Update/slight rant on my drum order situation

[LoneStarDrummer]

first off, it's me [your name here]

sorry for the long post. i don't mean to rant by any means, but i'm very frustrated right now when it comes to my drum situation. the mere fact that this thread isn't in the G&M section is a clear indication that there are indeed no new drums in my possession.

A Quick Update: back in october i ordered my drums from yamaha through guitar center. i received a phone call in november stating that my order would ship out in march.

March 8th: i was planning on calling GC on the 10th to see when i could expect my drums, but the called me a little earlier instead. I was excited when the first called, only to become pissed off within about 15 seconds. they basically told me that yamaha screwed up my order somehow and was no longer a fast-track, order as the call it. they told me i would have to wait until July now.

Present Day: i'm pissed off and don't feel like waiting until july. the guys from GC center have been calling yamaha to try to get this sorted out and try to get some sort of reimbursement, but yamaha has yet get back to them. it's been over a week now.

i'm expecting a call from GC today and if i don't get one, i'll call them to get my order number and a number to yamaha and i'll start making some phone calls myself until i get some results.

my spring break plans were ruined and now my summer plans are ruined because i won't have my drums. i promised a band i know i would jam with them over my break and possibly do some gigs and recording this summer. i'm not about to use my freaking exports when i should be using beech customs.

there isn't a drum set in the world i would voluntarily wait 9 months for. i wouldn't wait 9 months for a free drums set and that's the truth. i've got better things to do involving drums that to just wait for them

[ludvista29]

Dude that sucks. Honestly, I think you shouldnt have ordered the beech. There is way too much confusion going on since they are discontinued.

[Panopticon]

well if he likes the sound of the beech, why would he order something else?

But man that really sucks. Hope you get some compensation out of the deal.

[ludvista29]

Well yeah. But idk. Yamaha takes a long time for special orders.

[We_Love_Lime]

Beech's are well worth it.

[ace76543]

Worth 9 months? A freaking baby is barely worth 9 months.

[bobby__johnny]

Worth 9 months? A freaking baby is barely worth 9 months.

ouch.


but man, i feel your pain. 9 months for a kit is completely unnecessary

[Mr Pink]

And when it does come, it will be the wrong finish. Yamaha is famous for that.:smash:

[LoneStarDrummer]

the wrong finish was actually the first thing that came to mind when i was told there was a problem. if it's the wrong finish, i'm killing everyone involved with yamaha drums.

i'll demand some sort of refund and keep the drums in the wrong finish and demand they send me the right ones ASAP.



also those ****ers at GC didn't call which means those ****ers at yamaha haven't returned their call. i'm gonna make some demands tomorrow. i'm getting more and more agitated by the minute.

[fishbulb]

And there is no reason that you shouldn't be. You have been very patient and somebody ****ed up.

[bobby__johnny]

tell em your taking your business to sam ash online :p

[mullets suk]

also those ****ers at GC didn't call which means those ****ers at yamaha haven't returned their call. i'm gonna make some demands tomorrow. i'm getting more and more agitated by the minute.

another casualty of GC:(

[BummerJonny]

not sure if you americans have trading standards or similar?

if i ever have problems with goods here, the second companies hear me mention trading standards i get put through to the highest possible person and my problems usually sorted within the week :)

[Mirror.Circuit]

That's ridiculous,man.
If it ends up being the wrong finish as well,you should get some reimbursement and a new set of drums in the right finish immediately.
You paid for these in a specific finish,to be delivered in a specific time frame.

[abandonthetruth]

Coming from someone who works at L&M in canada, .. Yamaha is the worst company to get phone calls back from, .. in fact they wont phone back, you have to keep calling. So not that it isn't yamaha's fault, but I'd put the blame on GC for not calling Yamaha back .. i mean they state pretty clearly when you talk to them they arent going to call back, they dont have the time it seems.

Anyways, .. your best option is to get a PO number or numbers from GC and give yamaha a call yourself like you said. Though something tells me it wont get you very far.

[sLarkin20]

That's what I hate about having to use distributors as middlemen for ordering things like that.

[AdultSwim815]

I'd just get your money back and buy from another company. That's a load of bull ****.

[Little Android Man]

Howdy.

I'd try calling yamaha yourself.. it might not get you far but i bet it will get you further than the guys at GC are getting you.

[LoneStarDrummer]

i've been really busy with school recently. i was planning on calling today, but i didn't get out of lab until nearly 5 and i have to eat and study for a test.

tomorrow i'm about at 12:30 though and i'm demanding some info so i can call yamaha myself.

from what i here, it's the folks at yamaha japan screwing everything up and it appears that if i want this particular kit, which i really do, then waiting until july is my only option.


however, i do plan on getting some sort of compensation since i've been so patient and they've ruined my spring break and summer. i'm thinking something along the lines of a signature dave weckl snare and/or john robinson signature snare.

[Panopticon]

hey get me some free swag while your at it!:)

[LoneStarDrummer]

the ****ers at yamaha are supposed to call me within the next 20 minutes.


time to lay down the law.



edit: the nobodies are out to lunch, but the representative has passed my number on to the top guns. when those fags get done stuffing their cake holes and call me back, maybe i'll get some results.


edit edit: they're coming in at the beginning of april. the real guys haven't called back yet though. they may not, but if they do, i'm gonna try to find a way to get me a free snare at the least. i want that mudfkn dave weckl snare bitches.

[Panopticon]

the ****ers at yamaha are supposed to call me within the next 20 minutes.


time to lay down the law.



edit: the nobodies are out to lunch, but the representative has passed my number on to the top guns. when those fags get done stuffing their sushi holes and call me back, maybe i'll get some results.


edit edit: they're coming in at the beginning of april. the real guys haven't called back yet though. they may not, but if they do, i'm gonna try to find a way to get me a free snare at the least. i want that mudfkn dave weckl snare bitches.

fix'd:)

[bobby__johnny]

edit edit: they're coming in at the beginning of april. the real guys haven't called back yet though. they may not, but if they do, i'm gonna try to find a way to get me a free snare at the least. i want that mudfkn dave weckl snare bitches.

Akria Jimbo snare imo.

[Panopticon]

idk i forget what snare it is but its 14x7 or 8 and its in this awesome champagne sparkle with wood hoops.

methinks elvin jones.

[ludvista29]

It is.
Dude, yamaha is definatly not the one to give away free stuff ahah.

[LoneStarDrummer]

it is the elvin jones snare.

and ludvista is right. yamaha is being a bitch. i knew there was a 98% chance of me getting nothing, but i'm all about wishful hoping.

i sure do want a weckl snare though. just don't want to/can't pay $719 for a snare.

[sLarkin20]

You are not going to get any free snare from them, almost guaranteed. I'm actually surprised you even got to talk to anyone from Yamaha personally.

[Happy_Squirrel]

I can't imagine that any drum manufacturer would give you a free snare, especially a nice one, for your troubles. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask!

[ace76543]

Maybe like...a piece of hardware or something, but I think even that would be pushing it.

[bobby__johnny]

free flying dragon pedal. that would kick some ***.

[ludvista29]

it is the elvin jones snare.

and ludvista is right. yamaha is being a bitch. i knew there was a 98% chance of me getting nothing, but i'm all about wishful hoping.

i sure do want a weckl snare though. just don't want to/can't pay $719 for a snare.

Yamaha makes good drums...customer service..thats another thing. They are sorta stuck up there.

[Mr Pink]

If a guy with a heavy Japanese accent calls you from Yamaha and starts to tell you how big your American peni$ is, yours screwed.

[fishbulb]

At least he's getting complemented though.

[Plan B.]

**** man, i can't say enough about their drums, but it seems to me that their customer service is eating balls

those beech customs are gonna own mutha ****in' tits if you can get 'em

[Damo]

Dont scream at anyone - It solves nothing and you cant be sure whos at fault because you arent given all the facts. Yamaha may very well not even know there is an issue here.

Its one of three scenarios.

SCENARIO A - GC forgot to fax the order through to Yamaha or Yamaha didnt receive the order and are only now getting around to it.

SCENARIO B - GC took your order, but being a slow time of year and being GC they are probably going to receive their stock in 20ft or 40ft containers, which means theyll wait till they have enough orders to fill them before sending it all off.

SCENARIO C - Yamaha is having production problems which is throwing production slots behind. This is unlikely because Ive just received a Maple Custom Absolute from them, customer ordered with all the bells and whistels, and it was a standard turnaround time. It should only take around 12-16weeks for most manufacturers to produce a kit for you.

Personally, Im thinking its A or more likely B. Manufacturers make convenient scapegoats when it comes to explanations because customers cannot easily contact them, and manufacturers dont have to deal direct with the public.

If you do get a hold of Yamaha's manufacturing staff, Id be asking when the initial order was placed. Not that it matters now, but itd be interesting to see whats really going on.

BTW, if you think thats bad, try waiting EIGHTEEN months for a kit. Thats the experience I had dealing with Pearl many many moons ago.

This sort of thing is not just an issue with Yamaha or Pearl though - ANY company that has procedural steps to their ordering could have a communication breakdown at any stage of the process. The most important thing is to keep following up with your local store to ensure they are doing everything they can, and that it doesnt get a chance to fall to the bottom of the pile.

[fishbulb]

So very true, Damo.

I enjoy reading your posts because it's so easy to follow and your english is excellent unlike most of the other people on here who forgot what a period is.

Punctuation that is, not what a girl has.

[LoneStarDrummer]

very true stuff. i was always polite on the phone despite being rather frustrated in actuality. the first thing i asked was when the order was placed as damo mentioned. then proceeded to figure out the actually problem.

apparently the order was received on time (in october) and they did indeed promise the march deadline. however, in recent months, there was a mix up over at yamaha japan where my order went from a fastrack order to some other sort of order within their inventory system. this meant it was pushed to the back of the list - hence the july deadline.

they admitted to the problem and with my best attempt at communication (they need to learn how to actually answer a phone or call people back. every time i called they were out to lunch) i was able to get the deadline moved up to april.

i understand mistakes happen, especially when you're dealing with a manufacturer who's all the way in japan with about a 14 hour time difference. i can excuse an extra month's wait, but 4 extra months was uncalled for imo.



so long as i get them early april with no complications, i won't have any issues. apparently it's arrived in chicago. it still has to go to their US warehouse somewhere in california to be looked over and then shipped to GC in north houston. unfortunately chicago and california are clear on the other side of the US. that's about a 7 day (business days) wait right there alone.

[sLarkin20]

Lol "out to lunch."

[LoneStarDrummer]

my thoughts exactly.

they are very non-confrontational. they didn't even want to speak to me. but like i was telling the folks at GC, it's MY order that got screwed up, I'M the one getting screwed here. let ME talk to them. dealing with a middle man sucks. it gets you no where fast.

[sLarkin20]

It's the same with most major companies like that. Almost 100% of the time if you try to contact someone directly, they will either not even respond to you, or if they do, they will tell you to contact the nearest authorized dealer and go from there.

I can't say I blame them though, because if they had to deal with every customer that had an issue with one of their products personally, they would be flooded everyday.

Although, it sucks just as much to be in a situation, like yours, where you are having to go through someone else in order to talk to who you really need to talk to, so it takes that much more time.

Best you can do is be polite, but let them know how big of an inconvenience they are causing you, hope for the best, and choose to either buy from them again or not.

I've worked at a local Best Buy for a few years off and on now, and I can tell you for a fact that yelling/screaming/cursing/making a scene/etc, will get you NO WHERE, and probably just make things worse because it will piss off the people you are dealing with and they won't do anything extra for you. If you are nice about it while letting them know what is going on and how it's affected you and such, I guarantee you things will go much more smooth then if you were to take the other route.

[LoneStarDrummer]

yeah, i know what you're saying. it's understandable they don't want to deal with customers directly. i've worked in customer service before and it sucks dealing with idiots. at the same time though, dealing with authorized dealers gets you no where because they don't seem to care about your problem either.


it can get complicated. that's why you just have to be patient and accept the fact that mistakes happen.

[sLarkin20]

Yep. We will go out of our way much more at work if the customer that has an issue is being polite about it, which is really all you can do when stuff like that happens. Just stay level headed about it and I am sure they will get your order to you as fast as they can.

Companies such as Yamaha are well aware that losing a customer for life can probably cost them thousands of dollars in the long run. I read somewhere before that even places like Wal-Mart are concerned about losing just a single customer because they figured out the average amount a person will spend there in their lifetime, and it was a ridiculous amount.

It may seem like the people at Yamaha don't care or are worried about fulfilling your order in a timely manner, but they do and they are.

[Damo]

there was a mix up over at yamaha japan where my order went from a fastrack order to some other sort of order within their inventory system
I dont see why there would be two different production protocols. This excuse doesnt gel with me.

but like i was telling the folks at GC, it's MY order that got screwed up, I'M the one getting screwed here.
Unfortunately, its GC's order through Yamaha and its GC's responsibility. Customers do not contact manufacturers, PERIOD. Customers generally dont know the first thing about the ordering process and an explanation would just waste time, not solve problems. If everybody was able to simply pick up the phone and call the manufacturer, theyd never get anything done.

[Harrow]

I would rather masturbate with sandpaper then wait 9 months for drum shells, good luck man :o

[Mr Pink]

Big companies like Yamaha are huge on customer service. All the big companies have to be. 99 out of 100 orders goes off with out a hitch, but special orders and anything out of the normal are tricky. The big companies are not as nimble and quick to respond as the smaller drum builders. If there is a problem at Yamaha, a flash memo is issued, the memo is read and sent back as received stating it is being looked into. Then a memo is sent stating that they read the memo that they read the first memo. A follow up memo is sent to check on status of problem stated in original memo, a focus group is formed and the problem is discussed, and a memo is issued that said problem is under review and that Mr. Sato's cat died. Plant then shuts down for three days to mourn the loss of Tuna, Mr. Sato's cat. Upon plant reopening, focus group memo is sent to VP in charge of Problems and Dishonor. Those who were involved with the order who caused the problem commit hari kari and are THEN fired. A ninja hit squad is subleased from Mitsubishi and flow to Texas, go to your house and kill you.

[Pleaseme]

I do have to wonder what goes through your head sometimes Pink. :lol:

I want to order a new Yammie SGX at some point down the line (far, FAR down the line), although I don't suppose the chances of what happened here happening again are high considering it's a new line, just been launched guns a-blazing etc. We'll see.

Good luck with your crusade LSD :)

[Harrow]

RIP Ham and Cheese on Rye (the name of Mr. Sato's deceased purebreed American Shorthair Cat).

[Killroy]

indeed. Ham and Cheese on Rye is survived by iced Tea (his cats wife), and children; (a single)mint and a side of light ceaser salad.