Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

brammy wrote:* treat my staff to lessons on how to treat non big ticket customers with courtesy and respect.

Kent, Scotty asked for one thing...........not several. But that's an aside to my reason for posting. Would you say all those things to a meeting of RIC employees including the CEO held in the living room of your house or apartment? I suspect that in all probability the tone of the message would be a bit different. Perhaps a little more diplomatic even?

A winning team is not built through fear, intimidation or an environment of hostility and disrespect. It is built through confidence in each others abilities, trust in each other and sharing a common objective.

britinvasion wrote:Well , WELCOME BACK!! I thought you were lying low while all the fireworks were going on and the thread ran riot!
Your stabilizing influence has been sorely missed

stabilizing influence!!!!!!!!! im about as stabilizing as a skateboard with 3 wheels.
Id ask for all the ladies of the board to chill and remember that this is a fun thread.Be happy to be a living person. Im givin you all my love.

kennyhowes wrote:

brammy wrote:* treat my staff to lessons on how to treat non big ticket customers with courtesy and respect.

I should probably just shut up, but I really don't get some of the comments I have read over a short period of time.

Over the past 6 months, I have contacted Ric 5 times. 3 times through email and twice by phone. Each email was answered promptly and courteously, and the phone contacts were both pleasant and helpful. All 5 times the responder was Richard Canata. He has represented Rickenbacker as being a company who cares about their customers. I'm a blue collar worker in my mid 50's with one 4003, so I can't be considered a big ticket customer.

I think it is a shame if anyone has had a bad experience with the corporate office, but that has not been my experience. Let's face it, we live in an imperfect world that is run by imperfect people. Even the best of intentions sometimes fall short. And, if everyone else is like me, sometimes they are just having a bad day.

BTW, I don't know as I type this who posted the quote that Kenny quoted (now I'm confused ) but it's regretable that you may have had a bad experience in the past. This is not intended as a rebuttal to you personally, but only as a general comment concerning many posts I have read on this subject in the past. No offense intended.

As we have tried to ask respectfully on may occasions, could we please refrain from making insensitive comments with regard to others.

Dog: Thanks for your comments with regard to customer service at RIC. I have always had the same professional service.

kennyhowes wrote:

brammy wrote:* treat my staff to lessons on how to treat non big ticket customers with courtesy and respect.

This is what I was talking about in my Cii thread in the basses section. I know different people have different experiences, but my Cii was sent back for some work and there was nothing but courtesy on the other end of the phone. I expected some resistance to performing the warranty work, but all I did was tell Kenny what I thought my problem may be and he pretty much said let's get a return number for you to get this looked at. There was no hesitation on his part. I sent it back, they fixed it within a week, and now it should be on its way back home. I have to agree with dog on this one.

Before I purchased my first Rick in late 2004, I did a lot of web-reading on just about anything Rickenbacker I could lay my fingers on. Being a relative newbie, I read the reviews of Rickenbacker instruments on Harmony Central, and also spent some time reading posts on this group's forebear, the alt. guitars group.

I found that there was a tiny number of very vocal detractors, with some real sociopathic qualities to their narratives: lack of empathy, exaggerated sense of self-worth, proselytizing, and other red flags.

The internet is quite democratic in that everyone's posts get equivalent presentation, for better or worse. Like any democracy, there is a "levelling" that goes on, and really good nuggets have to be teased out of the morass of gray text, while unworthy or mean-spirited writing gets elevated to a level of presence that is undeserved.

Anyway, I read this stuff, understood what was going on between the lines (personal attempts at axe-grinding), and bought my first two Ricks in one week. I've never given any of this naysaying more credence than it ever deserved, nor will I lend it any unmerited dignity by repeating any of the details here. I've also never looked back until now, to those negative posts by obviously troubled minds.

But now, it occurs to me that there has possibly been some minor lasting damage done, in that there's a possibility that RIC's reputation has been seen by some as being customer-unfriendly. I think that this is more a function of the end-user's attitude, than of the company's. There are people out "there", who will seize upon any opportunity to cast RIC in a negative light, because of a personal vendetta of one kind or another, and this will, more often than not, result in malicious rumors or small things being blown way out of proportion.

In my time being a "Rick guy", I've come to know Rick management and many company employees on a personal level, and a better bunch of intelligent, funny, and wry people would be hard to find.

I don't see it as being a case of Rickenbacker mending their fences with their customers (actually, as I've said before, the customers are the dealers; we're the end-users), but rather of taking the comments of a few damaged characters, and putting them into their proper perspective. Every legend has its detractors; the more legendary, the more nutcases and stalkers come out of the woodwork.

IF I owned RIC.............................. I'D KEEP 'EM ALL TO MYSELF!

Now that's not very nice Tony, wanting them all for yourself... and here I thought you were the nice kind guy that sent out Christmas cookies.. I think I would also call Mr. Hall and beg him to take the company back.. he seems to be turning out some pretty stunning instruments.. of course I would have to have a cleaning crew come in and wipe up the drool before I left the building... no one would want to work in hipboots...

Ha, I'd put my genius boyfriend in charge and spend all my time in that groovy studio on the beach.

Studio not included!

Well then, forget it! You couldn't give me that job otherwise

The beach is available, however.

OK, I'll take it. Do they throw in the streakers for free?

It sounds like a few of us are suffering from winter.