If you're thinking about buying PSB please read on about my recent PSB customer service experience. I own PSB Stratus Bronze fronts that I purchased 14 months ago, along with PSB Century 300i rears, and a C5i center that I recently purchased. A while ago the veneer on the front right speaker began to peel up and curl in such a way that it could not be glued back down and still cover the cabinet. Wanting the speaker fixed, my customer service nightmare with PSB began, throughout which my wife and I kept a journal. It reads as follows: (information in brackets is added to original content to avoid confusion)
Jan 28:Email K. Pritchard @ PSB (with info regarding problem) given info to call. Call 1-800-263-4641 ext. 4201 (as instructed) Talk to J. Wideman @11am and give situation re: speaker veneer peeling. He calls back later that day with directions to ship to Pickering location. Tells us he will put a rush on the repair and that we would hear from PSB the next week regarding the status of the speaker.
Feb 03:Ship out speaker, email J. Wideman about it.
Feb 04:PSB receives the speaker and signs for it.
Feb 18:Email J, Wideman about status of speaker because have heard nothing. No Reply.
Feb 21:Leave message @ 1-800-263-4641 ext. 4201 about situation and inquire about status of speaker. No Reply.
Feb 23:Morning, call 1-800-263-4641 ext. 4201 and talk to L. Tells me she is looking into it, going to talk to the technician assigned to them. Will call us back. No Reply @11:30am. 4pm we call back L., put on hold, then told she will call back in a few minutes. No Reply. 5pm we call back L., not answering phone, try till 5:20. (office open till 5:30) Call service manager at a PSB dealership, ask him to try to find out about speakers, give him info. (Great guy, we did not even buy the speakers from him)
Feb24: @1:30pm try calling L., no answer. 2pm talk to L., informs me she is waiting to hear from PSB international, referred to some email she received from them. Apologized profusely for not calling back and the run-around. Will let us know by end of the week about repair. 4pm PSB dealer calls back with more details, says he talked to Paul Barton himself. They are replacing the cabinet of the speaker. If we don't hear back from them (PSB) by Friday, call him back to call Paul Barton again.
Feb 27:Try calling L. from 12:15pm to 1:30pm, no answer. Call Dealer back, he will call them and find out what he can, he will call us back. Dealer calls back, tells us they said it should be in by next Thursday (which is March 04, this dealer has been so helpful and selfless, will definitely buy future products from them 'The StereoMan' in Woodstock Ontario).
Mar 04:No speaker. Call L. from 2pm to 2:30pm, finally get in touch, ask about speaker status, she says she will call back in 30 minutes. No Reply. Call L. back @3:20pm, say s no one has returned her calls about out speaker. I ask her to please find out about the speaker as we were told last week it would be here by now. She said she would find out for us and call us back. No Reply. Call L. back @4:20, leave message about contacting someone else to find out about our speaker (as we still don't know the status of the repair or what is happening to our expensive speaker). 4:20pm call and leave a message with Paul Barton himself (the owner and designer for PSB Speakers) asking for info on our speaker. (ext. withheld)
Mar 05:Paul Barton calls back and leaves a message on our voice mail @9:30am. He informs us that he will find out what is going on and that PSB will get back to us today. No Reply. 4:30pm we call L., she stated she spoke with Paul about getting our speaker. Put on hold to call (warehouse?), gets no answer. Asks if she can call us back while she goes and checks on speaker, we ask to wait on hold instead. Informs us that the speaker is ready to ship. Will ship it Monday (March 08) by Purolator and that we should have it by Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. We informed her of our busy schedule and she said she would call us when it was shipped to make arrangements.
Mar 10Wednesday) No speaker or call from PSB. 4:20pm leave message with L. and Paul Barton about terrible service and current situation and ask to be called back. 4:30pm (after calling every number we could get a hold of) we talk to another PSB representative C. She tells the speaker has been shipped and gives us a tracking number.
Mar 11:No speaker or call back from PSB @5pm. Call Purolator and they have no idea where our speaker is, launch investigation. Call PSB and leave messages regarding situation.
I don't understand. You called Purolator with the tracking number and they don't know where it is? They either have the tracking number and a record of picking it up, or they don't have the tracking number and never received the merchandise.
This kind of service is certainly unexcusable. If PSB lost your speakers, they should just send you new replacements. I hope you have the receipt or tracking number on sending them the speakers.
Sorry to hear about the shabby way you've been treated. Thanks for passing on the information since I am in the market for new speakers. Thanks also for recommending the Woodstock dealer. I live in London and it's always good to know of dealers who are good to do business with.
Mar 12:Finally, Purolator finds our speaker, we get to pick it up at 6:30pm. When we got it home and pulled it out of the box we found that the speaker has been damaged. We examined the inner packaging, and find it has no piercing, so the damage must have occurred prior to shipping. It consists of a puncture hole in the upper right side of the speaker, from an accident that must have happened with a lot of force because the veneer crinkled into a wavy form above the impact mark. So we again find ourselves in the same situation we were six weeks ago. We have a damaged PSB speaker that needs to be repaired. We called both Paul Barton @ PSB and Purolator to inform them both of the damage. We also call 'The Stereo Man' and speak with their service manager, with whom we spoke to before, and tell him what has happened. First he says he's appalled that it took so long to get the speaker back when he was told we should have had it back weeks ago. He then can't believe that we ended up with a damaged speaker to boot. He informs us that he will now deal with PSB for us, calling them Monday morning (March 15), and that his solution will be as painless to us as possible to make up for what has happened so far. All this from a store that never sold us the speaker to begin with. Great guys.
I will post another update Monday when we find out what the next step is going to be.
Mar 15: Got numerous calls from Purolator claims service this morning. They are sending out an investigator to determine who is responsible for the damage. Sent email to PSB to document informing them of situation. No reply from PSB @5:00pm.
Mar 17: Purolator has made an appointment to inspect the speaker and its' packaging this Friday (March 19). Still waiting to hear back from 'The StereoMan', an informed and expected delay. No reply's from PSB yet @5pm.
Mar 19: Purolator conducted their inspection of the packaging today and found that the damage must have occurred before packing. 'The StereoMan' has arranged for our speaker to be shipped back to PSB under their banner. I will deliver the speaker to them today or tomorrow so that they can send it. It will cost me $72 dollars and change to have them take over our service issue, but that amount will be credited to any future purchase we make at their store. No reply from PSB as of yet, which is understandable considering that they are dealing with 'The StereoMan' now instead of directly with us, but we kinda expected some kind of apology or acknowledgment of the terrible service we experienced. I am thinking of sending a copy of this journal to Paul Barton along with the speaker to see if that works, lol maybe even the address of this thread.
Tune in next week for another exciting episode of 'My Dog Ate My Homework and the Cheque is in the Mail'.
Wow. This is just wrong. Why on earth do you have to pay $72? All you did was to send a defective speaker back for repair. I can see you being responsible ONLY for the cost of shipping to and from PSB. It appears the damage to the replaced speaker happened prior to shipment to you. The way I see it PSB should be doing everything in their power to "right" their wrong, especially since you're a returning customer. If this means PSB covering the $72 service issue, so be it. That's the least they can do for a loyal customer. This is poor customer service on their part as well as a thorn in your side.
Mar 25: Took speaker into 'The StereoMan' today and talked to the service manager. He told me that he had been called so much by Paul Barton and C. (near the end of the first journal she is mentioned) regarding my speaker and that he had better be getting a Christmas card from them now. He said that Mr. Barton is very concerned about our experience, and has arranged everything so that a new cabinet is waiting in Pickering Ontario (their main office/repair depot) for our speaker to arrive. Now this service manager has never given me any reason not to trust him, but I have been put on guard from my previous experience and I will wait to see what happens. I typed up a five-page letter that I was going to mail out to Mr. Barton yesterday; it included the above journal plus some added detail. The point of it was to completely inform Mr. Barton of our experience (my wife and I) and point out that we were made to feel like we were inconveniencing them somehow. Anyway, I didn't send the letter after the talk with the service manager, but have decided to sit on it for a bit more and see what happens now.
March 29: I don't know how to report what has happened as I am at a loss for words. I have to warn you that I am very upset right now, and that may colour what I am about to right. We were called today by J.Earl, who is the PSB regional manager for Ontario, and he informed my wife and me that they cannot repair our speaker as they went out of production 6-8 months ago. WHY TELL us to send it back in the first place? Why TELL the service manager at "The StereoMan" to send it back to Pickering Mr. Barton if you know you can't repair it? WHY tell us that this will all be over quickly to make us happy considering our previous customer service? WHY has no one ever told us this and many other pertinent facts about our situation? Earl informed us that we had one of two choices: Fork out ONE THOUSNAD MORE dollars for a Stratus Silver or take a replacement from their lower line of Image series ON PAR! We didn't know what to say and so we told him we would have to think about this. We immediately called the service manager at the PSB dealer that was handling the repair and he was like "Who said WHAT?". We had to tell him numerous times as he was a surprised as we were. He said the Image series option wouldn't do us justice as we have a Stratus c5i center that we JUST purchased. Besides that, my wife and I turned down the Image series in favour of the Stratus because we liked it MORE, and were willing to spend MORE for the difference, now were being asked to settle for less or spend A THOUSAND DOLLARS MORE?!?!? I am out of my mind and I don't know what to do. What should I do? Anyone, Gene, Hawke, I value both of your opinions, what should I do next? I can't believe this nightmare is just getting worse. I don't know what to do. Please help.
They are giving us 100% of their value when we purchased them. We had them for 12.5 months before we first sent them in. We have seen them 6 days since then. The Silvers price is 2400.
Our speakers came with a 5 year warranty from the PSB authorized dealer we bought them off of. The veneer peeling was a problem that must have occurred during the drying process, and was a manufacturer's defect. The second time it was shipped to us damaged from them. Why warranty something for five years if that's NOT THE PLAN???
Thankfully they are giving you a 100% credit for new speakers---but considering the aggravation and hassle PSB should toss in the better and more expensive speaker at no extra cost, just to admit they were wrong and want to make ammends.
But in lieu of them not doing that--I guess 100% refund beats a sharp stick in the eye.
This has to be one of the more bizarre purchasing misadventures I have ever heard. It is hard to believe that a well-healed corporation like PSB would put you through all this BS. It is the kind of service I expect from an HMO, not a quality speaker manufacturer.
I would expect a refund, not a credit, if they can't repair the speaker or give you the Stratus. They can't jerk you around this long and then expect to have you pay or take an inferior, unmatched speaker.
March 30: I have been contacted by 'The StereoMan', and the service manager that we have been dealing with has told me that the offer by J.E. was just a starting point and that he is a very reasonable man. That the offer made was just something that came to his head, and by no means inferred that it was the only offer. He assured me that something could be worked out if I just call him and inform him where I am coming from. He said the paramount concern for PSB right now is making things right because they have always considered themselves to be a customer service oriented company. Like I posted before, 'The StereoMan' has always been straight up with us, so I believe him.
I will be giving J.E. a call back later tonight in about an hour when my wife gets home. I have been given his cell number and I hope we can work something out tonight. I, of course, will keep you all posted on what that decision will be. My spirits have been greatly lifted by the 'The StereoMan' talk. Just knowing that PSB is concerned about resolving this situation to my satisfaction and that J.E.'s offer yesterday was not an ultimatum puts me in a better mood. They do know that I exist, that I have a problem, and that they want to fix it. This is what I have been told and I am reporting it to you. I'll keep you posted.
March 30: First, I would like to thank everyone for allowing me to vent all of my frustrations. Your comments were helpful in allowing me to resolve the situation. Thank you all very much. I have been in contact with J.Earl again, and we have worked out a deal that is just amazing. We WILL be getting the Silveri speakers and PSB will be taking a loss to give them to us. He told us that PSB just wanted to make us happy no matter the cost, and that yesterday's offer was not an ultimatum, but just an idea/starting point for negotiations. He had never been filled in fully on our situation until today, and he was ready to do what ever it took to make us happy, which he did. We couldn't be happier about the way it turned out. After he told us what he was willing to do, he went right to his superiors and got it approved for us right away. He even told us that we don't even have to make any of the arrangements, as they will all be taken care of, and that we will be getting the new speakers faster than we thought possible. This is the kind of service we had been told to expect when we purchased our PSB's in the first place. J.E. was in contact with us for LESS THAN 24 hours and it is done, and we are ecstatic. He has restored our faith that PSB, as a company, holds its customers' satisfaction as a top priority. Although the service we received before J.Earl was not exceptional, Earl's solution to our problem was, and so much so that we would be more than willing to do business with PSB again.
Excellent, a happy ending to a very frustrating situation. Glad to hear PSB finally stepped up and delivered, (I have PSB speakers so that's good to know).
Be sure to give a review of the new speakers after you've had a chance to break them in.
goleafsgo
Unregistered guest
Posted on
glad to hear that your problem was finally resolved with a happy ending. I've been following your post with interest as I too own PSB's and have been happy with them. I do recommend them to friends as I feel they are an excellent value. I've also met J. Earl who gave me helpful suggestions regarding a NAD DVD player I own, and made it very easy for me to contact him. I guess it really shows that who you deal with makes a big difference and when you deal with someone who is conscientious and who gets the job done, they only serve to represent their company positively. (conversely, shame on the other people who did such a poor job representing PSB). Really glad you were persistent (and more than patient) with your concerns and congratulations on getting the deal done! hope you enjoy your speakers!
Thank you, and your right, it does go to show you that dealing with the right people can make all the difference. I'll post when I get the Silvers to let everyone know how they sound.
PS: Hope the leafs beat Ottawa again this weekend.
I too have followed your woes. Congratulations, you deserve the outcome. The Stereoman and J Earl deserve kudos also. It shows that dealing with the guys that just go work is rarely satisfactory. Boy, I hope your silvers arrive safe and sound!
I am Canadian, I just read your journal, what a nightmare. If you did not receive the service you expected. I would have advised you to call your local tv/radio station. Sometimes they have a consumer watchdog program that can be very helpful in a situation like yours. Glad everything worked out in your favor.
Wednesday) No speaker or call from PSB. 