What happened to Elektron customer service?

So. For those of you that know me in here, you know I love this company. Rather I should say I love their machines. I won’t say I’ve been around since day 1 but in the time I have been using their gear I feel like things have been mostly positive… Until now.

I’ve spent a lot of my time doing demos of this gear and parading these machines around North America for no real reason other than they inspired me so much I thought id try to get them into the hands of everybody that can’t just go to the local store and play with them. Lately though, I’m having a hard time with this. I’m having a hard time recommending the machines now due to poor quality control and worse customer service. Sure they still sound amazing and sure they are still very very innovative, but it’s hard to be like “yeah go buy this even though it wobbles and this broke and this is weird and oh, yeah I’ve contacted headquarters but they told me to contact the la office and the la office never returns my emails.”

I currently have 2 machines with quality control issues and I have tickets in for both. I’ve done everything asked by Sweden to contact and explain the issues with the LA office, and now I’m at a stand still. This is what spurred me towards this post, which I’m sure will result in my moderator status being taken away, but so what. Moderator status. Hah. What a joke! We volunteered our time to help them out and we can’t even get a single request in like: stickies! Basically they want us to babysit for kitchen spammers and the only ability we have is to send a message in saying “so and so kitchen spam” and maybe within a few days they might delete that user. There has been zero support from hq as far as letting the moderator actually moderate. It sucks.

All of this coupled with insane shipping issues for the keys and Rytm and a huge misunderstanding about actual shipping dates and retail releases have been slightly embarrassing in my opinion. Octatrack: where are all the ots?!?

I’m not trying to bash elektron. I really do enjoy the products and I support the company wholeheartedly. That said: I want this thread to be somewhat of a kick in the ass. We understand it’s a small company growing at an incredible rate. We understand things happen in production that halt things and whatever. Shit happens. The fact that nobody has anything to say is what sucks. Just be honest with us. Just tell us what’s up. Help us help you sort of thing. I hope they end the year strong with overbridge and updates to unfinished machines. I really am wishing the best upon this company, but seriously guys. Get it together. You are quickly becoming the company that some of us have aimed to avoid by using your gear in the first place.

Better communication . Better quality control. That’s all.

Better communication . Better quality control.

Yes please!

+1. After the 6 month wait for my OT with very little communication, I’m soured on their customer service. I’ve been waiting to send my MD back to get the knobs fixed, as some started becoming very loose about a year after purchase, but have been loathe to do so because who knows how long it will take. I had planned to do so after receiving my Octatrack, but now will have to pay shipping out of pocket as well since the coverage from the retailer I purchased from expired in that time. It would probably be cheaper and more effective for me to drive to the L.A. office and see if they could do the fix while I wait.

I do love the machines, and at one point it seemed like Elektron were very quick with communication and updates, but this seems to have suffered as they’ve been developing their product line. Hopefully they can get this back on track sooner than later.

I think they are just getting too big and have too many products out to stay on top of them right now which is unfortunate.

At least some of their products really need some updates, the A4 with ARP swing, midi out to DAW, individual track length multipliers like the OT for starters. Things people have been asking for since they were released and should not be difficult to implement. Also I’m about to buy a RYTM and I’m quite worried about the bugs with chromatic mode that have been reported by users on this forum. It quickly goes out of tune when trying to use chromatic mode, which was one of the main reasons for me to buy one. I’m surprised it even got released buggy when they promoted chromatic as such a huge feature. Something that shouldn’t have happened if the current quality control was better.

It would be nice if they’d just come out and say “we’re working on this” and let us know where they are at in development. Which machines might get OS updates in the future and more info on overbridge. They’ve been so quiet.

^

  • for the overbridge info!

:heart: Someone nailed it above - one word COMMUNICATION. A company like Elektron could get away with murder if they just learned to be a little more open and transparent.

As chronicled above, in the moderators tale, since the move to Elektronauts, Elektron have done the opposite - they’ve taken control of the previously independent forum and replaced it with something that purports to be ‘closer’ to the company - guess how that has turned out? Feel closer? Feel more empowered as a loyal customer? Feel like sucking your own eyeballs through a straw?

This new forum setup was a weird move, and an early warning sign - in the 21st century, in the age of the interwebz, in the age of ‘social commerce’, ‘customer advocacy’, etc, etc, blah blah - a technology company takes a step backwards and closes it’s doors a little. They gently ignored or paid lip service to the debate that did happen on elektron-users, when they announced the new ‘official’ forum and loyal customers wondered why, given that we’re living in 21st century etc etc yawn - look it up.

Getting rid of kitchen spam - poor excuse - unless you think that launching a forum in the 21st century that doesn’t play nice on iOS devices was worth it, oh, and the moderators are hobbled - sweet move. Vorsprung durch Technik as our German friends would say, if it was actually true, but Elektron went backwards - fuck it then, we got a cool futuristic rocket logo at least.

Without being a xenophobe or a racist in anyway, I’ll just come out and say this:

Elektron have to start being a bit less Swedish - you know the stereotype right? Reserved, a little cold, not quick to COMMUNICATE - there’s that word again - funny huh? Not really.

Then there’s this ‘Lagom’ thing:

There is a societal code of conduct in Sweden which really has no direct translation. Loosely translated, the word lagom means ‘just enough’, ‘in moderation’, ‘appropriate’ and other synonyms you can pull out of the dictionary. When used in reference to societal behaviour, it means blending in appropriately without extreme displays of emotion.

I love the Swedes - in fact I love all the worlds peoples (except the French - only joking - zoot mon dieu) and I’m not bashing them but , if they want to grow and deliver better customer service (which will help them grow) - then they need to start opening up, sharing with their customers, and getting emotional about their shit. :heart:

p.s. ‘Sharing’ doesn’t mean making a badass demo vid now and again - that was cool in the 90’s

I think this forum is just fine Housecliche, and they did kill 99% of kitchen spam here, not that this wa the only reason or excuse for the new forum (there were other reasons).

I think Elektron is suffering from a “growth” issue. The smart dudes that they are, have created a heck of a lot of product the last few years, but have neglected the QA and customer support side of things a bit. My take on this: they will catch up on both of those issues. They have to! They would be silly not to, and we know they’re not silly since they created these machines we all love so dearly.

So the last point is COMMUNICATION --> this is free and easy! Maybe the Lagom Swedish thing you’re talking about gets in the way, maybe not. One of my really good friends is Swedish, and he’s vocal as all hell, but then again maybe he’s an exception?

So yeah, a few words is all it will take really. “Dudes, we’re a bit overwhelmed with all the new products, and had a few production hitches, [yadda yadda].” Just be human about it; we don’t expect you all to be Superman/Ultraman/Elektronautman/etc".

Good luck. It’s pretty obvious they don’t plan on pulling their socks up on any of their customer service or manufacturing issues.

The optimist:
We’re hiring more staff, things will be back to normal in a few weeks/months…be happy

The realist:
We’re overextended and underfunded…be worried

The pessimist:
We’re being bought by Behringer…be sad

I think this is the wrong attitude. They are a great company. That is not the question. The fact that this is even an issue is a relatively new thing for Elektron. They have always been a bit vague, but at least easy to communicate with on some degree. I believe this is just a small hiccup from unexpected success. In other words, they werent prepared for the growth they created. Im sure by the end of the year when, overbridge is released, things will steady out… or at least i hope so.

All im asking, and i think most others are on the same page, is just say something about it. “Shit… we spilled a keg of beer on all of the Octatracks that were premade and now we are having production issues. Sorry guys. 8 more months!” PEople would be like… “shit. 8 months sucks,… but at least i know whats up. Best of luck!”.

Either way. I dont want this to be a negative thread… i was hoping that it would perhaps a positive message to Elektron. “Hey guys… you seem to be having some issues right now… Everything… cool?”.

Also, i should publicly mention that i did, just moments ago, get a free replacement tshirt in the mail from HQ because they sent me the wrong size the first time.

Good looking out Cenk! Thank you!
^this guy is awesome.

I think this is the wrong attitude. They are a great company. That is not the question. The fact that this is even an issue is a relatively new thing for Elektron. They have always been a bit vague, but at least easy to communicate with on some degree. I believe this is just a small hiccup from unexpected success. In other words, they werent prepared for the growth they created. Im sure by the end of the year when, overbridge is released, things will steady out… or at least i hope so.

All im asking, and i think most others are on the same page, is just say something about it. “Shit… we spilled a keg of beer on all of the Octatracks that were premade and now we are having production issues. Sorry guys. 8 more months!” PEople would be like… “shit. 8 months sucks,… but at least i know whats up. Best of luck!”.

Either way. I dont want this to be a negative thread… i was hoping that it would perhaps a positive message to Elektron. “Hey guys… you seem to be having some issues right now… Everything… cool?”. [/quote]
I dunno?.. That sounds a little bit like nonsense talk to me .

I’m with ya derekreed - we’re all ‘investors’ in the end of the day.

I work with much bigger companies who face the same Communication challenge every day - (some of them in the Nordics ) - it takes balls or a leap of faith to just tell it how it is sometimes and pony up some real talk- but companies who come to understand that customers are in fact their greatest asset - usually prosper.

As someone who has worked pretty extensively both in support and managing support from a cross departmental perspective in a company that went from small (<20 employees) to being part of a large international corporation I have a bit of sympathy.

If you are small, you work your ass off to make sure everything is right and you do things you probably shouldn’t because you care so much about every customer. Once you have a moment of exponential growth you find that everything you’ve understood about how your business runs is no longer valid and the inevitable growing pains occur.

I for one think they’ve been doing a great job given what I can only assume is resource strain after their last 2 years of product releases and suspect their unspoken emphasis on direct supply vs the retail chain is a way to increase margins a bit for additional headcount.

Around this time last year they had a post on the Elektron.se website about summer vacations and a delay in support response.

Looking again at their site there is:
[url=“http://www.elektron.se/news/vacation-and-shipping”]

http://www.elektron.se/news/vacation-and-shipping

Sorry about the issues you are experiencing hope it gets worked out positively for you.

Sucks to not get stuff. But love ^^^^ this.
Take the long view friends, trust stuff will be good or sell and move to something else.

@ihatederekreed

amen to more/better/transparent communication.

As someone who was inspired by Derek’s enthusiasm for the boxes at Allerian’s Milwaukee OT meetup this past May, I really hope Elektron can turn these issues around and not take their customers for granted.

+100!!!. Elektron is rapidly running into the pitfalls that other companies did before them.

Instead of learning from the mistakes other companies made they are apparently choosing to experience them themselves and so far it doesn’t seem action is being taken…

It’s sad, so many examples but being to stuburn to learn from it.

Love elektron products, hate the way they work and communicate at the moment…they reallyhave a chance of breaking down everything they have achieved if they don’t start getting their act together!

Oh and by the way: As a serious company you don’t just pull the plug on support and orders for a period of time to go on vacation in my opinion.

And why no sign of HQ people on this “official” elektron forum. When Elektronauts launched there used to be posts by Jon. Seems to be like a quiet loooooong vacation for him. I’m jealous :wink: