Disappointed in Polks customer service

speakerguy23

Sent in my subwoofer for repair a few months ago. Got a call from a tech a few weeks later who left a message to contact him about my sub. Called him back a few days later and left a message with my contact information. Heard nothing. Called again and left another message. Heard nothing. Called someone else in the dept to help (someone named Erik I think), left a message and heard nothing!

I finally got my tech on the phone today. He lied to me saying he left multiple messages and when I told him this was false and that he needed to do a better job of returning my calls/following up with me, simply said 'well this is where we are.' No apology, no hey here's a discount, nothing.

I've been an avid polk user for over ten years but after today I don't think I will be giving them anymore of my business. I paid the sixty dollars to fix my sub b/c I cant afford a new one now but I just wanted to say Im a bit disappointed by how Polk has treated me. In the past I have always been treated great by Polk, but this time really left a sour taste in my mouth. There is no doubt in my mind my sub would still be sitting there in CA if I had not been so persistent in calling them.

Really disappointed....

AsSiMiLaTeD

So you've had good experiences for 10 years and then have one bad encounter and now you're done with Polk?

If I stopped doing business with a company every time I had a bad experience there'd be no one left to do business with...

speakerguy23

Yeah, b/c my livelihood isn't predicated on me doing business with them. Its likely yours is when you do business w/ a company.

For a loyal customer, I dont think its too much to ask of Polk to give me the customer service I deserve. It was atrocious this time around...

nooshinjohn

deleted...

superjunior

first time I've ever heard anything negetive about polk cs.

dorokusai

That's unfortunate but you're one negative example within a few hundred on this website alone. It happens and it appears you are being taken care of now, so the future of your wallet is in your hands. Good luck and I hope the next experience doesn't even occur and if it does, it's better.

F1nut

Stuff happens.

heiney9

speakerguy23 wrote: »

Sent in my subwoofer for repair a few months ago. Got a call from a tech a few weeks later who left a message to contact him about my sub. Called him back a few days later and left a message with my contact information. Heard nothing. Called again and left another message. Heard nothing. Called someone else in the dept to help (someone named Erik I think), left a message and heard nothing!

I finally got my tech on the phone today. He lied to me saying he left multiple messages and when I told him this was false and that he needed to do a better job of returning my calls/following up with me, simply said 'well this is where we are.' No apology, no hey here's a discount, nothing.

I've been an avid polk user for over ten years but after today I don't think I will be giving them anymore of my business. I paid the sixty dollars to fix my sub b/c I cant afford a new one now but I just wanted to say Im a bit disappointed by how Polk has treated me. In the past I have always been treated great by Polk, but this time really left a sour taste in my mouth. There is no doubt in my mind my sub would still be sitting there in CA if I had not been so persistent in calling them.

Really disappointed....

Ever think maybe one of the number in your VM was unintelligible and he left messages on the wrong persons phone/machine? I get about 4 to 5 random message on my machine a month from people who have obviously mis-dialed. And no I don;t them back to correct them.

H9

AsSiMiLaTeD

speakerguy23 wrote: »

Yeah, b/c my livelihood isn't predicated on me doing business with them. Its likely yours is when you do business w/ a company.

For a loyal customer, I dont think its too much to ask of Polk to give me the customer service I deserve. It was atrocious this time around...

Uh...no

I can name only a couple of companies with whom I've done business or from whom I've purchased that I haven't had at least one bad experience with, Polk and eVGA are the only two that come to mind.

Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg, CompUSA, and Fry's Electronics are where I spend a good majority of my money. I'm generally please with all of them, but have had at least one bad experience with each of them. Restaurants, same story. With the exception of a handful of high end places we eat at, I've had at least one bad experience with every place I can think of, but the overall experience is still good and I still eat at most places, although there were a few repeat offenders that no longer get my money.

I has nothing to do with livelyhood, I just can't see leaving a company who's treated me well for 10 years over one isolated incident...

Pauly

Try Bose. Heard they are awsome. At least thats what the BB sales guy told me

Pauly

wutadumsn23

Pauly wrote: »

Try Bose. Heard they are awsome. At least thats what the BB sales guy told me

Pauly

BAAAAHAAAAA Pauly. Polks CS is second to none IMHO, but like Jesse said and I quote "stuff happens" I'm sure every company has a few bad transactions here and there, but it is the nature of the beast. Sorry to hear you are done with Polk, hope your future endeavors are sucessful.

-Jeff

Uilleann

I also had a ridiculous experience with Polk's customer "service" over the past few weeks. In short, they sent an incomplete speaker - new - in a sealed box. And then gave me an absolutely insane hard time about getting the parts out that should have been included in the first place.

In the end, after a large amount of effort, multiple phone calls and emails back and forth, the finally and seemingly begrudgingly by the tone of their emails, sent the parts.

Unfortunately, in a market where Polk isn't the only company with a dog in the fight for consumer dollars, it doesn't seem wise at all to me to make such a big process out of what should be simple and small things for a company of their size to remedy.

Here's to hoping they get their act straightened out. Rapidly. And that no more customers have to experience this situation.

All the best!

disneyjoe7

heiney9 wrote: »

Ever think maybe one of the number in your VM was unintelligible and he left messages on the wrong persons phone/machine? I get about 4 to 5 random message on my machine a month from people who have obviously mis-dialed. And no I don;t them back to correct them.

H9

Very good point, and I didn't see that way before your post thanks.


BTW he states he tried to get this fixed due the fact he couldn't afford another one, what does he except for a $60 sub if he looked elsewhere?

Underworld54

I have found Polk's customer service to be nothing short of remarkable. I have had great experiences dealing with Kim and he is the only one I contact if I have an issue. I don't know why some have problems getting replies back to their e-mails. Everytime i've e-mailed them they've replied back within 24 hours.

I had a driver go in one of my Monitor 60's and Kim sent me a complete driver set. There was an issue as I got one silver coned woofer but the other two had very dark navy drivers. I contacted him back asking him about the missmatched set I received and he apologized and said he would make sure I would get a matching driver set. Guess what came yesterday? a brand new driver set with silver cones. Now I have enough drivers to last me a while in case something happens to one of my other ones.

Another time I actually dumped over one of my 60's and broke the grill and I was sent another one at no cost to me. That's a $25 value for free and it was my mistake. Now you tell me that isn't exceptional customer service. It's comforting to know that if you have an issue you're covered. I love Polk products and having peace of mind while using them makes me love them even more.

Uilleann

Seems very strange that Polk Audio is so extremely variable. Again, I hope they can figure out why some times it can be good and other its so bad.

Underworld54

Uilleann wrote: »

Seems very strange that Polk Audio is so extremely variable. Again, I hope they can figure out why some times it can be good and other its so bad.

Would you really consider it extreme? When a couple hiccups happen amongst many many positive testimonials I wouldn't call that extreme at all.

RuSsMaN

You are always going to have a few bad experiences, the trouble is that they are more often than not the ones you hear about. One 'oh crap' can kill one hundred 'atta boy's'.

Plus, the human aspect is involved, on both ends. People have bad days, people forget or misplace things, simple miscommunications, etc.

Look at Polk's feedback on ebay, for every few hundred happy buyers, there are one or two miserable ones. You can't please everyone, everytime - but I assure you Polk does their best to do as much as possible for each and every customer.

Cheers,
Russ

Uilleann

There is a good chance that Polka CS has been great for years. There is also a chance that there is now an opportunity for improvement. Bearing in mind that "feedback" usually falls into two camps on the internet: extremely happy, and extremely dissatisfied.

I would venture a guess there are many luke warm customers as well. And not everyone who has an experience - good or bad - will post about it.

Keeping customers both past and present happy is (or at least *should be*) the ultimate #1 goal of any company's CS department. Its rarely easy, and often requires the company to pick their words and promises carefully. But just to say everything is all sunshine and roses because the OP's problem was resolved -eventually- isn't necessarily accurate. At least not for him, and his impressions of the company. I'm left in a similar boat as well.

I, for one, do hope they're able to see where the breakdown is on their end in the negative situations they encounter, and work to improve. All the best to Polk and those here as well.

jinjuku

Out of the 20 speakers that I have put in for various friends I have to say (knock on MDF) that I haven't had to contact Polk CS for anything.

It sucks that 10 years of rock solid service by Polk counts for nothing in your book. It sucks that Polk can't get the benefit of the doubt.

Here is what I don't Get, why didn't you:

1. Record at least the name or the person you spoke with and jotted down the time? Ditto for any subsequent calls that you made.

2. Send an email and if your email client supports it request a delivery and read receipt? That way you get an automated response from Polk's email server that the message was indeed delivered and subsequently read.

I am not discounting that this particular interaction with Polk CS was less than satisfactory, but I would have to discount any one that would walk away after 10 years of what you would admit to as good service. This says more about you and less about Polk CS.

Toolfan66

I ordered some RDO-194's a couple weeks ago. And called to see what was up as everytime I ordered anything from Polk I recieved it in just a few days, so I knew something had to be wrong, sure enough it was still there waiting to be shipped. I was told they are short handed.

HB27

I'm sorry to hear you had a problem with CS from Polk.
I have to be totally honest here. Polks aren't my #1 speaker for listening.
I do have Polks I listen to quite often and explicitly with certain types of music.
The single reason I'm a loyal Polk fan has been customer service. I've only had need to deal with them 4 times in 3 decades. EACH and EVERY time I've dealt with Polk CS has been a pleasure. I've been treated like a king among kings.
Usually when you have to deal with service means you've got an issue and not usually happy about a problem in your system to start with.
Anything could have happened. TYPO, poor handwriting, or just a glitch in the system where you "Fell in a crack" can mess things up. Throw in the human factor and multitudes of problems may have occured. "The Perfect Storm" factor according to "Murphy's Law" could have taken place.
Sitting here reading you were hoping for a discount clues me in to an underLYING motive for posting. I'm sensing there's a lot more to the story than your original posting reveals.
Good Luck and glad you have your gear fixed and back to you.
I hope you don't buy anything from me.
Harry

dfranks

Hey guys take it easy on speakerguy. I didn't hear him slam or demean Polk.
However, he did post his negative experience, and I would hope that Polk would use it as "constructive critiscm".

I have had 4 dealings with Polk CS the first 2 were awesome, the next 2 not so much.
It's better Polk hears the good and the bad, instead of having heard noting at all and have potential customers fade away.

just my 2 cents.

dfranks

Uilleann wrote: »

There is a good chance that Polka CS has been great for years. There is also a chance that there is now an opportunity for improvement. Bearing in mind that "feedback" usually falls into two camps on the internet: extremely happy, and extremely dissatisfied.

I would venture a guess there are many luke warm customers as well. And not everyone who has an experience - good or bad - will post about it.

Keeping customers both past and present happy is (or at least *should be*) the ultimate #1 goal of any company's CS department. Its rarely easy, and often requires the company to pick their words and promises carefully. But just to say everything is all sunshine and roses because the OP's problem was resolved -eventually- isn't necessarily accurate. At least not for him, and his impressions of the company. I'm left in a similar boat as well.

I, for one, do hope they're able to see where the breakdown is on their end in the negative situations they encounter, and work to improve. All the best to Polk and those here as well.

Awesome post!, Ditto

gdb

Try my method...... when I receive less than acceptable response from a CS representative or dept., I go up the "food chain" and contact supervisors or dept. heads with my problem. It really, really works !!;)

jacob.simpson

gdb wrote: »

Try my method...... when I receive less than acceptable response from a CS representative or dept., I go up the "food chain" and contact supervisors or dept. heads with my problem. It really, really works !!;)

additionally to the above if we just keep quite or rant about it in forums, its duty as a customer also to inform the immediate superior and get things addressed hence not giving another chance for the same thing to be repeated and also we getting our issues resolved.
Said that it is horrible when ever we have experience Bad CS especially from reputed Brands like Polk we set our expectations very high on these kind of brands.

hagmanm2

I'm a long time Polk fan. My VERY first pair of speakers were Polk. Whenever I purchase, I look at Polk first. I also had a soso experience with their customer service recently.

I purchased TSI500 and PSW125 and one on the Grills on the TSI500 had a blemish. No big deal, but I did want it replaced. Spoke with a very friendly CS rep and she told me what I needed to email them (SN, Proof of purchase etc). No problemo. Info was sent and didn't hear back from the rep for about a week. So I send another email during the business week. No response. I'm a little befuddled (as with most here, I've always had exceptional interactions with Polk) so I call CS again. I let them know my situation and immediately everything is taken care of!

Thanks Polk! I still have complete faith in their CS!

Pauly wrote: »

Try Bose. Heard they are awsome. At least thats what the BB sales guy told me

Pauly

I owned a pair of 601 IVs and Bose was OUTSTANDING in their customer support. One of the drivers blew a couple months after warranty and they still honored it. Not only that, they took BOTH speakers back and replaced EVERY speaker in both cabinets. Too bad their product line isn't what it used to be.

gdb

gdb wrote: »

Try my method...... when I receive less than acceptable response from a CS representative or dept., I go up the "food chain" and contact supervisors or dept. heads with my problem. It really, really works !!;)

Please let me clarify, I am referring to other companies, I have never had a need to contact Polk's CS department.:)

raidersrule76

I would like to add my .02 to Polk customer service. I bought a pair of refurb LSI 25's a little over a year ago after running them for about a month or so I noticed that one of the subs was not working anymore.

I posted here in the forum asking for help on this and within a few hours I recieved a pm from someone in CS, sorrry but I do not remember their name wish I could. They asked for my email address and other contact info. After I sent the info they sent me a replacement amp for the speaker and it took care of the problem.

So for me that is top notch CS espically for them to contact me and not the other way around, I would like to find more companies that care about their customers this way I think It would make the world a better place.


Mark

AudioGenics

I have always received excellent service and timely response.

mmadden28

speakerguy23 wrote: »

... no hey here's a discount...

While I understand that employees/CS reps of a company do have a role to represent their company, I wouldn't blame the company as a whole and 'give up' based on a single issue with a single employee.
If you really want to help Polk improve, take your complaint up the management chain.

Out of curiosity though, why would you expect a discount offer?

Vette C6.r

F1nut wrote: »

Stuff happens.

+ 1. People are people. I have had bad days at work. We all have.


I ordered some things just today. The nice lady that I dealt with talked to me for a while. Since I am local we chatted for a rather long time, about local towns and where we both lived.

This was my first time odering things from Polk customer service directly.

I would give them an A+ grade. Plus %20 for discount for a forum member. Never heard of that in any other company.