Topic: My CAFS are broken

[SpokenMagicSpells]

Hi!


After less than an year and just 1 recording, I found that my CAFS are broken.


Anybody knows whoever can fix them for me?


Thanks.
Regards.

[vanark]

Go straight to the source - Chris Church.  Chris is very good about standing behind his gear.

[yug du nord]

The man that made em.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=profile;u=14500

But they are so small, repair might not be a possibility.  How'd they break?

[SpokenMagicSpells]

I know about Chris. I did buy from him. I've contacted him already, but he doesn't seems to care about.


I don't know how they break. After months at the drawer , I tried to use them, but all I got from one capsule is noise or silence, depending how I handle the cable.

[su6oxone]

The CAFS are small mics from what I've seen, so maybe the wire connection got loose or something.  But I would contact Chris via email (rather than PM) as that seems to work better.  But he has a good reputation for fixing gear he makes and sells, and I'm sure he will make sure your mics are working again. 

[exxile]

I'm finding the guy very difficult to deal with. I posted my faulty CA-14's back to him on Jan 7th, according to the tracking ref they were delivered to him on Jan 13. That's nearly 4 weeks ago, I've sent him 2 emails to find out what's happening and both remain unanswered.....really poor customer service imho

[tedyun]

I have found my interactions with Chris to be top notch.

1. My first foray into taping was a CA-11 + 9100 preamp. We had so much back and forth that he got mixed up and sent me one with stepped gain. I sent it back and he immediately sent the variable gain version AND covered the shipping both ways.

2. I purchased a set of used CAFS-OMNIs here in the YS, and when I received them, one of the channels was out. I contacted him, and he agreed to repair them at no charge, even though I wasn't the original buyer. I sent the mics to him, and he fixed it within 2 weeks. He was in constant communication , ie., I would PM for an update, and he would usually reply within 24 hr.

3. I traded a set of guitar pickups for some of his gear (CA-14's + CA-9200 preamp). Because he makes the 9200 by hand, it took a while, probably a month or so. But again, he was reachable by PM and would respond within 24 h.

I have nothing but good things to say about Chris Church, both his products and his support. I would reach out to him by PM here, and if he doesn't respond, he may answer in this thread. If he has dropped the ball in any way, history has shown that he will step up to make things right.

Ted

who may be biased because he is Canadian too....

[yug du nord]

Church Audio ROCKS!!!

[SpokenMagicSpells]

I know about Chris. I did buy from him. I've contacted him already, but he doesn't seems to care about.


I don't know how they break. After months at the drawer , I tried to use them, but all I got from one capsule is noise or silence, depending how I handle the cable.

I know I am supposed to say the customer is always right but saying I dont care is 100% bullshit..

Sorry I do care, I repair most of my customers gear for free.... I rarely charge someone unless there is abuse. I told you to send them back to me. I missed your pm asking for my address on the 3rd of Feb. DO you think I was just going to ignore you and forget you had an issue? ?? Anyway I sent you my address please send them back
(...)

What can I conclude if you didn't reply to my PMs after I asking for 3 times? I'm not perfect too. Sorry.


Anyway, thanks for the info. I'll post the mics tomorrow.


The cable isn't (apparently/externally) broken.


Regards.

[SpokenMagicSpells]

Very funny:


1) You are aware of this thread but you "missed" the PMs that I sent you?


2) I asked 3 times for your postal address (with some days of interval between the requests) and you, suddenly, reply just after I made the case public?


Chris, make a favour to yourself: be honest with yourself.  And stop with this demagogy.


You're considered a demigod by many here. I have several of your products (see my signature) because they are really good. But, unfortunately you don't give the same attention to all your customers. I don't know if you remember, but this is not the first time that we have communication problems.


And, please, stop to call what I say of "bullshit" and "shit". I'm asking for respect.


I'll send the CAFS today, Wednesday, February 9.


Thanks.
Regards.

[SpokenMagicSpells]

Very funny:


1) You are aware of this thread but you "missed" the PMs that I sent you?


2) I asked 3 times for your postal address (with some days of interval between the requests) and you, suddenly, reply just after I made the case public?


Chris, make a favour to yourself: be honest with yourself.  And stop with this demagogy.


You're considered a demigod by many here. I have several of your products (see my signature) because they are really good. But, unfortunately you don't give the same attention to all your customers. I don't know if you remember, but this is not the first time that we have communication problems.


And, please, stop to call what I say of "bullshit" and "shit". I'm asking for respect.


I'll send the CAFS today, Wednesday, February 9.


Thanks.
Regards.

Actually you know what? I became aware of it AFTER a customer sent me an email about the thread. So again before you jump the gun maybe give me the benefit of the doubt?

Ok.

Let me ask you a question why would I ignore your request for service?

I really don't know. And I don't have any means to know.


But as you are the only person in this World able to fix/repair these mics, and you didn't reply to my messages after several days, this was the only way to claim your attention.


Be careful next time with your messages.


I'll repeat the "mantra": hire an assistent. Then raise a little bit the price of your products to pay her/him. This will avoid many hassles like this.

[setboy]

1) You are aware of this thread but you "missed" the PMs that I sent you?

I miss PM's all the time. It makes sense that someone that gets lots of them could miss them real easy.

[SpokenMagicSpells]

Hey thanks for the advice on how to run a company..

You're welcome.

Its a one man shop and will be for the next foreseeable future.

You know how much I would have to raise the price to hire someone?? lol..... A preamp would be $500 and a pair of mics would be $300.

Be careful with my messages?? Yeah well I try to answer them in a timely manor I am sorry I missed your messages. Again I have apologized for this and gave you my address to send the mics in for me to evaluate.(...)

It's just because you run your business here that you should be more careful with the messages. The messages (and all that relates to "communication") that makes your business RUN effectively here.

This was actually not the only way to get my attention, you could have emailed me at SALES@CHURCH-AUDIO.CA If I was not answering your pm's maybe?

What more can I do?

To me this problem is solved. I will send the mics in a few hours. Thanks.


I'm sure that this is not the last time that we'll need to communicate. So, next time, you'll have another chance to show me the quality of service that you advertises. But, please, if I send a message to SALES@CHURCH-AUDIO.CA and not get a reply, don't come here to tell me that you "missed" my email and  that I should have sent you a PM here in TS, ok?


Regards.

[ArchivalAudio]

Hey
we can all be polite and cordial
Chris always stands behind his gear. There are many tax benefits and lack of payroll and workers comp insurance when you are the sole proprietor of a business.
If I were enlisting help from a manufacturer of gear I would try to be polite as possible, if it were a small (one man) company - I would understand they have lives and will respond as soon as they can. Which is more often then not, in a much more reasonable time frame then mega corporations. Again If I were wanting to enlist the help of a person to stand behind their product and support and fix an issue, personally the last thing I would do would be to make negative public comments about them or their gear. Patience and positiveness usually have a greater impact and effect then any negativity, or public shaming.

if there was an issue that went unanswered for many months that may prove that a slight amount of pressure would be needed.  Look at the tascam DR-680 thread and see how long Darby  needed to wait for a new Tascam over 3 months and Chuck waited a while too.
please remember the small business guy is not rolling in the millions of dollars  like the mega corps, and cut them some slack, most often they do what they do as a labor of love, and perhaps earn some cash along the way.

can we all just get along?

peace out
--Ian

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Ian makes a good point.

Chris is a one man show, and because of that you may have to wait longer for a reply (since he doesn't have a bunch of people working customer service for him). Also it's possible for emails to get lost in the shuffle because of this.

Chris has a great reputation here, please keep that in mind.

His products are a great value, but due to the fact he is the only one working there you won't get the same service as you would if you bought mics from a company like DPA. Obviously if you buy DPA's it's going to cost you a bit more.

So take a deep breath. Chris will help you fix your mics. Don't worry.

[tonebloke]

.............................A word of advice from a taping noob.

For someone who has been around live music for a millenium, but only started taping weeks ago I must say that.....

1. zamana; I'm surprised that you would try to out Church as (the way I have read what you wrote in this thread) a dodgy operator seems to be an insult. Listening to shows that were recorded with his equipment proves that he makes good shit. Other tapers that I have spoken to that use his stuff, and have had issues fixed by him, swear by him (not at him).

2. Chris; I understand that you have to deal with many and varied "messages" from many people regarding equipment but as a serious businessman you must realize that what you do, and just as importantly, what you say - [your recent posts in this thread] -  can reflect on you. Don't get me wrong, I applaud you standing up for yourself AND for ChurchAudio.

Both of you take one step back, take a deep breath, then attempt to fix this situation.


Either, or both, of you can tell me to go play on the freeway, but in the past I've seen these sort of posts lead to nothing but angst and recriminations.

Just my 2 shekels worth..........

[mloewen]

If you want a way to keep track of your email I recommend Gmail it threads it for you. I use it and It helps keep everything in order as far as original message and all the replies.

[SpokenMagicSpells]

I understand your point of view. You became very upset because I turned a private conversation public, and you tried to throw the blame on me. Congratulations.


Your fanboys and groupies came to help you very quick. I didn't expect nothing less than this.


But you don't need to worry. I'm just a John Doe and I'll not ruin your business.


I just think that you should stop to arguing and defending yourself and grab this opportunity
with your both hands in order to learn something from this undesirable situation.


I'm just wondering why you came online several times after my messages (I can see your  "last activity" from your profile page) and didn't care about my private messages.

[Gutbucket]

The latest forum profile does not make arrival of new PMs especially obvious, it only shows a little number in parenthesis next to MY MESSAGES. I sometimes overlook new PM's for days unless I'm expecting one and actively looking for it.

[Chuck]

Every time I see Alfred E. Neuman, I think of George W. Bush.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

This just happened to be one of the times I was in the right.

Having been involved in a tussle with you in the past, and from the very little I have read in this thread, I can say (for myself) that no one cares if you are right.  You may not believe in "customer is always right", but your actions/reactions have repercussions beyond just this one customer (who certainly doesn't give a flying fuck if you're right), so what good does it do to make such a pronouncement???  None.

I work a little in Marketing/Sales - I have to continually sell my engineering services to potential clients, especially now in the bad economy.  Even if I feel I'm right about something, I cannot say anything to the customer.  Do you know why?  Money. 

YMMV,

Terry

[setboy]

But I do have the right to defend my self AND I will.

Defending yourself is great!! But there are ways to do it without appearing to be pissed off and cussing  at t in public customer. It doesn't look good or professional.
Just mt $.02 that no one asked for.

This thread should be locked

[su6oxone]

This thread should be locked

You post a reply and then suggest it be locked.  Awesome. 

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

I understand what your saying. I should have ignored this thread and let this guy walk all over me in public your right.

When someone calls me out and I am wrong well I am wrong. But if you are going to call me out in public then I will respond like any company would. Yeah its not about right or wrong its about self respect. I know I make tones of mistakes and I dont have an issue saying I make them all the time.. But if you are going to call me out in public for something I DID NOT DO then I will respond. I have no hard feelings towards this customer or any customer. But I do have the right to defend my self AND I will.

You could have dealt with it in PMs, or dealt with it with better tact.  There will always be people that complain about your product for whatever reason (they need to change their tampon???).  Reacting in an unprofessional manner doesn't help your credibility when it comes to dealing with issues and your "right to defend" doesn't put food on the table.  Maintaining a repeat customer base does.

But whatever, you run your business the way you want...

Terry

[Church-Audio]

I understand what your saying. I should have ignored this thread and let this guy walk all over me in public your right.

When someone calls me out and I am wrong well I am wrong. But if you are going to call me out in public then I will respond like any company would. Yeah its not about right or wrong its about self respect. I know I make tones of mistakes and I dont have an issue saying I make them all the time.. But if you are going to call me out in public for something I DID NOT DO then I will respond. I have no hard feelings towards this customer or any customer. But I do have the right to defend my self AND I will.

You could have dealt with it in PMs, or dealt with it with better tact.  There will always be people that complain about your product for whatever reason (they need to change their tampon???).  Reacting in an unprofessional manner doesn't help your credibility when it comes to dealing with issues and your "right to defend" doesn't put food on the table.  Maintaining a repeat customer base does.

But whatever, you run your business the way you want...

Terry

You are 100% right I should have kept my mouth shut and dealt with this in private. I had a stressful week and a very busy one, I let this get the better of me no excuses.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

I understand what your saying. I should have ignored this thread and let this guy walk all over me in public your right.

When someone calls me out and I am wrong well I am wrong. But if you are going to call me out in public then I will respond like any company would. Yeah its not about right or wrong its about self respect. I know I make tones of mistakes and I dont have an issue saying I make them all the time.. But if you are going to call me out in public for something I DID NOT DO then I will respond. I have no hard feelings towards this customer or any customer. But I do have the right to defend my self AND I will.

You could have dealt with it in PMs, or dealt with it with better tact.  There will always be people that complain about your product for whatever reason (they need to change their tampon???).  Reacting in an unprofessional manner doesn't help your credibility when it comes to dealing with issues and your "right to defend" doesn't put food on the table.  Maintaining a repeat customer base does.

But whatever, you run your business the way you want...

Terry

You are 100% right I should have kept my mouth shut and dealt with this in private. I had a stressful week and a very busy one, I let this get the better of me no excuses.

Yeah, don't get me wrong Chris.  I'm not trying to rail against you, or trash your business.  I think its great what you are doing for the community...  Please don't take my rantings to heart, really I'm just making suggestions that may help you deal with the same crap in the future...

Terry

[Church-Audio]

I understand what your saying. I should have ignored this thread and let this guy walk all over me in public your right.

When someone calls me out and I am wrong well I am wrong. But if you are going to call me out in public then I will respond like any company would. Yeah its not about right or wrong its about self respect. I know I make tones of mistakes and I dont have an issue saying I make them all the time.. But if you are going to call me out in public for something I DID NOT DO then I will respond. I have no hard feelings towards this customer or any customer. But I do have the right to defend my self AND I will.

You could have dealt with it in PMs, or dealt with it with better tact.  There will always be people that complain about your product for whatever reason (they need to change their tampon???).  Reacting in an unprofessional manner doesn't help your credibility when it comes to dealing with issues and your "right to defend" doesn't put food on the table.  Maintaining a repeat customer base does.

But whatever, you run your business the way you want...

Terry

You are 100% right I should have kept my mouth shut and dealt with this in private. I had a stressful week and a very busy one, I let this get the better of me no excuses.

Yeah, don't get me wrong Chris.  I'm not trying to rail against you, or trash your business.  I think its great what you are doing for the community...  Please don't take my rantings to heart, really I'm just making suggestions that may help you deal with the same crap in the future...

Terry

I don't feel like your railing against me at all. I feel you were trying to help me. And you are right.

[Chuck]

I just don't understand all the negativity toward Chris. Things happen, e-mails get lost, Chris may be overworked...
Whatever the reason, why just start a thread and start bashing him? I really don't get it.

I've owned some Church Audio products. I believe they are a good value. Chris is much better at building audio products than handling the people end of the business. That's a pretty common thing with engineer types.

zamana, Chris will take care of your problem, as he does with every customer. If he doesn't, then let us know via this thread.

[ArchivalAudio]

The latest forum profile does not make arrival of new PMs especially obvious, it only shows a little number in parenthesis next to MY MESSAGES. I sometimes overlook new PM's for days unless I'm expecting one and actively looking for it.

^^^ Exactly, and if you use firefox like me and have frequent multiple crashes  (force Quits) because of the never ending new versions, you can easily miss a new PM cause it is now marked as read... like I did when I was awaiting for my buyer  of my FR2-LE =to have the funds available. I missed the PM for 2 days and some how the alert went into my Spam folder on gmail, which hasn't happened before nor in the threaded PM's we were having.

[SpokenMagicSpells]

Well, it's all solved: Chris informed his postal mail address and I mailed the mics today. They will arrive in around 10 working days.


And that's all.


Thanks.
Regards.

[muziklvr]

Good to hear.  Chris is the man. I've purchased from him before, and have nothing but good experiences with him.