[beemerphile]

+1 to emailing Schiit. It should sooner or later reach Jason.

This is not the kind of experience Schiit built their well-deserved reputation around. "Curt replies" sounds like staff with too many enquiries to answer. IOW, Schiit may be experiencing growing pains due to their run-away success

Curt replies are all I have ever received from Schiit in response to technical questions.  Often one word. Quite a contrast from Jason providing depth of understanding here regarding the "How" and "Why" of things.
 
Lee

 

[tjl5709]

Folks, your dealing with a small firm, in a nitch market. They do not have the vast resources that a company like Sony, or Shure, or any other large, long term corporation has. If you are a typical amazon prime customer, and expect schiit in 2 days, your currently dealing with the wrong firm.
 
They run lean because their model is to provide a good value/price ratio in a small market.
 
They have also stepped outside the box with the multibit platform. It looks like a hit to a vast amount of consumers. Me included.
 
With a lean staff, a new product based on a new platform, and higher customer demand than anticipated. You get the wait factor.
 
I purchased a gumby last month, and was floored by it's sound over my bifrost. I now have an yggy on order. Yes I want it yesterday. But I understand the above facts.
 
I much prefer they take there time to get me something that was done right.

 

[beemerphile]

  Folks, your dealing with a small firm, in a nitch market. They do not have the vast resources that a company like Sony, or Shure, or any other large, long term corporation has. If you are a typical amazon prime customer, and expect schiit in 2 days, your currently dealing with the wrong firm.
 
They run lean because their model is to provide a good value/price ratio in a small market.
 
They have also stepped outside the box with the multibit platform. It looks like a hit to a vast amount of consumers. Me included.
 
With a lean staff, a new product based on a new platform, and higher customer demand than anticipated. You get the wait factor.
 
I purchased a gumby last month, and was floored by it's sound over my bifrost. I now have an yggy on order. Yes I want it yesterday. But I understand the above facts.
 
I much prefer they take there time to get me something that was done right.

Credibility is not about how long it takes.  Credibility is when what you say matches what you do over an extended period of time.  If FedEx says the delivery time is 5 days, don't promise 2-4 days.  After owning my Yggy for a couple of months, I am a raving fan.  I plan to buy a second one.  But that does not mean there are no opportunities to improve.  Companies who believe in continuous improvement know that you never "get there".  As far as completeness of technical responses, I would expect better from a small niche supplier than I would from Sony or Shure.  I think Jason himself said it wasn't about a lot of people who like us, but about a few people who love us.

 

[vc1187]

 
Curt replies are all I have ever received from Schiit in response to technical questions.  Often one word. Quite a contrast from Jason providing depth of understanding here regarding the "How" and "Why" of things.
 
Lee

This is very disappointing to hear.  I got into high(er) end audio near the end of 2011 with the Valhalla being the first headphone amplifier I ever owned.  I had noise issues somewhere in my chain and blamed it on the Valhalla.  Jason was extremely courteous, gave me a detailed and technical response, and insisted that it was probably an issue with the Valhalla.  He requested that I send my product in for a replacement without any further questions.  When I received the replacement, I had the same issue.  I complained to Jason again, and he replied again very quickly with possibilities and expertise.  He even sent me a pair of replacement tubes.  Later on, I discovered that it was my own ignorance and that my source was to blame.  The Valhalla just did a great job of revealing noise/interference issues with my source, which was a Creative sound card sandwiched between two SLI'd Nvidia cards 

 

  Credibility is not about how long it takes.  Credibility is when what you say matches what you do over an extended period of time.  If FedEx says the delivery time is 5 days, don't promise 2-4 days.  After owning my Yggy for a couple of months, I am a raving fan.  I plan to buy a second one.  But that does not mean there are no opportunities to improve.  Companies who believe in continuous improvement know that you never "get there".  As far as completeness of technical responses, I would expect better from a small niche supplier than I would from Sony or Shure.  I think Jason himself said it wasn't about a lot of people who like us, but about a few people who love us.

This is spot on with the way I see things, and I don't think I could've said it better myself.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Hey all,
 
Some clarification on "curt" answers from customer support. Yes, they are curt. They are usually intended to be. 
 
Let me explain:
 
1. Long answers are usually sales pitches, or deliberate ambiguation.
2. We do not do any sales pitches, and we do not speculate on what you hear: schiit.com/about/principles.
3. Our refusal to do sales pitches and speculate on possible perceived sonics irritates some people. We do not know why. We are simply trying to be a upstanding manufacturer and not upsell people.
4. In terms of short technical answers, we're cautious of violating the "no user serviceable parts inside" clause, which, if someone decides to mod their product, while it is plugged in, while they are in the bathtub, the attorney for the modder's estate will forensically examine all of our communications to see if we implied that this was ever in any way OK, and if we did, our company would probably cease to exist.
 
In terms of estimated shipping times, these are our experience. It is also our experience that the vast amount of damage and lost packages are caused by USPS. We will make sure there is a reference to check the actual shipping times with the carrier rather than rely on our estimates, if that caveat is not already in place.
 
I hope this clears things up. If you have any doubts as to our customer service, please try it if you ever have a problem with a product. In all cases, you will get rapid responses, either in the terms of an answer, an RA, or a rapid return/exchange.
 
All the best,
Jason

 

[shultzee]

  Hey all,
 
Some clarification on "curt" answers from customer support. Yes, they are curt. They are usually intended to be. 
 
Let me explain:
 
1. Long answers are usually sales pitches, or deliberate ambiguation.
2. We do not do any sales pitches, and we do not speculate on what you hear: schiit.com/about/principles.
3. Our refusal to do sales pitches and speculate on possible perceived sonics irritates some people. We do not know why. We are simply trying to be a upstanding manufacturer and not upsell people.
4. In terms of short technical answers, we're cautious of violating the "no user serviceable parts inside" clause, which, if someone decides to mod their product, while it is plugged in, while they are in the bathtub, the attorney for the modder's estate will forensically examine all of our communications to see if we implied that this was ever in any way OK, and if we did, our company would probably cease to exist.
 
In terms of estimated shipping times, these are our experience. It is also our experience that the vast amount of damage and lost packages are caused by USPS. We will make sure there is a reference to check the actual shipping times with the carrier rather than rely on our estimates, if that caveat is not already in place.
 
I hope this clears things up. If you have any doubts as to our customer service, please try it if you ever have a problem with a product. In all cases, you will get rapid responses, either in the terms of an answer, an RA, or a rapid return/exchange.
 
All the best,
Jason

I can vouch for their customer service.  I received a not working properly amp from them and they immediately replied and replaced the product.    Good stuff.

 

[comzee]

  2. We do not do any sales pitches, and we do not speculate on what you hear: schiit.com/about/principles.

This is why I religiously recommend Schiit. Can't even count the number of companies that talk about how good their products sound, and that's their only selling point. It's all they do, it's akin to car salesman, reptilian. It's almost like people want to be lied to, not directly, but indirectly to make themselves happy. Companies are essentially masturbating with the advertising they put out. When someone gets it home, their opinion is already made up.
 
Schiit seems like they want to let people bring the product home, and decide themselves.
 
Within an industry plagued with snake oil and outrageous pricing, Schiit is a infusion of fresh oxygen.

 

[AudioBear]

  Hey all,
 
Some clarification on "curt" answers from customer support. Yes, they are curt. They are usually intended to be. 
 
...
 
In terms of estimated shipping times, these are our experience. It is also our experience that the vast amount of damage and lost packages are caused by USPS. We will make sure there is a reference to check the actual shipping times with the carrier rather than rely on our estimates, if that caveat is not already in place.
 
I hope this clears things up. If you have any doubts as to our customer service, please try it if you ever have a problem with a product. In all cases, you will get rapid responses, either in the terms of an answer, an RA, or a rapid return/exchange.
 
All the best,
Jason

 
Thanks for the clarification Jason.  It was very gentlemanly of you not to push the problem off onto the carrier so I will do that for you.  No carrier consistently meets their published "normal delivery times."  Stuff happens.  Weather, break-downs, sorting sends it to the wrong hub, the package drops off the conveyor belt, the driver forgets to stop at your house, etc etc etc.   Even overnight guaranteed shipments sometimes don't make it.  Any company that ships a lot can tell you horror stories about carriers.  
 
At the same time a lot of carriers actually do deliver faster than they say they will. To have a package arrive a day or two earlier than promised also happens.  
 
Finally, it's really hard for a small company that ships a lot for every employee to know every minute of the day how many days the various shipping options are to each zone or region.  Yes they could look it up but they could also rely on their experience that shipments usually tale X days to East Nowhere.
 
At the end of the day, it all averages out but shipping can be a hassle when you absolutely need it now and it doesn't arrive.  Over the years I've found that hassling a shipper about when my package is going to arrive does't necessarily help it arrive faster.   I've never viewed audio gear as needing to get there today or the sky falls down sort of issue but in our do it now overnight shipment world people have come to expect fast service.  I am continually amazed at how fast companies have become at shipping and transporting stuff to us.  But accidents happen and sometimes one of us gets dropped through the cracks.  It's just inevitable.
 
My experience with Schiit has been that they are quick to respond to e-mails, courteous to deal with, and ship fast if they have it in stock.  Am I surprised that someone didn't have the same experience?  No.  Stuff happens in life.  I am sure from Jason's response that the folks at Schiit will discuss quoting estimated arrival dates.  Enough said.  I hope the OP feels a little better that their bad experience may help the rest of us get even better service from Schiit.  There is nothing wrong with polite, friendly, well-intended and constructive criticism.

 

[hifimckinney]

  Weather, break-downs, sorting sends it to the wrong hub, the package drops off the conveyor belt, the driver forgets to stop at your house, etc etc etc.   Even overnight guaranteed shipments sometimes don't make it.  Any company that ships a lot can tell you horror stories about carriers.  
 
 

Also, Schiit is delivered by FedEx Ground that operates only 3 days a week, at least in my area and I think this is standard across US.

 

[HemiSam]

I purchase way too much via the internet for many years now and I can plainly say that domestic shipping via USPS has gone to seed.  The latest, yesterday, was a shipment from Rockauto (great car parts supplier) from Dallas to Houston, TX (4 hour drive) that with "priority" mail took a full week to arrive.   Pulling up the tracking for the package is a bad idea...it looks really bad the way they handle stuff.  I could go on with examples but it's the same story here.
 
UPS and FedEx for domestic shipping IMHO are the way to go.  I have a lot more luck with USPS / EMS shipping and receiving internationally.
 
HS

 

[RCBinTN]

Personally, I've dealt with a ton of internet/direct ship companies, and I think Schiit Audio is one of the best.  Any questions I had, like to upgrade to 2-day shipping, were immediately handled and very professionally.  I think Schiit's customer service is much better than many much larger companies.
 
I agree with the comment about the USPS.  I participated in the Head-Fi gift exchange this year and my partner lives in Berkeley CA.  I sent (from Amazon) a package containing two CD's.  It took the USPS a full three weeks to deliver that package.  It was stuck in Fresno for 4-5 days!  Why it ever went to Fresno is beyond my understanding.
 
Just IMHO and FWIW, friends.
 
Cheers -
RCBinTN

 

[beemerphile]

  Personally, I've dealt with a ton of internet/direct ship companies, and I think Schiit Audio is one of the best.  Any questions I had, like to upgrade to 2-day shipping, were immediately handled and very professionally.  I think Schiit's customer service is much better than many much larger companies.
 

 
Good is the enemy of great.  No-one said they were not good, or even not one of the best.  I certainly think they are one of the best and voted by buying a Yggdrasil from them.  I confirm my support of them by plans to buy another one (if they ever build another freaking black one).  The comments were from some Schiit fans about how the customer experience could have been improved.  Not vs. Sony or Shure; not vs.most larger companies; but simply improved.  The very best companies don't compare their performance to that of other companies, they compare it to perfection.  They don't explain away customer perceptions as lack of understanding, but rather dig through them for something useful that they can use to improve the customer's perception of the total experience with both the company and its products.  
 
Or they don't. Their company, their choice  Peace.  Out.

 

[RCBinTN]

Really enjoying the SQ of this album right now.  The GMB makes me feel like I'm sitting right in front of the band.  All the day's troubles pass you by...highly recommended.
 

 
All the best, friends.
RCB

 

[mulveling]

During the recent holidays I emailed an inquiry to the status of my Yggy repair (it had been a couple of weeks). I got back a polite version of "it'll be ready when it's ready". So then I laid off and let them do their thing. They did their thing. I continue to be a happy customer. Chatty/friendly customer service is LAST on my list of important attributes for an audio company. I'd much rather that they continue to sell high quality products at well below "industry standard" prices, provide good warranty/repair service, and get the job done efficiently. Schiit does all that. So chill and relax.

 

[Currawong]

Likewise. I've had more trouble from companies trying too hard to be polite, and often not reading what I wrote, let alone properly answering what I asked.