• Ernie Ball
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  • Sterling by MusicMan

Big Poppa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2005
Messages
18,598
Location
Coachella & SLO, California
Dear Sterling,

I am the long time customer you spoke to a few weeks ago about the pickup I sold on e-bay.

I had to think long & hard about what you said to me in our conversation and to be honest I am shocked. The statements I can't seem to forget are:

"I am a sob story"
"I am playing a victim"
"I was being unfair to your company"

I called you to ask for your help & you insulted me. This was 2 days after I bought another one of your instruments. For the record, I have bought 4 of your basses & have exclusively used your strings on multiple basses since 1994. I have easily spent 15-20 thousand dollars on your products in my lifetime. I don't see how you can reasonably think I was being unfair to your company by asking you to "sell me" a replacement.

The thing I find most amazing is that no one in your company ever addressed the fact that the 5 string Stingray I bought sounded crap. It doesn't come close to competing with my 2 USA Fenders Deluxe Jazz basses or Peavey Cirrus. It is clear that your approach is nothing more than deflection and denial with a complete disregard for customer satisfaction. Your entire staff focused more on my one mistake, that I openly admitted, instead of the bigger issue that this bass had issues. Each time I approached your company the position was always the same, deflection and prove me wrong.

Therefore, I have decided to take action. I returned the 2008 5 string Stingray back to the Guitar Center that I purchased on May 3rd, see attached return receipt. I have also changed the strings on every bass I own to D`Addario's. I have also made it my personal mission to share my experience with every person who considers buying one of your products.

I am certain that you feel that you have proved me wrong & could care less about one sale. But you have lost a longtime loyal customer. I have used & promoted your products for 14 years & I have a lifetime ahead of me. All I wanted and expected from you was to be treated like a valued customer and get this bass to sound like a world class instrument, instead I was insulted. Maybe this is why Fender outsells one 100 to 1.

Brian S

HEre is a guy who changed out his pickup...sold it on ebay...found out he liked the stock one better. Didnt want to buy another one on ebay...wanted us to sell him one at a discount. WE explained we couldnt. He then said that the original pickup was defective
(but that didnt stop him from selling it to another musician who seems to be pretty happy) and that we should reconsider his case because it was a warranty issue. I guess we should take someone s word for a warranty problem when they sold the guts out of it on ebay and retroactively replace a pickup that he no longer owns. He worked his way to the top and left me a voice mail statng that "he has been horribly wronged by my customer service staff and that according to the forum I have said we are family so I should help him.....I talked to Dan AJ and Scotty and they said this guy was impossible.

I called him and said that his voice mail was very misleading and not very fair to the guys who have tried to help him. I explained the areasons why we didnt sell replace ment pickups. I pointed him b ack to ebay. I never called him a sob story...I told him that his sob story kkeeps changing and that throwing the people in the customer service department under the bus wasnt the way to get something done. I told him that it was unfair to leave me voicemails and start the story with me as a victim when he sold his pickup.

SOme days they dont know you can bite back. I hope he is happy. THis guy was way out of line and still is.
 

EBMM7181

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,494
Location
Atlanta, Ga
Further proof that the old saying '' The customer is ALWAYS right '' ..... just isnt true.

I dont understand, a guy sells his stock pickup, tries a different brand, decides he likes the stock one better, and calls CS asking for a discount pickup.....
 

silverburst

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
1,917
Location
Long Beach, CA
Man. AJ, Dan and Aziah have always been great to me. Hopefully I have never asked for anything this completely off-the wall.
 

maddog

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
4,463
Location
Albuquerque
Me no understand. If bass requires warranty work, send in to manufacturer to test and perform necessary work. Is this not how it works? :confused:
 

Bass Control

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2007
Messages
748
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia, United States
What I want to know is how it was faulty. Why did it need warranty work? Did he say, BP? Because, as far as I know, personal taste isn't covered by warranty.

What was his reasoning behind it being fixed under warranty besides loyal customer entitlement?
 

bovinehost

Administrator
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
18,200
Location
Dall-Ass, TX
There have been some amazingly weird customer stories told on this forum.

This is certainly one of those.

Of course, BP knows this well enough, but I do know a whole boatload of the people that answer those Customer Service calls. There is not one of them that I would not trust to point me in the right direction. Or to tell me if I were headed in the wrong direction.

People think we can be "a bit" over the top with our loyalty. Those same people generally don't play Music Man instruments and don't understand that this really IS a family for those who know how to play well with others (and don't PM Biff) (or sell their original pickup on eBay and then return a non-original instrument to a retailer - my goodness). (How many things are wrong there?)

I'm going to have to think about this bit some more:

The thing I find most amazing is that no one in your company ever addressed the fact that the 5 string Stingray I bought sounded crap.

Someone get Stanky on the line. Maybe the SR5 isn't everyone's cup of tea, but let's be realistic here. It's sort of, you know, um, the industry standard of fivers.

If I'd ever had one that didn't sound right, well, I can surely see myself (a) selling the original pickup then (b) replacing it with a non-MM pickup and then (c) deciding the original pickup, which 'sounded crap' was (d) still better than the replacement so then (e) asking the company to discount me up on yet another (crappy) original pickup and then (f) blaming the company owner for the whole effin' thing.

Yes, I think that's the approach most of us would take, right?

My favorite part would be selling the "crap" pickup to the unsuspecting ebayer!

Or maybe figuring out how to make it all BP's fault.

I can't decide.

Sorry, that's probably a bit harsh on my part, but sometimes it is what it is.

Customer Service rocks.

That is all.

Jack
 

maddog

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
4,463
Location
Albuquerque
If I'd ever had one that didn't sound right, well, I can surely see myself (a) selling the original pickup then (b) replacing it with a non-MM pickup and then (c) deciding the original pickup, which 'sounded crap' was (d) still better than the replacement so then (e) asking the company to discount me up on yet another (crappy) original pickup and then (f) blaming the company owner for the whole effin' thing.

Not sure of all the details here. Did the ebay-sold pickup come from a different bass than the one he just bought and returned?
 

sloshep

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
784
Location
111 miles NE of San Luis Obispo, Ca
If he really thought it sounded like crap, then maybe he should have had it checked out by a guitar tech. Just a thought from someone who has been doing technical support for 21 years (non music industry). :rolleyes:

The one time I had to use customer support they were great.
 

Frantic Slayer

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
333
Location
Florida
i just want to share that CS, and EBMM (along with my local luthier, and the folks at bass central) saved my bass's life. my Dargie had a maxed out truss rod, and everyone helped me save my bass!
 

Kristopher

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
751
Location
Tempe, AZ
EB isn't a bass pickup company, it's a company that sells basses that happen to have EB-made pickups in them.

Imagine if this wasn't about a pickup, but a bass neck or bass body instead. Because it's the same situation basically.
 

syciprider

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2005
Messages
2,995
Location
The 951
The Stingray (like any classic bass) has its own vibe and no amount of modding will turn it into something else. The best way to get more tones is to get more basses :D
 

Jimmyb

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Messages
2,562
Location
Cheshire, UK
BP, I've got a complaint that you may be able to help me with. In fact, I demand that you adress it immediately.

I have 5 of your guitars and I buy 600 sets of strings per month. I've been a loyal user of your products for 87 years and expect to be using them for the duration of next millenium, all the while telling people how great I am, err no, I mean how great you are.

My point is, that none of the guitars that I have sound like Steve Lukather's. Therefore I demand that you send me 4 guitars and your 1st born child as compensation.

If you don't meet these demands, I will have no option but to stand on top of a very tall building and shout out that you're rubbish.
 

andynpeters

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2004
Messages
1,378
Location
Wonderland
Sad , but true, that unhappy customers almost make more noise than happy ones.
My only contact with CS has been to ask a couple of dating questions.....both times the replies came back at warp speed.
Can't comment on how they resolve instrument problems because after 10 years my SS has never had one. I guess that CS really never hears from the overwhelming majority of us.
 

strummer

Enormous Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
4,516
Location
Safe European Home, Stockholm, Sweden
I've never dated anyone form the customer service, but I'll be sure to hug Beth if she's still showing up in London for the bash:D

EBMM Customer Service sent me a preamp, a whole preamp, when I, with help from the magic Dudley, managed to deem it not-right. I dare anyone to try that with any other manufacturer!

EBMM customer service is so totally the best in the business!
 
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