[Cassadian]

Quote:

 
Ridiculous. 
To those wondering the contents of the email amp-city sent out to all of their customers.
 
Dear Past and Present Customers,

I am sorry.

The past four months have been the worst operational period in our short history. Our service has been poor; we missed considerably the UM promo turnaround guidelines, failed to keep in regular contact, and have been slow to respond to update requests and product enquiries leaving customers frustrated. While this has affected recent customers, I think it is necessary for this message to reach all who previously have ordered with AmpCity in order to make clear my regret and intent to improve.

To those let down: I cannot express how sorry I am for the stress, inconvenience and frustration we have caused. You guys invested in us, not only by handing over your hard-earned cash, but also with your trust. What's worse is AmpCity was founded on a promise to provide exceptional advice, products and support and we've failed to deliver on this recently. Because of the faith you placed in us, AmpCity has grown at a pace that quite frankly we were not prepared for. We struggled to match customer demand and did not expand and take appropriate measures quickly enough. There are no excuses for breaking our promise and keeping you in the dark - the buck stops solely with us.

We are dead-set on fixing these problems and making sure they never happen in the future and, if you’ll allow us, rebuilding the trust you placed in us. I’ll be focussing exclusively on this on from here on in - it’s the only thing that matters in a community such as ours.

The team will be getting back to all outstanding enquiries within the next three days. If you need an update for a current order, are urgently awaiting response to a query, or we unintentionally miss you, please contact me directly at z.dhalla@ampcity.co.uk and I’ll get back to you within six hours. If you have a specific complaint, please also get in touch so we can resolve the issue. Likewise for any UM customer, globally, who is still waiting on promo items.

Going forward, and to make sure this does not happen again, I am committed to the following: a new customer-service hire within 8 weeks, improved to    ols and resources for staff, bi-monthly updates for UM customers, and a response to all enquiries within 48 hours. The 48-hour response time is a guarantee; if we fail on this we’ll give you a 15% refund on the order.  Please let me know if you have a suggestion for further commitments you’d like to see implemented.

As patient customers and valuable members of the audiophile community, you deserve better - we’ll be doing everything prove our renewed commitment and exceed your expectations now and in the future.  I only hope you will give us the opportunity to do so.

Sincerely,

Zainul Dhalla
Director, AmpCity

 
Anyone can say words.

 

[ProjectDenz]

We shall see if AmpCity actually pick up their game. Frankly I'm surprised UM has held onto them still despite all the bad experiences from customers.

 

[svyr]

We shall see if AmpCity actually pick up their game. Frankly I'm surprised UM has held onto them still despite all the bad experiences from customers.

All the dealers had the same UMLab response problems around that time/delays/screw ups. (to varying degrees)

I've dealt with Ciem.com (mage, 3 driver order) and UMGlobal/Aus (SM3,x6 and now x8 order) and over the past 1+ years (1 and 1/4 now ) - I've had the same issues.

I'm more surprised (amazed) the dealers haven't trained UMLab to notify them if an order is late and track completion time (since it's clearly really pissing some customers off). As well as to double check with the dealer or maybe even customer what they are actually going to build before building and definitely before shipping (saving months of headaches, since it's pretty obvious UMLab just build random crap at times and don't read the order form properly). And finally, asking the dealer/customer about any (f---g) changes to orders if they're unsure instead of assuming (like colors, molds, tuning changes... ).

At the end of the day, getting order details right is UMLab's core business and they seem to 'excel at failing at it'.


I'm told UMLab doesn't give a flying screw about bad publicity on forums and it's the dealers picking up the slack. I wouldn't really pin it that hard on ampcity, I think all the dealers are in the same boat, just ampcity took it less well.

I think it's a real pity too, while other companies practically slobber customers with customer service and cut UM on price.



On the other hand, I really think (and told ciem.com and UMAus/Global repeatedly), that dealers should take more responsibility and should force a basic but idiot proof process on UMLab so they stop screwing up orders, maybe up to and including changing UMLab's payment to pay part after order completion (withheld by the dealer).


Unfortunately UMLab are just THAT good at screwing things up (e.g. get colors and universal/demo mold right - lose custom tuning lol, or get universal molds and/or colors wrong more than once, or switch universal molds without asking), and I can't really say how much the dealers are trying. I'd like to think they're not complete imbeciles unlike UMLab.


At the end of the day, I got tired of UMLab and sent in my mage for a refund (wrong colors and mold - 50/50 dealer - ciem.com/lab problem). Pity, I liked Mage, but if UMLab/ciem.com don't seem to do much about the problem, maybe UMLab will understand people taking their money back and realize where the money is coming from.
SM3x8 (maybe 80% lab, 20% UMAus problem - UMLab lost the custom tuning ) and 3 driver/3 (wrong mold - 50/50 dealer - ciem.com/lab problem) are back to be fixed (since refunding those would mean losing the initial drivers)

Stephen asked them to rush 3 driver, and I'm guessing Matt did something similar, but I'm not holding my breath re: correctness of timeliness with their new lab move. I'm hoping they manage not to lose my IEMs at least...

 

[ProjectDenz]

I figured as much. When will more Chinese companies learn that people look for good customer service and quality control just as much as competitive pricing?

 

[harrisonhawk]

Quote:

All the dealers had the same UMLab response problems around that time/delays/screw ups. (to varying degrees)
 

 
That's a fair point. My main issue with Ampcity however has been that they have just ignored me and been impossible to contact.
 
I would have been happy if they'd told me "UM Labs are not telling us anything so we're in the dark just as much as you are." Instead they've been just as elusive, and it's incredibly frustrating having to speak to their receptionist 5 times a day because the "management" are too incompetent to pick up their phones.
 
Still, it's good to know that UM are just as bad. I wonder what shape my IEMs will be in when they finally turn up?

 

[Evilcalyptic]

you can have my fortis, i ******* hate the design, reminds me of a beat audio cable. I dispise those cables

 

[Cassadian]

I'll take it 

  I'm a good cause, I promise.  
 
Just saw it.  Nevermind... teehee.

 

[svyr]

That's a fair point. My main issue with Ampcity however has been that they have just ignored me and been impossible to contact.

I would have been happy if they'd told me "UM Labs are not telling us anything so we're in the dark just as much as you are." Instead they've been just as elusive, and it's incredibly frustrating having to speak to their receptionist 5 times a day because the "management" are too incompetent to pick up their phones.

Still, it's good to know that UM are just as bad. I wonder what shape my IEMs will be in when they finally turn up?

well, again I had plenty of long before reply delays and numerous follow up emails... ciem.com was better at it than UMAus/global, but yea...

I think any delay is interpretable as 'i'll let you know when we know/asked UMLab waiting for a reply' (not ignoring your emails, being a d-bag). why they don't tell us that - not sure. that said I had some very coy and selective email replies (but having dealt w UMLab directly I wouldn't be surprised the dealers sometimes just relay the 1 liner from the lab). that could probably be fixed w Skype chats instead of emails between dealers and lab. or something.

then again, for say UMAus/global you have the phone call option. dunno if anyone used it or whether matt calls you himself, but it could be a better way to resolve problems/concerns w the dealer

 

[Yuceka]

Man, thank God for 1964 Ears who shipped me my customs after 7 days of receiving my impressions. Perfect fit and perfect build. Feeling sorry for those who have been experiencing these problems. 

 

[doublea71]

I won't be using UM for my remold. Too bad, they're not far from Vietnam...
 

 

[ProjectDenz]

Quote:

well, again I had plenty of long before reply delays and numerous follow up emails... ciem.com was better at it than UMAus/global, but yea...
I think any delay is interpretable as 'i'll let you know when we know/asked UMLab waiting for a reply' (not ignoring your emails, being a d-bag). why they don't tell us that - not sure. that said I had some very coy and selective email replies (but having dealt w UMLab directly I wouldn't be surprised the dealers sometimes just relay the 1 liner from the lab). that could probably be fixed w Skype chats instead of emails between dealers and lab. or something.
then again, for say UMAus/global you have the phone call option. dunno if anyone used it or whether matt calls you himself, but it could be a better way to resolve problems/concerns w the dealer

 
Matt answered all my emails within 24 hours unless it was a question on the weekend and I had a good experience with them. Dunno, maybe I got lucky.

 

[svyr]

Matt answered all my emails within 24 hours unless it was a question on the weekend and I had a good experience with them. Dunno, maybe I got lucky.

Look again, over the 1/1/4 years I dealt with UMAus (and my SM3/6/8 just went back for the 4th time lol) - 4 or so days avg - and 2 follow up emails avg to get a reply (and many replies were still not specific enough, and some were 'less than straight' or didn't answer all the questions asked (sometimes I retried and was ignored, sometimes I gave up)). Some query waits went on for weeks (mostly ones about 'when is UMLab going to finish SM3x...) . Matt not answering during the um global launch special was one of the main reasons I went with another dealer.
Not that it helped much. UMLab are just that special? And I'm definitely that unlucky.

Maybe I just piss the f----k out of him or something. But a lot of his replies sound like he just wants me to go away

That said, Matt was forthright about some issues, and did let me use many demo units and discounted driver upgrades while my SM3, and x6 going in for fixes with UMLab. (I'd include let me custom tune SM3x6, but UMlab just screwed it up, and any dealer can arrange that, despite them saying they don't like doing it)

Stockholm syndrome wise - yea maybe he generally wants to treat customers right and gets screwed over by UMLab and tries sometimes,
no, I'm not nearly happy with the service. Yes demo units/discounts = good. Persistent screwing up of orders and days to reply to emails/selective replying - not so much. I guess it's worth separating UMaus fixing making sure the same issues with my order don't occur (getting the colors and mold right/metal insert right, but losing the custom tuning), vs a lot of things still going wrong with my ciem.com(Stephen's) orders (and some probably due to me communicating with UMLab and the dealers via group mails and ambiguous division of responsibility. but for f---ks sakes, check the orders before starting and shipping - that's why you get paid as a dealer).

anyway, I just can't help myself and reading this topic salts the wounds.

 

[ProjectDenz]

I dunno, he answered all my emails and everything went smoothly. I didn't pester him though

 

[svyr]

I dunno, he answered all my emails and everything went smoothly. I didn't pester him though

I guess it might depend on the order complexity, luck and when you came in with them fixing the process of making sure UMLab get sh!t right/whether it was before or after the umglobal special overload and your amount of patience/amounts of repeated screw ups.
Maybe he's human and thought I was happy playing with demo units (multiple emails should've indicated otherwise) or was pissed off and depressed about UMLab being incompetent idiots.

 

[ProjectDenz]

Yes, it was two simple reshells about 3 months ago.