Yes, many companies do not respond well to the little guys like us. Many do, though. My message was not to assume that ahead, that's all. Peavey is my favorite company, not least because they do try to hard to help their customers. My shop is a warranty center for many major brands, and they are in my view the tops. Other fine companies just lack that particular responsiveness.
Pale, you are in Hungary, so picking up the phone to Mississippi is impractical, but I do agree with Steve that phoning is best whenever possible. The phone usually connects you with a live human to intereact with . They can be helpful or they can tell you their policy is not to assist, but at least you know. Emails too often can get buried in the pile, or indeed shunted to the spam filter.
Working with these companies, I think the reason they are not responsive to individuals is not because they don't want your stuff repaired. AFter all they establish networks of repair centers, such as mine, and do make parts and support available. But at the factory, they don't make the facility available to the consumer. If your Mercedes develops a problem, you won't be able to get it fixed by calling Stuttgart, they have servicing dealers around the world for that. A good company like Fender won't sell you a part unless you are a dealer. Peavey will sell direct. Fender trieds hard to make a good product and also a support network. I know from personal experience that Fender will make every effort to make an amp purchase right for the customer. If a customer calls them with a gripe, they will refer him to a local shop like mine. Most companies will not be hard core about waranty. If your warranty expired yesterday, they almost always will cover the failure anyway. They want your amps to work, they do not want a reputation for amps that fail and can't be fixed. I recall a Peavey amp where a transformer came unwelded from its mounting plate. The amp was long out of warranty, but I called the factory and told them I didn't think this was an expected sort of failure. They agreed and sent me a new transformer gratis. I have a lot more good stories than bad in terms of customer support.
There are companies like Behringer who will send no schematics to anyone, and even as a service center it is not always easy to get parts from them. NAdy will send no schematics to anyone and do not have a service network, they want all service done at their factory. (I recommend against Nady products for this reason). Line 6 will only provide parts and documents to service centers. But Fender will send any schematic you request, and the common ones are on their web site already. Samson sends out schematics to anyone who asks. Loud technologies sends out schematics for Mackie, Crate,Ampeg, but asks you to agree not to post them online. And of course Peavey will sell parts to anyone (at reasonable prices) and any schematic you want. There is a range of responsiveness then.
If I have not said it before, paleeman, welcome to the forum. I hope we can help, and also benefit from your contributions ahead.
Pale, you are in Hungary, so picking up the phone to Mississippi is impractical, but I do agree with Steve that phoning is best whenever possible. The phone usually connects you with a live human to intereact with . They can be helpful or they can tell you their policy is not to assist, but at least you know. Emails too often can get buried in the pile, or indeed shunted to the spam filter.
Working with these companies, I think the reason they are not responsive to individuals is not because they don't want your stuff repaired. AFter all they establish networks of repair centers, such as mine, and do make parts and support available. But at the factory, they don't make the facility available to the consumer. If your Mercedes develops a problem, you won't be able to get it fixed by calling Stuttgart, they have servicing dealers around the world for that. A good company like Fender won't sell you a part unless you are a dealer. Peavey will sell direct. Fender trieds hard to make a good product and also a support network. I know from personal experience that Fender will make every effort to make an amp purchase right for the customer. If a customer calls them with a gripe, they will refer him to a local shop like mine. Most companies will not be hard core about waranty. If your warranty expired yesterday, they almost always will cover the failure anyway. They want your amps to work, they do not want a reputation for amps that fail and can't be fixed. I recall a Peavey amp where a transformer came unwelded from its mounting plate. The amp was long out of warranty, but I called the factory and told them I didn't think this was an expected sort of failure. They agreed and sent me a new transformer gratis. I have a lot more good stories than bad in terms of customer support.
There are companies like Behringer who will send no schematics to anyone, and even as a service center it is not always easy to get parts from them. NAdy will send no schematics to anyone and do not have a service network, they want all service done at their factory. (I recommend against Nady products for this reason). Line 6 will only provide parts and documents to service centers. But Fender will send any schematic you request, and the common ones are on their web site already. Samson sends out schematics to anyone who asks. Loud technologies sends out schematics for Mackie, Crate,Ampeg, but asks you to agree not to post them online. And of course Peavey will sell parts to anyone (at reasonable prices) and any schematic you want. There is a range of responsiveness then.
If I have not said it before, paleeman, welcome to the forum. I hope we can help, and also benefit from your contributions ahead.
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