Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

If you use a true ISP domain address, the chances of getting an e-mail message through to any other address is only about 85%. Using a free/public domain such as Hotmail, it goes down to perhaps less than 50%. That's the work of spam necessitating filtering or black listing, or virii simply overtaking bandwidth.

We've thought about turning on an auto-responder so you know the message got through to begin with but of course that only adds additional traffic to the 'Net and often gets spam trapped itself.

If you don't get an answer from any customer service organization, keep e-mailing.

Well, here's a letter I received early March 2000 from RIC:

"February 29, 2000
Dear Mr. Silva:
Thank you for taking the time to write to us here at Rickenbacker. It is a pleasure to be of service to you.
We at Rickenbacker would like to thank you for your complimentary letter. Our reputation is where it is today as a result of exceptional customers like yourself. We take pride in building the best electric guitars and basses in the industry, and when customers share their enthusiasm with us, it brightens our day.
We are proud to introduce the 4004 Cheyenne II, which is currently available for order. Please contact the distributor listed blow for pricing and ordering information.
For more than half a century we have worked very hard to make the finest guitars possible, and we hope that yours will bring you quality sound and enjoyment for many years to come.
Best Regards,
Caleb Wilkinson
Customer Service"

If that ain't a cool letter from the coolest electric guitar manufacturer around, I don't know what is.

Late August 1981, after finally getting my first 4001 that I had waited 7 years to buy...
It's a Saturday afternoon, I'm in the shower, my mother knocks on the bathroom door, she says it sounds like there's a very important phone call for me. Now I'm trying to dry myself off as quickly as possible as I ask out the door, who is it?? She comes back, and tells me, he says he's F.C. Hall, the owner of Rickenbacker. Now I'm thinking to myself, which one of my crazy friends is joking around?! My mother says he doesn't sound anything like one of my friends...she was right about him not sounding like one of my friends, he sounded older than any of my friends, spoke slower, had the accent of a person that I had never personally spoke to before. (I'm from NYC), and read my letter that I had wrote to RIC about my concerns of rumours about 4001 necks being fragile. Wow, I was floored!! He was very nice, very helpful, lots of Rick advice. He called me a several more times about My two 4003 basses I had gotten later in 1981 (the first one was a nightmare that he was very concerned about). Well you don't get better customer service than that. F.C. Hall was a very cool dude, he made me feel that RIC / customer relations were extremely important. It was a pleasure to speak to him, an honor to be called by him. God bless his soul.

FC's son John also takes the time to personally respond to emails, and he is a regular presence on this board and others. I believe the fact that Rickenbacker is a small-ish, family-owned business has a lot to do with their dedication to their customers.

I e-mailed a question to customer service about three weeks ago, and have yet to receive a response. Does anybody know what the general time frame is for return correspondence?

Chuck,
As stated previously on this thread, RIC has spam filters in place that might have filtered yours out with the spam if you emailed it from an address like Hotmail or Yahoo. John Hall also said it definitely helps to send it from an independent ISP, as well as putting specific words like "rickenbacker" or such in the heading of the email. That might help it get thru.
I have to say that I had an issue to contact Kenny at Rickenbacker, and he returned my email(s) within an hour. The entire process was fantastic, easy, and I have nothing but good things to say about the RIC customer service dept. from my experience.

I called and ordered some parts in the early mid ninties and the gentleman on the phone at Rickenbacker couldn't have been more patient and polite. I knew next to nothing about the guitars and though I'm sure very busy, he explained a few details I needed to know.

I have called or emailed approximately 3 - 4 times in the last year for parts or information and have always been very impressed with the service and pleased with the result. Not only has it been quick but the people I have dealt with have always been very helpful, courteous and knowledgeable of their product, even if it is one which has not been offered for a number of years. In addition in one instance John Hall took the time to respond to my inquiry. I don't know of any other businees of that size where you would receive that kind of service from the CEO. I only wish some other companies I have to deal with would provide this kind of service

This morning we added an auto-responder to our e-mail system, verifying receipt of any messages to the various generic accounts such as [email protected]. If you don't get this message back when you write us, we didn't get yours to begin with.

Lack of a response means your email appears spam-like or your domain is black listed by at least two of the five major spam abuse clearinghouses. Don't forget that many freebie e-mail services append ads to your message, giving the appearance of spam.

We've added a test address that you may e-mail to see if you can communicate: [email protected]

Note: this does NOT apply to mail addressed to personal accounts here to avoid unnecessary back and forth e-mail traffic for us and our customers.

Thanks!

I have not needed CS at Rick for anything yet but nice to know it's a priority.