Stick Mfgr Customer Relations

Would like some feedback. I recently emailed one of Vater's Artist Relations/Marketing guys, just to compliment them on the 5A Sugar Maple wood tips, which I was turned on to by my local drum shop, and have been using consistently for nearly 3 years now. I also mentioned that I have one of their stick holders and a set of their earplugs. Crickets. Not even a form letter. I realize that I'm not one of their "featured artists", but you'd think common courtesy would dictate some kind of return communication? After all, we're the ones shelling out the $9 (US) and change every three weeks or so for new lumber. Has anyone else experienced this?

I would only imagine how much email they get. Most that I have dealt with normally send out an auto reply something like, "thank you for your email about our products. Be assured that we read all email but with the volume that we receive, we can't reply to all" or words to that effect.

I just received an email saying that the company had n to heard back from me in 48 hours, so they were considering my concern closed. That was after they sent the form letter. Nothing suggested I contact them again in the first place.

You didn't ask a question, or say anything that implied you wanted a response, so you didn't get one.

Seems pretty straightforward to me.

I could see them sending a response or not sending one. Having more staff on OH to respond to every message received would drive the price of my LAs or Manhattans up - I'd rather pay $8.50 than $10/pair. If I had an issue with their product I would expect a response no doubt.

I'm in agreement with the others here..if there was a complaint and they didn't respond I'd be more concerned. I had an issue with a Mapex stand and they got back to me in 48 hours. If I were just telling them how much I liked their product I'm not sure they would have responded. I'm sure these companies are dealing with tons of customer relations/ complaint issues, fan mail just isn't their top priority.

Yeah, some kind of acknowledgement would have been nice. Companies need to look after their customers - even the happy ones!

GRUNTERSDAD said:

I would only imagine how much email they get.

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Especially considering how many people must email that same address every day asking for an "endorsement deal".

If you really want a company to acknowledge your compliment, for whatever reason, I've noticed they tend to be more responsive on Twitter. Facebook is too popular and abstract in terms of person to page interaction to encourage company feedback on individual posts.

I get great sticks and great customer service from Scorpion Stix.

For what it's worth, I did finally receive a response to my original email to Vater re: use of their 5A Sugar Maples. Nice to know that they still value our non-sponsored use, and non-paid endorsements of their products.

All's well that ends well.

new sticks every 3 weeks? i have used 4 sets in 14 months and play 2+ hours a night...

BTW.. some companies don't email well.. i had a couple of questions when i got my DW's and it took 4 emails and over a month to get a response..

I'm with the rest of the forum, they get lot's of mail so it would be difficult to respond to every one that says they are happy,I emailed a complaint I had with a product and they promptly sent me 2 brand new pairs (Slap Sticks); one of each kind. They included a letter as well. I was very impressed.

I sent an e-mail like that to Zildjian about the K Custom Hybrid ride. They replied with a nice thank you letter.

What I got was "yeah, we discontinued that. Have you considered a completely different stick with different materials? It's kinda like that. The one you and many others hoarded as much as possible when we discontinued them just didn't sell - strange, putting a jazz stick in Guitar Center didn't move the same units as the AWESUM 5B ROCK ATTAK model."

I don't know about Vater, but I do know other large companies whose Artist Relations departments have been completely slammed for the past few years -- impossible for them to keep up with communications from prospective endorsers and others. In some cases, they've actually adopted a policy of not responding to anything unsolicited (i.e., "over the transom"). I don't think anybody's happy about that, but it's just not cost-feasible for them to staff up enough to handle the volume -- unless, of course, we all want to pay more for our sticks, etc.

EWGroove said:

After all, we're the ones shelling out the $9 (US) and change every three weeks or so for new lumber.

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Every 3 weeks? That is a lot of sticks used up. Do you play out for hours every day?
Maple does not last as long as hickory.

As someone who manages a lot of direct communication for the largest musical instrument accessory company out there and across a variety of platforms (I manage all of our social channels), I can tell you that we do receive a lot of messages, tweets, email, comments, etc. That being said, I work to get a response out to every single person and a resolution to any issues that come up and actually work to seek out these issues proactively. That's what I/we believe customer service should be. We absolutely LOVE to hear success stories as well and I'm always sure to respond. I've also been known to throw some merch when I see people helping to spread the word about their experience.

IronSaint said:

What I got was "yeah, we discontinued that. Have you considered a completely different stick with different materials? It's kinda like that. The one you and many others hoarded as much as possible when we discontinued them just didn't sell - strange, putting a jazz stick in Guitar Center didn't move the same units as the AWESUM 5B ROCK ATTAK model."

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This was actually what my response was:

"Hello Iron Saint,
Unfortunately, this model was continued several years ago and we sold off all remaining stock. There is the possibility of bringing back the wood tip version in the near future. In the meantime, have you tried the 721B? Similar specs to the Morello, though a round bead tip vs. a reverse teardrop.
http://www.promark.com/pmProductDeta...7&productid=31

motleyh said:

I don't know about Vater, but I do know other large companies whose Artist Relations departments have been completely slammed for the past few years -- impossible for them to keep up with communications from prospective endorsers and others. In some cases, they've actually adopted a policy of not responding to anything unsolicited (i.e., "over the transom"). I don't think anybody's happy about that, but it's just not cost-feasible for them to staff up enough to handle the volume -- unless, of course, we all want to pay more for our sticks, etc.

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There has certainly been a change in the tide of all things related to endorsements/artist agreements in the past few years. The industry is evolving. Marketing is evolving (for some). There are wild misconceptions about why artist deals exist, what the details behind them are, and what it takes to get one. That being said, everyone who reaches out to us looking for an artist deal receives a response.

There are changes going on...I think Promark was too radical in their design changes, now I have heard that things have been kind of flat for them, good news is they have some new stuff happening.

Heard another rumor about Sabian looking at buying Vater...

Zildjian and Vic Firth do not have an easy way to make small runs of sticks and those that do not sell well face extinction.

Reshuffling of everything as stick companies have to become more focused on their bottom lines as dynasties come to an end.