A parts quest with a happy ending

[audiomagnate]

That's why I always use the 800 number. I'd say 21 minutes is about the norm in my experience, do you still have "Give Me the SImple Life" playing in your head?

Is that the ultra low fidelity jazz piece that keeps looping? Yes, that and the muffled "Thank you for contacting JBL, we apologize..." That repeats about five thousand times during that 21 minutes.

Ti Dome, thanks for the offer, I may have to take you up on that. We'll see if Jamie gets back to me. She seemed competent and professional. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I remember reading somewhere that you prefer regular wire to the straps. I just think they look cool and I can't hear any difference.

[audiomagnate]

It had been a few days since I heard anything from Harman, so I contacted my credit card company to make sure the credit had been issued, and it had. I just assumed the part was NLA and was going to contact Ti Dome in a few days to get a strap from him when I got an email from Harold Kevelos at Harman saying the part was NLA, BUT they are sending me an entire crossover network, which includes the straps, at NO CHARGE. Wow. I'm assuming it will also contain the terminal cup and terminals, which are nicely done on this speaker and must cost a bundle.

[4313B]

The Internet is a real bee in the bonnet of corporations/governments...

[Wornears]

Based on your JBL Customer Service Hell experiences so far, I await pics of the free crossover when it arrives.
But if I were you, I'd head over to Lowe's or Home Depot or a metal supply house for some metal and make my own strapping bar(s).

I've managed a few automotive performance customer service departments. Getting and keeping good people in those positions is difficult.
I find myself being more amazed these days when customer service actually works because the norm with so many companies is it is useless.

[audiomagnate]

Based on your JBL Customer Service Hell experiences so far, I await pics of the free crossover when it arrives.
But if I were you, I'd head over to Lowe's or Home Depot or a metal supply house for some metal and make my own strapping bar(s).

I've managed a few automotive performance customer service departments. Getting and keeping good people in those positions is difficult.
I find myself being more amazed these days when customer service actually works because the norm with so many companies is it is useless.

I started out in customer service at Mitsubishi in the 80s. Our CEO couldn't speak English, but he let it be known he wanted "regendary customer service." We had a dog of a TOTL $800+ vcr back then that chewed up tapes worse than a rabid pomeranian. When people called to complain, even way out of warranty, we calmed them down and sent them our latest and greatest TOTL vcr for free. No questions asked. They were astounded, and customers for life.

[JeffW]

Based on your JBL Customer Service Hell experiences so far, I await pics of the free crossover when it arrives.
.

Man, you ain't seen JBL Customer Service Hell. Send busted 15" woofers back and forth for months and check back. Spend good chunks of an hour on hold at least monthly, more often around shipping/destruction/receiving time. Open boxes of what should have been high quality drivers only to see unuseable piles of rubble.

Now we're talking JBL Customer Service Hell.

A shorting strap? Not even.

[Mr. Widget]

Man, you ain't seen JBL Customer Service Hell. Send busted 15" woofers back and forth for months and check back. Spend good chunks of an hour on hold at least monthly, more often around shipping/destruction/receiving time. Open boxes of what should have been high quality drivers only to see unuseable piles of rubble.

I'm no fan of ginormous international corporations, but give Harman a break... you managed to buy drivers that are not even supposed to be available. It is no wonder they had no proper packaging for it... I'm not saying that Harman hasn't seriously screwed the pooch a few times, but you created your own hell. You have also paid a pretty heavy price, but at the end of the day you have been rewarded.


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[JeffW]

I'm no fan of ginormous international corporations, but give Harman a break... you managed to buy drivers that are not even supposed to be available. It is no wonder they had no proper packaging for it... I'm not saying that Harman hasn't seriously screwed the pooch a few times, but you created your own hell. You have also paid a pretty heavy price, but at the end of the day you have been rewarded.


Widget

Almost, but not quite.

I was able to place into my shopping cart, on the Harman site, a pair of 1500FE drivers.

They sent me (1) 1501FE driver, intact. They took it upon themselves to send me the wrong thing.

But not wanting a single 1501FE, I called them up to at least get two matching drivers. After witnessing their packing prowess, I wanted to minimize the number of packages that got shipped.

So granted, I could have sent the single 1501FE back, the driver that was never meant to be sold, and reset the clock on the pair of 1500FE I purchased. But having a single intact driver is such an enormous accomplisment, it seemed to me that just getting one more intact driver was the most logical choice. Who knows how many trips it would have taken to get the pair of 1500FE here intact? Hindsight, I guess...

But I never posted about the destroyed ME150H experience. Those drivers were also right there on the shopping list, ready to be added to the cart.

I think I did mention the available for purchase off the Harman website the pair of LE14H-3 that came rattling around without packing in a cardboard box. They weren't destroyed, but I can't see how.

[audiomagnate]

For all of our Asian friends out there, I have to apologize or the "regendary" remark. It sucks to have a politically correct girlfriend looking over your shoulder. I got shipping confirmation today, so it's on it's way. If they messed up on a pair of LE14H-3s, I would get freakin' UGLY. That is just not right. But I am jazzed to see what a SVA2100 crossover looks like.

[JeffW]

If they messed up on a pair of LE14H-3s, I would get freakin' UGLY. That is just not right.

Yeah, until you compare the cost of the 1501FE to the LE14H-3 and they send you this:

[Mr. Widget]

Almost, but not quite.

I was able to place into my shopping cart, on the Harman site, a pair of 1500FE drivers.

They sent me (1) 1501FE driver, intact. They took it upon themselves to send me the wrong thing.

But not wanting a single 1501FE, I called them up to at least get two matching drivers. After witnessing their packing prowess, I wanted to minimize the number of packages that got shipped.

So granted, I could have sent the single 1501FE back, the driver that was never meant to be sold, and reset the clock on the pair of 1500FE I purchased. But having a single intact driver is such an enormous accomplisment, it seemed to me that just getting one more intact driver was the most logical choice. Who knows how many trips it would have taken to get the pair of 1500FE here intact? Hindsight, I guess...

But I never posted about the destroyed ME150H experience. Those drivers were also right there on the shopping list, ready to be added to the cart.

I think I did mention the available for purchase off the Harman website the pair of LE14H-3 that came rattling around without packing in a cardboard box. They weren't destroyed, but I can't see how.

I guess you mis-understood me.

Your shopping cart was filled due to a mistake on the part of Harman's webmaster or whoever is in charge... is anyone in charge? But seriously, even though those couple of line items were available, if you had phoned up a local dealer and asked him to order them, the response would have been, "We are no longer in the raw driver business, and no longer sell raw drivers other than a very limited number through JBL Pro."

I don't mean to belittle the real frustration you went through, but I'd say you were quite lucky to get any of the merchandise fulfilled. Every attempt I have made through "normal" channels has been declined.


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[4313B]

Your shopping cart was filled due to a mistake on the part of Harman's webmaster or whoever is in charge... is anyone in charge? But seriously, even though those couple of line items were available, if you had phoned up a local dealer and asked him to order them, the response would have been, "We are no longer in the raw driver business, and no longer sell raw drivers other than a very limited number through JBL Pro."

I don't mean to belittle the real frustration you went through, but I'd say you were quite lucky to get any of the merchandise fulfilled. Every attempt I have made through "normal" channels has been declined.

It is a mechanism for Harman to purge overruns. It has to do with their buyer/planner/vendor business model.

Crown takes the stance that no one gets a replacement driver for their Synthesis Products without a valid serial number. They will not sell raw drivers because they have zero interest in DIY and they are combating counterfeiting, primarily overseas. They are also making the attempt to protect their Synthesis Dealer network.

Harman really couldn't care less. If Harman has a 1500FE sitting on the shelf for whatever reason they'll sell it rather than inventory it. The third party vendor actually fulfilling the order and shipping it wouldn't know the difference between a 1500FE or 1501FE, it's all just a bunch of junk to them and they package it accordingly. From my data over the past decade I'd say said driver has roughly a 50-50 chance of making the journey intact.

[JeffW]

I guess you mis-understood me.

Your shopping cart was filled due to a mistake on the part of Harman's webmaster or whoever is in charge... is anyone in charge? But seriously, even though those couple of line items were available, if you had phoned up a local dealer and asked him to order them, the response would have been, "We are no longer in the raw driver business, and no longer sell raw drivers other than a very limited number through JBL Pro."

Seems simple enough, if they don't want to sell the stuff, then take down the website where it's for sale. Problem solved.

I don't mean to belittle the real frustration you went through, but I'd say you were quite lucky to get any of the merchandise fulfilled. Every attempt I have made through "normal" channels has been declined.
Widget

I got the happy ending, so all's well and all of that. I was just commenting that if somebody thought getting the wrong shorting strap was JBL Customer Service Hell, then they were really only on about circle 1 or 2 of 9.

[audiomagnate]

Yeah, until you compare the cost of the 1501FE to the LE14H-3 and they send you this:

Is that a crack or a dog hair? Just so you know, if you buy something from me, it's bound to have a dog hair or two. I can't even take a picture of my stuff without my hairy mutt gettin' in the way. I converted an ESS worshiping JBL hater last night! Do I get bonus points? I will post pics of my free crossover when it arrives so all the non-believers can get some religion. Jamie is awesome. She's a one person customer service department for a huge conglomerate. Amazing. Too bad she can't supervise packing and shipping. At Nak in the early 90's we had a Mexican guy back there that thought it was OK to drink on Fridays. His name was Jose. But that foam injection machine prevented any damage for the most part. Big oversized boxes with that machine prevented shipping damage. The tragedy was incoming TX1000s and Dragon CTs improperly packed. The best turntables ever. I was the guy that had to call the owner and tell him, not only can we not fix it, but the glass platter broke in shipment and it is NLA, and you're s*** out of luck. Not a good call. But that's how I got my Dragon CT, so it's not all bad.

[JeffW]

When I first saw that, I thought it was like a string of hardened glue or something. I was trying to rub it off when it finally dawned on me what it was. My mind just wasn't processing "crack in cast driver frame".