Pro Ludwig, Anti Guitar Center

tclem

Member
Not sure if this is in the right part of the forum. It's about a new drum set i bought but if it needs to be somewhere else please let me know.


So as some of you guys know I purchased a new Ludwig Signet kit from Guitar Center here in Raleigh, NC. It came with the bass drum badge installed on the bottom of the drum (facing the floor) and a bent tension rod (also on the bass drum). I immediately contacted Guitar Center and asked them to contact Ludwig for a badge to put on myself (with industrial double sided tape) and a replacement tension rod. The guy in drums took my info and said he would get right on it and get back with me. Two weeks later still no response.
So I called again. The same guy said that he was unable to contact Ludwig yet but would keep trying. A week later still no response. I go to the store to talk to someone face to face. I explained what was up and asked if he could contact ludwig while I was there or give me their number so I could call.

He looked at me like I was a unicorn.

He finally started looking on his computer for a phone number for Ludwig. After 15 minutes of looking he told me that he did not have a phone number, but gave me an email address that he told me would probably take several weeks for them to respond to. I had my two year old son with me so took the email address and left the store.

After a while of searching myself for a number for Ludwig I called guitar center back and asked for the manager. I explained to him what had happened and asked him how it was possible that they did not have access to a phone number for Ludwig. He told me that he would look into it and asked me to hold. Without talking to me again he transferred me to the guy in drums that I had just talked to.

After I stopped bleeding from my ears I calmly asked the drum department employee how they did not have a phone number for Ludwig. Surely there must be a way for them to contact ludwig in situations such as this. He said they did not have an American phone number. I told him that was impossible because they are built in Monroe, NC. He finally told me all he had was the number to Conn Selmer. I took that number and contacted Conn Selmer.

They immediately connected me with Ludwig where I spoke with Sonny who promptly thanked me for buying a Ludwig drum and told me that he would do everything he could to help me or get me in touch with the Ludwig Guitar Center Reps who could. He said that this situation is crazy and that he personally would make sure that it was resolved.

He said it might take one to two weeks but that Ludwig needed to make this right.

Bottom line, Ludwig made me feel like a valued customer who was worth their time to help. I have never had a good experience with Guitar Center so they will never have my business again.

Sorry this was long, but I needed to let it out.
 
Did you buy the Signet kit that was in Ebony? I was looking at that kit hard for a while myself as I live in Raleight and frequent that GC all the time. FWIW I don't like that Guitar Center much either. A lot of times I have to hunt down people to buy anything from them because the drum section is not always staffed. For drums I like to shop at 2112 even though they don't have the selection of new drums like the other stores.

Sounds like Ludwig is making it right!

Manny
 
I did play that kit when they had it set up but I ordered one just it because I wanted to enjoy putting it together my self. Same kit though. Yeah I think I just read that 2112 is going to start selling ludwig stuff. If they could have ordered the kit back in February I would have ordered it from them. But GC had it exclusively before anyone else.
 
It has been my overall experience that with Guitar Center, If you do not get exactly what you want and are not 100000% sure if is correct, don't buy it. I understand the runaround from Guitar Center, as that happens 99% of the time unfortunately. You may want to return the bass drum and make them just replace it. Seems that is easier with Guitar Center then just getting a simple part. I did not understand why Ludwig was not reacting though.

After reading your post, I was wondering why you did not just contact Ludwig directly in the first place since this looks to be a warranted issue. Then I saw why. No customer service phone number or email address on their website. So I looked at their parent company site, Conn and Selmer, and again no phone number or email address. WOW! Both companies just went down a whole lot in my opinion! I did find a general number though. http://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/about/

As a side note, I had an issue with a (non-ludwig) snare I bought, in that one of the lugs was coming loose all the time. 1 email to the vendor's customer service and i was sent a parts breakdown to confirm the part. 2nd email i was told the part would be shipped by their US distributor. Next day I got an email from that distributor telling me the part was shipped a few days later i had it in my hand. That's excellent customer service!
 
I did play that kit when they had it set up but I ordered one just it because I wanted to enjoy putting it together my self.

So I don;t understand then how the badge ended up being on bottom side of the bass drum, if you put it together.... or was it on there out of the box?

We don't have GC in Canada but in Dec I went to one in San Fran. Wow, plenty of product, absolutely nil customer service, bunch of dudes hanging around, that seemed bothered when asked a question.
 
Not that I want to slam some company, but I had a similar experience with the Guitar Center in Fort Worth on Hulen street. Turns out I looked on Ludwigs website for an "authorized dealer" and was referred to that Guitar Center near me. I called GC wanting to inquire about purchasing another Ludwig Epic Euro kick drum and the GC rep on the other end took all my information down and said he'd call Ludwig and get me an answer. That was 6 weeks ago and I haven't heard anything back yet.

Last week I walked in there to buy mallets and there was 1 customer trying out an electronic kit and 4 - yes FOUR salesmen standing around the sales counter looking at a video online and dicking around with equipment. Not one of them even looked up and asked if I needed assistance the entire time I was in the drum room. And I was browsing the drums, cymbals, mallets, world percussion, etc.

I don't have a good opinion of GC now.....

But if you know exactly what you want, they are the cheapest around.
 
So I don;t understand then how the badge ended up being on bottom side of the bass drum, if you put it together.... or was it on there out of the box?

It came that way out of the box.

And several people have mentioned that you need to know exactly what you want before you buy from them. I did know exactly what I wanted, and even got it. However, it was Ludwig's QC who let it slip. That happens. I make mistakes at my job. No big deal. But guitar center, who I was informed to contact because they were my dealer, was no help in making it right. Ludwig however sounds like they are going to be very helpful.

It not that the kit had build issues. Like i said that happens. It's just how unhelpful and uncaring Guitar Center was to a paying customer.
 
After reading your post, I was wondering why you did not just contact Ludwig directly in the first place since this looks to be a warranted issue. Then I saw why. No customer service phone number or email address on their website. So I looked at their parent company site, Conn and Selmer, and again no phone number or email address. WOW! Both companies just went down a whole lot in my opinion!

Like most manufacturers of most types of products, there is a dealer/retailer network, and that's typically where the customers go for purchases, returns, or exchanges. If you had a problem with a Chevy, would you immediately try to reach GM? No, you'd go back to any Chevy dealer (preferrably the one you bought the car from, as they have a slightly more vested interest in you as their customer.)

Same with the simple problem of the badge. An outsider reaching Ludwig would undoubtedly be referred to the nearest dealer to facilitate handling any issues. The fact that TCLEM was routed internally to someone in Monroe certainly helped.

Bermuda
 
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But guitar center, who I was informed to contact because they were my dealer, was no help in making it right.... It's just how unhelpful and uncaring Guitar Center was to a paying customer.

Sadly, employee dedication, knowledge, and being conscientious are all but gone from large retailers. GC is hardly the only chain that suffers from this, off the top of my head, Best Buy as well as Radio Shack are classic in this regard.

These are all places where the staff's product knowledge is often very important for the customer, but the majority of employees just don't have what it takes. Seriously, I would never go into one of these stores unless I already knew what I wanted. I would never try to seek information from these folks who are supposed to know more than the customers that walk in.

I've often thought about taking a job at GC, just to straighten things out and restore credibility to the drum department. But I'm a smart cookie with management background, I'd get moved up & out, away from the very customers who bring the revenue. Can't win for winning.

Bermuda
 
Like most manufactrers of most products, there is a dealer/retailer network in place, and that's typically where the customers go for purchases, returns, or exchanges. If you had a problem with a Chevy, would you immediately try to reach GM? No, you'd go back to any Chevy dealer (preferrably the one you bought the car from, as they have a slightly more vested interest in you as their customer.)

Same with the simple problem of the badge. An outsider reaching Ludwig would undoubtedly be referred to the nearest dealer to facilitate handling any issues. The fact that TCLEM was routed internally to someone in Monroe certainly helped.

Bermuda

well, if i had a problem with my chevy dealer i would certainly contact GM. Also, many manufactures, especially in the electronics field it seems, also tell you 'do not return this to where you bought it. contact us for repair or replacement.' Of course that is not the case with a car. :)

GC is putting this poor guy (and others it seems) through hoops (no pun intended). And for a manufacture to point them back to the dealer who is not helping, and not to have a customer service department listed on their web site in 2014 if just an email address, is just un-thinkable (to me anyway).

just my humble opinion. ;-)
 
Sadly, employee dedication, knowledge, and being conscientious are all but gone from large retailers. GC is hardly the only chain that suffers from this, off the top of my head, Best Buy as well as Radio Shack are classic in this regard.

These are all places where the staff's product knowledge is often very important for the customer, but the majority of employees just don't have what it takes. Seriously, I would never go into one of these stores unless I already knew what I wanted. I would never try to seek information from these folks who are supposed to know more than the customers that walk in.

Bermuda

They are definitely not the only major retailer who suffers from this. And I also would never have asked them for advice. (That's why I joined this forum ;) ) When I went in to ask if they had any of the Signet gigabeats in macassar ebony that were unassembled the guy there told me that they don't really get any unassembled kits in. I told him I realized that but the Signets are marketed as a kit that the customer assembles. He looked at me for a minute and said, "Yeah the only real thing that we have to do to kits when we get them in is put the heads on."
I am just shocked at how little they know about the products they sell.
 
.

I don't have a good opinion of GC now.....

But if you know exactly what you want, they are the cheapest around.

And it's a bit of a case of you get what you pay for.

As they are cheap, as such, they don't pay their employees much so as to keep prices down.

So very few stick around long enough to know what they're doing. They don't train anymore either, since it was determined the would have to pay their sales people their wages for time in training.

Like i said that happens. It's just how unhelpful and uncaring Guitar Center was to a paying customer.

Well, when they are generally unhelpful to their employees, it works it's way down.

There are some really good people at GC, but in a company of thousands, it's hard for those few to stand out when they have so much turn over.
 
And for a manufacture to point them back to the dealer who is not helping, and not to have a customer service department listed on their web site in 2014 if just an email address, is just un-thinkable (to me anyway).

Actually I didn't talk to Ludwig until my last trip to guitar center today. And Sonny at Ludwig told me that he and the two Ludwig employees who handle guitar center relations will be the ones to help me out. This is why I am pro Ludwig. Great products and great customer service.
 
Like every large company, for every mediocre store there are many great ones. Having a bad experience with that store does not indict the entire chain. They have handled a great deal of my professional purchases over the years excellently. The store I spend most of my annual instrument budget at knows me personally and my Platinum manager meets me at the door and takes very good care of me. Unfortunately, you can't paint an entire company, group or association with one brush. Did you deal with your salesperson when you had your issues at the store? I recommend having a relationship with your equipment dude just as you should have with your lawyer, doctor, mechanic....... It sounds like Ludwig is doing what they have for many decades, taking care of the issue. Congratulations.
 
well, if i had a problem with my chevy dealer i would certainly contact GM.

The next step would probably be the GM district manager, not GM Corporate. There's a hierarchy and protocol for customer relations and handling complaints, and it's rarely going directly to the manufacturer. It's not that companies don't care or are unwilling to help, they simply have networks in place so they don't have field every single complaint that should otherwise be handled at the local level, through their dealers or authorized service centers.

..and not to have a customer service department listed on their web site in 2014 if just an email address, is just un-thinkable (to me anyway).

I agree that the ability to communicate if needed is important. But imagine a company like Ludwig, Pearl, Yamaha, whoever... directly receiving every complaint, only to refer those customers back to the dealer. It would be a waste of time, and money (paying for the people to handle those communications) just to send the customer back to the dealer where they should have gone in the first place. It would also be somewhat frustrating for the customer as well, who then thinks that the manufacturer is unwilling to help.

The fact is, the protocol for remedying problems is to go to the place where the item was purchased, and that's with just about everything you buy - food, electronics, clothing, toothpaste, cars, drums, etc.

But, there will be occasions where going to another level is necessary. In the case of a GC store not remedying an issue with a product they sold, I would go to GC corporate to get the store on track with the problem. If they were unable or unwilling to step in and help resolve the badge issue, I'd then seek to contact the manufacturer (or distributor.) Immediately after that, post the problem with GC right here, facebook too, for everyone I know to see.

Bermuda
 
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