Feedback on SSA Customer Service

[altoncustomtech 773]

If this is in the wrong section, mods please move it. Otherwise, I wanted to comment on the customer service at SSA. I recently ordered a Sundown SAX-100.4 and a Sundown SAZ-2000D. I was quickly notified that there will be a wait on the 100.4 Then a couple days later I asked about the SAZ as I figured I should have had a tracking # by now and was affraid it was going to be backordered as well (such is my luck) and I got an immdediate response back that they'd check on it. To top it all off I got the response from the check practically seconds later that I should have the tracking # tonight. WOW!! is all I can say, that is some quick service. I wish customer service centers everywhere were as quick and reliable as you folks! Thanks again Aaron, y'all have yourselves a great weekend!

Edited January 29, 2010 by Alton

[rodneydude23 5]

I agree. They really know how to keep there customers. Not to mention the quality of the products!

[nem 2,019]

Great feedback. CS in one of the most important services today and SSA sets a high standard that others should follow.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Wow, thank you for the feedback.

[altoncustomtech 773]

You're quite welcome. In a world full of foreign based customer service centers its nice to have people that you can talk to (though I've not called yet, LOL) and speedy response has been replaced with computer based menu help. It really is refreshing to get good customer service these days.

[Mac N Cheese 90]

to SSA

[slim142 9]

And that is why I cant wait to test my 2000D

Just need to get my dam LOC installed GRRRRR cant wait!!!

[The enD 467]

I love fast replies

[jcarter1885 995]

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Never gets old hearing "job well done". Thanks SSA for the great forum Also!!!

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

Never gets old hearing "job well done". Thanks SSA for the great forum Also!!!

That why we are here. It's your job to help spread the word

[Notorious97200 339]

Totally agree!

Great CS.

Buying from an island in the Caribbeans, I need to be treated like a customer, not like a number.

SSA shop is the best !!!

Great products, CS, advices...you get everything

[donauaj 5]

I disagree with what's been said about the customer service. I damaged my sub's surround while trying to install it. Yeah, my fault, I know. Sent it off February 26th by UPS. Got there Mar 4th. Was told it would take a few weeks. My sub was not actually started on until Mar 16. It seems my order wasn't important enough to start on for more than a week and a half. Then I e-mailed to ask when my sub would be shipped out and I got a reply of, 'They are caught up on re-coned driverS.' I guess they had to wait to get a bunch of re-cones in before they could start on mine. That's what I call individualized service. Then, I asked when my sub would be shipped out again. I got a reply back, 'Should go out in the next two days...that is what the build house said would happen.' So now there's a he said, she said line of communication between the build-shop and the customer service portion, which leaves me feeling very solid about the business as a whole. Wouldn't a tracking number, e-mailed to me, be helpful so then I could actually be assured that my driver went out. Basically, here it is a month later and I don't have my subwoofer back, yet I paid half of the original cost of the driver to have it re-coned and shipped back to me. Plus, it seems that the actual process of re-coning a driver shouldn't take more than a day or two if someone focused on that PARTICULAR order, and not a large group of orders. It should be first come, first served. Plus, I called into the customer service line, only to get no customer service at all, only a message machine. Finally, I love the fact that sound solutions audio is based in maryland, yet the buildhouse is in las vegas. No wonder there's not 100% conviction in knowing when my subwoofer will go out. If I wouldn't have e-mailed and prodded for answers to my questions during this whole process, then I would've had no idea where my sub was even at by now. Actually, I still have no idea where my sub is at now because it could still be at the build house or it could be with UPS. Who knows??

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

We explained all of this over email. The time involved to recone, the fact that orders/recone are taken care of in the order they arrive at the build house, also in the voice mail message on our office phone clearly states that if we were unable to answer the phone at the time you called or we are on the other line, to email us at [email protected] so that way one of us will get back to people as soon as possible. And every email sent, we get back to everyone in a timely manner, including yours. Our build house has been running behind schedule these last few weeks. We cannot force them to put your driver in front of everyone else that ordered or had a recone before your driver arrived back at the build house. I called and spoke with the build house twice on the status of your driver, and relayed that info back to you asap. Yes, reconing a driver does not take all that long, but if there are a great deal of drivers to build and recone, as stated and explained, it will take a few weeks. Also, distance between our office and the build house has nothing to do with speed or quality of our drivers or our customer service. Our build house is one of the best, period. That is the reason why we are with them. They told me your driver had shipped out. They have no reason to lie. We currently don't have your tracking as they have not had a chance to send it to us yet, or our UPS account has not updated yet. I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

[Soapbox 7]

I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

This is integrity and humility at it's finest "I apologize." If I could only teach the concept to more people the world would be a better place.

Dude nothing is worth a pissed off wife! Plenty of bad things can happen: burnt dinner, starched underwear, spending spree and on and on.

[stevemead08 752]

A happy wife is a happy life! Period.

[altoncustomtech 773]

I disagree with what's been said about the customer service. I damaged my sub's surround while trying to install it. Yeah, my fault, I know. Sent it off February 26th by UPS. Got there Mar 4th. Was told it would take a few weeks. My sub was not actually started on until Mar 16. It seems my order wasn't important enough to start on for more than a week and a half. Then I e-mailed to ask when my sub would be shipped out and I got a reply of, 'They are caught up on re-coned driverS.' I guess they had to wait to get a bunch of re-cones in before they could start on mine. That's what I call individualized service. Then, I asked when my sub would be shipped out again. I got a reply back, 'Should go out in the next two days...that is what the build house said would happen.' So now there's a he said, she said line of communication between the build-shop and the customer service portion, which leaves me feeling very solid about the business as a whole. Wouldn't a tracking number, e-mailed to me, be helpful so then I could actually be assured that my driver went out. Basically, here it is a month later and I don't have my subwoofer back, yet I paid half of the original cost of the driver to have it re-coned and shipped back to me. Plus, it seems that the actual process of re-coning a driver shouldn't take more than a day or two if someone focused on that PARTICULAR order, and not a large group of orders. It should be first come, first served. Plus, I called into the customer service line, only to get no customer service at all, only a message machine. Finally, I love the fact that sound solutions audio is based in maryland, yet the buildhouse is in las vegas. No wonder there's not 100% conviction in knowing when my subwoofer will go out. If I wouldn't have e-mailed and prodded for answers to my questions during this whole process, then I would've had no idea where my sub was even at by now. Actually, I still have no idea where my sub is at now because it could still be at the build house or it could be with UPS. Who knows??

This sounds like a classic example of someone who feels their needs/wants are clearly the revolving point of the earth. Wait, that's a little harsh, but still, when you're dealing with a company this size. Big enough to be able to build and sell QUALITY products all over the world, but not so big as they have hundreds of employee's at their disposal and able to take someone off of one project to dedicate to another. You my friend, have to wait in line like everyone else, don't like the clearly spelled out time it takes to build/rebuild drivers and take care of business then go to the nearest big box store and buy a Kicker. Otherwise, shut up, hang on and wait your turn. Your order is NO more important nor any less important than anyone else's. You even said they told you it would be a few weeks, from what I read about your whining they did EXACTLY what they said they would.

We explained all of this over email. The time involved to recone, the fact that orders/recone are taken care of in the order they arrive at the build house, also in the voice mail message on our office phone clearly states that if we were unable to answer the phone at the time you called or we are on the other line, to email us at [email protected] so that way one of us will get back to people as soon as possible. And every email sent, we get back to everyone in a timely manner, including yours. Our build house has been running behind schedule these last few weeks. We cannot force them to put your driver in front of everyone else that ordered or had a recone before your driver arrived back at the build house. I called and spoke with the build house twice on the status of your driver, and relayed that info back to you asap. Yes, reconing a driver does not take all that long, but if there are a great deal of drivers to build and recone, as stated and explained, it will take a few weeks. Also, distance between our office and the build house has nothing to do with speed or quality of our drivers or our customer service. Our build house is one of the best, period. That is the reason why we are with them. They told me your driver had shipped out. They have no reason to lie. We currently don't have your tracking as they have not had a chance to send it to us yet, or our UPS account has not updated yet. I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

I believe this was handled as well as it could possibly have been. I think you guys do a great job taking care of your customers and I know for a fact I couldn't handle people acting like that and keep my cool for very long.

[jcarter1885 995]

^^^^^

[donauaj 5]

I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

This is integrity and humility at it's finest "I apologize." If I could only teach the concept to more people the world would be a better place.

Dude nothing is worth a pissed off wife! Plenty of bad things can happen: burnt dinner, starched underwear, spending spree and on and on.

Dude, that's why you learn how to cook, learn how to do laundry YOURSELF, and not rely on others to do it for you. That way, you get it done to your specifications. The fact that the driver may or may not have been sent out at this point is just knowledge and poor business practice. If the tracking number had been relayed to me, then all parties would be assured and know for sure, and not rely on someone's word. This is how business works. If you're out on the east coast, and the build shop is in las vegas, then you have to rely on someone's word. If you were there, in person, at the buildhouse, then you would have up to the minute information. Then, you would see that indeed, this re-cone is taking too long and you should get your own build factory. The fact that this is a down economy, yet you have back orders says that you should hire extra people to take care of the influx of work, not delay people's orders further. Someone shouldn't have to hear 'Should be shipped out,' or 'They are caught up on reconed driverS.' To me, that says my sub was not taken in the order in which it was received and bunched together with other orders. Not good service. Yes, I did receive numerous e-mails citing information, but the fact that I had to ask several times for the status of my driver and then received unsure, sketchy information is why I'm posting this situation on this forum. I believe you could really benefit from this situation right here. The reason why we're in an economy like this right now is because people need to step their business up and find ways to do better business. It would've been nice to have had a return authorization number in which I could go on to your website and check the status, such as when you received it, when it was started on, when it was finished, and when it shipped. I mean, do you like annoying e-mails from customers? I wouldn't. This way, all this aggravation could've been avoided in the first place. I think it's only right for someone who pays this kind of money not only for the subwoofer in the first place, but it needs to be re-coned.

[donauaj 5]

I disagree with what's been said about the customer service. I damaged my sub's surround while trying to install it. Yeah, my fault, I know. Sent it off February 26th by UPS. Got there Mar 4th. Was told it would take a few weeks. My sub was not actually started on until Mar 16. It seems my order wasn't important enough to start on for more than a week and a half. Then I e-mailed to ask when my sub would be shipped out and I got a reply of, 'They are caught up on re-coned driverS.' I guess they had to wait to get a bunch of re-cones in before they could start on mine. That's what I call individualized service. Then, I asked when my sub would be shipped out again. I got a reply back, 'Should go out in the next two days...that is what the build house said would happen.' So now there's a he said, she said line of communication between the build-shop and the customer service portion, which leaves me feeling very solid about the business as a whole. Wouldn't a tracking number, e-mailed to me, be helpful so then I could actually be assured that my driver went out. Basically, here it is a month later and I don't have my subwoofer back, yet I paid half of the original cost of the driver to have it re-coned and shipped back to me. Plus, it seems that the actual process of re-coning a driver shouldn't take more than a day or two if someone focused on that PARTICULAR order, and not a large group of orders. It should be first come, first served. Plus, I called into the customer service line, only to get no customer service at all, only a message machine. Finally, I love the fact that sound solutions audio is based in maryland, yet the buildhouse is in las vegas. No wonder there's not 100% conviction in knowing when my subwoofer will go out. If I wouldn't have e-mailed and prodded for answers to my questions during this whole process, then I would've had no idea where my sub was even at by now. Actually, I still have no idea where my sub is at now because it could still be at the build house or it could be with UPS. Who knows??

This sounds like a classic example of someone who feels their needs/wants are clearly the revolving point of the earth. Wait, that's a little harsh, but still, when you're dealing with a company this size. Big enough to be able to build and sell QUALITY products all over the world, but not so big as they have hundreds of employee's at their disposal and able to take someone off of one project to dedicate to another. You my friend, have to wait in line like everyone else, don't like the clearly spelled out time it takes to build/rebuild drivers and take care of business then go to the nearest big box store and buy a Kicker. Otherwise, shut up, hang on and wait your turn. Your order is NO more important nor any less important than anyone else's. You even said they told you it would be a few weeks, from what I read about your whining they did EXACTLY what they said they would.

We explained all of this over email. The time involved to recone, the fact that orders/recone are taken care of in the order they arrive at the build house, also in the voice mail message on our office phone clearly states that if we were unable to answer the phone at the time you called or we are on the other line, to email us at [email protected] so that way one of us will get back to people as soon as possible. And every email sent, we get back to everyone in a timely manner, including yours. Our build house has been running behind schedule these last few weeks. We cannot force them to put your driver in front of everyone else that ordered or had a recone before your driver arrived back at the build house. I called and spoke with the build house twice on the status of your driver, and relayed that info back to you asap. Yes, reconing a driver does not take all that long, but if there are a great deal of drivers to build and recone, as stated and explained, it will take a few weeks. Also, distance between our office and the build house has nothing to do with speed or quality of our drivers or our customer service. Our build house is one of the best, period. That is the reason why we are with them. They told me your driver had shipped out. They have no reason to lie. We currently don't have your tracking as they have not had a chance to send it to us yet, or our UPS account has not updated yet. I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

I believe this was handled as well as it could possibly have been. I think you guys do a great job taking care of your customers and I know for a fact I couldn't handle people acting like that and keep my cool for very long.

No, I only wanted my sub worked on in the order in which it was received. That's what I said to begin with. I never said my sub was more important than other people's orders. That's not what I'm implying here. The fact that I said from the original e-mail I received that, 'They are caught up on reconed driverS,' and not that they have just finished my individualized driver says that they bunched my order together with others until they received enough to work on. Also, how does this representative of the company actually know FOR SURE that my driver was handled in the order in which it was received. He doesn't because he's on the other side of the country. Also, it doesn't matter what size the company is, if it's tiny or large. Business should still flow the same way. That is why they should hire more people to keep up with the demand. Supply/Demand, business logistics. It's called improvements. If you could get something you ordered a few days sooner, wouldn't you like that? Also, if you could check up on the status of your order, wouldn't you like that, too?

[donauaj 5]

We explained all of this over email. The time involved to recone, the fact that orders/recone are taken care of in the order they arrive at the build house, also in the voice mail message on our office phone clearly states that if we were unable to answer the phone at the time you called or we are on the other line, to email us at [email protected] so that way one of us will get back to people as soon as possible. And every email sent, we get back to everyone in a timely manner, including yours. Our build house has been running behind schedule these last few weeks. We cannot force them to put your driver in front of everyone else that ordered or had a recone before your driver arrived back at the build house. I called and spoke with the build house twice on the status of your driver, and relayed that info back to you asap. Yes, reconing a driver does not take all that long, but if there are a great deal of drivers to build and recone, as stated and explained, it will take a few weeks. Also, distance between our office and the build house has nothing to do with speed or quality of our drivers or our customer service. Our build house is one of the best, period. That is the reason why we are with them. They told me your driver had shipped out. They have no reason to lie. We currently don't have your tracking as they have not had a chance to send it to us yet, or our UPS account has not updated yet. I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

See, this is my point EXACTLY. I don't want to strain your marriage. I didn't want to ask all those e-mail questions in the first place. I just wanted to know the status of my subwoofer. I love my bass. I had bass in my car when I started driving at 16. I've had 8 different subwoofer set-ups, this being my 9th. Going without bass in your car really sucks. That's the beauty of a system like UPS, where once you have a tracking number, then you can see the status of your package at any point of the line. Now, what if you had a system where people could see how their sub is coming along in the build or re-build process? I just think this is a good example for your business to be better, like a website update or something like that. If you didn't have to answer as many e-mails due to these questions, that would leave you more time. With all problems lie room for improvement. My 2 cents.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

This is integrity and humility at it's finest "I apologize." If I could only teach the concept to more people the world would be a better place.

Dude nothing is worth a pissed off wife! Plenty of bad things can happen: burnt dinner, starched underwear, spending spree and on and on.

Dude, that's why you learn how to cook, learn how to do laundry YOURSELF, and not rely on others to do it for you. That way, you get it done to your specifications. The fact that the driver may or may not have been sent out at this point is just knowledge and poor business practice. If the tracking number had been relayed to me, then all parties would be assured and know for sure, and not rely on someone's word. This is how business works. If you're out on the east coast, and the build shop is in las vegas, then you have to rely on someone's word. If you were there, in person, at the buildhouse, then you would have up to the minute information. Then, you would see that indeed, this re-cone is taking too long and you should get your own build factory. The fact that this is a down economy, yet you have back orders says that you should hire extra people to take care of the influx of work, not delay people's orders further. Someone shouldn't have to hear 'Should be shipped out,' or 'They are caught up on reconed driverS.' To me, that says my sub was not taken in the order in which it was received and bunched together with other orders. Not good service. Yes, I did receive numerous e-mails citing information, but the fact that I had to ask several times for the status of my driver and then received unsure, sketchy information is why I'm posting this situation on this forum. I believe you could really benefit from this situation right here. The reason why we're in an economy like this right now is because people need to step their business up and find ways to do better business. It would've been nice to have had a return authorization number in which I could go on to your website and check the status, such as when you received it, when it was started on, when it was finished, and when it shipped. I mean, do you like annoying e-mails from customers? I wouldn't. This way, all this aggravation could've been avoided in the first place. I think it's only right for someone who pays this kind of money not only for the subwoofer in the first place, but it needs to be re-coned.

Funny you should mention it, the build house has hired more people in this down economy to deal with the sheer amount of work they have. They are also making major changes to improve speed. I never once said emails were annoying, I said that we answer them 24/7/365. If the word of our build house was not good enough, trust me, we would not have been able to continue to do business with them. What seems clear to me is that you are maybe not understanding that we and our build house are not a monster corporation that has loads of cheap parts laying around that can be slapped in by countless unskilled people. Those companies are moving thousands of speakers a month so they have the resources, we would be happy if we could reach 20 speakers a month.

We deal with one of the best build houses for a reason, and we pay very high build costs for the best product. Now we chose the best quality and performance over price and speed. (For reference, the cast back plate on your Xcon costs us more then fully assembled Chinese built drivers that people think are remotely comparable to our Xcon.) I fully understand the car audio market place, especially on line, everyone wants everything yesterday. But it just cannot function that fast with a very small brand like us. The build house does not have the time to constantly be updating the running status of each driver, so there can never be up to the minute information. In addition I do not want to run our company like that where we feel we have to stand over the shoulder of the build house, if it ever came to that (and it won't) we would clearly change build houses. I called them specifically for your driver a few times to find out the status so I could respond back to your emails.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

We explained all of this over email. The time involved to recone, the fact that orders/recone are taken care of in the order they arrive at the build house, also in the voice mail message on our office phone clearly states that if we were unable to answer the phone at the time you called or we are on the other line, to email us at [email protected] so that way one of us will get back to people as soon as possible. And every email sent, we get back to everyone in a timely manner, including yours. Our build house has been running behind schedule these last few weeks. We cannot force them to put your driver in front of everyone else that ordered or had a recone before your driver arrived back at the build house. I called and spoke with the build house twice on the status of your driver, and relayed that info back to you asap. Yes, reconing a driver does not take all that long, but if there are a great deal of drivers to build and recone, as stated and explained, it will take a few weeks. Also, distance between our office and the build house has nothing to do with speed or quality of our drivers or our customer service. Our build house is one of the best, period. That is the reason why we are with them. They told me your driver had shipped out. They have no reason to lie. We currently don't have your tracking as they have not had a chance to send it to us yet, or our UPS account has not updated yet. I appologize, I guess we did not clearly lay it out enough via email. As always, email if you have any other questions. I answer emails all hours of the day all week long (to the point where is strains my marriage), very few business keep up with customers like we do.

See, this is my point EXACTLY. I don't want to strain your marriage. I didn't want to ask all those e-mail questions in the first place. I just wanted to know the status of my subwoofer. I love my bass. I had bass in my car when I started driving at 16. I've had 8 different subwoofer set-ups, this being my 9th. Going without bass in your car really sucks. That's the beauty of a system like UPS, where once you have a tracking number, then you can see the status of your package at any point of the line. Now, what if you had a system where people could see how their sub is coming along in the build or re-build process? I just think this is a good example for your business to be better, like a website update or something like that. If you didn't have to answer as many e-mails due to these questions, that would leave you more time. With all problems lie room for improvement. My 2 cents.

The strain of the marriage is my choice because I choose to provide the fastest email response I can to our customers. Here it is 11:40pm on a Sunday night, and I have to be at my office at 7am tomorrow morning that is 90 minutes away, and I am up answering questions or concerns. 95% of the time, there is no need to check more then once on the status of the drivers as we receive tracking quite quickly and we can track it in shipping. Also, on the rare occasion that there is a recone, they usually are out pretty fast and we send out the tracking. As I stated above, the build house either has not had a chance to update tracking info, or our UPS account has not updated yet. There have been times when it is 2 days or more out of sync.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Start your own topic and whine all you want, but stop crapping the OP's thread. It wasnt about you.

[donauaj 5]

Start your own topic and whine all you want, but stop crapping the OP's thread. It wasnt about you.

Excuse me, but look at the title. Obviously, what I'm speaking about does apply, which is customer service. All you're doing is whining about my post, which has nothing to do with 'Feedback on Customer Service.'