ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 4, 2020 14:41:06 GMT -6
Do you have a ticket # I can look into for you? OK Drew this is great and very kind of you, but the former gearpimp in me says maybe UA should be looking into the bigger issue on this one, the fact that your Australian distributor made no effort to comply with the local laws governing warranty replacement. I’m sure most of the lawyers who hang around here would tell you, that Wiz’s pointing these laws out should have UA and it’s distributor looking into their culpability under these laws and possible exposure if someone who was in Wiz’s situation was more inclined to legal action. A smart lawyer will tell you the smart companies address issues before they get sued.
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Post by wiz on Dec 4, 2020 16:41:45 GMT -6
Drew thanks for replying.
I am away today but will get you the ticket number I have with universal support tomorrow. Appreciate it.
No laws have been broken as yet... as the law includes the words reasonable time.....
Certainly if I am refused a replacement should it be determined that I have to wait for parts or it takes longer than the 7 days now I have asked to have this resolved within...one could consider in unreasonable as the failure was first reported on October 2.
Let’s wait and see what the conversation between universal audio and CMI turn up over the next day or two
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Post by jeremygillespie on Dec 4, 2020 21:26:17 GMT -6
Your patience is admirable
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Post by wiz on Dec 5, 2020 3:43:09 GMT -6
Do you have a ticket # I can look into for you? 484817 488893 489256 488890 thanks Drew Wiz
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Post by Drew @ UA on Dec 5, 2020 6:37:55 GMT -6
I poked CS, will report back if I have any actionable info!
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Post by wiz on Dec 5, 2020 16:49:57 GMT -6
I poked CS, will report back if I have any actionable info! Thank you
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Post by wiz on Dec 8, 2020 19:23:48 GMT -6
This whole process is f*98ng glacial....... If I wasn't chasing everyone on this side of the pond NOTHING would happen. There are now 3 companies involved, not counting UA. (this is why I F())(CNG HATE THE AUSTRALIAN DEALER MODEL, THEY CHARGE A MARK UP AND ALWAYS DO JACK SHIT) There, now I feel better. I eventually got hold of cmi (distributor) who had it on their bench for days, couldn't fault it. It happened every time I turned in on here, within 30mins in the end. The have now fowarded it to Technical Workshops for repair... so that's Mannys for a week of tests, cmi for at least two weeks and now Technical workshops. Luckily I got the RA number and called technical workshops and got to speak to the tech. He said he saw it fail (hallelujah) so he knows its broken. He hasn't spoken to UA as yet, as he wants to isolate WHICH BOARD IS FAILING!!! or if its a ribbon connector etc (un f*&ing likely) He was thinking its a physical connection issue, I politely asked why then if I switch it in console, and the only thing that physically happens then is a relay throwing, how its physical? I suggested what svart said, leaky cap, but he dismissed that, and me to a lesser extent... Anyways, so he wants to isolate the issue, then hit up CMI for a part, which they might not stock, and if not, order from UA .... I then thanked him for his time and phoned Mannys (store that sold it)... they hadn't even been updated on the progress.....TWorkshops, CMI, Mannys... me, that's the chain of information here.... So I explained to them, the issue of time that this will take... and requested a replacement... they are as I type, running it up the chain in Mannys, to see if they will send me one... I have remained calm, during this whole saga,(until I started writing this post LOL) But I have reached the end of my considerable patience.... Will update this post, when I hear back from Mannys..... Companies should skip the whole dealer model here in Oz, and just sell direct.....they are pointless.... I have NEVER had any usable support from a dealer here in Oz, and have always been ahead of them with information due to the internet... it is hopeless here Wiz
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Post by kcatthedog on Dec 8, 2020 19:47:16 GMT -6
Hopefully, they just send you a new one: it seems the right thing to do.
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Post by svart on Dec 8, 2020 20:28:48 GMT -6
wiz they'll likely just replace the whole board once they figure out which one, so the chances are low that they'll know the exact failure anyway. But sorry for all the bullshit. This is pretty ridiculous.
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Post by Mister Chase on Dec 8, 2020 20:33:24 GMT -6
That is really awful, Wiz. Very sorry to hear this is happening.
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Post by wiz on Dec 8, 2020 20:40:44 GMT -6
Just heard back from Mannys, a new one on the truck to me today or tomorrow..
(thump) sound of Wiz hitting the floor....
All's well that ends..............................................
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 8, 2020 21:39:40 GMT -6
Just heard back from Mannys, a new one on the truck to me today or tomorrow.. (thump) sound of Wiz hitting the floor.... All's well that ends.............................................. Question for you: Do you think Drew from UA greased those wheels at Manny's? Similarly: should it take having an acquaintance/liaison/brand representative on a message board (with a bit of accountability built into it) to get a customer the sort of service they should get in the first place? I've not had great support service from UA, either. My experience was a whole lot of "it's not our fault it's yours." Fed up, I found the problem. I found a workaround on my own. It's their software.
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Post by ChaseUTB on Dec 8, 2020 22:01:32 GMT -6
So happy Wiz is finally being taken care of!!! I admire your patience! He deserves a custom plugin voucher for his patience, loss of income, & lengthy turnaround that could have been handled more efficiently.
Hopefully it didn’t take having a UA rep on here to get the ball rolling.
Ridiculous that the tech treated you like that. Happens a lot to me here in the USA. I do my due diligence to provide as much info to make the job easier but they act like im telling them how to do their job.
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Post by wiz on Dec 8, 2020 22:42:03 GMT -6
Just heard back from Mannys, a new one on the truck to me today or tomorrow.. (thump) sound of Wiz hitting the floor.... All's well that ends.............................................. Question for you: Do you think Drew from UA greased those wheels at Manny's? Similarly: should it take having an acquaintance/liaison/brand representative on a message board (with a bit of accountability built into it) to get a customer the sort of service they should get in the first place? I've not had great support service from UA, either. My experience was a whole lot of "it's not our fault it's yours." Fed up, I found the problem. I found a workaround on my own. It's their software. No I don’t think drew had anything to do with it...this was really all me, chasing everyone and then quoting Australian consumer law. had I not chased this...it would have gone on for ages.... Remember universal audio support sent me back to the retailer and closed the support ticket. They had no interest in following it up at all. Its been really poor service from all companies involved Wiz
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 8, 2020 23:05:46 GMT -6
Question for you: Do you think Drew from UA greased those wheels at Manny's? No I don’t think drew had anything to do with it...this was really all me, chasing everyone and then quoting Australian consumer law. had I not chased this...it would have gone on for ages.... Remember universal audio support sent me back to the retailer and closed the support ticket. They had no interest in following it up at all. Its been really poor service from all companies involved Wiz Somehow that's even worse. Glad it's starting to get resolved for you. Too bad it had to go this way in the first place.
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Post by Drew @ UA on Dec 9, 2020 12:11:25 GMT -6
I poked CS, will report back if I have any actionable info! Thank you I checked with CS. Please reply to your ticket with them, they're awaiting a reply.
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Post by wiz on Dec 9, 2020 16:21:35 GMT -6
I checked with CS. Please reply to your ticket with them, they're awaiting a reply. Okay, this is the straw that broke the Wiz's back. After all I have been through, this just really raised my frustration. This post, implies UA is awaiting information from me... THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. www.dropbox.com/s/x96x4ekid0dpfip/Screen%20Shot%202020-12-10%20at%207.59.33%20am.png?dl=0www.dropbox.com/s/x1rwn6mbomzutk8/Screen%20Shot%202020-12-10%20at%207.59.12%20am.png?dl=0Here are screen shots, from UA's own support page. You can see all open support tickets are closed. They did that not me. You can also see in the last communication I had with support 22 days ago they , referred me to Mannys, and to let them know if I had any questions, and closed the ticket. To say, that Support is waiting to hear from me, is at best well,ingenuous... and really just feels like the final slap in the face. It makes it look like I am the problem. I am not. Let me tell you this UA. What I have been through is nothing short of ridiculous... the snail like speed of the process of support is frustrating, emailing back and forth, with one question , followed by another, instead of giving me a list of troubleshooting procedures to follow, so I could do them all then get back to you, frustrating! Or perhaps having your support hours open longer, not everyone lives in the USA. The fact that we had to go through weeks, of that, to only be told, "you need to take it back to the store", after THEN talking to the distributor, FRUSTRATING!! The fact that the left arm of your support chain here in Australia has no clue what the right arm is doing.... FRUSTRATING! The fact that I really had to do all the work here , to get this resolved..... FRUSTRATING! Then to have posted on this forum, that UA are waiting to hear from me... with that implying that I am somehow to blame for the delays in this process... IN-FRU-RI-ATING! You hear me? Learn from this Drew! Pass it up the chain, make it a case study in how support should not be provided. I worked in the highest levels of customer support in the 90s in one of the largest computer companies of the day... handling multi million dollar support issues for extremely large computer systems for stock exchanges, large financial institutions... You couldn't write a better example of poor customer support experience... Know, that your and everyone else's pay check relies on people like me? This whole experience leaves an extremely bad taste in my mout regards Universal Audio. Know that, over 90% of people, don't complain when they have a poor customer experience, and know that if you can resolve the 10% who do, you can often get a customer for life. Make this right... make me the last person who has to have this experience. Your Plug ins are fantastic, your interface sounds, fantastic. I bet there aren't many hardware/warranty problems... the rate of failure would be very small, probably less than 1-3%. So, when you do have a failure, you should get it right...right? Send out loan units, what would that cost? Less than people reading this experience and deciding to pass on a UA interface? Maybe maybe not. What do I want now? Well, firstly I hope the new unit performs well .. that would make me happy... What do I deserve? I think, I deserve an apology... Also, tell your support team, and you write the following word on a post it and put it on your screen, so you see it each morning.. EMPATHY FIRST! Display empathy, genuine empathy when you are in support.... you should feel it. The customer has an issue, you are there to provide help to the customer... if you don't have empathy, get out of the job Wiz Peter Knight
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Post by reddirt on Dec 9, 2020 17:01:56 GMT -6
Absolutely support your last post Wiz - a proper re vamp of procedures at UA should be their 1st priority. In my books UA have always held an 'imagined' position of being above the Harman / Behringer etc corporate don't care attitude and it's a fragile feeling based on reputation /trust which these sorts of experiences diminish and which play into the hands of those who'd like to see them fall a peg or two.
My studio re vamp slated for next year is to include an X8 / Luna with a new Mac; this causes me to pause so I await the outcome with baited breath as I imagine others are too.
My final thoughts are that the distributor here should have loan units particularly for those who make a living from the interface; a side benefit is they'd have a keener interest in quick repairs.
Cheers, Ross
P.S.it's taken this long to make a decision to ultimately provide a new unit - that could and should have been done in a few working days.
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Post by the other mark williams on Dec 9, 2020 17:49:54 GMT -6
wiz - after your inspiring post a few weeks back about how streamlined your studio is now and how quickly and efficiently you're able to work, I was really saddened when your interface went down. My first thought was, "shit - his whole process is dependent on that UA interface!" So sorry you've had this experience. Your initial story about how great it was all working really got me thinking about whether I should consider a switch. The way the story has gone for the past month has put me off, though. Not a fan of how this has been handled by UA or the distributors.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2020 18:14:16 GMT -6
Absolutely support your last post Wiz - a proper re vamp of procedures at UA should be their 1st priority. In my books UA have always held an 'imagined' position of being above the Harman / Behringer etc corporate don't care attitude and it's a fragile feeling based on reputation /trust which these sorts of experiences diminish and which play into the hands of those who'd like to see them fall a peg or two. My studio re vamp slated for next year is to include an X8 / Luna with a new Mac; this causes me to pause so I await the outcome with baited breath as I imagine others are too. My final thoughts are that the distributor here should have loan units particularly for those who make a living from the interface; a side benefit is they'd have a keener interest in quick repairs. Cheers, Ross P.S.it's taken this long to make a decision to ultimately provide a new unit - that could and should have been done in a few working days. UAD is made in China now like Harman and Focusrite. They make better interfaces than Harman and Focusrite but it's still made in the PRC. Why not go Lynx or MOTU?
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Dec 9, 2020 19:44:34 GMT -6
Oh how I wish I was surprised, well my time as a gearpimp taught me this is less and less unusual as we slip further and further away from pro audio to pro-sumer this becomes more and more common. So here was what this teaches us. 1. Eric’s second rule of audio; always have a backup. OK so at first glance this seams like a great thing for UA, but then reality sets in, because of dealer markup shipping etc, money that would go for UA plugins that I’m sure are far more profitable are going for a UA interface. Of course it also makes one re-think UA, why am I paying a bit more for a UA box and buying plugins I can’t run on my cheap generic backup? I have to pay UA prices? Kinda sucks!
2 this is always a biggie guy walks in knows what he wants after you as a gearpimp have invested time in and tells you there is a used one he can get for $xxx less. So you pitch him the whole but a knew has a warranty, well he goes home googles the product and finds this thread. Congress Drew and UA not only does this make you look bad, but you managed to make the guy who sells your products look like a complete idiot! Man Metric Halo is what I’m pushing now!
3. Now if I was still a gearpimp UA would be very low on my list of favorites, not because of this but because I do all the work and they get all the gravy, see I sell most interfaces and I can sell the plugins, I can discount, I can make some margin, but with UA, your buying for the plugins! If you have a UA box think of how much you have spent with UA not a dealer on all those plugins! Lots of work to give somebody else sales probably totaling more! And then the thing fails and my client is treated like this ? I don’t care who raves or how much I like UA plugins sound, I’ll sell something that puts the long term money in my pocket. Now see you think, oh well we have all these resellers that simply take orders who cares? YOU SHOULD! Because those dealers cost you more than a skilled gearpimp who can support the product! You want somebody who can qualify the product and support it, otherwise it’s all on you UA!
I noticed how Drew seamed to ignore my question, not surprised, disappointed but not surprised.
OK Wiz, here’s my advice, go on every forum and tell your story! They don’t want to look bad, even if they don’t understand that your not making them look bad, they are your just amplify it. Somebody will realize treating you like a human and doing the right thing is far less than the possible loss of sales and additional ad budget they will need to make up for the bad PR! Plus I’m sure more horror stories will come up! Who knows maybe a lawyer in OZ who has had a bad experience with UA or their distributor will pop up with time on his hands and vengeance in mind! Hey I have seen it happen !
Now contact the Credit Card company that you used to pay for the interface with, it’s sometimes amazing the warranty benefits they offer! Repeat after me I will pay for all major purchases with AMEX because they are the biggest SOB’s when stuff goes wrong!
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ericn
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Posts: 14,934
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Post by ericn on Dec 9, 2020 19:44:44 GMT -6
Oh how I wish I was surprised, well my time as a gearpimp taught me this is less and less unusual as we slip further and further away from pro audio to pro-sumer this becomes more and more common. So here was what this teaches us. 1. Eric’s second rule of audio; always have a backup. OK so at first glance this seams like a great thing for UA, but then reality sets in, because of dealer markup shipping etc, money that would go for UA plugins that I’m sure are far more profitable are going for a UA interface. Of course it also makes one re-think UA, why am I paying a bit more for a UA box and buying plugins I can’t run on my cheap generic backup? I have to pay UA prices? Kinda sucks!
2 this is always a biggie guy walks in knows what he wants after you as a gearpimp have invested time in and tells you there is a used one he can get for $xxx less. So you pitch him the whole but a knew has a warranty, well he goes home googles the product and finds this thread. Congress Drew and UA not only does this make you look bad, but you managed to make the guy who sells your products look like a complete idiot! Man Metric Halo is what I’m pushing now!
3. Now if I was still a gearpimp UA would be very low on my list of favorites, not because of this but because I do all the work and they get all the gravy, see I sell most interfaces and I can sell the plugins, I can discount, I can make some margin, but with UA, your buying for the plugins! If you have a UA box think of how much you have spent with UA not a dealer on all those plugins! Lots of work to give somebody else sales probably totaling more! And then the thing fails and my client is treated like this ? I don’t care who raves or how much I like UA plugins sound, I’ll sell something that puts the long term money in my pocket. Now see you think, oh well we have all these resellers that simply take orders who cares? YOU SHOULD! Because those dealers cost you more than a skilled gearpimp who can support the product! You want somebody who can qualify the product and support it, otherwise it’s all on you UA!
I noticed how Drew seamed to ignore my question, not surprised, disappointed but not surprised.
OK Wiz, here’s my advice, go on every forum and tell your story! They don’t want to look bad, even if they don’t understand that your not making them look bad, they are your just amplify it. Somebody will realize treating you like a human and doing the right thing is far less than the possible loss of sales and additional ad budget they will need to make up for the bad PR! Plus I’m sure more horror stories will come up! Who knows maybe a lawyer in OZ who has had a bad experience with UA or their distributor will pop up with time on his hands and vengeance in mind! Hey I have seen it happen !
Now contact the Credit Card company that you used to pay for the interface with, it’s sometimes amazing the warranty benefits they offer! Repeat after me I will pay for all major purchases with AMEX because they are the biggest SOB’s when stuff goes wrong!
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Post by svart on Dec 9, 2020 19:47:12 GMT -6
Absolutely support your last post Wiz - a proper re vamp of procedures at UA should be their 1st priority. In my books UA have always held an 'imagined' position of being above the Harman / Behringer etc corporate don't care attitude and it's a fragile feeling based on reputation /trust which these sorts of experiences diminish and which play into the hands of those who'd like to see them fall a peg or two. My studio re vamp slated for next year is to include an X8 / Luna with a new Mac; this causes me to pause so I await the outcome with baited breath as I imagine others are too. My final thoughts are that the distributor here should have loan units particularly for those who make a living from the interface; a side benefit is they'd have a keener interest in quick repairs. Cheers, Ross P.S.it's taken this long to make a decision to ultimately provide a new unit - that could and should have been done in a few working days. UAD is made in China now like Harman and Focusrite. They make better interfaces than Harman and Focusrite but it's still made in the PRC. Why not go Lynx or MOTU? He mentioned the plugs.. which if I'm not mistaken need a ua interface to work. I'm working with a guy right now that uses ua plugs and he just has whatever the cheapest interface is connected so he can use the plugs. Doesn't even use the interface as he doesn't like the sound.
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Post by kcatthedog on Dec 9, 2020 22:23:48 GMT -6
I think we all feel for Peter genuinely and want a speedier resolution.
For context, I bought an x6, certainly influenced by Peter’s positive transition from OB and his delta.
I have had, knock on wood, zero UA problems, new X6x octo and plugs. Have had some Tb3 to tb2 issues with 2012 mbp but got some different cables and all is good .
With respect, I don’t quite see how Drew is notionally responsible for fixing what ever is wrong with UA Oz but let’s give him some credit, as none of know how he is likely working the back Channels on this.
I understand Peter’s frustration and it’s good to explore your options but if Drew says a communication channel is open, why not use it : just in case ?
I sure hope this gets resolved ASAP !
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 9, 2020 22:49:53 GMT -6
I understand Peter’s frustration and it’s good to explore your options but if Drew says a communication channel is open, why not use it : just in case ? I think what you've missed in wiz's retelling of the whole thing is that UA's support said "contact the dealer" and closed the ticket. THEY closed the communication channel. ...then came on here and said they were waiting to hear back on the open support ticket. That was already closed. Closed by UA.
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