[Elecraft] K6SE's Missing Parts email

Wed Sep 11 17:59:01 2002

Hi Earl,

I personally apologize for the missing parts in your KPA100 kit. We work
hard to get it perfect every time, but we make mistakes on occasion. We try
to catch any kitting errors by 100% checking at least two kits out of each
run of 60, but occasionally a few parts are missed. When that happens we try
to get the replacement parts out to customers within 1-2 business days of
our receipt of their request. Occasionally that can slip several more days
due to parts shortages on this end. We also try to keep them informed of our
status via email of there is any additional delay. 

I was a caught off guard by your complaint regarding the Fed Ex charge
since you asked Scott to send the parts to you that way at your expense.
In any case, I can certainly understand your position so I've also put a 
credit for $15 on your account towards future purchases to compensate for 
the Fed Ex. charge. If you would like us to credit your card instead please
let me know.

Fortunately this doesn't happen with all of the kits we ship. If it did we
wouldn't get much work done around here.. Interestingly, a significant
number of the missing parts requests we get are due to lost, misplaced or
misidentified parts at the customer end. Since it is impossible for us to
know this at the time of the parts request we still send out the
replacements at no charge. Our goal is to make your building experience as
enjoyable as possible. We frequently get calls back later asking us if we
want the extra parts back :^).

I reconstructed the timeline for your original parts request from our email
records (see below). From this I can definitely see one area where we can
improve our response time. Gary normally enters all parts requests received
via [email protected] and Scott sees them the next day (due to the delay
synchronizing Gary's database to ours.) This can add an additional day delay
to our response time. 

To speed things up we have added a direct parts request email address that
goes immediately to Scott in our parts department. The new address is:
[email protected] . Email addressed this way is filtered into a unique
email folder to keep it separated from Scott's other support email. Gary
will also forward any parts requests he receives immediately to Scott via
[email protected] rather than just entering them into his database. This
should speed up our spare parts response time. I will also be adding a
direct link to this on our web page shortly.

Elecraft is still quite small compared to our competitors. We try to make up
for this through innovative products, personal contact with our customers 
and by listening to their concerns. That's also why we sponsor the Elecraft
list as an open email discussion list. The feedback we receive here helps us
improve our support and product designs. 

Please feel free to email me directly at [email protected] in the future
with your concerns. I frequently do not read the Elecraft list postings the
same day, so my response there can be delayed. I will do what ever I can to
address your concerns in a prompt manner.

Regards,
Eric   WA6HHQ
==============

Timeline - including our email records:

Aug. 16th:  We drive to Escondido for the ARRL S/W Convention. I bring an
            extra KPA100 pre sold and invoiced for Earl at his request to 
            make sure we don't sell out before he gets to our booth 
            Saturday.

8/17 (Sat.) Earl purchases his KPA100 at our booth and I have a very nice
            conversation with him. 

8/17        Earl emails Gary ([email protected]) at 10:02 PM with his
            parts request for the keying inserts, 2 resistors and some
            screws. No comment is made in Earl's email regarding shipping 
            the resistors before the other parts.

8/19 (Mon.) Gary reads Earl's email at about 11 AM and enters it into 
            our needs parts data base. He also sends Earl an email 
            confirming email receipt of the parts request and apologizes
            for the missing parts. Gary also copies our kitting manager.

            Monday evening Gary's computer database is automatically 
            synchronized with the one at our main office in Aptos. (Gary 
            is located at our Chandler AZ repair office.)

8/20 (Tue.) Scott begins processing parts requests and other customer phone
            calls as part of his daily routine. He gets to Earl's request 
            early that afternoon and discovers we are out of the keying 
            inserts but believes they will be in first thing the next 
            morning.

8/21 (Wed.) The keying inserts do not arrive. UPS tracking shows that they
            will arrive from our supplier on Thursday, so Scott Emails Earl 
            that his parts will be sent the next day, Thursday, 8/22.

            7:31 P.M.  Earl emails Scott to urgently send the resistors
            first via overnight delivery at Earl's expense. 

8/22 (Thur.) Scott arrives at work and reads the email from Earl. The keying
            inserts also arrive at 10:30 AM, so Scott is able to send 
            all of Earl's parts at once. He personally takes Earl's package
            to the Federal Express office to make sure it gets out OK. He
            then emails Earl a confirmation.

            6:14 PM  Earl emails Scott back: "That's great, Scott! If all
            goes well, I should have it on the air by Friday evening.  
            A million thanks, 73, de Earl, K6SE"

8/23 (Fri.) The parts arrive via Federal Express at Earl's QTH.

===============
[email protected] wrote on [Elecraft] Sept. 10, 2002:

> As far as technical support goes, Elecratft is great.  Numerous phone
> conversations a e-mails with Gary helped me in troubleshooting and
> solving some problems I had in the initial testing phase of my K2.  He
> was always there to help when I needed it.

> My KPA100 kit was missing two 68-ohm 2-watt resistors and the plastic
> inserts for the ribbon cable plugs (and some cabinet screws).  I e-mailed
> Scott about it on a Saturday, saying that the resistors were of utmost
> importance and that the plastic inserts and screws could wait.  I
> expected that he would read my e-mail on Monday and ship the resistors
> the same day.  On Wednesday I received an e-mail from him saying that he
> didn't have the plastic inserts in stock but would ship all of the
> missing parts as soon as the plastic inserts arrived.  This outraged me
> because I specifically said that it was the resistors that were the
> important item.  I insisted that he send the resistors immediately by
> some overnight delivery service, because by this time the kit was near
> completion and further assemby was held up while awaiting the resistors.
> He sent them out Thursday via FedEx one-day service and they arrived
> (including the inserts and screws!) here Friday morning.  Attached was a
> receipt for the $15 they charged me for the delivery service!

> I don't feel that delay was my fault by any means, but I didn't complain
> about the $15 they charged me for a delivery for missing parts which
> should have been delivered by Friday if they were shipped by ordinary
> means on Monday (as they should have been)!

> 
> 73, de Earl, K6SE