New NAP300DR - rant

The conversation was conducted via a dealer who was not too impressed either. I won't go into any more detail than that. I have no wish to dissect it out in here past pointing out that one person's dealings with one company may not be universally representative and have no bearing on the conduct of another company. You can be as surprised as you want to - that's your prerogative, however insulting it might be.

Unfortunately the chances are that very business will have an off day. A good business will try to absolutely minimise them, and will want to investigate every instance where customer service falls short of expectations, and that is what they are measured by.

inevitably a customer tends to remember only the negative - but what I have found is that if the negative experience is reported appropriately it will often be rectified, and (more importantly), steps hopefully taken not to let the same thing happen again. I had such an experience with Olympus and a camera I had bought earlier this year, and Customer Service were useless. hOwever an email to the European CEO (I couldn't find an email address for the Japanese CEO) brought rapid results, a very satisfactory outcome, and for all I know lots of rear-end kicking within Customer Services, but certainly some procedural changes.

hopefully anyone having a seriously negative experience will report it at the highest level - which with any decent company should achieve an appropriate outcome, and help prevent you, or anyone else, suffering the same mistake in the future...

By ranting on the forum, the OP has secured an estimated 10 day resolution - down from an estimated 14 day (two weeks) resolution.

In the original post, the OP accepts that the lengthy resolution period is due primarily to his remote location, but nevertheless perceives two weeks without Naim music to be unacceptable for a 10k euro purchase. If the OP had lived in the UK, he accepts the matter would have been trivial, primarily because the matter would have been sorted within hours and he wouldn't have been inconvenienced.

It's a first-world crisis. No need for sympathy(*) or loss of sleep.

(*) which the OP was not seeking

Its Tuesday evening. Two working days since this crisis erupted.

I bet Paul S has been to the Packing Dept, had "words" and then established a more reliable process with those involved. Process to be monitored for a period and then reviewed.

Process to be implemented across the entire Naim UK range, not just the middle-of-the-range 300DRs

Couldn't agree more. That is why it is in the customer's AND the supplier's (long term) interest that such basic and avoidable problems ARE shouted from the rooftops. Hidden (or worse still, buried) problems are fatal!

I have spent most of my working life in production engineering, market research specialising in what motivates customer loyalty and good old fashioned front-line customer service so I have learn't a thing or two about quality control and how to delight customers (and the rewards to the suppliers that succeed in these areas). The main lesson I have learnt is that most businesses derive most revenue (and hence profit) from existing (loyal) customers. Investment in these customers is far more fruitful and spending oodles of marketing cash trying to gain new (potentially fickle) customers.

The one discipline I have not spent much time in is PR. But I would imagine any PR exec worth his or her salt would have advised Naim to move heaven and earth to get this wretched Burndy to this loyal customer as soon as humanly possible. The additional cost of the fastest possible delivery to the customer is far outweighed by the bad PR (and potential customer defection) by not doing so. The customer should also be 'compensated' for the disappointment  in some way. (3kg is too heavy for a Burndy so who knows!).

I have to say here and now Naim are one of the better companies I have dealt with and their dealers (well the ones I have dealt with) are superb. But this debacle has ended in one of the longest threads about a missing bit in a box ever - many supporting the OP and many supporting Naim. I can't help thinking that the promise of the very best delivery option up front (or a smarter delivery option from a nearer dealer e.g. Hong Kong) would have quashed much of the debate in this particular tale of woe and lessened the PR damage.

Having said all of this the most important lesson of all is to sort out the source of the problem with someone senior at Naim politely but firmly ensuring the right procedures and training are carried out in the packing department and ensuring these procedures are monitored and maintained - that's the boring old production engineer inside me - but crucial to a company's success none the less.

Faint praise!

C.

I don't understand the point of this observation, which was also made earlier in this thread. I imagine that few if any of us participating in this forum have any real experience of the third world and its problems, and certainly nothing arising from our spending of sums of money, whether £100, £10k or any other figure has any measure relevant to third world problems. That doesn't mean that we don't feel hurt by negative experiences, whether that is what we perceive as unacceptable customer service because of a delay in enjoying our purchase, as in the case of the OP, or at the other extreme because we have been victims of fraud and lost the entire sum of money. It is nothing to do with the third world, and in my view is unhelpful to mention, unless you are advocating maybe that people should donate an equivalent sum to that they spend on HiFi to alleviating third world issues...

Maybe 2, in case one is faulty?

I think the OP will be even more pissed off it it only 1 Burndy.

nigelb, I couldn't agree more with you. Today, we have so much global competition and connectivity that us consumers can now see exactly what is available, where it is and how much. Here in Australia lazy retailers who have had a monopoly for years are being slaughtered because we consumers are more aware, and have the power to purchase from anywhere. A bad word can spell death, and unless those involved don't move heaven and earth, they get burned. No doubt on this occasion Naim are on the ball, hopefully the retailers are as motivated as well. Before the internet, I would never have heard of Naim or Chord.

That will depend on how good the bass extension is and what sort of soundstage can be discerned about the fart.  Also, does adding a power supply to your underwear increase overall control?

Steven said it's 'a set of burndys'. If he had said 'a burndy' in his email I would have promptly raised it with him.

Parcel has arrived in France. Really anxious!

Let's hope the French don't go on strike 

Parcel has departed France! I hope this story about a man and his burndy ends soon

Don't you need 2 burndies for a NAP 300

Yes, okay a man and his burndys 

Rather: The Old Man and the Sea.

BTW, our air force is said to have intercepted the freight plane.

I don't disagree with most of what you (and others) have said about how a company needs to perform in order to stay afloat and expand in a very competitive market.

Quite separately, the OP has the right (as does everybody else), to choose how he reacts to a specific, hurtful situation. He has chosen to rant on a public forum. The rest of us have the right to comment thereon. I consider his rant to be indicitive of immature, childish behaviour. Others are at liberty to disagree.

Bruce indicated very early in this thread, that this "crisis" is insignificant when put into global perspective and I agree - hence the First-World comment. I have spent years living and working in developing countries (as well as developed countries). As you say, very few on this forum have this sort of experience. The OP's problem is trivial. His reaction in posting the initial rant and the subsequent squeeling is immature. His initial reaction in sorting the problem out with his dealer is all that was really necessary.

Most of us on this forum wouldn't have been in the OP's situation. We let our dealer open the box, check the contents, set the item up and make sure we are well satisfied. The OP's preference to open the box with excited anticipation has been a significant factor in his "crisis".

Perspective.

Relatedly, I heard on the radio recently that anyone earning a salary of £40000 (or equivalent) is in the top decile of the world's richest people.

C.

I suspect that a fair proportion of members of this forum don't even earn a tenth of that...

IB, I'm sorry I had a late night, and have just corrected my post to £40K. This gives you the chance to amend or delete yours if you wish.

Cheers, Chris

It's not what you earn but what you have left from those earning after you have paid everything out that defines how wealthy you are (in monetary terms).  I have a director years ago who was on very very good money but he was always one step away from the courts because he had so much debt and loved so far above his means. 

Don,

Quite obviously one man’s enjoyment of his 10,000 euro amplifier is insignificant to other major issues like curing cancer or ending world hunger.

Having said that, I do consider it important to voice out when we receive a significantly less than ideal customer experience, and to give credit where it is due. When I pay a significant amount for a premium amplifier, or any other product, I expect the company to have stress-tested the amplifier and double checked every single item in the box before shipping it out. Incidents like missing burndys should never have happened. Remember this promo picture of how Naim lavishes so much care and attention on its hand-made amplifiers?

Naim provides a public forum for us to discuss our experience as customers of the company. I don’t consider it immature or wrong to voice my dissatisfaction as a customer of a Naim product, on a Naim forum.

I'm intrigued about loving above your means...

(Dayjay, please don't correct what I assume is a typo, it's too good!)

But if someone lives above their means, it still means they're spending - and that is what counts when considering wealth compared to the bulk of the world's population.

however I contend this whole question of wealth, and third world, has nothing to do with any individual's depth of feeling when let down by a supplier when they are spending their money.