Poor After sales by Trinity
02-05-2007, 08:27 PM
#31
It's funny. About a week or two back, I emailed AdrianM at Schumacher after talking with a guy at my track about some things he got from Schumacher. This was before the release of the Mi3 so I'm sure Adrian had other things on his mind than to answer an email about RP mini tyres, however I received a reply that very same day.
Maybe I just got lucky?
Maybe I just got lucky?
02-05-2007, 08:48 PM
#32
I agree with everyone who is stating that Trinity has horrible customer service. I had a brand new 19turn that came unwrapped inside the frist time I ran it. When I tried talking to them online I just got automated responses that said i would hear back from someone and I never heard a thing.(tried them 3 times) I no longer buy anything with the Trinity or Epic name.
02-05-2007, 09:53 PM
#33
Shane, you forgot that the Executive/Owner read that quote or got it from some expensive "Executive Retreat" some other BS at a swanky resort in the Cayman Islands and therefore the company couldn't afford the bonuses that had been promised to the employees...and oh yeah...half the staff has to go.
Then they pat themselves on the back and give themselves a raise for "putting the customer first" and "cutting costs".
Executives are GREAT!
Then they pat themselves on the back and give themselves a raise for "putting the customer first" and "cutting costs".
Executives are GREAT!
Originally Posted by futureal
One other thing to note. A lot of companies are big enough that the chain goes something like this.
Executive/Owner/Whoever: "Customer support is everything, let's figure out a way to interact better with our customers."
Marketing Guy: "We need to offer email support. Junior Marketing Guy, make it happen."
Junior Marketing Guy: "Okay, we need to do email support. This is VERY important. So Web Guy, you need to make a big point of it on the site, and IT Guy, you need to make us a big email support thing."
IT Guy: "Okay, you can now email support@us, it's all set."
Web Guy: "Okay, you can now see a big EMAIL US on the website, and I changed the phone number to a 2-point font."
Now who is actually checking this thing? Web Guy is overworked, IT Guy doesn't care, Junior Marketing Guy thinks either IT Guy or Web Guy is doing it, and Marketing Guy and Executive completely forgot about the original conversation 10 minutes after it happened.
Customer: "wtf?"
Welcome to corporate America.
Executive/Owner/Whoever: "Customer support is everything, let's figure out a way to interact better with our customers."
Marketing Guy: "We need to offer email support. Junior Marketing Guy, make it happen."
Junior Marketing Guy: "Okay, we need to do email support. This is VERY important. So Web Guy, you need to make a big point of it on the site, and IT Guy, you need to make us a big email support thing."
IT Guy: "Okay, you can now email support@us, it's all set."
Web Guy: "Okay, you can now see a big EMAIL US on the website, and I changed the phone number to a 2-point font."
Now who is actually checking this thing? Web Guy is overworked, IT Guy doesn't care, Junior Marketing Guy thinks either IT Guy or Web Guy is doing it, and Marketing Guy and Executive completely forgot about the original conversation 10 minutes after it happened.
Customer: "wtf?"
Welcome to corporate America.
02-07-2007, 08:54 PM
#34
Originally Posted by ApexSpeed
Careful Derek, Ernie might pull all of his ads from your magazine for just participating in this thread. 
Customer service is important, and obviously now that the world is smaller because of the internet, people expect quick answers or solutions to their problems. Reasonable to expect or not, if you advertise a customer service or support on the web, than that option should be just as plausible as a phone.
While I suffer sometimes, myself, from inconsistent response to user inquiries, I'd have to agree that some notes don't even warrant anything other than a quick hit of the "delete" key.
The problem is, though, not everyone CAN pick up a phone and make a call during business hours to a long-distance hobby/personal target. Many people work in situations that don't allow them access to phones from 9-5, be it construction workers, those in the service industry or even people who work in cube farms with nosy neighbors. An e-mail is an easy solution to allow you to contact someone at any time you are free, and give the recipient an opportunity to respond at their earliest convenience.
If you are a company that has an e-mail contact on your website, and you don't respond to inquiries, then shame on you. Your name should get dragged through the internet forum quagmires. For a company like Trinity, though, there is no excuse.
And for those of you out there still buying Trinity products, shame on you, too. You should know better. This company has been treating the R/C industry and it's customers like this for over 25 years, and before that, they had many friends in the slot car industry.
There is an easy solution to the problem, though... STOP BUYING TRINITY PRODUCTS. It works for me. They don't even make or sell anything good, anyway.
Customer service is important, and obviously now that the world is smaller because of the internet, people expect quick answers or solutions to their problems. Reasonable to expect or not, if you advertise a customer service or support on the web, than that option should be just as plausible as a phone.
While I suffer sometimes, myself, from inconsistent response to user inquiries, I'd have to agree that some notes don't even warrant anything other than a quick hit of the "delete" key.
The problem is, though, not everyone CAN pick up a phone and make a call during business hours to a long-distance hobby/personal target. Many people work in situations that don't allow them access to phones from 9-5, be it construction workers, those in the service industry or even people who work in cube farms with nosy neighbors. An e-mail is an easy solution to allow you to contact someone at any time you are free, and give the recipient an opportunity to respond at their earliest convenience.
If you are a company that has an e-mail contact on your website, and you don't respond to inquiries, then shame on you. Your name should get dragged through the internet forum quagmires. For a company like Trinity, though, there is no excuse.
And for those of you out there still buying Trinity products, shame on you, too. You should know better. This company has been treating the R/C industry and it's customers like this for over 25 years, and before that, they had many friends in the slot car industry.
There is an easy solution to the problem, though... STOP BUYING TRINITY PRODUCTS. It works for me. They don't even make or sell anything good, anyway.
So when you buy something, the first place you should go is the place you bought it from. In this guys case he bought GRAY MARKET, which means you really can't expect service. But when something goes wrong with your real car you take it to the dealer not the manufacturer.
02-07-2007, 09:11 PM
#35
DEFINE "GRAY MARKET"
How would a person know one way or the other? Did they steal the products to sell online??? Not trying to be an ass. But how do define legit products from non legit?
As for great customer service.. I must say my dealings with Traxxas have been amazing. Through email i got extremly good service and replacement parts for some defects found on my revo a few years ago. There product registrion process is probably to thank for the service.
My biggest beef with any company is if you post an email address then respond to all emails or simply dont offer email comunication. There is no in between...
How would a person know one way or the other? Did they steal the products to sell online??? Not trying to be an ass. But how do define legit products from non legit?
As for great customer service.. I must say my dealings with Traxxas have been amazing. Through email i got extremly good service and replacement parts for some defects found on my revo a few years ago. There product registrion process is probably to thank for the service.
My biggest beef with any company is if you post an email address then respond to all emails or simply dont offer email comunication. There is no in between...
02-07-2007, 09:20 PM
#36
Originally Posted by Joel Lagace
DEFINE "GRAY MARKET"
How would a person know one way or the other? Did they steal the products to sell online??? Not trying to be an ass. But how do define legit products from non legit?
As for great customer service.. I must say my dealings with Traxxas have been amazing. Through email i got extremly good service and replacement parts for some defects found on my revo a few years ago. There product registrion process is probably to thank for the service.
My biggest beef with any company is if you post an email address then respond to all emails or simply dont offer email comunication. There is no in between...
How would a person know one way or the other? Did they steal the products to sell online??? Not trying to be an ass. But how do define legit products from non legit?
As for great customer service.. I must say my dealings with Traxxas have been amazing. Through email i got extremly good service and replacement parts for some defects found on my revo a few years ago. There product registrion process is probably to thank for the service.
My biggest beef with any company is if you post an email address then respond to all emails or simply dont offer email comunication. There is no in between...
The internet is great and allows you to buy things from all over the world, but when your local distributor doesn't carry something and you go to another source to get it, you have to be ready for the consequences for that. Trinity isn't set up to be a global call center for repairs, and if their distributor doesn't want to take the claim the beef really should be with them.
LRP doesn't service products in the US, AE does. If I bought a NOSRAM I wouldn't expect AE to deal with the problems.
02-07-2007, 09:44 PM
#37
Originally Posted by futureal
I'm a special case though, because there is nobody that has RC Tech as a full time job (even though it should be, reallly). I work 50-60 hour weeks as a corporate slave, do work for Xtreme, plus try to keep this thing together on the side. So yea, I hate to say it, but emailing me is never a safe bet! And let's not even talk about my PM box on here... haha
I agree about the email thing though, I've seen it everywhere I worked in the past. Even at Xtreme, we'd have someone call up all irate because we never got their email or whatever, and we'd solve their problem and satisfy them in 5 minutes. It's just not worth getting all worked up over a company until you've actually talked to them. If they've told you off on the phone, maybe then it's time to get worked up!
btw, props to the ACiD in your signature, now that's old school. haha
I agree about the email thing though, I've seen it everywhere I worked in the past. Even at Xtreme, we'd have someone call up all irate because we never got their email or whatever, and we'd solve their problem and satisfy them in 5 minutes. It's just not worth getting all worked up over a company until you've actually talked to them. If they've told you off on the phone, maybe then it's time to get worked up!
btw, props to the ACiD in your signature, now that's old school. haha
I met MISTER PROVETTI once at the Snowbirds and after that I never spend a cent on any of his products again.
IMHO, the guys watching too much of The Sopranos
This was during the time when he was sitting in the chair next to god, having the monopoly on batteries and nitro engines.
I'm glad that the internet allowed people to communicate and start to boycott his products.
02-07-2007, 09:55 PM
#38
Originally Posted by stefan
I think it's absolutely ok to get wound up about Trinity w/o talking to them, bacause if you called you gonna wind up even more...
I met MISTER PROVETTI once at the Snowbirds and after that I never spend a cent on any of his products again.
IMHO, the guys watching too much of The Sopranos
This was during the time when he was sitting in the chair next to god, having the monopoly on batteries and nitro engines.
I'm glad that the internet allowed people to communicate and start to boycott his products.
I met MISTER PROVETTI once at the Snowbirds and after that I never spend a cent on any of his products again.
IMHO, the guys watching too much of The Sopranos
This was during the time when he was sitting in the chair next to god, having the monopoly on batteries and nitro engines.
I'm glad that the internet allowed people to communicate and start to boycott his products.
I'm going to guess you really didn't talk to Ernie, because he really is one of the most charismatic people in the industry. You don't become successful if you are not.
Most people who don't like him really have never met him or spoken with him and base it off heresy. He is sometimes difficult to deal with, but who isn't?
Most RC companies in the industry, actually I'll take that back most places SUCK in customer service. It's the price we pay for shopping at cut throat prices. People complain the airline food is gone, but people don't want to pay $500 a ticket.
I bought over $5,000 of appliances at BEst Buy and it was by far one of the worst experiences I've had dealing with a company.
02-08-2007, 06:27 AM
#39
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Originally Posted by GreaseMonkey
It's funny. About a week or two back, I emailed AdrianM at Schumacher after talking with a guy at my track about some things he got from Schumacher. This was before the release of the Mi3 so I'm sure Adrian had other things on his mind than to answer an email about RP mini tyres, however I received a reply that very same day.
Maybe I just got lucky?
Maybe I just got lucky?
02-08-2007, 08:00 AM
#40
I can tell you 4 that I have had dealings with thru e-mail, and all have been good corespondence. Parma, Novak, Peak and Competition Electronics. None of this runaround like the big T. Very sad Ernie, very sad.
02-08-2007, 08:15 AM
#41
Use the telephone ....
Can`t believe
how dumb some can behave...
Can`t believe
how dumb some can behave...
02-08-2007, 09:44 AM
#43
Originally Posted by ApexSpeed
Telephones are not always an option.
I can't believe how few people actually read.
I can't believe how few people actually read.
Your kidding me ? ....
Borrow one or use a pay phone ....
Very few companies actually respond to E-mail...
sure a few do , but for fast and get her done service, the telephone still rules...
02-08-2007, 09:49 AM
#44
It's not about owning a phone, Captain Obvious, it's about having access to making personal calls during normal business hours.
And the main point is, if a company is NOT going to respond to e-mails for customer service, then they should NOT list the address on their website as a means of contacting them. Sounds like a pretty simple concept to me.
And I would argue that your statement that most companies don't respond to e-mails is grossly exaggerated to the point that you are completely and utterly wrong. Nice broad brush you are painting with. You must deal with a lot of ass-backwards, second-rate companies.
Geez.
And the main point is, if a company is NOT going to respond to e-mails for customer service, then they should NOT list the address on their website as a means of contacting them. Sounds like a pretty simple concept to me.
And I would argue that your statement that most companies don't respond to e-mails is grossly exaggerated to the point that you are completely and utterly wrong. Nice broad brush you are painting with. You must deal with a lot of ass-backwards, second-rate companies.
Geez.
02-08-2007, 09:52 AM
#45
Go ahead !!! Then !
Bang your head on the keyboard if that will help you ...
I can call um right now and they will answer .....
Bang your head on the keyboard if that will help you ...
I can call um right now and they will answer .....