Hi. As a not-completely-retired-yet independent recording engineer, in various situations I use a variety of different microphones, not quite all of which (gasp!) are from Schoeps.
I recently bought a used Audio-Technica BP4029 (short stereo shotgun) that I thought might be useful for some documentary video work that I'll be doing soon. It's only for room sound; the main mike will be a lavalier. Whatever stereo I record in the room, I'll drop the lavalier track into it. M/S or ORTF using Schoeps mikes are also possibilities.
When I powered up the mike and listened to its output through a preamp and headphones, it didn't seem right; the stereo image that I expected just didn't seem to be there. I futzed around for about twenty minutes and still couldn't be sure what was happening.
So I packed up the mike and shipped it to A-T's U.S. headquarters in Ohio. They have a deal by which, if you ship an item to their service department via UPS overnight, they'll give it next-day service if they can. And that seems to be "for real". I sent the mike in on Tuesday; today is Thursday, and FedEx just notified me that it's on its way back to me already.
I was told that my mike passed QC without any evident need for repair. Seeing that I'd paid for the expensive overnight service, they reduced their charges to an absolute minimum, i.e. zero. I spoke on the phone with the tech who'd handled the repair; to my pleasure and astonishment, she didn't try to bullshit me even once during the entire conversation.
I worked as a repair technician for a while in the early 1980s; bullshitting the customer is endemic to that profession (in case you got that feeling but weren't completely sure).
So I would like to put in a good word for their service operation. I mean, I think well of the company as a whole--they have a very high level of engineering competency, and their technical literature is well-edited and well-produced (something that I care a lot about personally). But good after-sales service is one of the real hallmarks of a company that wants to attract and keep customers for the long haul, and I just wanted to acknowledge theirs in a public way.
--best regards