Updated forum problems

[KCStratman]

It was nice to finally see an update to ET’s website, but upon closer inspection it seems to be a pretty superficial facelift with little improvement to actual structure or function. In particular, the forum section is no better and in some ways worse. Why do images and youtube thumbnails no longer display in the body of forum posts, only their text hyperlink? If that was an intentional change, that would really, really suck!

Eventide apparently continues to suffer very badly from the “ivory tower syndrome” wherein the company considers itself some sort of elite special entity immune from the considerations of its customers. Eventide consistantly gives the impression that there is no sharp-witted top or middle management giving weekly direction to both product development and especially marketing and customer relations, no strong guiding force disciplining the staff members who regularly sound like loosely associated committee members often not on the same page regarding fundamental features of their products. Is is abujndantly evident that Eventide has taken the money of H9 buyers and their additional algorithm purchases and use it to continue to develop the product using paying customers a sort of beta testers. Particularly in the area of marketing, dealer support, and customer relations – with all customers, not just a chosen few – Eventide comes off very poorly. If there were eight or ten Alan Chaputs regularly visiting music gear retailers across the nation, conducting clinics and seminars demoing ET products and supporting the dealers with information and assistance it would be an entirely different story. I visit major and minor music / guitar retailers weekly and they tell me Eventide dealer support is nearly non-existant, so, guess what, there are no Eventide dealers for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Eventide constantly gives the impression that the staff is comprised of a few loose cannons – perhaps talented and experienced – with little or no central direction and no wise captain at the helm. Particular staff – supposedly senior – regularly come off as arrogant, rude, unhelpful, mostly just arrogant. Not worth having on any staff regardless of experience or talent.

Unfortunately, now upon closer inspection the website update and particularly the forum to be another very superficial change with ease and convenience of the staff responsible the priority rather than improvement for the customer.

Although I continue to enjoy the sonic qualities and some of the hardware/software control features of Eventide’s effects processors, their apparent corporate philosophy – or lack of it – is underwhelming at best and very disappointing.

[spaceJam]

A little bit harsh but I don’t disagree with most of your opinion.

 

The way I see Eventide is final product > everything else > end user.

 

 

Compared to the rest of stompboxes/audio companies I’m familiar with, they do lack in terms of support and communication with their customers. I have seen really good support in some specific cases, but a lot of issues are still there, unsolved, and most of them unanswered. 

 

 

I agree, we need more Alans out there making demos and showing how amazing their products are. This might result in a bigger user base discovering and reporting bugs to make their products better than they already are.

 

But they probably just want to keep it low, we don’t know, and I think that’s the problem.

[nsanchez]

Thank you for taking the time to submit your feedback. Your comments and concerns will help us revise and improve our website. It's taken us a long time to get to this point, but we're far from done. Our aim has been to improve the overall customer experience while continuing our quest to make innovative products. If we've dissapointed you in the past, we sincerely apologize. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any concerns that require action. My direct line is 201.641.1200 x 245. Thank you again, and we appreciate your support.

[KCStratman]

Ms. Sanchez, thank you for your response. I should stipulate that I am a loyal Eventide customer and continue to use several units weekly. If I did not care about actually owning and using Eventide products, I would not be here making these comments. Perhaps I should not let the conspicuous rudeness of one – supposedly senior – staff member sully the good efforts of all the others. In fact, all Eventide employees I have worked with – except the one – have been polite, friendly, helpful, and professional, but one bad apple is all it takes to spoil the pie, particularly when he is allowed to be a spokesperson for the company as a whole. I am not the only customer who has pointed out that there never seems to be a sharp, consistant, well spoken manager in charge, but only loosely associated staffers who chime in haphazardly and often with conflicting information. Without really well focussed direction from the top, it is unlikely to achieve good results on the ground.

‘As regards marketing the H9 in general, there is no substitute for human beings walking into every appropriate retailer in person every month in every region of the country to demonstrate the product, hold clinics and seminars, train and educate sales staff to be able to successfully sell such a complex and setup-intensive device. No amount of youtube videos and sporadic website videos can substitute for getting the product in front of buyers with a fellow human being showing them through all the many labyrinthine compexities involved in its setup and use. Unless there are at least four top notch full time marketing representatives similar to Alan who call on locations throughout the nation and hold clinics, etc. on a weekly basis, then there simply are not sufficient resources and priority placed on marketing. Purposely establishing a “hub” dealer in a neglected market area like the Midwest US who holds a minimum number of clinics each quarter with a “factory certified” trainer, then springboards to other locations in the region bi-monthly could be one fruitful approach. The tendency of high-tech companies to only consider high-tech online methods of communication and interaction with their customers can seriously neglect the importance of live human interaction in getting customers and keeping them.

Better marketing planning and good up front communication with the customer base, rather than sporadic, late-breaking-development-suddenly-released-still-somewhat -incomplete would be a good start. Thanks for listening and I will look forward to speaking with you at length.

[nsanchez]

Thank you for the suggestions. We actually held some clinics throughout Texas a few weeks ago. Improving and enhancing our dealer network is something we're currently spearheading. I'm not sure when we will be in your area, but we hope it's soon 🙂

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