[Elecraft] K6SE's Missing Parts email

Wed Sep 11 21:32:01 2002

I built K2 S/N 1757 and the KSB2.

I had *no* parts missing from either kit, but I sure did destroy a few.
Every time I ruined a part, I emailed [email protected]  and had a reply
within minutes to a day (depending on the time of day or night that I sent
the email).  I told them each time that the part was not defective or
missing, but that I ruined it.  Always, and I mean always, the part was on
the way immediately *and at no charge*.  I begged to pay for the part or
shipping, but they always ignored this.  I always had the part here in South
Carolina within a small handful of days.

I have been building kits since 1957 (when I was 10 years old), and have
been completely blown away by Elecraft and their support of their products.
I am sure I built more than one hundred Heathkits.  Heathkit is supposed to
be the "Gold Standard" to which everybody else is compared.  Most Heathkits
had defective or missing parts.  It was really frustrating to find that a
part was defective after the fact.  Then, you had to make a really
expensive, long-distance telephone call with a credit card, or send a letter
with a check.  Does anyone other than me remember the little red and white
envelopes that you had to use to return the defective part to Heathkit for
their examination?  If they ruled that the part was not defective, you
didn't get your money back!  If they ruled that the part was defective, then
you got a check in the mail *many* weeks later!  Compare THAT to
Elecraft!!!!!

It sure does hurt to see the best in the business criticized so very
unfairly!

Dan Allen
KB4ZVM
K2 S/N 1757

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K6SE's Missing Parts email

> 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
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