A friend on Vancouver Island sent me a gift of a matched set of Behringer C2 microphones. Needless to say I was very grateful...and super excited also! I have numerous pieces of Behringer stuff in my setup, and I have used their products both Live and in the studio for years, without hardly any problems (no more than any other manufacture). I have found their overall quality fine, their sound OK, and the function - per - $$$ great! They are helping 1000's of folks set up a recording system that they can learn & grow on, and out of, for a price that most of us can afford.
Anyway, I got the mic's and one of them had a bum switch. So I email my friend and tell him about it, and we go back & forth for a few days. Bottom line is the store he got them from has to have them sent back to be able to do anything.......oh, did I mention that I am in Ohio....in the USA....over 3,200 miles from the store, which is in a different country?!
Well, the shipping back would have been almost 1/2 of the value of the mic's! So I write Behringer on 11-7-08, and explain the problem. Kimberly, the person who answered the email, tell's me about a program called the "New for Old" program, The way it is supposed to work is I find a Certified Behringer Dealer, and then take the product there. They give me a new replacement, and then they return the damaged item to Behringer for credit......the only problem is after I called 17 stores that were within 50 miles from me, not ONE of them would do this, they all said that I had to deal with Behringer, even the ones that stated that they were Certified Dealers (and I asked every one of them BEFORE I asked about the "New for Old" program)
So I wrote Kimberly back at Behringer and explained this to her on 11-12-08. On 11-13-08 I then receive an email from Gloria, who was "assigned to take over this incident from Kim." She then asked for some more info, and then I emailed my friend in Canada to get a copy of the receipt. After I sent all of this in that night I get an email from Gloria the next day on 11-14-08 with this line as part of the message...
"Your warranty covers repair (parts and labor) or replacement as well as return shipping from the service center to you, however you are responsible for getting the unit to the service center. BUT, MY SUPERVISOR HAS MADE A ONE TIME EXCEPTION AND ALLOWED ME TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A UPS CALL LABEL. IT WILL FOLLOW IN A SEPARATE EMAIL SHORTLY AFTER THIS."
And 5 min later I received the label...I was stunned! Needless to say that the mic's were shipped the next day, and I had them back to me, working 100%, within 2 weeks!
I want to remind everyone that the microphones were bought in Canada, and shipped to the USA. I also want to reminded folks that the stores that claimed to be "Behringer Certified Dealers" did not lift one finger to help me.....but a few emails and I was treated like I spent $1000's of dollars.
I was a Behringer user before, now I am a fan. I know that their stuff is not the quietest, or the most original, but it works, it is affordable, and it will be the first brand name I look at whenever I go looking for new toys for the studio! This incident is worth way more than any gear snobbery that I had before, and I will tell everyone I run into how I was treated like a Valued Customer and not a $$.
So to all you Behringer haters out there, just remember my story the next time your $$$$$ breaks down, and you get treated like c*^p because it is their "LE" model...or for whatever reason....customer service means a LOT anymore, and Behringer knows HOW to treat a customer.
Way to go Berry!