Andertons customer service - kudos

[franzbassist]

I'll be the first to admit, I haven't always had the best experiences in Andertons.  Even as a seasoned player of many decades, I've often felt patronised when shopping in there.  However, they did a really good job for me last week, so credit where it's due.

 

At the start of the week, I bought a Sire P8 five string as a little treat to myself.  Bass arrived on Wednesday and it was great, and I mean really great, apart from the fact that the active EQ circuit was intermittent and the A string saddle screws were missing.  How the latter issue made it through final QC I have no idea!

 

Anyway, straight on email to them and they said sorry, no problem, we will sort it.  I said I could bring the bass back on Friday as I had a gig in Guildford that night, to which they said would I like a refund or to exchange it.  I opted for the latter.

 

I arrive on Friday afternoon and they have no less than five Sire five string Ps ready and waiting for me, ranging from the passive P5, two P7s and two P8s.  They were all great, but a natural ash P8 was the stand out bass for me, so it was just a straight swap in the end.

 

So, Andertons, well done.  Faultless customer service.  No ifs or buts, no patronising questions.  Thank you.

[TheGreek]

We're all happy to moan when we receive bad service so it's only right that we give positive feedback when companies get it right. 

👍👍 Thumbs up to you sir.

[neepheid]

Nice one.  I'd like to also report a good experience with Andertons recently.  I ordered one of those Soloking basses and the courier tracking went cold and started saying scary stuff like "DISCREPANCY SCAN".  I contacted Andertons and they got back to me within the hour and helped me out by telling me some info we don't see, that it was showing for them as "Misrouted", which helped a lot.  The following day they got in touch off their own bat to tell me that DHL had confirmed to them that the bass would be out for delivery that day which shows that they were actively keeping an eye on the situation.  That was good of them.  Bass arrived ok, just took a scenic route via Edinburgh so it looks like a case of "oops, I put that parcel on the wrong truck/van".

So, yes, happy with their customer service, very attentive and proactive.  Two thumbs fresh.

[SumOne]

I dunno, that doesn't sound great to me. They shouldn't send a Bass out with saddle screws missing and the electronics cutting out, needs a bit of QC before leaving Andertons or they're wasting everyone's time. As it was ordered online they have to offer refunds within 14 days regardless of any faults of they'd be breaking the law.

 

I've bought a lot of stuff from Andertons but over time I've gone right off them.

 

Edit:

Cases in point: Terrible part excahnge offers once I'd travelled there to pick up a Bass I couldn't quite afford otherwise and it wasn't worth me then not exchanging after the travel - they clearly saw an opportunity to rip me off and took it. A new Bass arriving with several small but quite noticable defects, they took the return but it meant staying in for a day when receiving the bass, in for a day for it to be collected, in for a day for a new one to be delivered, it all seemed a waste of my time as they didn't put the time into checking it in the first place. A package getting lost in the post and not arriving for about 2 weeks, not their fault but when it did arrive it was clearly used and I decided to return it for a refund - which they initially refused as it was ordered over 14 days ago (in the end I got the refund, but it took some hassling). And right now, I'm eyeing up a couple of things including some Boss Waza Air Bass: £349 in various shops, £419 at Andertons, and that extra cost is quite often the case......if the expectation is they are just basically a Warehouse middleman and they won't check quality then I fail to see what advantage there is to using them over cheaper companies (many of which like GAK, PMT, Guitar Guitar, Kenny's also have actual shops) that have the same legal obligation for 14 day online purchase refunds.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by SumOne

[franzbassist]

3 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I dunno, that doesn't sound great to me. They shouldn't send a Bass out with saddle screws missing and the electronics cutting out, needs a bit of QC before leaving Andertons or they're wasting everyone's time. As it was ordered online they have to offer refunds within 14 days regardless of any faults of they'd be breaking the law.

 

I've bought a lot of stuff from Andertons but over time I've have gone right off them.

 

Good points all, but the EQ may have worked perfectly if indeed they did test it before shipping: they certainly couldn't replicate the issue in the shop when I took it back. As to the saddle screws, the saddle was at the correct height as it was at an angle and balanced off the adjacent saddles: yes, maybe someone should have spotted it, but I'm not sure anyone would check for something like that before shipping.

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I dunno, that doesn't sound great to me. They shouldn't send a Bass out with saddle screws missing and the electronics cutting out, needs a bit of QC before leaving Andertons or they're wasting everyone's time. As it was ordered online they have to offer refunds within 14 days regardless of any faults of they'd be breaking the law.

 

I've bought a lot of stuff from Andertons but over time I've have gone right off them.

 

I don't think they open every single box they send out and plug in test things - I'm sure they'd argue that's the job of the factory, and I'd tend to agree.  It is unfortunate to receive a faulty item, but that's the risk you take when buying at distance, and how simply/quickly/efficiently it's dealt with is the yardstick I use to determine whether a company's doing good or not, rather than blaming them for something which should never have left the factory.

[BassApprentice]

I'd tend to agree. If buying from a smaller business (guitar or otherwise) where you might be buying from their open stock then you would hope QC issues would be checked. Buying from warehouse stock you then rely on the manufacturer vs the retailer to do the QC checks.

 

We are absolutely spoilt by the choice and ease of buying we have - but it is always good to get good customer service if things go a bit sideways. Biggest thing is communication, which Andertons seem to have done well this week - next week could be different 😅

[franzbassist]

And funnily enough I have just had a follow up email from them checking all is okay.

[Killerfridge]

We bought a couple of guitar amps last year that both blew pretty much immediately. Andertons were suitably surprised and helpful in getting them replaced; I've never had a bad experience with them over the years!