It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
When things go wrong, the right thing to do for your clients is to apologise and potentially agree to either make it better or offer a refund.
John at pickford, alienates his customers when they complain. In fact he did the same to this forum's administration when they asked him some tough questions.
If John really wants to make things better, he can start by refunding us, I will happily send my pickguard back as I received it.
He could also admit his mistakes, this is not about a pickguard not curing, there's an array of things that went wrong here. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's how you deal with them that really matters.
I'm not meaning to address any issues he might have with how he communicates with people, just offering a point of view from the side of someone who makes things. Not excusing bad behaviour or otherwise, more addressing why the product might not be there yet.
It should also be stated, that during the process I was sent photos of a pickguard that was supposed to be my pickguard, however all the photos he sent seem to show a different pickguard (literally different even between photos) and it is certainly not the same one I was sent.
He was asked about this by the forum administration and got defensive. So it is my opinion that this is not a simple "mistake". He is not acting in good faith.
Personally I'd be unhappy with that on a £30 Allparts pickguard never mind a £100 one. As @TrentGuitars says this is something that can improved on, but equally as a customer I'd expect that improvement to have happened before I was charged.
I suspect that being a fairly new builder @pickfordguards has taken the criticism quite personally and felt it is an attack on him rather than using the (IMO quite valid) points to improve his product, and has reacted as we all can do at times, which is understandable but not terribly helpful from a business PR perspective.
Something that is just my opinion but I'd offer as a constructive criticism:
The Pickford guards website isn't clear enough on the process involved in making these guards.
When you really look at the photos it's clear that these are, as far as I can see, standard 3 ply guards that are painted in a tort pattern (hence some of the photos where the paint has run down into the screw holes etc).
While the website states that it's not celluloid it states that they are "a modern celluloid alternative material", which to the average buyer will imply some sort of sheet material, which it isn't.
There's not necessarily anything wrong with selling a painted pickguard (though personally I'd like to see some evidence of durability and priming/keying the existing surface to get a good bond), but I do think you need to be up front about what you're actually selling, as the expectation of most buyers will be something broadly similar to a "normal" pickguard, and when they end up with a painted one that differs substantially from the expectation they won't be happy.
Personally I'd update your website with a "process" page that shows how you prep and paint them and leave them to cure. I assume all of that is a time consuming process and something you can justify charging for, and you can play to that "hand finished" product, but it's something that currently is very unclear and I think needs to be made obvious.
And on that objective note, perhaps it's time for everyone to move on.
What @TrentGuitars said is totally true. I have made mistakes, my guards are not perfect, I'm the first to admit that!
I'll be posting this thread on my pages and allow my true honest customers to give their 2 cents on my guards, I'm not afraid of people seeing this like "broooom" thinks, I encourage it actually.
Thanks.
I've already had the opportunity of sharing all comms with this forum's admin and the conclusions were kind of obvious to everyone.
A couple of pages ago you said you weren't given the opportunity to refund anyone. Here you go, here's your opportunity. Show your potential future clients your great customer service.
Until such a time as that seems possible, the thread will remain closed.