amdj parts service is terrible. this is the second time i have needed something and you dont have it in stock. well strike 2, your products are great and well priced but poor customer service isnt tolerated.
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I can't speak for parts, but I've never had an issue with their parts department and I've ordered parts on multiple occasions.
Trust me, I know bad customer service and horrible customer service. I was on hold so long and switched between departments so much last weekend my phone battery died. We're talking over 3 hours on the phone.
How about 2 hours on hold being routine for tech support? A company I routinely had to deal with did that for quite some time. Their hold music was the entire James Taylor Live 2 disc set. It would start over before I got assistance.
Is your problem that you have an immediate need for an item and it just so happened to be out of stock? Did it say so on the web site? Did they say that over the phone?
Were you treated poorly? And by poorly, I mean that a response via email was rude, or the person on the phone is rude?
A part being out of stock happens. Sometimes it takes a while to get replacement parts, EVEN for equipment makers. Trust me, ADJ isn't cranking out millions upon millions of certain items themselves and are I'm sure getting them from an OEM maker who no doubt supplies millions of items for thousands of other companies.
I think you're confusing "customer service" with being "whiny over them not having what you want when you want it". That's a big difference.
I waited 3 months for a particular motor to get in stock so I could repair a fixture. It happens. I waited until I saw it on their web site and ordered it.
I would suggest if this is such a hard to find item or something you tend to need on a regular basis, the common sense thing to do is to stock up on it so you are ahead of your needs. Then you order when you are low. Chances are by then, ADJ would have it in stock.
Have you tried checking with local ADJ retailers? They may have the item in stock.
Being out of something is a part of life. Deal with it. Properly that is.
If you called up and asked "Do you have this item in stock" and the person on the other end hung up on you or was rude, that is poor customer service. We you on hold forever? Come on, these people are limited in numbers and do support for United States and Candada. Due to unexpected issues, the lines can get a bit backed up. Wait times on phone is to be expected. I bet you're just angry and venting.
I say this because I am very customer service oriented. I'm real old school that way and I don't intend to change. My experiences with ADJ have been on the upper range of customer service.
My family, who crews for me, often loses screws and nuts from taking up and down lighting. I ensure I have adequate replacement stock of those items, and have taken extra measures to ensure things don't get lost. I glue the nuts into the pieces, and I try to replace all the old hex screws with thumb screws. I have a full set of truss replacement parts just in case something should go missing so I won't be grounded. I have extra fuses and bulbs. I have 2 gallons of fog juice. Spare motors? No, not a good item to stock up on.
What it is you're looking for so desperately?
Trust me, I know bad customer service and horrible customer service. I was on hold so long and switched between departments so much last weekend my phone battery died. We're talking over 3 hours on the phone.
How about 2 hours on hold being routine for tech support? A company I routinely had to deal with did that for quite some time. Their hold music was the entire James Taylor Live 2 disc set. It would start over before I got assistance.
Is your problem that you have an immediate need for an item and it just so happened to be out of stock? Did it say so on the web site? Did they say that over the phone?
Were you treated poorly? And by poorly, I mean that a response via email was rude, or the person on the phone is rude?
A part being out of stock happens. Sometimes it takes a while to get replacement parts, EVEN for equipment makers. Trust me, ADJ isn't cranking out millions upon millions of certain items themselves and are I'm sure getting them from an OEM maker who no doubt supplies millions of items for thousands of other companies.
I think you're confusing "customer service" with being "whiny over them not having what you want when you want it". That's a big difference.
I waited 3 months for a particular motor to get in stock so I could repair a fixture. It happens. I waited until I saw it on their web site and ordered it.
I would suggest if this is such a hard to find item or something you tend to need on a regular basis, the common sense thing to do is to stock up on it so you are ahead of your needs. Then you order when you are low. Chances are by then, ADJ would have it in stock.
Have you tried checking with local ADJ retailers? They may have the item in stock.
Being out of something is a part of life. Deal with it. Properly that is.
If you called up and asked "Do you have this item in stock" and the person on the other end hung up on you or was rude, that is poor customer service. We you on hold forever? Come on, these people are limited in numbers and do support for United States and Candada. Due to unexpected issues, the lines can get a bit backed up. Wait times on phone is to be expected. I bet you're just angry and venting.
I say this because I am very customer service oriented. I'm real old school that way and I don't intend to change. My experiences with ADJ have been on the upper range of customer service.
My family, who crews for me, often loses screws and nuts from taking up and down lighting. I ensure I have adequate replacement stock of those items, and have taken extra measures to ensure things don't get lost. I glue the nuts into the pieces, and I try to replace all the old hex screws with thumb screws. I have a full set of truss replacement parts just in case something should go missing so I won't be grounded. I have extra fuses and bulbs. I have 2 gallons of fog juice. Spare motors? No, not a good item to stock up on.
What it is you're looking for so desperately?
Since I don't know all of the details about your complaint, I'm by no means criticizing your frustrations, as legitimate as they may be. We've all been tied up in undesirable customer service scenarios; it just comes with the territory from time to time.
What you must step back to consider is whether or not real-life, practical, and routine occurrences are creating a perceived sense of customer disservice, when in reality, circumstances are unfortunately beyond control and therefore exacerbating your frustrations.
To attest to their customer service, I think it's incredibly cool for a company like ADJ to support items that have been discontinued and are no longer even being sold by retailers anymore.
I've been able to buy parts for discontinued items that most other companies would never have even sold when the fixtures were new. I really appreciate the effort on ADJ's behalf to keep their veteran fixtures up and running, rather than pushing for sending units in for service, or even worse, encouraging the disposal of older gear to push newer products.
They'll even send you schematics to their products (if requested and they are available).
Their support is incredibly cool (as well as Elation). I know they may not show up on here a whole lot, but heck, even the presence of an online forum for individual users to connect through their website is a great thing. Not too many other companies bother to go this far.
I really don't think ADJ would make a conscious effort to screw customers that rely on their products, as their customer base is probably far wider than many of the higher-end companies. Just because they're big doesn't mean they can afford to snub some customers.
But like Chris said, even those high-end companies are going to run out of parts once and a while. Stock up on spares and/or be flexible enough to adjust when things go down for a while.
I know we tend to rely on our gear as much as we rely on our vehicles, but we have to be prepared for the worst and possess the understanding that things don't always pan out as easy as we want them to...I think it's what they call 'life'.
It would be nice if you could tell us some more of the details of the situation and to let us know that your first post on these forums was not just a venting opportunity to take a shot at the company.
What you must step back to consider is whether or not real-life, practical, and routine occurrences are creating a perceived sense of customer disservice, when in reality, circumstances are unfortunately beyond control and therefore exacerbating your frustrations.
To attest to their customer service, I think it's incredibly cool for a company like ADJ to support items that have been discontinued and are no longer even being sold by retailers anymore.
I've been able to buy parts for discontinued items that most other companies would never have even sold when the fixtures were new. I really appreciate the effort on ADJ's behalf to keep their veteran fixtures up and running, rather than pushing for sending units in for service, or even worse, encouraging the disposal of older gear to push newer products.
They'll even send you schematics to their products (if requested and they are available).
Their support is incredibly cool (as well as Elation). I know they may not show up on here a whole lot, but heck, even the presence of an online forum for individual users to connect through their website is a great thing. Not too many other companies bother to go this far.
I really don't think ADJ would make a conscious effort to screw customers that rely on their products, as their customer base is probably far wider than many of the higher-end companies. Just because they're big doesn't mean they can afford to snub some customers.
But like Chris said, even those high-end companies are going to run out of parts once and a while. Stock up on spares and/or be flexible enough to adjust when things go down for a while.
I know we tend to rely on our gear as much as we rely on our vehicles, but we have to be prepared for the worst and possess the understanding that things don't always pan out as easy as we want them to...I think it's what they call 'life'.
It would be nice if you could tell us some more of the details of the situation and to let us know that your first post on these forums was not just a venting opportunity to take a shot at the company.
Well the part finally came in and to get it here in time it cost me an extra 20 dollars. let me elaborate i was not being whiny because they didnt have my part in once , but everytime i call. Then for a brackett they charged me 35 dollars and forgot the screws. It took a total of teen calls not to get a voicemail as well. Please dont repost a reply if your gonna assume you know whats going on.
ten*
Man, your attitude blows. If you pulled that on me, despite being old school in customer service, I'd get medieval on your buttocks if you acted like that and charged to $300 for the priviledge of be abusing you(minimum charge, your charges my vary).
If you accept the default shipping, it's much less, but apparently you were in a hurry due to probably waiting until the last minute to get the part. I've done the same thing. I've had to pay the priority shipping. Did someone stick a gun to your head and tell you "you have to spend $20 to get that part to you"? I don't think so. You had to make that decision based on when you needed that item.
You know, sometimes parts are flat out OUT OF STOCK, and just because you call a lot, doesn't make them come in any faster. Let me use an example of 3Com. Why? I used to resell 3Com and I am the only guy certified to work on a certain product line on the west coast. Due to some sort of mining disaster, some sort of material was now unable to acquired to make certain elements of the product. This affected the entier electronics and data communications industry. With this product line, they tend to do short runs because it's very expensive. Larger companies were relatively unaffected since they had stockpiles of parts. It took 2 months for a customer to get a replacement board to them, so I took parts out of my own chassis to supply to the client to keep them running as they should be. We're not talking some $35 part missing screws, we're talking an item costing $15K, OK? Yeah, something actually expensive.
So, the part cost $35. Shipping: $20, you must have wanted it overnight. Whatever. Forgot the screws. Oops, stuff happens.
You know what happened the last time I called parts? I was on hold for 2 minutes, then when I got on the line, I was informed how things were labelled on the site, which lead to my confusion over what I ordered. While not happy, I was 100% satisfied. Why was I not happy? I thought I was getting a super bargain. Regardless, I got what I needed. Therefore, I am satisified.
Why don't you not post a reply as well. While I don't work in their parts department or any warehouse or storage areas that they may or may not have(I've never seen their operations), then perhaps you shouldn't post like you do either.
I just know I've worked from the bottom up and have experience in nearly all matters in a company, both large and small(from mom/pop to fortune 500).
It could simply be a matter of oversight. I bet the screws came in a packet that could go to one of 50 different brackets or other items. Stuff happens, and right now, spring is nutso for entertainment as we're gearing up and preparing for the summer season. That means as buyers, we're buying, and as sellers, they are taking orders and shipping product. As those who make the products or the manufacturers directly, they sometimes are involved in the selling, shipping and moving items too.
You're calling in peak load season. My advise: please plan ahead and cut them some slack. I'm sure they're shipping out the screws for free. ADJ makes good on what they say they do.
Oh, and voicemail is a fact of life. I've been fortunate to not need to deal with ADJ voicemail. But again, peak season. Leave a message, I'm positive they will call back.
I hear your frustration. I understand, I've been there(not with ADJ though). I've had these sort of stupid type problems occur. But, I also try to plan ahead these days. I have extra mics, I carry extra consoles, back-up solutions, spare cables, try to ensure I have spares of other items ahead of time. Think business. This IS a business, this business of entertainment.
I'm not an ADJ employee. I use their stuff, I like their stuff, and apparently I enjoy trying to help others with their stuff. Nobody at ADJ wants to screw you or make you unhappy. Right now these are people working their butts off trying to keep up. And I bet nobody at ADJ would recognize my name if it came up in conversation. I'm just another small time end user. But I look at the big picture as a whole, how ADJ fits into my business and how ADJ can accomodate me.
Worse case scenario: you could call, get specs for the screws and hit the hardware store.
If you accept the default shipping, it's much less, but apparently you were in a hurry due to probably waiting until the last minute to get the part. I've done the same thing. I've had to pay the priority shipping. Did someone stick a gun to your head and tell you "you have to spend $20 to get that part to you"? I don't think so. You had to make that decision based on when you needed that item.
You know, sometimes parts are flat out OUT OF STOCK, and just because you call a lot, doesn't make them come in any faster. Let me use an example of 3Com. Why? I used to resell 3Com and I am the only guy certified to work on a certain product line on the west coast. Due to some sort of mining disaster, some sort of material was now unable to acquired to make certain elements of the product. This affected the entier electronics and data communications industry. With this product line, they tend to do short runs because it's very expensive. Larger companies were relatively unaffected since they had stockpiles of parts. It took 2 months for a customer to get a replacement board to them, so I took parts out of my own chassis to supply to the client to keep them running as they should be. We're not talking some $35 part missing screws, we're talking an item costing $15K, OK? Yeah, something actually expensive.
So, the part cost $35. Shipping: $20, you must have wanted it overnight. Whatever. Forgot the screws. Oops, stuff happens.
You know what happened the last time I called parts? I was on hold for 2 minutes, then when I got on the line, I was informed how things were labelled on the site, which lead to my confusion over what I ordered. While not happy, I was 100% satisfied. Why was I not happy? I thought I was getting a super bargain. Regardless, I got what I needed. Therefore, I am satisified.
Why don't you not post a reply as well. While I don't work in their parts department or any warehouse or storage areas that they may or may not have(I've never seen their operations), then perhaps you shouldn't post like you do either.
I just know I've worked from the bottom up and have experience in nearly all matters in a company, both large and small(from mom/pop to fortune 500).
It could simply be a matter of oversight. I bet the screws came in a packet that could go to one of 50 different brackets or other items. Stuff happens, and right now, spring is nutso for entertainment as we're gearing up and preparing for the summer season. That means as buyers, we're buying, and as sellers, they are taking orders and shipping product. As those who make the products or the manufacturers directly, they sometimes are involved in the selling, shipping and moving items too.
You're calling in peak load season. My advise: please plan ahead and cut them some slack. I'm sure they're shipping out the screws for free. ADJ makes good on what they say they do.
Oh, and voicemail is a fact of life. I've been fortunate to not need to deal with ADJ voicemail. But again, peak season. Leave a message, I'm positive they will call back.
I hear your frustration. I understand, I've been there(not with ADJ though). I've had these sort of stupid type problems occur. But, I also try to plan ahead these days. I have extra mics, I carry extra consoles, back-up solutions, spare cables, try to ensure I have spares of other items ahead of time. Think business. This IS a business, this business of entertainment.
I'm not an ADJ employee. I use their stuff, I like their stuff, and apparently I enjoy trying to help others with their stuff. Nobody at ADJ wants to screw you or make you unhappy. Right now these are people working their butts off trying to keep up. And I bet nobody at ADJ would recognize my name if it came up in conversation. I'm just another small time end user. But I look at the big picture as a whole, how ADJ fits into my business and how ADJ can accomodate me.
Worse case scenario: you could call, get specs for the screws and hit the hardware store.
Chris, id charge you for being a hippie, please go get a life and do not reply to my posts. I did not order the part last minute i had to await it to come in stock. Then they screw the shipping up and today its not here after i paid extra for it. To be honest i was done all togher with amdj but the guy stepped and offered to ship me one overnight. Thanks amdj for fixing the mess up. i hope the brackett comes tommorrow.
well I'm glad you got it sorted out. But let me say this to both of you if you want to get into a heated debate please to not do it on our servers. Chris im sorry to say but you need start toning down what comes across as an attitude in your post. If anybody has any questions about proper posting please read the forum rules or you can e mail me at jamesk AT American dj DOT COM. sincerely,