Eddie Current customer service story

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by thoth, Dec 6, 2019.

?

How much is EC responsible for the lost amp?

  1. < 5%

    40.6%
  2. 25% (give or take)

    21.7%
  3. 50%

    23.2%
  4. 75%

    10.1%
  5. > 95%

    4.3%
  1. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    This is more or less what happened with me, though it was 10 months total before I got the item in question. Good advice, provided they're as nice as the people I happened to encounter.
     
  2. elmoe

    elmoe Friend

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    In my experience USPS workers are super friendly and always willing to help, not that my personal experience counts for all that much. It's worth a try though.
     
  3. thoth

    thoth Acquaintance

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    Thanks! It was lost in New Jersey sorting facility, which is known as a black hole among online retailers. I'll try to call them on Monday but I don't make expectancies. Opened petitions already.
     
  4. thoth

    thoth Acquaintance

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    I'll let you evaluate 2 more emails from Craig. But I should probably stop doing that, it feels wrong.

    Right after I announced him I made the story public:
    ---
    Craig:
    > You could have tried to work with me instead of threatening, and throwing a fit. I have amps here I could have sent. I was here 7 days a week waiting for your package. We are on the first floor our office is clearly marked. We get daily pickups, and deliveries from UPS, and Fedex so our place of business is well known. Insurance is you responsibility.
    ---
    As far as you can see in OP, I did try to work out with him, I asked him for a solution. He didn't propose anything. Not even sending me a working amp module for extra cost.

    3rd email, after I warned him I can make more noise or I can announce we reached an agreement:
    ---
    Craig:
    > Not mocking you it’s true. I never post on the blogs. It is fine for anyone to have a opinion. Some one who was on the fence about buying an amp will see your post email and ask for my side of the story. They usually buy my amp despite a negative post. I have been doing this for 50 years one bad actor has little effect.
    ---

    It's on your hands guys to decide on this.
     
  5. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Exactly like the ZDT Jr? Lulz.
     
  6. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I think it's long been established that he's not the most amiable person, to put it mildly, something I and I presume many others have been aware of for a long while now. Doesn't mean an EC amp isn't still on the wishlist considering purported quality pending a demo, I'm personally just gonna be nitpicky as hell working on logistics and the like. Some audiophiles install their own electricity poles for clean electrons, others understand that not everyone in the hobby's all sunshiney ¯\_༼ᴼل͜ᴼ༽_/¯ (Doesn't mean that being nicer couldn't hurt, but I'm the dude who tends to be a bit too polite even when unwarranted I guess)

    If my reading comprehension is up to snuff, this means he was willing to send another amp in its place? Not bad at all.

    The ZDT Jr is a Laconic design, just one given minor tweaks by C. Uthus, primarily aesthetic I believe. I'm guessing the storied ZDT Lunchbox is more appropriate analogy.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2019
  7. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    To be fair, I thought the manufacturer made last minute changes without sign off, and it took some time to figure out due to the nature of it. Am I wrong? And let's not forget all the other things he lined up, or how there were improvements over time with new products.
     
  8. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Don't be a dumbass. That was an russian design made by Ahmed with EC branding since it had similar DNA. The problems there were with Ahmed making a last minute change and MassDrop being itself.

    I'm hoping that someone starts an audio company that takes up the mantle of what was done at Drop but does right by suppliers and cultivates a good network of CMs (and avoids the valley startup reality distortion field of taking too much venture money and needing to show value at the cost of humans and quality). This is really a supply chain and manufacturing problem. How do you get these crazy geniuses to work with you, though? It would take someone really special.
     
  9. thoth

    thoth Acquaintance

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    I hardly read it that way. He was showed no intention to give me anything up to that point. Look at the OP. He probably meant I could have sent you a new amp if you'd pay for it.
     
  10. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    This wouldn't be the first time I've misread something and made a stink about it (hi @elmoe, haha), mostly because code switching messes my processing up a lot, but after re-reading the relevant message then it could still go either way. Have you explicitly asked him whether he was willing to come to an agreement to that effect, either by way of you paying full price for another amp, paying at a discount (small, large, or just BoM), or even a pure replacement given the grief encountered so far?

    While I sympathise with you a great deal it seems to me that in this case at least you're putting words into his mouth. It's perfectly understandable that you have a less than charitable view of his character given what you're going through at the moment (Jesus Christ, losing $3800 could drive many people to suicide), I feel you might have done better to take a step back, grab some tea, and try to reset as much as can be allowed.
     
  11. Soups

    Soups Sadomasochistic cat

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    You're hurting your case with posts like this.

    First, I don't think the internet mob is going to bring you the vindication that you desire. EC don't care, USPS don't care, and those are the only two parties that can help you.

    Second, the perception of your own integrity is not helped when you publicly post "curated" snippets of private email exchanges, even when your own conscience is telling you to "...probably stop....feels wrong."
     
  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    You turn your back on the internet for a day, and suddenly a conversation you were right into has grown to seven pages! So things moved on; I didn't keep track.

    I just want to contribute one thought I had about the insurance thing. OK two.

    1. Was it stupid to request/ship out something of that value uninsured? Very.

    2. Is the insurance on the original shipping even relevant? Probably not.

    I say this because it didn't fall out of the box in pieces, or even differently shaped. It just didn't work. No visible damage. Do shipping companies entertain "worked when sent, didn't work when received" claims?

    Everything of any substantial price worked at some time. Even if it came off a Sony production line, there would have been checks done, labels attached. But still DOA is a thing. I think that's the supplier's risk. Is that tough on a small business? Sure. But business is business. and includes risks.
     
  13. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    So... not gonna say much more on Craig or Thoth. Just gonna chime in with my experience with local USPS office in LA (specifically the one on Vermont, near USC).

    They lost one of my packages. No, it wasn't $3000, but certainly not under $1000.

    Yes, there was insurance.

    Resolution came 8 months after and I will only say this much: they were NOT the most friendly people ever. In fact, of the FOUR months I had to call them up, basically everywhere from that post office number to regional to service center to central distribution center, to HQ, their response was: "sorry, we don't know who was responsible for your package."

    It took 8 months, then they just miraculously found the package stuck in a warehouse in Nevada or something and then the package started moving again. They made me pay $50 extra or it'd be "return to sender". I had to bite that bullet.

    And 8 months later, the paperworks for the insurance claim never even got anywhere, but they were very quick to close the files when... I called them up as the package was received (still had to make a trip to that Vermont post office location to sign for the package).

    So USPS and international packages? Not the most pleasant experience ever, I'd say.

    I don't know if 2019 means they have heard my complaints and made the whole process more digestible, or if I was just very unlucky in 2017, but... that did happen.

    I don't think they'll even give a damn about you trying to sue them for a $3000 package that you never declared or insured, but... I guess it's worth a try.
     
  14. thoth

    thoth Acquaintance

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    I'm not going to sue anybody, from another country. Legally I have nothing to say. Thanks everyone for opinions and glad you took the topic seriously, regardless of what's your position.
     
  15. RobS

    RobS RobS? More like RobDiarrhea.

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    @thoth and @m17xr2b sorry guys for being an asshole yesterday. I feel shitty about berating Thoth on how to be a better buyer while knowing he got fucked out of his ampifier. You don't need to read idiots like me telling you what to do. Sorry man. It's a weak excuse but I am pretty grumpy from fasting for 3 weeks thus far. Hopefully something beneficial comes out of this experience for you.
     
  16. mk801

    mk801 Almost "Made"

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    On a recent kilobuck purchase, I made damn well sure that I got on the horn with USPS when they attempted but were unable to deliver my insured package to my office during normal business hours (DTLA) (too many porch pirates in residential areas of LA). My office building is located in one of the busiest corridors of DTLA and my office receives UPS and FedEx delivery people daily. My immediate response to USPS was due to my experience with an earlier shipment a few months ago: a package of vacuum tube boxes. Then, my local LA USPS office made several attempts during normal business hours but were unable to deliver that package. When the package finally arrived, it was just an empty shipping envelope. The seller told me that they shipped mine out in a fairly sturdy box, so it might have been destroyed during sorting. Thankfully, it was less than $20, so the seller reshipped my order. Also, I've had packages labeled "fragile" that USPS delivered where it looked like someone took a baseball bat to them.

    Back to my recent purchase, I filed a ticket after the first delivery attemtpt detailing my concern and my earlier experiences; I just wanted to nip this matter in the bud. The next business day, a USPS rep. called me and kindly assured me that my package was going to arrive in my office, which it did later. I cannot imagine the horror going through the insurance claims process, or having to track down your package to a particular sorting center. After numerous mishaps with USPS, I no longer trust them with high dollar shipments, particularly those that might be one-of-a-kind.
     
  17. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I do think it's very much worth bugging the postal service you'd used (within reason), @thoth, because the amp is an item of great value and SHIT LIKE THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AT ALL. Maybe it'll turn up soon or in almost-a-year as it did with myself and some others, maybe it won't at all, but helping that process along can't hurt especially if they are made fully aware of the parcel's value and how much it means to you. You may not be in ideal standing due to lack of insurance and all, but if post can be held accountable and be held to a higher standard of service, then hell yeah why not?

    I've read unsubstantiated accounts online of how some people in the field go out of their way to handle packages labeled "fragile" more roughly just because they're soulless spermwaffles that way. It's ridiculous.
     
  18. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    What you can do to at least try to recover the package is to call USPS, ask them to give you regional phone numbers of Calabasas USPS offices, and start calling them all up, asking about the package. One of them may give you a number for the distribution/sorting center, then you need to call that one and have them do a thorough search. Then... with any luck, maybe they'll find the box just sitting there because someone forgot to load or scan it.

    That's exactly how I went about it.

    But please do be polite and patient with them. People on the receiving ends of these phone numbers are very sensitive. If you make them cry, their eyes may be too red and teary, and they may not be able to find the package for you. (or in my case, I got one "sorry, can't help ya, too busy!" response)

    (Also, I'd tell them "it's not a high value item but my grandfather passed that on to me when he passed away. Please at least help me try to recover it")
     
  19. JK47

    JK47 Guest

    Dishonesty and skirting the system is partly how this whole mess started, bad karma using "dead family member"...
     
  20. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Yeah, you're absolutely right. My bad.
     

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