I just wanted a little $15 Paige capo, not a relationship! - Page 2

HHP · #16 06-05-2013, 05:17 AM

I've ordered from them and have gotten emails form my personal sales engineer, but not calls. I just delete them.

I do like Elderly Instruments approach. When I get an order from them, the packing list always has a hand written "thank you" note written on it. Small thing, but its the kind of thing you remember.

AndrewG · #17 06-05-2013, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sari

What's a sales 'engineer' ?

Same as a sales 'executive' but more 'technical'.

I'm waiting for the first 'Guitar Solutions' store to open...

llew · #18 06-05-2013, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotten

I have bought a wide number of products from Sweetwater, and have benefited from their approach of having a "go-to" guy who is familiar with my account, my needs, and my way of doing business. Brent Leuthold is my guy there, and he does a marvelous job. I recommend them and him regularly, despite the fact that they have not yet become AGF Sponsors.

cotten

This has been my experience with Sweetwater as well. Chris is my guy there and no matter what I order from them he'll give me a call. He's a nice guy and we usually have a pleasant conversation. One thing that's really nice is having "a guy" who you can speak to directly if you ever need to return a product you're not happy with or just didn't work like you thought it would. I suppose the calls can be inconvenient based on "Murphy's Law" which dictates the phone will most likely ring when you're on your way out the door with both hands full and keys to your vehicle in your mouth but it does have merit. I may not always answer it but for me it's still nice having some kind of relationship on the other end who can help steer me in the right direction when I do need help...which seems to be most of the time? Just my .02...

ahorsewithnonam · #19 06-05-2013, 07:24 AM

Mine you, I've been in sales for 35 years so I appreciate a follow up to make sure everything went as expected. But this was nothing like a courtesy call.

Here are some of the bizarre barrage of questions I can remember. Just too intrusive for a capo for me.

So what got you into music?
What's your favorite song?
Can you play it?
Who's your favorite band?
How long you been playing?
What's your favorite guitar and why?
What concerts have you gone to lately? I'm thinking....why do you care? It's none of your business.

Then a minute and a half of......let me tell you about me.

It was just bizarre. I only held out for a while wondering where this was going. Thought perhaps I won something. Nope just all this for a capo.

Flatt · #20 06-05-2013, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

So before I order an Elliott capo I thought I'd try the same similar design. Decided on a Paige capo. No need ordering from across the country. I see that Sweetwater is the next state over...great it will be here by Friday. Order it online about 1am last night. Never used Sweetwater before. Thought it was done. Nope!!!!!!

At 9am my cell rings, didn't know the number, answered and off we went. Hi I'm XXX from Sweetwater your personal sales engineer, how are you? Uh, ok. That's cool man, so what kind of music do you like? Uh, what? classic rock. That's cool man, really cool. Let me tell you a little about myself.....and on and on he went, then he tried more questions....so how long you been playing man? I stopped his 9am enthusiasm and said, "you realize all I bought was a little capo right? Yeah man, that's really cool. What guitars are you going to use it on? Tell me about your gear!!

Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it's 9am, I've got to get to work, I order online because I just want to order and be done. Just want a cheap little capo not a relationship. His response....that's cool bro...I'll call you in a couple of weeks after you've used it and get your thoughts. Note to self...don't answer this number in 2 weeks. Why didn't you guys warn me!!!

Just bought one yesterday on amazon for the same price. No strings attached.

dneal · #21 06-05-2013, 07:33 AM

I bought my son a PRS electric from Sweetwater last Christmas. I was kind of shocked at the "personal sales engineer" thing too.

Luckily, they can't call me. I did get a few follow up emails and the occasional email thereafter.

The funniest thing though... "we're not allowed to ship Fender products overseas". Uh, ok. You do know they're just guitar picks, right?

Jim_G · #22 06-05-2013, 07:38 AM

I knew this was going to be about Sweetwater before I even opened the thread. I bought a $20 mic stand clip from them. Barely finished typing in the online order when my phone started ringing. There were several more since then. Plus lots of email. And a fat catalog came in the mail. That was kind of cool, who knew there was so much stuff out there. But they could've saved the tree. I did check the prices on a couple of things to compare to what I've paid in the past, and they are a bit higher.

I opted out of the email after a few days, and it's been a few weeks since they've called. If they do call again I'll probably tell them outright to take me off their lists.

patticake · #23 06-05-2013, 07:48 AM

none of the calls i get are follow-up calls. the only time i bought from them, i couldn't even get hold of someone to help me when they sent the wrong amp. it's been well over 2 years since then. the calls i get are cold calls - i guess the sales guys there are supposed to phone people to drum up sales when they're not actively helping out customers.

JCW308 · #24 06-05-2013, 07:57 AM

Same deal here with SweetWater. I much prefer American Musical Supply just for that reason.

guitarnate · #25 06-05-2013, 09:11 AM

I think he just wanted to make sure you didn't make a decision you would regret later. The right music style/capo/guitar/amp combination can be critical. Paige's are known to work really well for classic rock played on a Les Paul's through Plexi's, but if you were using a tele through a Twin to play some jazz, well then you're screwed.

seeker · #26 06-05-2013, 09:41 AM

I would not have been pleased with an intrusive follow-up call myself...In fact, I would probably have politely terminated the conversation a lot sooner than Horse did. I make small purchases at GC and Sam Ash frequently, and the sales people send me follow-up emails to say thanks. I appreciate those efforts.

joshsimpson79 · #27 06-05-2013, 09:44 AM

Good customer service is nice, providing they don't overdo it.

ii Cybershot ii · #28 06-05-2013, 09:59 AM

I ordered some Taylor bridge pins off of eBay, from Sweetwater's eBay store...

A week later after I got the bridge pins I got a phone call... it was Sweetwater lol!

My guy just asked me if everything was ok and if he could help with anything else? I said no and we hung up. I thought it was pretty cool that they called!

ahorsewithnonam · #29 06-05-2013, 10:11 AM

what's weird is my guy never really talked about the order he never even mentioned the capo

Chedeng88 · #30 06-05-2013, 10:12 AM

Problem with these type of calls is that I couldn't help but think that it's not really a "sincere" call, or that they're are genuinely interested about my purchase like your fellow guitar enthusiast friend would be. So I'm very hesitant to go all out and share my enthusiasm towards a product I just purchased from them. If I do so, I feel like a grandpa sharing a story to his grand kids where they're just listening because it's the polite thing to do, but deep inside they couldn't wait to get back to their own business. Or in this case, go back to his long list of people he has to call and go to the next one so he can finish up and be done for the day.

And yeah, for a capo purchase it was a bit over the top IMO.