Great customer service story...

[Jakedog]

Carvin Customer Service ROCKS. I have a pile of their stuff, and I love it. I just ordered another pair of PM12 PA cabs to use as my new monitor wedges. I unboxed one and it was awesome, unboxed the other and it was smashed. Whole right lower corner busted up with loose pieces in the box.

Now, there was no shipping damage on the box at all, it looked fine. The speaker though, is toast. So I called Carvin Customer Service, and got "Bart" on the phone. Here's what Bart said-

"Well, I'm 100% certain it didn't leave here that way, but that's really beside the point, what was your order number?" I gave him the order number, and Bart says "Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna ship you a new one, right now today. I'll be sending UPS to pick up yours. Just box it back up, and put the pieces in there with it. They'll come to your door and pick it up, you don't have to do anything."

No questions, no "you'll have to file a claim", no "we have no way to prove how that happened", no "Send us back the bad one, and THEN we'll ship you a new one". Just a very friendly "A new one is leaving now, so sorry you had to deal with that."

I liked Carvin anyhow. A lot. Service like that will keep me a customer for LIFE.

[KCKC]

That's Awesome! Good for you and them!

kc

[MonkeyKing]

Yeah - I had a recall on my bass amp and they hooked me right up!

[Breen]

Respect. Makes me want to test drive their amps at their crappy dealer here now.

[Durtdog]

I always thought of Carvin as kind of low-rent, garage band stuff until I gigged one of their tube amps a few years ago. Dang thing sounded great!

I read your post in another thread about Carvin pa gear...gonna look into it, as we need a few things.

From my limited experience with their gear, I'm a fan.

[BobbyZ]

Customer service ? Ain't that just some old fashion thing no one does any more ?

Glad to hear some one still does !

[tele salivas]

That is awesome, Jakedog. Good to hear somebody gets it.

[tele salivas]

Originally Posted by BobbyZ

Customer service ? Ain't that just some old fashion thing no one does any more ?

Yep, customer service became passe' when we became a service economy.
Doh!

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by Durtdog

I always thought of Carvin as kind of low-rent, garage band stuff until I gigged one of their tube amps a few years ago. Dang thing sounded great!

I read your post in another thread about Carvin pa gear...gonna look into it, as we need a few things.

From my limited experience with their gear, I'm a fan.

Durtdog, the first thing I ever bought from them was 2X12 Belair Tube amp. It was killer amp, but not my sound. Come to find out pretty much NOTHING with EL84's is my sound, so not their fault. It was a learning experience. That said, I was very impressed with the build quality, sound quality, everything about it, it just didn't do the sound I had in my head. I sold it to a friend, he's still using it four years later.

Next thing I bought was a Carvin Custom Shop guitar. Bolt plus. I played it almost exclusively for about two years. Fantastic instrument. Switch and pots were not up to USA Fender quality, I felt that most everything else about it was as good or better. For real. I ended up getting the itch to go more vinatge styled again and sold it on, but it was a fabulous guitar, and I kind of miss it.

Fast forward to two years ago, I needed a new PA. Mine was pushing ten years old, getting really tired, and was really on it's last legs. It was still holding on, but in it's death throes. I didn't have a butt load of dough, and needed something quickly. I looked at Carvin's packages, crossed my fingers, and ordered one up. It's performed flawlessly for two years now and sounds great. A couple of friends have ordered them since using mine. They love them too. One downside was the mics that came with the package. They sound really, really, good. The build quality ain't that great though. They are not insulated inside, so there is quite a bit of handling noise unless you leave them on a stand and don't touch them. Also pretty light duty, one of mine broke a pin just recently. They do sound outrageous though. Much better sound and higher output than an SM58 for sure. Just not built nearly as tough.

I have no affiliation with Carvin. I do not work for them, and I am not an endorser of any kind. I'm just a really satisfied customer.

[kelnet]

I've often wondered about Carvin guitars. I never see them on craigslist. All kinds of different guitars show up every day, but never a Carvin.
Are there not many of them out there, or do people just never sell them once they own one?

[Westerly Sunn]

Originally Posted by kelnet

I've often wondered about Carvin guitars. I never see them on craigslist. All kinds of different guitars show up every day, but never a Carvin.
Are there not many of them out there, or do people just never sell them once they own one?

Well you can always find some on ebay, but some of the more classic ones bring a good bit of change. At least, more that I'd like to have to pay to get one!

As for me, The only Carvin guitar I ever bought that I no longer have is the one that was stolen.

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by kelnet

I've often wondered about Carvin guitars. I never see them on craigslist. All kinds of different guitars show up every day, but never a Carvin.
Are there not many of them out there, or do people just never sell them once they own one?

Couple of reasopns for this-

One, Carvin doesn't build "off the rack guitars". They do always have some for sale that are complete, but most all of these are generated by orderes canceled too late, or not paid for. 99% of the time, if you buy a Carvin, you choose your woods, your pickups, your hardware, your finish, your frets, your headstock shape, and have it built to suit. Most people who do that don't generally sell the guitar when it's done.

The second reason, is that Carvin has always had a kind of low resale value. Having owned one, and played others, I can tell you for sure thatthis is no refelction whatsoever on quality. Carvin builds very, very nice instruments. But being that they are not sold in stores, and don't have hundreds of high profile users like Fender or Gibson, they are not widely known or experienced. Thus, people in the general guitar shopping demographic are not likely to drop huge bucks on them. This is starting to change though. When I bought mine, it cost me $900. I would have paid more for it. I honestly believe the build quality and overall quality was on par with other American made guitars costing quite a bit more. In years past, I would have been lucky to get $200 for it. I put mine on Craigslist, and was patient, and ended up getting $600 for it. So they are coming up.

I think the ones that do best in the second hand market are the most run of the mill. If you order a Carvin neck thru body seven string with active electronics, a piezo equipped floyd rose bridge, all the top wood options, and a really crazy finish, you're gonna have a really cool guitar, but one that very few other people would be interested in. That's the danger of a custom instrument. If you decide to off it, is anybody else gonna want it? After all, you spec'd it out just the way YOU wanted it, and everybody's tastes are different. Mine was actually quite simple and down to earth, and got lots of hits when I went to sell it. I think if I'd ordered something really off the wall, I would have taken a much bigger hit moving it.

For anybody curious, I'd encourage them to try one. If you're not a headstock or brand name snob, you can get a hell of a lot of American made guitar for a very competitive price. I'll probably do another some day.

[slotrod65]

This really does not surprise me. In the good old days, guitars were pretty much always purchased at a brick and mortar shop where you had the guitar in your hands. The internet changed all that, and now many buy their guitars sight unseen and have them shipped. Carvin has always been mail order. They had to get their customer service right, or they could not have been in business for all of these years.

[PapaLion]

Last July at the 3 Amigos show in Pomona the Carvin folks set up near us. Their fearless leader is a very modern fella. He is a 21st Century guy in dress and appearance... tats, ear rings, hair color and style etc. I am still struggling to become a 20th century person myself. The second day of the show he stopped, checked out a guitar, visited a bit. I wish I could recall his name; he was one of the nicest most decent fellas I have ever met in many years around guitars. He was knowledgeable and very proud of the intense product research that his crew had done on some new items they offerred.

Again I learn, you cannot judge a book by it's cover... the gear is ok, the employees are way above average.

[Big_Bend]

Well damn.. now I want to sell all my old PA stuff and buy all new Carvin PA gear. It would be sweet to have a shiny new digital mixer, Neo speaker cabs, modern everything.

maybe someday. Great customer service story thanks for sharing!

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by Big_Bend

Well damn.. now I want to sell all my old PA stuff and buy all new Carvin PA gear. It would be sweet to have a shiny new digital mixer, Neo speaker cabs, modern everything.

maybe someday. Great customer service story thanks for sharing!

Big Bend, if you move your stuff a lot, it might be worth it.

Old mains were JBL's, almost 60 pounds each. The Carvins I have are 27 pounds each, and handle more power.

Old monitors were Yamaha, a little over 40 pounds each. My Carvins are 24 pounds each.

Old mixer was a Yamaha, weighed in at nearly 50 pounds. My Carvin mixer has twice the power, two more channels, more I/O ccapability, is way more flexible, and weighs about 13 pounds.

I'm not an old guy at all, but I have hereditary joint issues. Hips, knees, a shoulder, some foot problems. The ultra light weight is saving my bacon and making gigging tons more fun. It wasn't dirt cheap, whole system including speaker cables was around $1500, but it was WAY worth it to me. Moving that stuff several nights a week, set up and tear down, as well as getting it in and out of the basement a couple of times a week was killing me. I don't have a big enough vehicle to leave it in all the time, or a dedicated band truck or trailer. I still have to use my vehicle to drive kids around and do daily stuff, which means all the gear has to come out.

Carvin's ultra light stuff has saved me tons of human wear and tear. I'm about to replace my bass rig with Carvin ultra light stuff as well. Like I said, if yo umove your stuff to gig a lot, it'll pay for itself many times over in the wear it saves on your body, and the time it takes to set up and tear down. This stuff is so light, it almost sets itself up and puts itself away.

[clayfeat]

Yep, our Carvin powered mixer has saved my back and knees a ton of wear and tear. The Crown power amp has sat unused in a rack for a couple of years now. That thing is heeeeeeeavvvvvvyyyyyyy.