Shop Owners I have a question

What companies out there would you put out there for having awesome customer service. Someone who has a product line that will cater to the every day customer to the extreme spl competitor. I'm tired of having to wait for a month or more to get product back off of warranty or having to jump through hoops just to get a warranty. I just want to be able to call up and say hey I have a problem and them tell me its taken care of. Needless to say today was a frustrating day due to 3 different companies.

My good friend owns a shop and he said his best company is DB Drive, he likes the product and service

TeamSpead-Kenny wrote:

My good friend owns a shop and he said his best company is DB Drive, he likes the product and service

I have seen good things with them in a certain orange van on here but the one issue with them is the rep that covers our area. If he were to step into our shop my boss and him would probably be going to blows lol.

Question...
What do you consider "warranty-able"?


I know that 95% of the (few) returns I see are from one of these 2 things.

a) My friend said he could make it louder.
or
b) I loaned my car to my buddy.


Do you want a line that just doesn't break...or one that will warranty ANYTHING?
Speakers/subs that are on fire from pure square wave, bass boost/gains pegged at 9v w/ a rusted ground included?


Also, if you want simple warranty w/ mainstream lines, I have one word for your.
DISTRIBUTOR.

there is alot of information on this site and around the web most of us know what holds up and what breaks, and to be honest that power bass stuff well it breaks man

sanman wrote:

there is alot of information on this site and around the web most of us know what holds up and what breaks, and to be honest that power bass stuff well it breaks man

I 2nd this.
I have sent back quite a few ASA600.1 and 400.2 amps. Also the L-series 6x9's and 6x8's.

As far as mainstream products. I've had VERY little issue w/ low-mid line Clarion stuff. Their HU's could use some work though. Nice stuff for your price minded marine audio customers too.

this is a testing place so to speak for equipment thats why you see the same name brands being uses because they are tested and tried.

rd as much as i hate to say it os probly the most reliable Dung Pile you can run for amplifiers.

My all time favorite amp is a ddz2, and an ia 20.1. i did eventually blow both though lol.

I have never ever blown a d9

sanman wrote:

this is a testing place so to speak for equipment thats why you see the same name brands being uses because they are tested and tried.

rd as much as i hate to say it os probly the most reliable Dung Pile you can run for amplifiers.

My all time favorite amp is a ddz2, and an ia 20.1. i did eventually blow both though lol.

I have never ever blown a d9

I know what you mean about the 20.1 man. I have put them thru hell and back.
But as a retail shop, you have to ask....what do YOU sell?

Is you normal guy someone that walks in wanting a daily beater? A 155+ burp? an HU replacement w/ 4ch and stock replacement? basic 4-800w sub setup? stock integration w/ smooth lows? nav? tickaticks? (yea, i get that one alot)

lol

I sell the Dung Pile out of those cheap Power Acoustik NB1's. Order them 50-80pr at a time.
And I NEVER get returns on them.

lol

Im not saying I want someone who will warranty a sub that caught on fire Im just saying on something that should be a legitimate warranty to get to it in a timely fashion. There is no reason it should just sit there for weeks before it is returned. And as for powerbass it has been one of our best selling lines. We rarely have problems with the stuff breaking. As far as their product goes I can't complain one bit. Our usual customers are just people who want a decent system we sell a lot of the powerbass S and M series woofers with a 400.2 or a 600.2. We also sell a lot of Diamond D1 and D3 subs with the 400.1 and 600.1. We also carry US Amps/RE, Hertz/Audison. It has just got to the point that with some of these people it takes months to get equipment back. There is a reason why I specified shop owners, Im not asking about whats gonna put up the biggest number I just thought I would get some imput on companies as a whole. I can't keep customers happy if they have to wait months to get a sub back or we can't make money If we can't get product here in a timely manner to sell. This isn't meant to be a rant about being pissed off at one company or another I just would like to see what other people are having good luck with and are happy with.

Ok...well. Do you get PowerBass and USamps/RE thru Dist or direct?
With those brands, Dist will likely be your best bet for replacement warranty.

Hertz/Audison, I'm guessing you are getting repair rather than replacement. So, that will take some more time.

Customers are just so used to getting things RIGHT NOW. Hell, I had a guy w/ a DD2510 w/ a rubbed/broken surround the other day. I told him I would have to ship it off for a new surround or possible recone. He agreed that is was the most amazing under-seat setup he had ever bought, but went off the wall when I said I had to ship the sub to DD for repair and couldn't just give him a new one. You will always get 'that guy'.

BTW, I'm not a shop owner. I'm just the shop go-fer. I deal w/ it all. Orders, warranty, shipping, installs, sales, everything.

as a shop you live and die on the equipment you are pushin, and yes you push it or you dont eat. On the other hand the companies live and die on the amount of warauntee they have to come out of pocket on in order to eat. Companies will come up with a ton of excuses not to warauntee equioment at all so they can maintain that money because they know 98% of the time equipment doesnt just break on its own its due to the operator. Shops will do all they can to convince the buyer to keep it setup just like they tune it out for knowing they wont but they just hope they will to avoid returns. Shops will also lie to the Companies about the real reason it blew up anyways lol. Do ya see how this all plays in togather yet

Im not talking about abused equipment, we dont warranty anything that the customer has messed with like changing tuning on amps and things like that. I just want to know what other people like are are happy with.

lol then you got an answer you didnt like

db

i have a few friends that are or were shop owners and they echo this as well

or kicker

Me personally I would like to look into db I think the line looks pretty good. They are good on all ends of the spectrum.

dB will warranty legitimate claims . On K1 and K3 subs, they offer some leeway...A3 amps, make ~60% rated power, but have nice markup. Solid products for your average joe consumer. And any retailer knows, big 'rated' power sales (sadly).
I'm speaking as being thru Dist. w/ them, had no problems.

Kicker....as a brick and mortar shop, lets just face it...the brand draws customers. You can sell Competition (150w) subs all day long because the public is brainwashed on them. Hey, Kicker has built a HELL of a name for themselves in the general public. Cracks me up that their entry level sub is 'competition' though, but people buy it (i don't carry it).

I also carry DD. We had hell w/ Mitek/MTX a few years ago and picked DD up to replace them. Never looked back, based on performance to price ration. You will not get shopped online w/ a brand like DD (along w/ VERY few other brands). And I love it for that reason. There are a few brands that will not sell online, and if you can get them and lock in as the THE local guys w/ the line....DO IT!!!!!

We have ARC for the Harley guys and people that want smooth/natural stock replacement mids/highs for a reasonable price.

Pioneer and Clarion HU's. More Pioneer, because they draw the average joe. Clarion for your low priced installs or marine setups.

I have had no problems w/ my current lines for legitimate warranty claims. DD may take a week or 2 for a recone, but the products are great. The little C2b is an awesome very flexable amps for daily guys. It has been my #1 amp sale since it came out. Used to sell the hell out of the little 420w Clarion though. No returns on either.

As for legit warranty w/ DD (some shops used to blown sub replacement will Female dog, but I had a sub dropped in shipping last week, and had a replacement on the way before I ever sent the original sub shipped back. Great communication, just forget about getting an abused piece of equipment replace for free. You have to teach your customers to throw the old Walmart warranty style aside....and that will be hard at first. Educating customers will make you want to stab yourself in the face w/ a soldering iron.

Thanks for the input man, we carry arc as well for their mini amps and things like that. They work really well. DD is something I would like to look into as well as DB. I just hate having to talk to 4 different people before I can get someone to get the stuff shipped back. I had an issue with a DOA product that came back after waiting on it for just over a month and its not looking good for the second round.

Well, depending on the volume of product you move. For mainstream brands, distributors can be THE way to go. Not sure on what brand you had a problem though.


On a side note.
I was direct w/ Mitek/MTX for awhile, and after seeing the way they did the shop I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. We were well withing 'quota', but had the rep come in asking us to pick up StreetWires. Didn't like the pricing and stuck w/ Xscorpion (BTW, look that line up for wire/interconnections). The dam rep when less than 1mile down the road THE SAME DAY and set up another local shop up w/ Mitek/Mtx. We didn't know for over a month...then we has an old stock 5601 DOA and they said it was not under warranty anymore. We were undermined from less than a mile away on the same road and MTX wouldn't buy our stock back. Hell, I still have MTX crap in stock 2yrs later and can't sell it because ebay pricing is 20% less than my cost on a $4000 order.

Well we buy a lot from this brand through distribution, which we sell a lot of this product. We promote the hell out of this product. Don't get me wrong there are people who work their asses off trying to get things going but everything has to go through the owner of the company and he does things at his convenience. I really don't want to leave this line because up until now it has been our bread and butter. We are no multi million dollar account with them but for the size of our shop I would like to think we do pretty good numbers. I understand everyone is out to make a buck but the only way to do that is to take care of the people that take care of you.

Your preaching to the choir on mtx lol we were the biggest dealer in the state and it changed reps (which is also the same rep that has DB) and its been over year since he got the line and we have yet to get a phone call. And yes we still have some product on the floor that we cant move.

Canaan wrote:

Ok...well. Do you get PowerBass and USamps/RE thru Dist or direct?
With those brands, Dist will likely be your best bet for replacement warranty.

Hertz/Audison, I'm guessing you are getting repair rather than replacement. So, that will take some more time.

Customers are just so used to getting things RIGHT NOW. Hell, I had a guy w/ a DD2510 w/ a rubbed/broken surround the other day. I told him I would have to ship it off for a new surround or possible recone. He agreed that is was the most amazing under-seat setup he had ever bought, but went off the wall when I said I had to ship the sub to DD for repair and couldn't just give him a new one. You will always get 'that guy'.

BTW, I'm not a shop owner. I'm just the shop go-fer. I deal w/ it all. Orders, warranty, shipping, installs, sales, everything.

Im not the owner either, I guess you could say Im the right hand man. We usually try to swap the customer out right there if we have the product in stock unless its been a second or third time with it just to keep them happy.

dbdrive baby, 2 days out ,,,leo is great to deal with

A company with great customer service is Cerwin Vega. The line is kind of thin. Vega, V-max and Stroker subs. Vega and Stroker amps with coaxial, components. Absolutely great customer service.

Canaan wrote:

I also carry DD. We had hell w/ Mitek/MTX a few years ago and picked DD up to replace them. Never looked back, based on performance to price ration. You will not get shopped online w/ a brand like DD (along w/ VERY few other brands). And I love it for that reason. There are a few brands that will not sell online, and if you can get them and lock in as the THE local guys w/ the line....DO IT!!!!!

But my friend who owns a shop and had DD had a problem with customers call DD Direct and having DD give customer prices and shipping them to the customer direct, I know one customer wast lying because he was my neighbor