A Tale of Two Earbuds

I am a comfirmed audiophile and I am not ashamed. Nossir. I love music and I love it when it's high quality I go bananas. There is nothing like being immersed in metaphor that somehow jives with the way the universe moves.

What that means is that I need to have good earphones for my iPod and other musical devices (and my PSP where NCAA 2007 is currently my favorite - Northwestern Wildcats my team). No, that's an understatement really. I have to have GREAT earphones for my varying devices. I work out (see this entry here for why) 5 days a week (down from 242 pounds to 203 and heading to the promised land of 190) so I get sweaty and....never mind. There are some things even I don't want to talk about. But those workouts in combination with my air travel were instrumental, in a manner of speaking, in my decision to purchase two different sets of high end earbuds. One set from Shure Audio, the world class E4cs and one set from Ultimate Ears, the Super.fi 5 Pro.

If you look at them, they don't look a whole lot different....

- and they are each strong and superb in their own way, though when you listen to them, they sound very different - but I consider both of them, when working, entirely worthwhile, if a bit pricey, investments. Especially if you love music and can't live without it (I CAN'T LIIIIIIIIVE, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU; I CAN'T LIIIIIIIVE....)

But That Is Not The Tale - Long Or Otherwise...

Actually, though, this is the story of these high priced earbuds failing - twice each - and the remarkable responses that both companies gave me during what is a trying time for an audiophile - no great sounds floating through the brain from stem to stern. Not on my iPod anyway....

You'd think that multiple failures for multiple high-end earbuds would be a reason to go for over the ears earphones like the Bose noise-cancelling versions. You'd think that if you had two different super companies super in-ear earphones (though not their highest end ones) fail twice EACH, that would be the death knell for at least me wanting earbuds and having to write off the investment of over $600.00 U.S. total for the two pair. But, there was just something about the quality of the sound and the portability of the units that made me hesitate to go out and spend $300.00 on the Bose headset - that and the $300.00 too. Actually, I'm such a musical lunatic that the price of the things wasn't the issue. I just needed them to work.

But, what cemented my continued return despite multiple failures was the level of service that the two companies gave - and how very different - yet both absolutely extraordinary in their own right. But first let me tell you the problems.

The SsssstttCrxzzzzkdlskdghProb(LEMS)zzzldkdithaosh

Okay, let me make the problem part of this story simple.

For the Ultimate Ears:

1. First pair - Dead in one earbud, wire separating from the base of the bud


2. Second pair - Sound was fine but left wire separating from the base of the bud

For the Shure E4cs:

1. First pair - failure of left ear


2. Second pair - buzzy noise in the right ear

Okay, enough with the problems. Now to what each of them did.

Shure Audio

The first time I had a problem with the E4c's, I sent them an email describing the problem. In about 12 hours, I had a message from a nice guy in customer service out of Niles, IL who said that he wanted to take care of my problem, could I call him? I did and after a bit of voicemail ping pong, we talked and he sent out the replacement E4cs, with no issues, and they arrived about a week after he sent them. So far, good but nothing extraordinary.

But roughly two or three weeks later, the second set failed while I was rollin' on my treadmill one morning. All of a sudden there was a distinct problem with a crackly voice/music sound in the right earbud that was not entirely dead, but was annoying. In other words, I had had two sets of earbuds either fail entirely or begin to fail within three weeks. Though in fairness to Shure, the first set had its problems several months after I purchased them.

When the crackly noise started, I did what every good exercising sweaty person should do when it comes to earbuds. Wait until they dry. Sometimes, the sweat in the ears is the reason for the issue. (Good Tip #1). In this case, no dice. Still bad. This was VERY frustrating. So I fired off an email on July 30 and this is the content:

Hello, I own a pair of Shure E4cs. A few weeks ago, because the pair I originally had bought went bad, I had a problem with the left earbud going dead if I remember. I returned them directly to you and you replaced them after a short wait. In any case, a mere few weeks later, your replacement pair is going bad with a distinct problem with the right earbud that makes the sound hiss and crackle. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and tested the iPod Nano that I use to work out, trying a pair of Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro to see how the sound was - thinking perhaps something was wrong with the iPod. But, with the UE earbuds, the sound was clear as a bell. . I waited for a couple of days, thinking perhaps it was the sweat from the workout causing the problem. No dice. As of yesterday, it still has the problem which makes the right ear music channel sound as there is a partial short. So I now have a SECOND pair that's going bad and this one only a few weeks after I got the replacement. What can we do about this? This was a pretty substantial investment for a pair of earbuds and I've had problems with both pairs so far. Please respond ASAP because this is really bothering me. I shouldn't be having multiple issues with a pair of earphones that costs what these do. Thank you in advance for your very rapid response to this issue.

Well, imagine my surprise when within 24 business hours I got an email back from Brian Jarvis with the following message:

I apologize for the problem with your E4c's. This is highly unusual. I would like to take a look at them and if they prove to be defective I will gladly upgrade you to an E5c, free of charge. If this is not satisfactory let me know what I can do.

For those of you who don't know, there is a significant price difference and quality difference between the E4cs and the E5cs and I gulped a bit when I saw the offer. First time in my life I was almost glad to have something broken. But it also made me very curious. Why did Brian Jarvis make this generous offer and who was he? So I called him and I have to tell you, this young guy (two years out of university) is a real credit to Shure and is precisely the kind of person who provides the levels of service and intelligence necessary to make what could be a very bad experience with a company, very, very good.

He and I spoke for about 10-15 minutes and since I had checked and found that the buzzy, crackly noise was still there in the right ear, I confirmed his offer with him - and it was an unambiguous offer. He said the circumstance was so unusual, that they had a policy or something near a policy to make sure that when something as peculiar as this happens (2 failures) that an upgrade is in order. In other words, they wanted to make sure that the customer remained either happy or even became happier - due to a failure. So the product experience which had been uncharacteristically poor (check out the reviews and you'll see what I mean) turned into a customer experience that became superb.

I sent out the defective set yesterday via Fedex and am waiting to see how well they follow through and how quickly. But Brian's actions and their "best practices" when it comes to customers are equal to the best in the business and also make it clear how a poor product experience can become a great customer experience - if done well. And, man, this one really was done well.

Ultimate Ears

Oddly, the second round of failure problems I had with Ultimate Ears came roughly 4 days before the failure of the E4cs. I've already written on the blog about Ultimate Ears and their amazing service and not only did they maintain my faith in them once again but they actually went a step further and astounded and delighted me with their approach to solving the problems of the Super.fi 5 Pro.

My contact there has always been Jeanette Coffey (someone whose first name I have a habit of misspelling). She is a extraordinarily well spoken professional who is also a genuinely good person and the the customer face attached to those Ultimate Ears. In the case of my second pair of Super.fi 5 Pros, while there was no failure, there was a separation of the wire from the earpiece on the left side that was leading me to believe that it would pull right out of the socket in no time if I didn't do something. So I emailed Jeanette with a "HELP." Here's the email and in this case, I want you to read the response.

Hi Jeannette, Its been awhile. I hope things are well with you and that you continue to be happy and good. I just want to let you know that while I still love the Super.fi 5 Pro earbuds, I'm starting to have issues with the replacement you sent me a few months ago. The sound remains superb, but I'm noticing that the left ear piece is beginning to separate from the wire so to speak. In other words, the ear piece and the wire aren't conjoined; they are beginning to pull apart.

As you know, this is the second time I've had issues. The first, the sound failure, now a "construction failure." I love you guys as you know from my blog entry about you and the service that you provide, but I'm beginning to wonder a bit about the construction of these pieces. What if someone ordered the custom versions - would they have this flimsiness to worry about? Again, I'm in love with the sound and so far there has been no effect, but I'm not using them everyday any more because I'm afraid of them "unraveling" so to speak.

Just wanted to let you know of my concern.

Now the response:

Hi Paul,

You know that I have been meaning to shoot you an email for a while now - the last time we spoke you were in San Francisco and were worried about your cable. I hope that all is well with you and you have been staying cool.

We have come out with an upgraded version 5Pro - The issue with the small % of the super.fi products re: "Cracks" has been address and full force action was taken. The upgraded version is as follows: 1.) Professional, studio quality sound remains the same. 2.) Thicker 2.0 version reinforced cable that will be "standard clear" on all 5Pro models. 3.) Metallic case will no longer include the winder kit as the cable is thicker and the winder kit is really not that accommodating for the ear buds. It is hollow and lined with black velvet. Quality control felt that the winder kit was playing a role in some of the cracks if not properly wound. 4.) Different way of manufacturing the ear buds themselves which in turn will make them stronger, so you and others will never run across this issue again.

Key to this whole exchange is the second part. The upgraded version. Obviously my 2X problem was not just my problem so they went back to the drawing board and redesigned the entire manufacturing process and redid the materials so that the customers never had the problem again. Here is where the bad experiences of the customer had this wonderful company go and just say, "hey, customers, ladies, gents, we get it. There's something bigger than a problem or two here and our job is to create value in what we provide for you so that it has value to you - so we'll revamp the way we actually manufacture the product."

Granted, I didn't get any higher level model - though I've already received my replacement set of the newer version. (The cable is thicker, BTW). But I'm as happy as I was with Shure because I can see how UE handled the customer complaints. They re-examined the entire process that led to the problems, found it wanting and fixed the whole thing - hopefully once and for all.

Lessee, What are the Lessons?

Two similar companies producing two similar products, solving two similar problems with two very different solutions - one which was personally beneficial, the other which was beneficial to some degree personally, but more overall for customers in general. Each equally effective in creating a continued customer advocate. A lot of the big boys could learn from these two companies. Big time. It may take some creativity to come up with a solution thats make potential verbal terrorists advocates. But, by embedding an underlying provision of significant value into the practices of the company, that potential verbal whacker becomes a very strong verbal backer. And we'll end this tale on the principles of sound with that bad rhyme, but sound principle.

Technorati : advocacy, culture, customer experience, customer service

Comments

[Lloyd Deane]

Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your story. I have a similar experience with UE. The pair I bought cracked at the connection of the cable and earbud body. It was painful to be without them during the warrenty process as I had grown to love the sound and comfort. But I also found UEs customer service, and in particular Jeanette, to more than make up for the defect. Unfortunately the replacement they provided was also defective. Despite this, I still feel that the the excellent sound quality of the UEs and the company's superior customer service is enough to maintain my faith - for now. We'll see how they handle this next transaction and the replacement for the replacement.