Evil Undead Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) Oh my nerves. I'm so hacked off with PMT online right now. Bit of back story - I've got an Ashdown Mibass 10 combo, that I want to add a matching extension cab to so I get the full 4 ohms from the head. The 10" matching extension cabs are discontinued now, Ashdown don't have any left. I found one on eBay a few months back it arrived and was 4 ohm. Lovely cab, but I don't have a suitable head for it. Am currently trying to sell it, no luck so far but will keep plugging away. Finally found that PMT online still have some 8 ohm cabs left, bit more expensive than everywhere else was selling them but I decided I really want one of these to match my combo, ok then, and bought one. Turns up, and it's 4 ohm, not the advertised 8 ohm. I took photos of the cab and the label attached, as well as screenshots of the order and the website to say I ordered an 8 ohm cab, not a 4 ohm one. Emailed PMT immediately and politely asked them to collect this cab and send the correct one. Said that I have no use for a 4 ohm cab, as it would put the head in my combo below the minimum impedance. Makes sense, right? Got a reply from some guy. Asking me what head I'm running, as if he's going to tell me what's ok to use with it, when I have already said that it's not compatible. I humour him anyway by letting him know what amp I'm using, and again, the cab is incompatible. Then in his next reply he tells me, despite the photos that I sent him and having seen the damn cab with my own eyes, that Ashdown never made a 4 ohm version of this cab. I assure him that they did and that I can prove it to him by forwarding an email from Lee at Ashdown saying that they made both. As if I hadn't sent enough proof already. Incredible. Then I get an email from another guy (supervisor perhaps, I don't know) apologising for the confusion and that he's going to check the stock with Ashdown of the 8 ohm version. I told him (helpfully I thought) that there was no need, I went to Ashdown directly first and they don't have any left. I also told him, again politely, that I didn't really appreciate the other guy arguing with me, to which I was told sorry that you felt he was arguing with you. What sort of apology is that? I didn't feel like he was arguing with me, he bloody was! The 8 ohm cab is still showing as in stock at five other PMT stores according to the website, but it doesn't sound like they have any. He has offered me a different cab of my choice at a discount, which I'll admit was nice of him, but that's not the same as actually getting the item I wanted in the first place. What a shower of **** from PMT online. I may slightly change my review if they do by some miracle manage to hook me up with an 8 ohm mi-10 cab, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Sorry to rant, but I feel better for it. Edited January 14, 2016 by Evil Undead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 What we should all do is order said cab. Should help them focus their attentions a bit better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Head Office, 1st thing. Maybe some poop-stirring on Twitter ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) [list] [*]Gender:Not Telling [/list] If you're hacked off with PMT then I suspect you've given the game away Edit: I did only read the first line of the OP.... Edited January 14, 2016 by Twigman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I find that raising the issue publicly on FB page and Twitter can be very good at either getting you what you want or getting a bit of compensation for your wasted time. I never would have condoned such behaviour a year or so ago but recent issues with UPS and Dell were both finally only resolved to my satisfaction after doing just that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) My son had a MiBass combo with what was supposed to be an 8ohm speaker. It was a 4ohm. Ashdown sent a replacement. It too was marked 4ohm. Both speaker impedances confirmed by multimeter. I really don't know what they are up to, and I suspect neither do they! [b]EDIT[/b]: This was not from PMT! It's Ashdown who I think have dropped the ball. Edited January 14, 2016 by JapanAxe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subbeh Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1452800233' post='2953670'] I find that raising the issue publicly on FB page and Twitter can be very good at either getting you what you want or getting a bit of compensation for your wasted time. I never would have condoned such behaviour a year or so ago but recent issues with UPS and Dell were both finally only resolved to my satisfaction after doing just that. [/quote] I've dealt with a number of issues for myself, friends and family members where being reasonable, polite and patient got me nowhere. Get on twitter and shame their incompetence in public and it's funny how all of a sudden they can be bothered to do something about it I can really understand your frustration OP, especially when they come back with "we're sorry you felt" rather than "were sorry we got this wrong" or "we're sorry we've messed you around". Those non apologies they trot out are so annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 It's not as described, send it back, simples. You get 2 weeks when you buy online anyway. As long as it's sent back as it came. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Undead Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1452802206' post='2953696'] It's not as described, send it back, simples. You get 2 weeks when you buy online anyway. As long as it's sent back as it came. [/quote] Happy to! But not happy to pay return postage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Undead Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1452800358' post='2953673'] My son had a MiBass combo with what was supposed to be an 8ohm speaker. It was a 4ohm. Ashdown sent a replacement. It too was marked 4ohm. Both speaker impedances confirmed by multimeter. I really don't know what they are up to, and I suspect neither do they! [b]EDIT[/b]: This was not from PMT! It's Ashdown who I think have dropped the ball. [/quote] So they were both labelled wrong? Wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1452806497' post='2953760'] Happy to! But not happy to pay return postage. [/quote] It's not as described they should pay. I'd feel inclined to contact trading standards or CAB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Undead Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1452806969' post='2953768'] It's not as described they should pay. I'd feel inclined to contact trading standards or CAB. [/quote] The last I heard from the second guy, he said "Obviously I can collect the cab on a day convenient for you but if you still need a cab is there any others you would prefer to go for?" So I'm assuming return postage is going to be on them. Hope that's the case. Also sounds like they don't have what I wanted (despite advertising it, grrrr) I'm amazed that a dedicated music store would not know that the difference between 4 and 8 ohm cabs is pretty important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I've vowed to never buy anything from PMT Online after my experience with them, summarised in my Facebook post from almost 2 years ago in regards to a USA Fender jazz I bought on finance with a £570 deposit: "Well that USA Fender I bought back in April turned out to be a dud (through-body stringing furrels fell out upon changing the stock strings, dull tone, average playability) so I arranged to have it sent back and be refunded, it took about 2 weeks to have it collected which was dealt by another company; Dolphin Music. It took another 2 weeks or more for them fix the fault and were ready to send it back to me despite the fact I had stated and was entitled to a refund. They then returned it to PMT and they would then sort out my refund. All the while I was the one doing all of the ringing despite being told they'd ring me. When I then rung up to find out what was going on, that was about June time, this time another bloke was actually almost helpful and said he could actually order me in a bass that they don't stock, I said I was interested in a Lakland 55-60 and he said they could get one to me by the end of July (Coming in from Chicago) and on the same finance as before for no extra money. Skip on a few months and basically the bass hasn't left the US and I have been practically lied to by this guy, he never rings me back when he says he will. I rang up today at 2ish and the guy said he'll ring me back in about 10 minutes, so I rang up again at 5:30 and found out the guy he's dealing with is off until Thursday and will find out what's going on then. I might be a pessimistic/negative/bitter git but I generally have a good amount of patience but I think I've been beyond lenient with this whole thing and basically I've said if I find out it'll be more than a week then I want my refund". I did finally recieve the bass by September 10th, that post was from September 2nd. In that time they still failed to phone me and also lied about the bass coming in on a shipment to the much superior, Guitarguitar. After all of this I got a call a week after recieving the bass saying they felt bad about how long it took (no mention of an apology for the total lack of professionalism) and gave me a £50 voucher...to only be used online. The moral of my story: Always shop with Guitarguitar, they are superior in every way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Most of the large scale online retailers are simply not close enough to their stock to know what they've got, they have to go by what's on the screen and bar codes, which can be wrong for so many reasons. The amount of times I've bought and paid for 'in stock' gear online only to get an email saying something like "Good news, your amp will be with you in July" is simply ridiculous. The only online dealer who can be trusted are Thomann, who are also generally the cheapest, most efficient, and most polite if you have to deal with an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 [quote name='Josh' timestamp='1452811302' post='2953820'] I've vowed to never buy anything from PMT Online after my experience with them, summarised in my Facebook post from almost 2 years ago in regards to a USA Fender jazz I bought on finance with a £570 deposit: "Well that USA Fender I bought back in April turned out to be a dud (through-body stringing furrels fell out upon changing the stock strings, dull tone, average playability) so I arranged to have it sent back and be refunded, it took about 2 weeks to have it collected which was dealt by another company; Dolphin Music. [/quote] I've had 2 Fender 5 string jazzes, both had the falling out ferules. [quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1452814028' post='2953839'] Most of the large scale online retailers are simply not close enough to their stock to know what they've got, they have to go by what's on the screen and bar codes, which can be wrong for so many reasons. The amount of times I've bought and paid for 'in stock' gear online only to get an email saying something like "Good news, your amp will be with you in July" is simply ridiculous. The only online dealer who can be trusted are Thomann, who are also generally the cheapest, most efficient, and most polite if you have to deal with an issue. [/quote] Thomman are fantastic. Their customer service is brilliant. You also get a 3 year warranty, and they pay shipping both ways of you send something back for repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stringbassist Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Ring PMT Head Office. Tell them you haven't got what you ordered and that you want a refund. Are you near a PMT store? If so, you will take it there for your refund. Otherwise your next stop will be [i]"to get back to Trading Standards".[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1452814875' post='2953844'] Thomman are fantastic. Their customer service is brilliant. You get a 3 year warranty, and they pay shipping both ways if you send something back... [/quote] Thomann are good. I was reluctant to use a non-UK outfit at first but I have nothing but good things to say about them. Not that this helps the OP any, of course. I'd go with the head office phone call and mention the Sale Of Goods Act. Edited January 14, 2016 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bassman7755 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1452800358' post='2953673'] My son had a MiBass combo with what was supposed to be an 8ohm speaker. It was a 4ohm. Ashdown sent a replacement. It too was marked 4ohm. Both speaker impedances confirmed by multimeter. [/quote] Interesting, might be worth measuring the cab impedence, if it turns out to be 8ohm then its a win all round. To the OP, you can get them for under a tenner, cheapest I found was [url="http://www.espares.co.uk/product/es1583042?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=google+shopping&mkwid=secgIbvLu&pcrid=83956688221&kword=&match=&plid=&pdv=c&gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ-rl0lG81yIDImN8g0H0UwJctq2M_aDKzuqEpL5i6dcaAlr98P8HAQ"]this[/url]. Instructions [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT3WMt7nrjw"]here[/url], its very straight forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) [quote name='Josh' timestamp='1452811302' post='2953820'] The moral of my story: Always shop with Guitarguitar, they are superior in every way. [/quote] Yes except I had problems with a guitar bought from Guitarguitar a few years back. That mean't my guitar went back and forwards though the post twice and I had multiple calls over a couple of months before it was sorted...the first time it came back the same as I returned it??? They did sort it eventually though and I still have it. They did also give me the option of my returning it rather than sorting the problem but I wanted the guitar. Edited January 15, 2016 by Pinball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) [quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1452797729' post='2953644'][list] [*]Gender:Not Telling [/list] If you're hacked off with PMT then I suspect you've given the game away Edit: I did only read the first line of the OP.... [/quote] Indeed. I've found PMT (in store at least) only like to cater to those of the Large Busom'ed (female... no luck for me!) variety [quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1452796352' post='2953631'] Head Office, 1st thing. Maybe some poop-stirring on Twitter ? [/quote] Good Luck... from all accounts of ex staff members, their head office team / owners are not nice people to deal with. I bought an amp there, only for it to turn out to be without box, without leads/ manual and then to go faulty within a week. In essence, we all agree, go to Thomann. Edited January 15, 2016 by gapiro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I've always had good service from PMT Birmingham, but that's in store and i've been going for about 10 years. I have no experience of their other shops, and a few only exist through acquisition of other companies (e.g. SoundControl). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Thomann are great for customer service and stock but I have found on a number of occasions that their prices are way out. This is likely to do with some 'creative' interpretation of the currency exchange rate on their website. I clicked to purchase an item that was listed at £305 but by the time I'd got through the buying process the amount had gone up to £323. Luckily, I am a regularly customer and had a number of vouchers for reviewing the previous products I'd purchased which brought the price back down but for new/non-regular customers, I think their actual purchasing prices can often be a little difficult to predict. Edited January 15, 2016 by skej21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Are you sure you're not over reacting a bit? Obviously it's the wrong cab and not suitable for what you want, and needs to be replaced or refunded with them paying carriage. But: As I read your first post it seemed to me that the chap was actually trying to be helpful. He didn't know how much you knew about these things, and in other circumstances, ie someone else, with a different head, they might have been quite happy to keep the 4 ohm cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 [quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1452795787' post='2953621'] Oh my nerves. I'm so hacked off with PMT online right now. Bit of back story - I've got an Ashdown Mibass 10 combo, that I want to add a matching extension cab to so I get the full 4 ohms from the head. [/quote] So now you have the Mi10 combo and two 4ohm Mi10 cabs? Well, there's a solution for you, ask someone like OBBM to make you a special speakon cable so that you can link both your cabs in paralel so that they present an 8ohm load to your combo. Then you'll have a 3x10 rig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumnote Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I had a bit of an issue with them some years ago. I contacted their head office, who sorted the problems quickly and efficiently. Only ever had great service from them since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.