Thank you Chuck at Sweetwater!

[Rodney Gene]

Long story short...

I had a (truly disrespectful) experience with Sweetwater last year after being a $6000.00 customer. No big.

So...

My wife and I chose not to support Sweetwater ever...again. And we were genuine.

Then..

Last month here on GS I had the opportunity to express my situation (no drama, no disrespect) to Chuck (who chimed in on a thread) ... and in a nutshell ...Chuck handled it.

No drama, no disrespect.
I genuinely appreciated it.
Props to doing the right thing.

So...Since I needed a new pre...
And SW started pimpin Great River...
My new pre should be here tommorow...or Friday

Much Respect,

BTW...Please refrain from spinning the thread into some negative personal rant. Thank you..

[djui5]

[ddageek]

If you have a problem (not price) and your sales person is not doing his job ask for the sales manager!
You can't countinue to do $70 mil a year if you piss off customers!

[Jason Poulin]

now send more candies!!



Jason

[Jonathan Starr]

Interesting....

I did over 8k of purchases from Sweetwater last year.

It started to seem like the more I purchased from them, the worse they treated me. They would delay shipping stuff to me, overcharge wildly for shipping, give me hoo hoo over credit etc, take several days to respond to quotes.

I sent them two emails telling them that I was dissatisfied and starting to feel like a sucker. I asked for a different sales person and better service.

Never heard back from them.

Sweetwater sucks and deserves to go bust.

[chrispick]

My experience with them has been great. They're my go-to place for most purchases.

And no, I'm not affiliated with them in anyway. Just voicing one man's experience.

[Kyle Ashley]

I got 2 items from them last year. They both arrived looking like they'd been run over by a few trucks. One of them was returned, and the other, a Coleman M3PH, was functional and I needed it working in the rack immediately, so I kept it.

To their credit, they took care of the first item promptly and professionally.

[Rodney Gene]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Starr

Interesting....

I sent them two emails telling them that I was dissatisfied and starting to feel like a sucker. I asked for a different sales person and better service.

Never heard back from them.

Sweetwater sucks and deserves to go bust.

A pinch harsh?

No seriously JS, I understand.

It's tough for the customer when a company gets to the point where it can't dedicate the attention that it wants to... I hate to lose the home town vibe to some slick sales cat...who honesty and truly only cares about the sale....and is not willing to go to bat for you.

Or perhaps the sales reps have so much pressure that after they know you are buying something they dump you off...and if you take too long in deciding to buy...they dump you off...

Sales can be tough...and nowadays in pro audio...no thanks.

Who knows.

The company was built around a particular philosophy...and the driving intention behind it is easily lost when it is filtered through so many people. But the idea and intention is still valid and still important. Actually more important now.

Chuck...the man with the original Sweetwater vison... called me up and gave me the straight dope. No grovelling...no pathetic 'sales guy' weenie flapping...no excessive drawn out drama. Didn't ask for my business back... he just heard me out and then handled it.

My new sales cat Mark has been cool and he gave me a great deal on the Great River pre. These guys in sales aren't making much and every bit they take off the top comes out of thier commission.

This business is hard enough without the strife.

Perhaps my situation will help improve the situaton for others? Bring awareness to others? If that happens then we all come out ahead.

Much Respect,

[Axiz7]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Starr

Interesting....

I did over 8k of purchases from Sweetwater last year.

It started to seem like the more I purchased from them, the worse they treated me. They would delay shipping stuff to me, overcharge wildly for shipping, give me hoo hoo over credit etc, take several days to respond to quotes.

I sent them two emails telling them that I was dissatisfied and starting to feel like a sucker. I asked for a different sales person and better service.

Never heard back from them.

Sweetwater sucks and deserves to go bust.

Likewise here!

Hard sell...until after the sale.

Rodney,

Squeeky wheel gets the most oil, and Gearsluts is a good place to do it. IMO there are too many small web stores that will bend over backward for your business.

Glad everything worked out for ya though.

[Rodney Gene]

Originally Posted by Axiz7

Likewise here!

Hard sell...until after the sale.

Rodney,

Squeeky wheel gets the most oil

I understand your reservation...

I am sure anyone can read anything they want into it...and of course public image is important..

But personally I love the idea of forgiving and moving forward when all parties involved are willing to accept responsibility. It make the relationships stronger.

And let's not forget to mention...I wasn't squeakin'...

It was after I had the chance to respectfully tell Chuck my thoughts (albiet here on the public forum where Chuck admitted is the last place he likes to find out about this kind of thing)...he handled it. In fact here is the thread...http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showt...t=60184&page=6

It is my belief that if I could have gotten my original request to Chuck in the first place, it would have been taken cared of and I would never have had the desire to move on from Sweetwater.

I want strong relationships...I want good communications...

So if someone is willing to make good...so am I.

Much Respect,

[Albert]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Starr

I sent them two emails telling them that I was dissatisfied and starting to feel like a sucker. I asked for a different sales person and better service.

Never heard back from them.

Emails can be easily ignored. Nothing beats phone calls to the supervisor or manager when it comes to dealing with problems and getting solutions. Even though that doesn't always work either.

And as far as Mom & Pop's bending over backwards for you, that's not always the case. I once bought an eq from a family run operation that literally stole my money from me. Abe's Music Inc. in Florida. The sales rep lied about having the unit in stock, then after I paid for it, lied for weeks about when it would ship. The kind of lies I'm talking about are "I'll go in the back right now and check if it is in stock....Yes, we have it.". The lying about the shipping was along the lines of "I just spoke with our shipping guy, and it's on the shipping dock right now, you'll be emailed the UPS info as soon as we ship it."

After many calls, a different sales rep finally admitted that they'd never had it in stock, it was a discontinued item, the manufacturer had no more, and I would never get it but they would refund my money. Then, after more months of calls and their promises and trying to get my money back, I finally just let it go out of frustration. They are out of state and the cost/hassle of getting four hundred dollars back was becoming apparent to me.

Needless to say, Abe's Music lost a customer. I was very dissapointed at how the culture of some employees trying to save their ass and cover up destroyed their relationship with a customer.

Places like Sweetwater you can deal with if there is a problem. Stick with professionals. I rarely buy from Sweetwater, although my experiences there have been good--I usually buy from a store where I have a long term history with the manager and am taken care of very well.

[Rep]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Starr

Interesting....

I did over 8k of purchases from Sweetwater last year.

It started to seem like the more I purchased from them, the worse they treated me. They would delay shipping stuff to me, overcharge wildly for shipping, give me hoo hoo over credit etc, take several days to respond to quotes.

I sent them two emails telling them that I was dissatisfied and starting to feel like a sucker. I asked for a different sales person and better service.

Never heard back from them.

Sweetwater sucks and deserves to go bust.

Could NOT have said it better myself ... Overpriced and rude . Some of us have been RIPED-off buy them

This Topic should be in the Gear free zone - shoot the breeze ... or = The good news channel

[joelpatterson]

Yeah... it's a vicious feeling to have to wonder who to trust. That's why I get lotsa stuff from Sweetwater. Case in point, the Grace 101 they sent me, I opened the box and there was a little green "work order" tag explaining the trim control was shot. THEY'D SENT ME ONE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO TO SERVICE. So, wild times and plenty of weed being consumed on the loading dock, I understand. It is called the "loading" dock.

But then when I, very subtly I thought, explained the situation, they overnighted me a new one the next day.

Accountability. You need that sword hanging over their heads. Fortunately, the Smarties were fine, I didn't have to return them.

[pan60]

sweetwater has always gone beyond in service when i needed help on something.
my sales rep has evan called me after hrs to help me get caught on learning some software.

[Rep]

Originally Posted by joelpatterson

Sweetwater. Case in point, the Grace 101 they sent me, I opened the box and there was a little green "work order" tag explaining the trim control was shot. THEY'D SENT ME ONE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO TO SERVICE. .

Wow...
I was getting the wrong Amps, dubble charged, damaged unprovible cabs ...
but YOU getting a used broken Item, while paying way over other store Prices ...
Those guys are out to lunch ..

[Rep]

Originally Posted by pan60

sweetwater has always gone beyond in service when i needed help on something.
my sales rep has evan called me after hrs to help me get caught on learning some software.

You got the GOOD sales Rep .... lucky you ...

[Bob Olhsson]

I'm not a big fan of buying gear mail-order because many clients can't afford delays longer than a few hours.

[T9c]

I've ordered probably 20 times from Sweetwater for several years and never once had a problem with them. I'm not endorsing them, but I am gonna stick up for them. The salespeople may not be as knowledgable as some pro webstores, but they have always been courteous to me at least. That's all I ask. I can get better info from other slutz and trust it better than ANY salesperson anywhere.

Rick

[Rodney Gene]

Originally Posted by Rep

Wow...
I was getting the wrong Amps, dubble charged, damaged unprovible cabs ...
but YOU getting a used broken Item, while paying way over other store Prices ...
Those guys are out to lunch ..

Hey Rep (and any others)...with all due respect,

This thread was intended to be a thank you to Chuck Surack at Sweetwater....not an open invitation to bash his company.

If you want to drag on about poor service, it's cool and I sincerely understand... but please be cool and courteous enough to start your own thread.

If the Delete function was still possible with threads..I would simply delete this one.

If the thread get's moved...please move it to the Good News forum.

Much Respect,

[Rep]

Originally Posted by Rodney Gene

Hey Rep (and any others)...with all due respect,

This thread was intended to be a thank you to Chuck Surack at Sweetwater....not an open invitation to bash his company.

If you want to drag on about poor service, it's cool and I sincerely understand... but please be cool and courteous enough to start your own thread.

If the Delete function was still possible with threads..I would simply delete this one.

If the thread get's moved...please move it to the Good News forum.

Much Respect,

Beat'ch to it my friend =

Quote :

... "This Topic should be in the Gear free zone - shoot the breeze ... or = The good news channel"...

I am happy that you are Happy , Best of luck with them ...