I wonder if this is just me, outside of the US buyer or inside US as well ? (i doubt it)
My under warranty Sprout just went kaput and I’ve sent an email to service@psaudio on 25 January. Waited for a few days no response.
I had someone elses email and so I sent another one directly to him, he responded but its just acknowledgement of receiving my email. So I gave them sometime to do something.
A week goes by still no response. I contacted Scott, he replied and say sorry. but still no response on my actual problem.
Contacted James via forum and he said he will check on it.
Waited a few days and contacted Paul. He forwarded my email to another guy and he explained the delay. Okay fine. I will wait again.
A week later, 19 Feb, still no return instructions! I’m so angry and disappointed now. I dont think I’m being impatient and gave them time to respond.
If sending return instructions took a month, what about the actual repair? Will it be longer? and being so far away from the US. The return cost gonna cost a lot too (which is fine).
No idea why this is happening… as its all rainbows and unicorns if people talk about PS audio customer service.
Update:
Finally got the RMA
Looking at the RMA, I dont think it is that necessary for me to wait for it. Not really necessary for the actual shipment. This can be done online.
Since the Sprout is only available on PSA website, I’d think it is fair for PSA to cover the shipment for the repair since it is still under warranty. But this could be a strecth. Sprout is not available locally in my country.
Or maybe, I can just get the AWB from PSA and cover the cost myself. I am pretty sure you guys have better shipment price.
I do apologize and this isn’t OK at all. I don’t want to give an excuse because there isn’t one for these delays. We have however had a few folks out with Covid which has increased response times. I believe he’s doing better but TJ has been out of the office few nearly 3 weeks now. Again, there are no excuses for these delays, but even having one man down puts a lot of stress on the rest of the team.
@formatfizikal PS Audio’s Customer Service has always been “berry berry good to me”. I had only one recent shipping mixup but when it came to RMA’s or questions/issues/problem. They’ve always been there to help me out. There were on top of the screw up and all was well at the end of the day.
Most U.S. owned Companies have been very attentive (including BAT) to me (Jolida was awesome as well).
With Omnicron and God knows what else is out there. Customer Service is a struggle for many Companies Audio or otherwise. Don’t give on PSA. There are so many here within the PSA “family” that have had great CS experiences.
Your timing sucked and that’s not your’s or PSA’s fault.
great that you had a good experience. If its covid they should just send an email blast to all and saying respond time will be 3 weeks late or something. No actual action done after a month is something I cant really stay quiet. I hate to do something like this but I have no other channel.
From James’ response it sound like they are pretty slammed right now, but I agree there should have been more follow up by the people you communicated with. The delay you experienced should not be happening. PS Audio will take care of you however so hang in there.
I figure they must be hit hard with absences and/or workload. They had my SGCD in the shop for nearly 4 full weeks to update its USB input to work with Linux devices. Which meant that once you factor in time in transit, I’ve been without it here for nearly six weeks (that’s assuming it gets delivered tomorrow as FedEx predicts). And while I love the company to death, it took two or three prompts from me to get any updates on it during that time, and in the end it took almost one week longer than they predicted (note I don’t say they “promised”), and it was only FedEx’s shipping notification email that let me know it was done and on its way home.
Still, as I said, I love the company and its products, and recent events aside, they’re nothing like the faceless, nameless monoliths that other hi-fi companies can be. So rather than a complaint, consider my comments just a mildly frustrated observance. Maybe someone sneezed on a board and they needed time to disinfect it.
Communication is not a strong suit for PSA regarding customer service and order fulfillment. This has been my experience since August 2019. While COVID may have exasperated a their customer service recently, pre-covid it was still spotty to weak. In my experience strong post sales communication and customer service communication can minimize ruffled feathers should there be problems down the road. That and ensuring what is put in the box and shipped actually works. So it is nice to know many have good experience with PSA, but not everybody has. I won’t get into specifics, but I went to Mark Simpson, Jim Laib and Scott McGowen, and am still having issues with PSA Customer Service. 'Nuff said.
James, I’m still waiting on a remote replacement for my Stellar GCD, which was supposedly sent on 2/8. I’m in the States, so a quick ship. I sent the faulty one back with the return RMA and it arrived to PSA on 2/14. I’m sorry y’all are slammed, but I can’t get a response about the replacement shipment from 2/8.
I am trying to figure out what the point of your message is. That your experiences and those of others negate the results of poor service this person is suffering through? He defined the situation quite well. In my opinion your message adds insult to injury. What the actual fluff?
Can you reach out to me paul@psaudio.com and let me see what I can do. I am sorry you’re having issues. Without question we’re struggling with people, sickness, etc. but that is no excuse.
@jazzophile I can ship you a never used PS Audio Universal remote for free. Just cover my shipping. It was sent to me in the mixup shipment I spoke about in an earlier post.
PM me your address and I’ll get it out tomorrow. I’m in Phoenix, AZ.
I had an audiophile customer service experience last week. The seal on our new fridge door broke. I called Miele Friday-week ago and it took 10 minutes start to finish to arrange a repair. The repair man turned up at 7:30 am last Friday, 7 days later, unfortunately 90 minutes before the new door. So I called him when the door was here and he was back inside an hour.
At that point he saw the loudspeakers and it turned out he was a total 1000% audiophile. That was OK for a few minutes, but after a while, having heard his complete history and future plans (WAVAC and Tannoy Canterbury - they must pay well at Miele), it got a bit much. Nice chap, all the same.
Anyway, amazing service from Miele.
As far as audio equipment is concerned, I’ve not had to send anything back for repair for about 20 years. Best to buy stuff known to be reliable. The last thing was a Primare amplifier, 8 years old. Primare did a free international door-to-door, 5 years out of warranty. They said the amp should not have failed and were pleased to fix it at no cost to me.
Indeed I also never had a problem with an audio component in my life except for the falling off single ended jacks of the DS and the never fully functional Bridge II firmware.
Given what could have occurred in my audio life I must say I’d be careful now buying large/heavy/expensive components from overseas manufacturers, where problems mean a later out of warranty exchange of whole boards only (because of no repair available by the distrubutor) or a shipment of the whole thing. Overseas products (from whatever perspective seen) imo need a very good and flexible repair option at the distributors and a very solid reputation of the manufacturer regarding reliability of his products. Otherwise local purchases are much more safe.
My only audio component failure I’ve experienced was a CD player, but that was because my toddler shoved a bunch of action figures into the disc tray and thought it was fun to jam it shut.
I won’t hold that one against the manufacturer
SQ first criteria, but bullet proof reliability close second criteria for me in purchasing decisions
PMC had a 20 year relationship with Bryston for their active speakers. Many PMC consumer buyers use Bryston, so inevitably PMC became Bryston’s European distributor and can service and repair any Bryston amplifier from their UK factory, where they also make their own amplifiers. It’s a very important level of support, especially given Bryston are selling equally into both the professional and consumer markets.
I’ve just bought a Modwright, whilst made in the USA it is serviceable in the UK. There is a factory upgrade that can also be done in the UK. It’s not that heavy.
My regenerator developed a buzz and I was told it had to go to the USA, so I sold it with full disclosure - to a chap in Germany.
Yes I get it. Its just frustrating for me because I contacted 4-5 people and none really solving my issue. Today I got the RMA, but its such a simple instructions… its not really even for me. I thought they going to attach fedex information or anything so I can get some discounts on the shipment. But the RMA is actually for them. I could just send the unit weeks ago and wait for the RMA. @jamesh probably you guys should have an automated system so we can just ship without the RMA.
I know I know. I sound like those bitter customer but I’m just frustrated and I do gave them time to respond. I really think I am being reasonable. Anyway, I got the RMA and will ship the unit for repair.
