Sunday, February 28, 2010

Phones and Customer Service

Let me share a little known fact about myself. I hate talking on telephones. I don't like talking on the phone, I never have liked talking on the phone, and I probably never will like talking on the phone. I don't even own a cell phone.

I heard a story of an amp tech who would spend hours on the phone everyday, answering tech questions, talkin' shop and building a reputation of great customer support. I'd love to have a reputation of great customer support, but it's not going to happen over the phone. It's not that I want to be this way. I'm what they call “a man of few words”. That is my overall nature.

People ask me (via email) why we don't have a phone number listed on the contacts page. Some people think it's scary to do business with an Internet company that doesn't have a phone number contact listed on the site. Those people should “get over it.” The Internet outfits that are out to scam us, DO have phone numbers listed on their sites. Phones are great tools for crooks. They can put you at ease about your money that they have. They can instantly make all kinds of great excuses and use stall tactics to wear you down. Either that, or it's disconnected when you really need it. I've been there.

I have a life. My family and I enjoy our privacy. General Guitar Gadgets is great and I absolutely love my work, but it's not my whole life. I say that because I get the distinct impression that there are some people who believe I'm sitting here at GGG headquarters with a 5 gallon pot of coffee, just waiting around for something to do. That's not the case. I already have more to do than I could possibly get done in the rest of my lifetime. I love to help people out. I will help everyone out as much as I can, but I have limits to what I can do.

Please don't look me up and call me at home. We don't have a business phone and we don't take business calls on our home phone. We do answer email every day that we are working (usually six days a week). If you don't get a reply on a customer service issue, resend and resend until you do (use the “Contact Us” link on the site). We get tons of email and it's possible that occasionally some get lost in the storm of spam and other emails. We want to solve all customer service issues quickly and to your satisfaction. For “general” stompbox technical questions, you may or may not get the answer you wanted in an email, but you won't get it over the phone. Feel free to email us about anything relating to the site or to guitar effects or just about anything on your mind.


Here's some tips on sending email to us:

  • Please email if you find any mistakes on the site. We will fix them!

  • Feel free to send email with any request you have for new projects or improvements to whats on the site already.

  • Feel free to send any email with questions about projects or guitar effects in general. But don't forget, there are lots of forums out there that can answer your questions usually a lot better than I can.

  • Make sure you have a “Subject”. Any email with no subject line or subject of “RE: ” or “FWD: ” are deleted without opening since they are always spam.

  • Don't try to be too clever with your “Subject line”, it might get mistaken for spam and deleted without opening.

  • Make sure YOUR spam filters will allow a reply from us. This seems goofy, but it happens more often than I'd like to say. We've had several instances when someone “turned” irate for not receiving a reply, when, in fact they did get the replies, or their email system refused to accept our reply.

  • If you have a problem with a kit or project, stick to the discussion of the problem.

  • We rarely answer email that is not sent in the English language. Of course, if you can read this post, you're probably going to be sending emails in English, so this is a really dumb “tip” :-)

  • If English is your first language (or only language) try to make that apparent in your email. Complete sentences, punctuation and minimal use of slang can be helpful in getting your message across. If English is a secondary language for you, we understand and respect that. We'll do the best we can to comprehend and respond to your email.

JD


Friday, February 12, 2010

Closing the Store on Saturday

WARNING: The following information contains what most would consider "religious" content. There are many people who can't stand discussion about any religion but their own. If you think you might be such a person, play it safe and please refrain from reading this post!

This is an interview style post. Since the word out is that any non-atheist is schizophrenic, I thought it would be appropriate to interview myself. HA!

Mr. Sleep: Why is the General Guitar Gadgets online store closed from Friday night through Saturday Night?

JD: According to Torah, this is a day of rest, an appointed time set by God. We are instructed not to buy or sell on this day of rest.

Mr. Sleep: I thought you were a Christian! Shouldn't you be resting on Sunday?

JD: Scripture is very clear as to the set time of the Sabbath. Contrary to what some Christian theologians would have you believe, God's appointed time is Friday sunset through Saturday sunset. It's never been changed and never will be changed. (Exodus 31:13) We do what we do because we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds.

Mr. Sleep: By closing the store, aren't you imposing your religion on all the customers who visit your site?

JD: No. We are simply doing what we believe is right.

Mr. Sleep: Aren't you afraid of losing customers and your business?

JD: I hope our customers understand that they are far more likely to be treated well by a company that has a moral standard of right and wrong and upholds that standard throughout the business.

Mr. Sleep: Are you some kind of legalist?

JD: No.

Mr. Sleep: Are you Jewish?

JD: No, but grafted to the same "stick"/olive tree (Ezekiel 37:17, Romans 11)

Mr. Sleep: Are you narrow-minded?

JD: Wouldn't it be narrow-minded to ask if I'm narrow-minded based on this limited topic of discussion?

Mr. Sleep: Thanks for talking.

JD: Hey, it's been great. Thank you!