• Ernie Ball
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Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience

Abuse of Our Pals In Customer Service

bovinehost

bovinehost

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Ladies and Germs,

I like to think I get things right most of the time, but I have to say that I got one wrong this week, and I apologize to the original poster, Customer Service and to YOU guys for giving you the wrong impression and further adding to the heavy load at all the desks at EBMM.

"Contact Customer Service first" has become sort of a mantra on the forum, but clearly it isn't always the answer. CS is busy. Not too busy to handle CS issues, mind you, but there are some problems that should be handled between the customer and the dealer.

That should really be the first question - "Is this something the dealer should handle?" I'm going to try to keep this is mind and I ask you to do the same.

Again, sorry to have you led you astray, but I hope I'm capable of learning (still).

Jack
 
Spudmurphy

Spudmurphy

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jeffrey said:
I think as well the forum is a good source of common questions/info and can often provide simple answers without bugging CS. :)

We've got some pretty smart folks around here. :D
Click to expand...

The thing is that BP wants people to take the right course of action, rather than post a problem here first.

If it's a case of "do you prefer a 6 string to a seven string" then fine post it to the forum, but not
"I just got my new guitar home and I have a problem with "XYZ" how can I sort it out?"

Smelly can vouch for that one ;)
 
roburado

roburado

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I think it can also be a problem of how the question is phrased. If it's a question like, "I'm trying to set-up the guitar. The previous owner did something crazy to the guitar with his set-up. How do I get the bridge back to the way it came from the factory? Can any of you forumites please advise me?" that tends to be okay.

If it's something like "The piezo's not working. This thing is a piece of junk. How do I get my money back?", then maybe, posting here is not the best way.
 
bovinehost

bovinehost

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Listen, guys, you probably know if you're part of the problem. If you're not, don't sweat the details. If you are, then all we're asking is that you chill and let the people who build/design/setup/sell your guitars do their jobs.

If you've talked to anyone in SLO or Indio more than twice this year, then you're way ahead of me. I find reasons to NOT call the factory rather than the other way around. I like Scott Ball an awful lot and consider him a friend, but I don't call him every week, even when - maybe especially when - I have something on order. Same goes for Beth and Jon and everyone else. They know my number and can call me if they need to.

You see that a lot of the employees (and the employer, now that I think about it) have "customer relations" or "customer service" under their names here on the forum. Well, it's not really accurate.

There IS no Customer Relations Office and, if there were, you wouldn't want to talk to the people in it. Hah. You know what I mean. Or, if you don't, realize that Beth is THE International Sales person, Dan has I don't know how many sales accounts to service, Jon S is THE authorized repair guy, Scotty wears about a zillion different hats and on and on and on.

They have jobs that many times cause your instruments to get to you. Let them do that.

Do what I do, and I don't say that very often, but in this case, it's okay. Treat those phone numbers as Guitar-Bass 911. Don't call to see if there's an ambulance near you or if they really have those paddles that can shock your heart back into functioning. Find reasons to NOT call them.

Your first contact is your dealer.

You can always PM me (and often do) and I'll do what I can to answer your general questions. If I don't know, I'll find out.

And again, if you're not doing this, if you're not calling or emailing with "Where's my guitar now?" and all that, just ignore this thread, okay? And if you ARE, you don't have to defend your actions or justify them or anything - no one's losing sleep or hunting down your dog or writing bad things about you in their diary. It's just that certain people are being overwhelmed and we need to do what we can to fix that.

We'll all be better off for it!

Jack

PS: Also posted on bass side so apologies if you have to read this twice.
 
brentrocks

brentrocks

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if you buy a car and the engine blows, do you write an email to the CEO and 500 of his closest friends.....no, you go back to the dealer...common sence, just like Sterling said.
 
jeffrey

jeffrey

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Milky Way, Earth, North America, that's as specifi
Spudmurphy said:
The thing is that BP wants people to take the right course of action, rather than post a problem here first.

If it's a case of "do you prefer a 6 string to a seven string" then fine post it to the forum, but not
"I just got my new guitar home and I have a problem with "XYZ" how can I sort it out?"

Smelly can vouch for that one ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know (I totally expected BP to yell at me :D).

The only reason I said asking here isn't so bad is because a large percentage of the time folks get a good answer here.

I know it's a fine line though...
 
Beth

Beth

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Indio
and on certain occasions, I've found it helpful to refer a customer to you Knuckleheads. Thanks for the help, everyone! It's all give and take.
:)
 
roburado

roburado

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Jul 18, 2005
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Commerce, MI
robelinda2 said:
You know, i get about 10 emails/PM's per day about Albert Lee's, from people all over the world, its funny! People asking me all sorts of questions like i'm a guru or something!!
Click to expand...

You probably own more ALs than anyone else in the world. Even Albert Lee himself. :D
ernie is to JP as robelinda2 is to AL. :D
 
candid_x

candid_x

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Jun 26, 2006
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3,272
I have no dealers to contact concerning my balls, but your points are well taken, Jack. So does this mean I shouldn't IM BP anymore when a string buzzes or my pickups need topping off?
 
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