd prefer not to have any adapters where I don't need them. So I've asked for XLR inputs to simplify things. There will also be a pair of single-ended inputs with a switch between the two.

Patrick

 

[patrickamory]

And jeez... could everyone calm down... we're ordering made-to-measure equipment from guys who are designing and building this stuff in their basements, or, if they're moderately more successful, in a very small workshop on the outskirts of some town.

You work with what you get, and believe me, the value from these people in their workshops is way above what happens when everything is marketed and invested in and shopped around... Singlepower is a labor of love, like the Gilmore amps that Antness makes at Headamp, like almost everything we buy. The value is way way above what it could possibly be in a totally pro inventory-controlled and fully marketed product.

Give 'em a break guys! I only posted about this 'cause I wanted to find out the best way to get in touch with Mikhail. If he eventually wants to pursue the full-on customer-service made-in-China route - which isn't necessarily a bad thing - we'll see the full-page ads in Stereophile. Until then, be happy with what you got.

And that goes for all the start-up audio manufacturers..... and god bless 'em. This isn't a huge profit center for anyone!!!!

Patrick (J Harris)

 

[MarconiSalad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx Who reads that? The person is asking how do I get a hold of Singlepower (0riginal question) now he thinks he is going to get a new amp built from singlepower in 2 weeks. (so some of us who have had to wait way more than 2 months are thinking no way so we tell everyone it may take longer.) I love Mikhail and just a week ago he told me 6 weeks wait on a new Supra and wait to send my MPX3 in for a up grade to an SE for a week. This seems like the perfect place for this kind of thing. PS, Hi Tom.

RE: Where to post

I agree:

"Who reads that?"

A handful of manufacturers command a major presence in this Amplification forum. It is not in the best interest of the manufacturers or consumers to bury comments that reflect the true reality of extended delivery dates or problems with understaffed and inexperienced customer service people.

RE: To those newbies considering placing an initial order

You probably will be getting a custom, finely crafted product with exceptional sonic qualities, as attested to by TEAM this, and TEAM that, listed in this forum. But without hearing other transaction experiences, along with the glowing reviews, you may feel your extended wait, unanswered email or rushed incomplete shipment is unique and move to cancel your order.

The cottage electronics business does not have next day shipping from off the shelf inventory with highly trained customer service people 24/7.
What it does have is an avenue to an experience in sound you will not find elsewhere. But your expectations need to be properly in line, to firmly trust the manufacturer after plopping down a grand or two, and having delivery dates double or triple. When you finally put your headphones on and ease back enveloped in the sound it will have been worth the patience.
While not often publicised here, I would bet most members of various TEAMs have had similar experiences and still eagerly keep going back.

 

[rgbyhkr]

I agree wholeheartedly with Marconi. I have no doubt that the amp I ordered will be awesome. The wait is difficult, especially for an impatient NYer like me. However, I tried to set myself up properly before ordering. Setting expectations in all areas of the buying process, including build and delivery time, is important so that cutomers don't start off with the wrong impression of a company. This seems to be an area in which Mikhail struggles and like Marconi said, I'm sure he's not the only one.

By the way, I talked to Mikhail today and he's a little behind with my amp. It looks like it won't go out until next week. Good thing I tacked on a couple of weeks to the estimate as next Tuesday will make it 8 weeks since I placed the order.

Jeff