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Update on KRONOI at Guitar Center
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shap
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Joined: 09 Apr 2011
Posts: 194
Location: US northwest

PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:25 pm    Post subject: Update on KRONOI at Guitar Center Reply with quote

As many of you know, KRONOS pre-orders at Guitar Center remain unfulfilled while K-73 and K-88 units are showing up at stores and (in some cases) getting sold over the counter. I contacted GC corporate about this to bring it to their attention and encourage them to do something about it. After a couple of false starts, I eventually spoke with Jeremy Cole at GC corporate. Here is what I learned:

The current state of affairs seems to have come about because of a glitch in GC's internal allocation policy for products. Incoming products are allocated to stores. GC.com, for this purpose, is a store. If you pre-ordered, your pre-order is with GC.com, and comes out of their allocation. GC's allocation policy and their pre-order prioritization policy collided here in exactly the wrong way, and may then have collided with confusion resulting from the rapidly-changing expected delivery date. After my several calls, I suspect this policy will get revised, but that won't help current customers. In any case, I told Jeremy what was happening. I also noted that GC received an un-anticipated shipment of KRONOS units in late June and seemed to be expecting another shipment on July 15, and that these might be one and the same shipment (which is what happened to all of the other big vendors).

Jeremy immediately directed a pull-back of all of the remaining, unsold, in-box units from stores. Unfortunately, by this point, there were 16 outstanding K-88 pre-orders (one of them mine), and only two unboxed K-88 units remaining across the entire GC chain. Of those two unboxed units, one was already in transit to me in Oregon to fulfill my pre-order. I do not know the state of K-73 pre-orders, but I would not be surprised if it is similar. There are a number of out-of-box units across the GC chain that are presently on the floor as demo units. These haven't been out on the floor for very long, so if you would accept one of those you should consider getting in touch with GC.

If you are one of the people still awaiting a pre-order from GC, you should contact GC.com or your store (whichever you ordered from) and ask what the current expected delivery date is. If the answer is "July 15", ask your sales person to get in touch with Jeremy Cole at GC corporate for an update and get back to you. Please note that this is my advice, not Jeremy's. Also, I do not work for GC. I'm just a customer.

I have sent Jeremy an email providing a link to this forum thread and encouraging him to clarify or correct as needed. In the meantime, I wanted to get the word out to people so that they would know to request an update on their pre-orders.
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dregsor
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Joined: 09 Jul 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that update. I talked to my GC guy yesterday and he said the 73's would still ship on the 15th. He's never been wrong before, (Excluding major catastrophes of course) but I guess there could always be a first time.

I'm the most patient guy I know, but my 73 better ship the 15th or there may be another catastrophie. Wink
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shap
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dregsor wrote:
Thanks for that update. I talked to my GC guy yesterday and he said the 73's would still ship on the 15th. He's never been wrong before, (Excluding major catastrophes of course) but I guess there could always be a first time.

I'm the most patient guy I know, but my 73 better ship the 15th or there may be another catastrophie. Wink


If he hasn't spoken to Jeremy, it's a reliable bet he's not up to speed. Has he? PM me an email address and I'll get you in touch with Jeremy directly. I'm not comfortable posting his email address to the world.
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Motif XF8, Kronos-88 (ordered), V-Synth GT, DT-Extreme eDrums
PC Core i7-920/24GB/3TB (2x)
Motu 2408mk3 + 24I/O
Sonar Producer, everything EastWest
Brian Moore iGuitar+Roland GI-20, Composite Acoustics 6, 12 string guitars, Multiple Ovations from when they were still worth it
Presonus Eureka (2x), TC Helicon VoiceOne
ADAM A7's and JBL 4328Ps, each for its purpose
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dregsor
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
If he hasn't spoken to Jeremy, it's a reliable bet he's not up to speed. Has he? PM me an email address and I'll get you in touch with Jeremy directly. I'm not comfortable posting his email address to the world.


Thanks shap. I'll just give him a call tomorrow and ask him that question. I'll post his reply here then as I'm sure others will be interested.
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dregsor
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just got off the phone with GC. They called and checked, they have 13 73's shipping to customers Friday, with 17 total at the location. So I guess they'll have 4 73's in stock after filling the pre-orders. I'm not positive he talked to your guy but I threw out the name. He's confident the units will ship Friday. We'll see in a few days.
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shap
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well that is certainly good news.
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Motif XF8, Kronos-88 (ordered), V-Synth GT, DT-Extreme eDrums
PC Core i7-920/24GB/3TB (2x)
Motu 2408mk3 + 24I/O
Sonar Producer, everything EastWest
Brian Moore iGuitar+Roland GI-20, Composite Acoustics 6, 12 string guitars, Multiple Ovations from when they were still worth it
Presonus Eureka (2x), TC Helicon VoiceOne
ADAM A7's and JBL 4328Ps, each for its purpose
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mm-pro
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

shap wrote:
Well that is certainly good news.


As one of the thirteen, I agree!


Regards,

MM
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iamjcole



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello all. My name is Jeremy Cole and I am the Manager of Customer Service & Community for Guitar Center. First, I want to thank Shap for the efforts he's making to help keep everyone updated. Very impressive.

Shap nailed it in his post that with this order, we have uncovered an issue and it will be rectified. We agree that no customers should have to wait for instruments while units ship to stores. Our sincerest thanks to Shap, for helping us uncover this flaw in the system.

We are doing everything we can to fill current backorders for our customers and are working with Korg to get these in as quickly as possible. We will fill the backorders oldest to newest until we clear the backlog. Korg’s message to us is that this model is very limited at this time. Fulfillment of PO’s with Korg has been impacted by the situation in Japan and Korg is not currently filling all of our open PO’s. We currently have over 30 units on order and expect to receive 10 at the beginning of August. Our Merchandising Team is working with Korg to get the most up to date information for our customers regarding their orders. I would be surprised if we received any more units on July 15th as Korg’s previous update specified. Unfortunately all dates in our system are “tentative” at this time because production has been very limited.

Cassie Dean can be reached at 801.501.8869 and will gladly tell customers where they stand in line for their Kronos order.

The information above holds true for both 73 and 88 key models.

Please feel free to post my contact information anywhere you feel it’s appropriate: Jeremy Cole - jcole@guitarcenter.com. As I’m on the road email is far better than the telephone right now, but customers should feel free to call Cassie to get an update on their order standing. I'm happy to help!

Thanks!
Jeremy
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dregsor
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 1:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How interesting. Perhaps you could let your stores now about this? Rolling Eyes

I just looked at your site and it lists Kronos 73's available on July 15. Since that's not the case it's bad business that this has not been changed.

As I said a few hours ago, I talked to one of your department managers. He called whoever he calls and relayed that information to me. So, someone along your chain of command is either really stupid, or a liar. Sad to say.

Most of us are aware of the problems in Japan. Most of us are also aware that many other retailers have already delivered, and are in the process of shipping both the 73 and 88 key versions. It doesn't say much for your company if what you have said is true, and we are just NOW finding out about it! I've waited patiently for the July date because of my long history with the manager in question. That will change if I am not informed Friday that my shipment is under way. If that does not occur this will be the last time I purchase anything, including guitar picks, from Guitar Center. Rolling Eyes
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mm-pro
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, not such great news after all.


Regards,


MM
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donjuancarlos
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh no. I called Cassie and she confirmed the news. Why does it feel so cold and dark in here? So very, very, cold.

Props to GC though, about being straight up about it. And they did offer consolation gifts...
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mm-pro
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I called, too. Cassie was very helpful and offered a gift to me as well.

I think given the circumstances, they are doing as much as any business could to make their customers as happy as possible.

Regards,


MM
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shap
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dregsor wrote:
As I said a few hours ago, I talked to one of your department managers. He called whoever he calls and relayed that information to me. So, someone along your chain of command is either really stupid, or a liar. Sad to say.


Or not up to speed. It's plain to see that somebody at GC made a fairly bad mistake, and that word has been slow (perhaps glacial) to propagate. There is good reason to be frustrated with GC on this. I might go easy on your sales rep. He or she has been kept as much in the dark as you have.
_________________
Motif XF8, Kronos-88 (ordered), V-Synth GT, DT-Extreme eDrums
PC Core i7-920/24GB/3TB (2x)
Motu 2408mk3 + 24I/O
Sonar Producer, everything EastWest
Brian Moore iGuitar+Roland GI-20, Composite Acoustics 6, 12 string guitars, Multiple Ovations from when they were still worth it
Presonus Eureka (2x), TC Helicon VoiceOne
ADAM A7's and JBL 4328Ps, each for its purpose
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dregsor
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I might go easy on your sales rep. He or she has been kept as much in the dark as you have.


I agree shap. I've gotten years of good service from the guy and I can't really blame him. It's just inconceivable that a company of that size could screw up this bad. I know it happens all the time, and we can all understand if there are problems, but if your just honest and up front with your customers then, oh well.

It also doesn't help reading all the reviews of the happy folks that have already received there's or have them being shipped as we speak. Sad
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shap
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dregsor wrote:
I know it happens all the time, and we can all understand if there are problems, but if your just honest and up front with your customers then...

Absolutely. But your rep can only be honest about the things they know. My guess is that the rep is feeling pretty burned as well.

My decision to reach out to GC corporate ended up putting me in touch with more than one GC executive. We'll have to see what happens, but I can tell you that the sense of embarrassment is acute. And my impression, for whatever it's worth, is that it's not "oh there's egg on my face" embarrassment, but rather "oh, we screwed up on our customers, that's not okay, and we need to do something to make sure this doesn't happen again" embarrassment.

None of that necessarily helps you, I'm afraid, but for whatever it is worth, they really do seem to be paying attention to fixing this. And I have to say, that's nice to see. It's decidedly not what I would have expected based on my interactions with the chain in the Baltimore/DC area.
_________________
Motif XF8, Kronos-88 (ordered), V-Synth GT, DT-Extreme eDrums
PC Core i7-920/24GB/3TB (2x)
Motu 2408mk3 + 24I/O
Sonar Producer, everything EastWest
Brian Moore iGuitar+Roland GI-20, Composite Acoustics 6, 12 string guitars, Multiple Ovations from when they were still worth it
Presonus Eureka (2x), TC Helicon VoiceOne
ADAM A7's and JBL 4328Ps, each for its purpose
Border Collies + Misc. Squeaky Toys
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