After about a year of searching...researching...and second guessing myself I finally bought a subwoofer! Thread detaining my new sub and HT to be posted later, but I wanted to share my experience with AV123.
I took advantage of the moving sale, my previously won $100 off any AV123 product from AH, and picked up a Rocket UFW-12. The ordering was easy and Sean, head of their sales department, told me the $100 off was "just like cash". So I couldnt resist!!! I could wait to get this thing hooked up and within a week of ordering, it was sitting in my living room. A little damage on the box proved to be the source of some big time disapointment. After opening the box, I noticed a section of the subwoofer cabinet had some damage in the same place the shipping box was crushed. In the rear seam (on the left hand side, and from top to bottom) the sub cabinet was cracket with the wood bulging a little on both sides. The subwoofer had obviously been dropped during shipping. Anticipating a battle with either AV123 or DHL to get this thing resolved, I fired off an email, including the description and some photos, to AV123. Sean responded first thing in the morning with expression of understanding of my disapointment, and this:
I am going to hand your email over to my customer service manager (I’ve copied him on this email and I will forward him the photos in a moment) and he will get this taken care of for you as soon as possible. Please enjoy the sub to the extent you are able until you receive a replacement.
A little later I got an email from Mike Garner, the customer service manager, saying they would ship out a new one upon approval right away. One day later I received shipping confermation from Yellow Freight that the delivery was scheduled to delivered on my day off (which I requested). I was truly blow by the customer service.
I next received an email from Kyle Steidle, AV123's shipping manager, explaining the procedure and that DHL needed to inspect the damage for the claim. DHL, sent an inspector to look at the damage. He seemed to concure that the damage happend during shipping a wrote up a report.
About an hour later...YELLOW FREIGHT TO THE RESCUE! A big Semi pulled up and in the back...my new UFW-12!!! It looked kind of funny with this HUGE truck with only the sub in back. We got it inside and after I inspected the shipping box, I signed the papers. I opened the box, and everything looked fine. I inspected the sub cabinet and I could not find a flaw...absolutly Gorgeous (as a tear of joy rolls down my cheek).
I was told by Kyle to wait for DHL to contact me about the arrangements for picking up the damaged sub. They still have not contacted me and I hope the next step will go as smooth as the first few.
What I will remember about this transaction is the customer service from AV123. All people involved from AV123 understood my disapointment and went above the call of duty to rectify the situation...even though the damage was no fault of their company. They are willing to handle the damage claim with a little cooperation from me, and Kyle ended the latest email with:
"Thanking you in advance for your help with this. Please call me if you Have any questions."
I am very impressed with the level of customer service I was provided. This experience, although could have been VERY painful, made me a customer for life!
