Harman closes AKG Vienna

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"how to deal with competition and changing customer needs"

at the sake of responding to competition, at what point does "hold fast to what made your company relevant in the first place" come into the equation?
 
Don't be alarmed. The investment bankers and MBA's know best. What do people that have been in the business their entire careers have to offer?  ::)
 
micaddict said:
In our system of things all good things come to an end.

I gave up on AKG years ago.

+1
Since many years they make mediocre products made in China.
The last reason for me to deal with AKG was having my (old) mics serviced. But even that turned into a ripoff. With every mic I sent there in the last few years I´ve been told that it needed a new capsule, even if the "defective" capsule worked in a different mic properly. Salesweasels all over the place...
:p
 
jensenmann said:
... With every mic I sent there in the last few years I´ve been told that it needed a new capsule, even if the "defective" capsule worked in a different mic properly. Salesweasels all over the place...
Sadly Neumann is the same today. Send in a few vintage U87 to have some broken switch replaced, your quote will include the exchange of the capsule.
 
....EV did this same thing when I was still the repair tech there.

The justification was:  "some customers will end up paying more and others will end up getting a good deal, in the end our service turn times will improve being able to shotgun the same service to all products whether they need it or not and whether it's the right thing to do for the customer"  -bossman    ::)

Soooo, when the transmission shop tell every customer they all need new transmissions, at what point do eyebrows get raised?

Hopefully we will have an answer for the AKG mics soon, working on that now.
 
Same procedure as with Sennheiser, too. They tried to charge me 500€ for a new MD441 capsule which never worked properly (!) in a new mic (we paid 630€ ). This attitude is a joke. I will never again buy a Sennheiser microphone.
 
Not a big surprise if you´ve witnessed what happened so far and how managers decided mainly for their personal profit. It was already lost years ago when most of the manufacturing was sourced out to chinese manufacturers and hundreds of employees were fired, among them quite some people who really knew their stuff.  The outsourcing was much more complicated, expensive and problematic in the end than the paper-pushing smartasses expected btw.
Now with the remaining approx. 140 employees getting fired it´s suddenly enough for a big headline across most newpapers and online-media.

In the end the chinese hopefully are able to improve their products with the AKG know-how they received.
 
micaddict said:
In our system of things all good things come to an end.

Never a more true word said.

Customer care is a thing of the past.
In our "modern technology driven society"  in all aspects of life , the service and repair industry, has declined.
The present car/computer/white goods etc industry applies the same mantra .........part not available, please take it to the main dealer to be fleeced from the pocket.
Or make it last 5 years and sling it in the landfill....unrepairable, ?
Moreover, most the younger generation  lack practical skills, and cannot even change a simple flat tyre, prefering to call the recovery service,when they Have all the tools and spare onboard....no wonder, ready for the coperate takeover , and dumbing Down of society
Corperate greed..........Human Race total disgrace
.
MS Vienna said:
In the end the chinese hopefully are able to improve their products with the AKG know-how they received.

Thats where the production has moved to and not long till all the inovation will be there too ,
Western society has brought this on itself.

DIY Forever, or as long as possible....
Rant over !
::)



 
<Customer care is a thing of the past.
In our "modern technology driven society"  in all aspects of life , the service and repair industry, has declined.
The present car/computer/white goods etc industry applies the same mantra .........part not available, please take it to the main dealer to be fleeced from the pocket.
Or make it last 5 years and sling it in the landfill....unrepairable, ?>

Funny, the exact phenomena you describe above is what creates a place for my company in our industry. We offer manufacturer level service done the way it should be, and have a thriving business precisely because the manufacturers of the gear we service suck so bad. And the worse they get, the better we look and more customers we attract. Simply be being competent, nice, caring, meeting commitments, saying "no" when it's the right thing to do, etc.
 
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