Customer Service (8thstreet.com)

I recently got a new job. I’m still working for Alcon, but am on direct, no longer a contract. People celebrate things like this in different ways. Obviously one of my ways of celebration relates to guitars. And no, I did not get another.

My current tone enhancement efforts are to upgrade my cables. People will contest the notion that there is any difference between types of cables, but I can hear the difference. It’s subtle, but it’s there. I’ve been using Monster Standard cables for ages now. They work really well and are reliable, but a few months ago I picked up a Monster Acoustic cable… and wow. The difference is subtle, but the difference between good and great is achieved subtly.

So I wanted to pick up another. I’ve got an input and an output to my board, so it would make sense that I would want two.

I turned to amazon. As it turns out, they’ve got the best prices on most guitar equipment. I won’t buy a guitar off amazon …ever, but strings, cables, etc.; yeah that makes sense. My preference is for 10-15 ft cables, so of the 12 or 21 ft options, I chose the 12.

A day later, I get an email from 8thstreet.com. They’re the company that I bought the cable from, through amazon. Turns out the 12 ft isn’t in stock and will take a few extra days.

Thanks for telling me. Seriously, it’s nice to know when a delay is expected. I don’t want to wait day after day for something that won’t come for another two weeks.

But they take it a step further. Because they know that the customer is more valuable than the product. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling if you don’t have customers. They take it a step further by offering me a second option. I can either wait for the 12 footer or they can send me the 21 ft cable at no extra cost. The 21 ft cable retails for twice what I paid for the 12 ft cable.

I opted for it because I want the cable sooner rather than later. And I always like to have extra cables. And because I like having extra cables, I will likely pick up a 12 ft cable later. And it will be from 8thstreet.com.

And here’s a quick review of the cables on amazon!

Customer Service (Ovation Guitars)

It seems as though when I deal with customer service with guitar equipment everyone is always extremely helpful. Customer service through a computer company, on the other hand, is notoriously bad. Everyone’s been there, talking to someone overseas who barely speaks English – it sucks.

A while back I wrote a blog about a situation where I landed a free guitar case through customer service at American Musical Supply. They were extremely helpful and went above and beyond what I expected.

Not long ago I had a run-in with Musicians Friend. There was a cello string that didn’t come and didn’t come. They were really easy to deal with, but it sounded like there could have been problems had there been a more expensive order in question. Regardless, I received the string in good time once I contacted them. In 10 or so orders from them, one mistake is permissible.

Today I had another run-in with customer service; Ovation guitars via KMC Music.

Why would I be dealing with them, you might ask? I mean, I don’t have any Ovation guitars. Well, that’s not entirely true. My 12 string is an Applause, a company that Ovation bought. It’s basically the Squier of the Ovation name.

So what do I need for my 12 string? Nothing. Because this isn’t for my 12 string.

It’s for my Adamas.

Yes, that would be #8. Going on the Fender analogy, Adamas guitars are the Fender Custom Shop of the Fender brand. They’re the top of the top, at the forefront of technology and performance. I’ll post on the actual guitar later.

So what do I need for my Adamas? Well, I bought it used. And the guy I bought it from is very hands on. In searching for some body sound, he decided to install some additional pickups. However, in doing this, he ripped out some of the fan-bracing :gasp: under the bridge.

Observe:

Was it a bad idea? Yes. Will it ruin the guitar? Most likely, it won’t. The top is carbon fiber. But, that still leaves me and my rather aggressive playing style to want to not take chances.

So I emailed Ovation (KMC Music) this afternoon, and explained my situation. Within half an hour I heard back from them. The guy asked for which braces I needed to fix and my address. He’s going to find some spares and send them and it sounds like it’ll be for free.

It’s not so much that I’m getting them for free. It’s more the fact that all I had to do was ask and they’re going out of their way to help me out with an odd request. And they have never seen a dime from me on any purchase. The mere fact that I now owned one was enough.

What does this do?

1. It endorses the brand. Regardless of whether I would blog about this or not, I’m more likely to get another Adamas down the road because of my positive experience with these guys.

2. It protects the brand. Adamas guitars sound great and look real cool too. If I saw a guitar in disarray or saw one “randomly” break, regardless of the brand, it would paint a bad image of the brand for me. Enabling users to take care of issues like this prevents that picture from ever being formed.

There will be more to come in the next few days, as I get to play the guitar more and eventually do a little write-up on it. Stay tuned!

Customer Service

Earlier this week I had a few posts about the Millennium Music Conference (the rest of the posts are on their way). On the second one (MMC15 Part 2), I had a point that David Sherbow made: customer service is your job.

Just 10 minutes ago I was reminded of how good customer service can affect your relationships.

Far too often do we see companies with "restocking fees" and crap like that. Basically they're saying that if something is wrong with your product or if you need to take the product back for any reason, that that is an additional service that you must purchase from them.

I've heard many complaints about how someone has mail ordered a guitar to find that it was defective. When they had to ship it back in order to get the quality that they paid for, they had to pay the shipping both ways. This is essentially a fee for the warehouse's negligence.

It's becoming harder and harder to find good customer service. That's why when you find it, it's like the best thing ever.

American Musical Supply just blew my mind with their service. About 3 weeks ago, I ordered a guitar case. Well then a few days ago I got an email from AMS, asking me to write a review for my purchase. This reminded me that Oh, right, I don't have my case yet. I went down to the school post office, talked to them, and, unfortunately, they didn't have anything or have record of anything coming through. Then this morning, right before class, I emailed AMS, asking them what was up - the order said it was delivered, but I didn't have the product. It took a simple explanation of my situation and, by the end of class, I had a reply saying that they would just send me another case, asking where would be the best place to send it.

Customer service is about going out of your way for the customer, for your fans.

I recently purchased This Time It's War's debut album online. A few days after receiving it, I got an email from them, asking if I had received the album, what I thought of it, and just thanking me for my purchase. I replied - they replied - etc.

That is what customer service is. It's a means to building relationships by showing your customers/fans that you care about them.