[Jason Stoddard]

Funny you should mention this. If there is any criticism that I have of Schiit, it is that you guys take criticism of your gear way too personally.

Don't get me wrong: I'm a fan of your stuff and have spent money on a stack of Schiit, expensive and no so much. I have plans to buy more as my financial situation allows me to justify it. But if someone has problems with customer support, or is unhappy with a scratchy volume control, or something like that, and they voice their opinion here or in Jason's thread, often the reaction is, "Fine, send it back, restocking fee waived, and don't buy from us ever again."

That's certainly your right to do that.

But to me, it reminds me of the Asgard situation. I think a bit of diplomacy might serve you better. There are things I haven't brought up to your customer support that I think you should know about, but I don't want to get fired as a customer. Things that I think would make you a better company. Things that aren't personal, but are defects and could save you time and effort and maybe point out something that needs to be debugged. (In my case, the "thing" caused two Gungnir MBs to be returned for exchange after a USB interface died. The third time it wasn't exchanged but repaired under warranty. I ended up putting a Wyrd between the Gumby and my computer to stop whatever interaction was going on from happening again. I truly think that this should have been something that I should have been able to talk about constructively without fear of being fired as a customer.)

Just some two cents.

I've met you guys multiple times over multiple years at RMAF, and I do like what you do, and how you interact with customers there.

Tagging @Jason Stoddard so that he can see (and respond) to this, if only on his thread, which I also follow.

With much respect.

Actually, the very, very few customers we have "fired," are really wayyyyyy out on the crazy scale.

What do I mean by "crazy scale?" Death threats. Physically coming to the office and attempting to physically intimidate staff. Offensive, highly personal, profanity-laden email that reduces Orders staff to tears. "Demanding" free stuff in what is clearly a scam.

This is crazy. There is absolutely nothing in audio that should engender this level of crazy. This is not a life or death situation. We are not delivering critical medication or performing life-saving surgery.

If you have a legitimate concern, we're going to take care of you. You should feel free to bring it up. You can always email me directly at jason@schiit.com; it's not like I try to hide this email. Hell, I'm answering support tickets today, since both of our guys are ill.

 

[FrivolsListener]

What do I mean by "crazy scale?" Death threats. Physically coming to the office and attempting to physically intimidate staff. Offensive, highly personal, profanity-laden email that reduces Orders staff to tears. "Demanding" free stuff in what is clearly a scam.

This is crazy. There is absolutely nothing in audio that should engender this level of crazy. This is not a life or death situation. We are not delivering critical medication or performing life-saving surgery.

That's crazy. Even the guy who insisted on talking to someone over the phone (when you clearly state you do tech support by email) was out of line, IMHO.

But I was thinking of a couple of the early Fulla 2 people, who complained about fit and finish of their products (and they did look bad) or scratch volume controls (which I cannot judge), and even a picture of a Loki Mini on one of your two threads where final assembly looked pretty bad to me, have been given the heave ho. (Well, not the Loki guy -- I would have complained, had it been mine.)

But, again, I love your products. No one in any biz should have to deal with death threats or screaming customers. But sometimes a, yeah, we goofed -- if a bunch of items go out the door with scratchy volume controls -- would calm the waters.

Again, my opinion, meant calmly and respectfully.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

But I was thinking of a couple of the early Fulla 2 people, who complained about fit and finish of their products (and they did look bad) or scratch volume controls (which I cannot judge), and even a picture of a Loki Mini on one of your two threads where final assembly looked pretty bad to me, have been given the heave ho. (Well, not the Loki guy -- I would have complained, had it been mine.)

None of them, as far as I know, were given the "heave ho." A couple of the Fulla guys were given full refunds after we swapped out their products three or four times and found no problem with them, yes. But everyone was taken care of. And I posted my email in the Fulla thread near the height, saying "hey, if you have a problem, contact me." Result: crickets.

The Loki? If it was that bad, it wouldn't have left the building. It was dropped or broken in shipping. No worries, I'm sure we replaced it.

We are really trying, the best we can, believe it or not. If you have a legit concern, bring it up. We'll take care of you. Just leave out the profanity, insults, and death threats, please. I don't think that's asking too much.

 

[Rowethren]

SOME PEOPLE JUST WANT TO SEE THE WORLD BURN!!!

 

[FrivolsListener]

None of them, as far as I know, were given the "heave ho." A couple of the Fulla guys were given full refunds after we swapped out their products three or four times and found no problem with them, yes. But everyone was taken care of. And I posted my email in the Fulla thread near the height, saying "hey, if you have a problem, contact me." Result: crickets.

The Loki? If it was that bad, it wouldn't have left the building. It was dropped or broken in shipping. No worries, I'm sure we replaced it.

We are really trying, the best we can, believe it or not.

I do believe you. I'm just passing on a suggestion that I had.

EDIT: I'm glad you took care of the Fulla 2 people and that they weren't "fired." Like I told "i-must-have-phone-support-guy" privately, they don't know what they're missing out on if they don't give you a chance.

 

[belgiangenius]

My first thoughts would be to stick with company policy as well but then you'd have to put up with more of this character than you might wish. Waiving the restocking fee is a small price to pay to send him on his way.

JC

Agreed.

We seem to live in a world now where most companies seem to think it is the customer 's privilege to deal with them, and few products that are sold live up to the promises provided to induce the sale.

IMHO, if a customer is unhappy, it's easiest to make him happy and move him along. It is also smart business.

Death threats? I guess you can run into mentally unstable people no matter where you go.

 

[artur9]

Did anyone else see the mention of The Gadget in The Absolute Sound this latest issue? Not a review, just a "Wow! look at what Moffat is up to now!" kind of thing.

 

[Alcophone]

That's crazy. Even the guy who insisted on talking to someone over the phone (when you clearly state you do tech support by email) was out of line, IMHO.

But I was thinking of a couple of the early Fulla 2 people, who complained about fit and finish of their products (and they did look bad) or scratch volume controls (which I cannot judge), and even a picture of a Loki Mini on one of your two threads where final assembly looked pretty bad to me, have been given the heave ho. (Well, not the Loki guy -- I would have complained, had it been mine.)

But, again, I love your products. No one in any biz should have to deal with death threats or screaming customers. But sometimes a, yeah, we goofed -- if a bunch of items go out the door with scratchy volume controls -- would calm the waters.

Again, my opinion, meant calmly and respectfully.

My first four Schiit products:









I complained a bit about the first two, I got nowhere (that was before Schiit started using Zendesk), I accepted the other two (and cleaned some rubber feet markers), and got used to them all.

Next week I'm gonna order my fifth. *shrug*

 

[Clemmaster]

Are you ordering B-Stock??

 

[Alcophone]

Are you ordering B-Stock??

No, all new.

 

[AudioBear]

My first thoughts would be to stick with company policy as well but then you'd have to put up with more of this character than you might wish. Waiving the restocking fee is a small price to pay to send him on his way.

JC

I thought the guy was a troll or a real whiner at first. And I was surprised that Jason did what he did, I would have stuck with policy and extended a rigid digit. But that's why I am not running a company. I realized Jason had more capacity to put himself in someone else's shoes than I did. The guy came back to the forum to say he had been treated well and was appreciative and gracious. Maybe it was just one of those rare mix-ups that happen from time-to-time. He got the benefit of the doubt from Jason which if nothing else was free therapy for the guy who was really upset. Now he's not. Case closed. I still don't have to like the way he behaved.

 

[Pandahead]

None of them, as far as I know, were given the "heave ho." A couple of the Fulla guys were given full refunds after we swapped out their products three or four times and found no problem with them, yes. But everyone was taken care of. And I posted my email in the Fulla thread near the height, saying "hey, if you have a problem, contact me." Result: crickets.

The Loki? If it was that bad, it wouldn't have left the building. It was dropped or broken in shipping. No worries, I'm sure we replaced it.

We are really trying, the best we can, believe it or not. If you have a legit concern, bring it up. We'll take care of you. Just leave out the profanity, insults, and death threats, please. I don't think that's asking too much.

I have turned aluminum on my lathe, polished it, taken it out and set it on the work bench only to put a ding in it later! It's aluminum and I think overall you guys do an excellent job putting it together. Is all my gear perfect? Nope, never expected it to be. A little imperfection is soon over shadowed by moving your gear around and before you know it, oops......life is easier when you realize it really isn't anything to worry about....that little ding, it will out live you! So use stuff, that's what it's for and be happy.....or not.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

The Kleiber pastoral symphony is quite beautiful. When it was described as being recaptured from a taping of a radio broadcast, I expected bad scratchy mono sound. Yes, there is perhaps a louder noise floor than in studio recordings, but the bass is not anemic, and the soundstage is quite plausible. I recommend it wholeheartedly. We have, unfortunately, only his symphonies 5-7. I would've loved to hear his Eroica, or his ninth.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

...{snip}...Hell, I'm answering support tickets today, since both of our guys are ill.

Yeek! “SchiitFerBrainz” (his YouTube handle) is out of comission for a bit?! Look after your 2 customer-care-people too, eh.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

The more I listen to Kleiber, the more I'm convinced that he's a better conductor than Solti or Karajan. However, as I look at his operatic discography, the most salient fact seems to be its narrowness of scope. Tristan was the only opera of Wagner that he conducted; Elektra and Rosenkavalier were the only ones of Strauss; Otello and Traviata the only of Verdi; Boheme the only of Puccini; Fledermaus of Johann Strauss. Besides these seven, we have one recorded Carmen, one Freischutz, one Wozzeck, and the two random Offenbach with which he began his recorded corpus.

He conducts, more than anything else, for posterity; his recordings are neither flashy nor eccentric, neither ponderous nor aggressive, as Böhm, Knappertsbusch, Solti, and Karajan, by turns, all were. This is not to say that he is the best maestro of the century, but he has achieved a remarkably high floor below which he does not dip in quality. I would compare him in this respect to a Fritz Reiner, or perhaps a Simon Rattle.