here is what we deal with Brian S Unhappy customer

[bassmonkeee]

It's asshats like this that make it a priority of mine to find a manager when I receive good service, be it in a restaurant, a store, whatever. No one ever says, "Your staff did a helluva job," but they'll be damn quick to condemn.

They're always so shocked, which kind of proves my point.

I hope this jerk enjoys his new "life mission." I'm sure his parents are very proud.

 

[TheBassGuy]

What's this guy talking about bad customer service? This has nothing to do with service. He's asking something that's against company policy.

Really sad that this guy is going on his "personal mission". Funny how he talks about the family thing before saying that. Isn't being part of the family for a big part respect? Respecting each other and respecting the rules and policy's?

Ah well, coming from me (I'm a pain in the *ss customer) I'm very pleased with the way Ernie Ball does business. On a personal level and always there to help. Still very happy with the repair on the stringnut you guys arranged for me!

 

[slaine01]

Big poppa beat me to it - you know this complaint will end up on Talkbass and all the "hard done by" knockers will start coming out of the woodwork!
Same thing happened a few years ago to my favorite amp manufacturer and it is bassically the CS football, which is kicked around over and over again by the few diehard serial complainers.
The policy of not selling parts outright is a good one, as far as I'm concerned, because when I buy a Stingray I know its a Stingray - not an OLP with a swapped out neck but sold for an original Stingray price (no offence intended to OLP - but you know what I mean).
Why would you buy a Ferrari and swap out the motor anyway?

 

[RitchieDarling]

Ok, I have a complaint!!!

I bought a Sterling bass from Dubaldo Music Center.....

But then I sold it to Rex...

And I can't hear it anymore.....

Because it's at Rex's house now.....

And I figure since I can't hear it anymore that it must have been defective....

So, I think I should get a new one for $12.....

And it should be an HH instead of an H.....

And a 5 string instead of a 4 string......

And it should be a combination Dargie Delight and Buttercream.....

And BP should have to drive it over personally...


...................................................What??





Ritchie

P.S. Sounds like the kind of guy who needs a swift kick in the cojones!

 

[slaine01]

Ok, I have a complaint!!!

I bought a Sterling bass from Dubaldo Music Center.....

But then I sold it to Rex...

And I can't hear it anymore.....

Because it's at Rex's house now.....

And I figure since I can't hear it anymore that it must have been defective....

So, I think I should get a new one for $12.....

And it should be an HH instead of an H.....

And a 5 string instead of a 4 string......

And it should be a combination Dargie Delight and Buttercream.....

And BP should have to drive it over personally...


...................................................What??





Ritchie

P.S. Sounds like the kind of guy who needs a swift kick in the cojones!

Yeah, and go him for Straplocks as well - cause the ones I got on my Stingray don't match my eye colour!

 

[73jbass]

I'm sure there are a few of us that will keep an eye out for this guy over at TB.It won't last long there.

 

[johnfrazier]

That's the kind of guy who knows he's wrong and works over a vendor or merchant anyway, pounds away until he gets a discount or a replacement, calls the vendor or merchant a jerk over his shoulder on the way out and congratulates himself for standing up for himself, with no sense of irony at all.

Unfortunately, you can't always spot that type when it slinks through the door or over the telephone.

 

[TheStiffness]

Well, when my SR5 sounds bad I just PM Big Poppa.

Chuck

?

Riiiiiggggghhhhttttt.....

 

[RobertB]

That's the kind of guy who knows he's wrong and works over a vendor or merchant anyway, pounds away until he gets a discount or a replacement ...

Not this time he didn't ... BP was like Shaq puttin' a block on an under-6-footer ... get that weak-a$$ $h** outta here!

 

[INMT]

...so what I gather from that guys complaint is that it's now ok to let the voices in one's head start making complaints?

 

[Smakbass]

If I had a problem with mine id just harass my dealer. Really I look for reasons to harass him....speaking of which...need to call him now...(not about my sterling tho)

 

[bigvissch]

This guy has me thinking....... I wonder just how many musos suffer from substance abuse???

 

[Musicman Nut]

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.

Man I Just Love Stuff Like this, this is funny, hope he don't try to discourage me, I'd hate to try and sell my 213 Ernie Ball Basses and switch to that company who sells 100 to 1,
Gotta Love it, lol

 

[ratfart]

Well, I can speak from experience that when you come from Fender background it can be a little bit of a learning curve to use the SR5, but it is absolutely operator error if it sounds like crap!!
I've made the switch and it took me a while to learn that the controls of the SR5 are just plain simple, logical, effective and efficient. On the other hand, even though I like my "F" bass sound and feel the active controls are anything BUT logical, efficient, simple, etc......
This guy sounds like one that you couldn't please if you hand delivered a new bass and a Ferrari to use as a case!!

BTW, Big Poppa if you're still checking this one, I'm retiring my old Power Jazz Special for a Sterling 4. Once I've touched it, I couldn't get it out of my head!!!! Nice work!!

 

[Big Poppa]

Rat great to hear from you......for some strange reason I love the Sterling too.....

 

[Baird]

What bugs me about this is that this clown really thinks he is in the right and will likely make a few bassists shy away from playing EBMMs when he tells them how bad EB customer service is.

I am definately not an EBMM biggot (I play/own Sadowskys, Fenders, Taylors, Gibsons AND EBMM basses/guitars) but IMO EB customer service is by far the best I have experienced. I have called support for Bongo issues, string issues, Stingray intonation issues and every time the CS rep was amazing and took care of my problem immediately.

P.S. This post was very time consuming. I think I deserve a new Bongo 6 for free as compensation. If I don't get one, I will paint EB Sucks on my car and park it in front of your office.

 

[silverburst]

You have a long drive ahead of you, Baird. Maybe stock up of Slim Jims and Mountain Dew!

 

[Old_Guy]

Interesting read. "Some people...*&^$#@!" Friend of mine who's a chiropractor had a patient who announced one day he was "never coming back..because he didn't like feeling that good." Annoyed him that his back didn't hurt anymore.

 

[DrewPowers]

Lameguy

I just got my first MusicMan bass (Bongo 6) and it's phenomenal! I really don't know much about pick-ups, but I DO know that I love the stock that the Bongo 6 came with.

In fact, the other day I asked my long-time bass playing friend to tell me what he thinks about some different pickup companies (Bartolini, Seymour Duncan, EMG) and he basically put it this way,

"Drew, I can tell you all you want about different pickups but with your MusicMan you don't even really have to know about other pickups, not with this bass anyways."

And that's pretty much that. Don't fix it if it ain't broke, and then once YOU break it trying to "fix" it, don't blame it on BP.

EDIT
I didn't mean to make this sound like putting new pickups in a bass is moronic, I just meant to say I wouldn't change em'!

Plus, I still don't know much about Seymours Ds or Bartolinis or anything else yet anyways. But I'm fine being an uneducated bassist as long as my bass sounds great, and my bongo does!

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I heard a story about another instrument manufacturer (from someone who knows) that a customer had returned a guitar neck broken in half claiming it was defective. And we're not talking a glue joint or something similar; an outright fracture!

There will always be people out there that will try and use and abuse and not take responsibility for their own errors.