high expectations thanks aziah

[Big Poppa]

This is a good example of there is never enough service.

Yesterday Customer Service got a request for DOB for 11 guitars from one very nice collector. THis is totally fine with all of us

Aziah answered within 11 minutes.......a few posts down the new request is "real quick, give me my ODB>>

now the expectations are instant.

We now get requests on the weekend that are bumped after two hours.....

good job aziah I just wonder how we can possibly continue to meet the accelerating demands...it seems that for every time you do something you are now expected to exceed it....just a rambling thought....

I wonder the response time from our competitors would be?

 

[Jimmyb]

Thank you for calling, your call is important to us.

Please hold, we'll answer your call as soon as possible.

You are currently number 342 in the que.

 

[TwAn]

This is a good example of there is never enough service.

Yesterday Customer Service got a request for DOB for 11 guitars from one very nice collector. THis is totally fine with all of us

Aziah answered within 11 minutes.......a few posts down the new request is "real quick, give me my ODB>>

now the expectations are instant.

We now get requests on the weekend that are bumped after two hours.....

good job aziah I just wonder how we can possibly continue to meet the accelerating demands...it seems that for every time you do something you are now expected to exceed it....just a rambling thought....

I wonder the response time from our competitors would be?

Good point, BP. It seems that some people have no more patience nowadays. I run a small business installing doors and such, and we experience more or less the same problems. People order something and they want it deliverd yesterday. It can get really frustrating sometime...

Fortunately, it's just a minority of the customers that you have troubles with. The majority of our customers make it all worth while.

I just hope that you, BP and all the people at EBMM, can continue to find the courage to keep communicating with your customers the way you do. Like you said, you people are one of a kind in the bussiness. I just hope you realise how much that means for most of the people on the forum. I just hope that a few bad experiences or a few unpatient forum-members don't screw things up for the rest of us...

All the best,

T.

 

[Chris G]

In the internet world everybody wants an instant response and gets irate if they don't get it. It's self-perpetuating as well - the quicker you are the quicker people expect you to be. Expectation causes all reason to fly out of the window.

It's a service you don't have to provide and I was happy to wait for my DOB request to be answered.

You and your team do a great job and I'm sure I speak for others when I say I'd rather have good customer service and relations and annoy a few impatient people than have poor customer service.

 

[ernie1966]

Okay since you brough up th subject, could I have the DOB for a couple EBMM's, and make it quick!!!!

SERIAL #

G06864

G12101
G12670
G15260
G15300
G15528
G15821
G15921
G15983
G16370
G17574
G17845
G17954
G18382
G19194
G19440
G19933
G20370
G21185
G21685
G21759
G22018
G23450
G24004
G24603
G25145
G27517
G27641
G28570
G28646
G30197
G31386
G32904
G34291

G34575
F20645

F05862
F06578
F07167
F10224
F10996
F11018
F11064
F12779
F18130

90740
86031
86010
G05572

87426
83509
83977
83414



Seriously, I think you guys go above and beyond the call of duty to do EBMM owners the FAVOR of giving them DOB's.

And like I always tell the guy-n-girls who get a new EBMM, the DOB is stamped on the white work order that is taped to the top and the bottom of the shipping box.

 

[TwAn]

G06864

G12101
G12670
G15260
G15300
G15528
G15821
G15921
G15983
G16370
G17574
G17845
G17954
G18382
G19194
G19440
G19933
G20370
G21185
G21685
G21759
G22018
G23450
G24004
G24603
G25145
G27517
G27641
G28570
G28646
G30197
G31386
G32904
G34291

G34575
F20645

F05862
F06578
F07167
F10224
F10996
F11018
F11064
F12779
F18130

90740
86031
86010
G05572

87426
83509
83977
83414

To all the folks that have never seen ernie's collection: He's not kidding...

 

[kevin]

When I first started with the company, back when I was a young nieve(er) 22 year old, I remember being exposed to the high level of Customer Service at EB/MM from the get go. We truely are lucky to have a great team here that takes pride in the work they do and servicing the customers of a line/company that we all stand behind and believe in. I've always felt I owed it to all that came before me here at EB/MM to carry the CS torch and continue to deliver on the repuatation thats been built over the years.

 

[Big Poppa]

this wasnt meant to bash or pat ourselves on the back it was an observation regarding the bar will never be set it is always moving up even if you do more than the next company

 

[www.lamusic.ca]

And that's what keeps you on top.

 

[Beth]

I am both a perpetrator and a victim of this behavior. My connection at home, while it's Fi-Os and everything, is slower than my connection at work. So while I'm at home, waiting for pages to load that have WAY TOO MUCH flash, I find my blood boiling and all of the sudden I realize I'm screaming curse words. Horrible. Just horrible. It seems like technology and patience grow and die on two opposite playing fields, complimenting each other like yin and yang.

At work, I realize that our desire to answer all of our customers quickly has ended up shooting us in the foot at times. If we get really busy and behind, it's pretty difficult to answer a request in 11 minutes or less. However, I don't blame the customer for wondering what is going on. If you get used to a service being a certain way and that is interrupted, then you will of course ask why the service is different. Sometimes on the Mondays following my Fridays off, I'll have two copies of almost every distributor e-mail in my inbox, ahahahah! I really try to let it slide off my back but sometimes it's like "Geez people, don't get your panties in a bunch!!!" I guess it's all how you deal with it.

 

[thindave]

Why don't you just put your instrument database online where someone can enter a serial number and get the response - kinda like Tom Anderson does:

Serial Number Search

This could free up your customer service folks to work on other things...

 

[Big Poppa]

thin dave we have aserial number sticky. There are competitive reasons why we dont release our exact production breakdown but Dave your request is an example of what the expectations are. How about the tax returns next?

THis isnt bitching but it could be taken as bitching.

Yesterday a guy was upset with the robotic control screw holes in the trem cavity of his petrucci. He blasted us was mad and did mention thanking KEvin and Beth for all of the emails while his guitar was being built.....(Can we just build them without having to become pen pals.......... especially with the total access to all personel here?)
......
if all the info people crave was limited to DOB we would be in lawn chairs sipping cool drinks with umbrellas by noon...

My point was just an eleven minute response is good but that is no longer good 9 minutes is good!

 

[thindave]

I don't need to see your tax returns, I have enough problems of my own...

Now, I know you folks are privately held which means you have a good reason to provide limited access to that information, but, as an example, even though Fedex allows you to track packages on their site, I don't think UPS guys are there trying to see how many they ship in a day. There are ways to limit the submissions (time based or ip based) which would protect your assets and give the MTV generation the instant gratification they desire.

I get involved in a lot of process re-engineering which always leads me to automate things which can be automated to free humans up to do the important stuff...

 

[Big Poppa]

There is the rub ...with all of the" automaters "like you I think this is important...I am not slamming you either I dont have an automated telephone system where you press 1 for this and direct the extion where dilberts hide from calls....I just think contrarian and belive that personal service counts

Im just commenting of the state of information and its resultant demands.....

 

[thindave]

Understood - you need to pick and choose where it makes sense...

 

[candid_x]

Well, I have very high expectations of any company or service I do business with, and I get pissy when those expectations aren't met. Which means I'm pissy quite often, because so many companies over-promise and under-deliver. Never had that problem with EBMM. It's been just the opposite, actually, where they under-promise and over-deliver.

The bar? I think there's a limit, and the customer has to also cut some slack, understanding that workloads can bottleneck, people get sick or are out of town on business, etc. A little patience gets a whole lot of return with these guys.

 

[Smellybum]

Nuthin' like raising the bar, then you need people to keep holding the bar up - is there anyway of having an electronic register where knuckleheads input the serial and it comes back with a date ?

I have often sifted through the serial thread and wondered what's going on behind the scenes in CS, they must be exhausted!

That said, I could only name a handful of guitar companies where you can get decent serial information, and even less with the personal touch of EBMM, not BS'ing you - FACT!

Good Ramble though poppa, keep 'em coming.

This is a good example of there is never enough service.

Yesterday Customer Service got a request for DOB for 11 guitars from one very nice collector. THis is totally fine with all of us

Aziah answered within 11 minutes.......a few posts down the new request is "real quick, give me my ODB>>

now the expectations are instant.

We now get requests on the weekend that are bumped after two hours.....

good job aziah I just wonder how we can possibly continue to meet the accelerating demands...it seems that for every time you do something you are now expected to exceed it....just a rambling thought....

I wonder the response time from our competitors would be?

 

[Big Poppa]

Understood - you need to pick and choose where it makes sense...

you are correct sir right now Im picking my nose!

 

[thindave]

As long as it makes sense, have at it!

And, as always, pick a winner...

 

[fbecir]

I wonder the response time from our competitors would be?

I am sorry to tell you BP, but your competitors are far better than you.
An example ?
I asked the birth date of an ESP I bought 20 years ago to the ESP Customer Service. I wrote the mail the 25 October 2006 and ... I am still waiting for an answer

Conclusion : your competitors are better because now I am sure I will never buy an ESP again. So my bank account is safe with ESP.

With you, I live in constant fear that GAS will steal my sense away and that I will run to the guitar shop in order to buy a BFR !!!
I am trying to resist but the flesh is weak ...