Wonderful customer support from Line 6!

Voxman

We hear too often of disappointing customer support stories so I just wanted to 'bang a gong' to Line 6 for its wonderful customer support that so often goes above & beyond - and this isn't the first time either that I've had great support from them.

I posted recently about a problem I had with my G10 Relay receiver whereby the usb power input had 'gone' turning it into a veritable paper weight, and there was some great input from folk here re a mod to put a barrel socket in.  But even though it was way out of warranty I thought I'd still reach out to Line 6 customer support just to see if there was any chance of a repair before I started my amateur repair attempts.  So I raised a ticket & Line 6 directed me to E&M, their UK authorised repairer, & Chris there who is a great guy I knew before from when my Pod Go had the input impedance mod done, was amazingly helpful and sorted out a free collection.  

Following the report from E&M to Line 6, and although officially well out of warranty, Line 6 have very kindly authorised a good-will replacement that I just received from E&M this morning. 

Of all the music gear companies Line 6 customer support has to be one of, if not the best, out there and they really do stand by their products and go the extra mile to look after their customers.  Thank you so much again Line 6 & E&M!   

ElectricXII

That's great to hear in these days of throw away, unrepairable gear. I won't retire my venerable Line 6 G30 yet then!

Last year I had fantastic customer service from Marshall who picked up, repaired and returned my 16 year old 1962 Bluesbreaker for much less than a local tech would have charged.

Voxman

ElectricXII said:

That's great to hear in these days of throw away, unrepairable gear. I won't retire my venerable Line 6 G30 yet then!

Last year I had fantastic customer service from Marshall who picked up, repaired and returned my 16 year old 1962 Bluesbreaker for much less than a local tech would have charged.

Yup, the G10 receiver either couldn't be repaired or it was just uneconomic.  Both Laney & Marshall offer a terrific service whereby they pick up, return and fix 'their' amps for a great fixed cost and although parts are technically extra, they'll usually not charge for these if its just a few pots or a new input etc. I had my Laney VC30-210 and Marshall 80V '8080' Valvestate repaired by Laney & Marshall respectively last year.  Laney charged c£60 and Marshall £98. I also had a problem a few years back on a Marshall Bluesbreaker BB2 pedal, which Marshall fixed at no charge. 

Danny1969

It's kinda sad though isn't it. Line 6 can't change a micro USB socket in their service department. It's a 1.29p part and a very basic bit of hot air soldering. 

It's a good result for you @Voxman but to me it's a poor state of affairs. First of all they design something any idiot can see will break and is not fit for purpose. 
Then they can't be arsed to repair it, they would rather write the whole receiver off and replace it. 

guitarcookie1

Danny1969 said:

It's kinda sad though isn't it. Line 6 can't change a micro USB socket in their service department. It's a 1.29p part and a very basic bit of hot air soldering. 

It's a good result for you @Voxman but to me it's a poor state of affairs. First of all they design something any idiot can see will break and is not fit for purpose. 
Then they can't be arsed to repair it, they would rather write the whole receiver off and replace it. 

Cost per unit being cheaper than paying a skilled person an hour of their time maybe.. 

Danny1969

guitarcookie1 said:

Danny1969 said:

It's kinda sad though isn't it. Line 6 can't change a micro USB socket in their service department. It's a 1.29p part and a very basic bit of hot air soldering. 

It's a good result for you @Voxman but to me it's a poor state of affairs. First of all they design something any idiot can see will break and is not fit for purpose. 
Then they can't be arsed to repair it, they would rather write the whole receiver off and replace it. 

Cost per unit being cheaper than paying a skilled person an hour of their time maybe.. 

Possibly but a sad state of affairs. More plastic in landfill. Could have all been avoided had they used a the right part in the first place, or put the anchor over it like Samsung, LG, Lenovo etc 

stickyfiddle

guitarcookie1 said:

Danny1969 said:

It's kinda sad though isn't it. Line 6 can't change a micro USB socket in their service department. It's a 1.29p part and a very basic bit of hot air soldering. 

It's a good result for you @Voxman but to me it's a poor state of affairs. First of all they design something any idiot can see will break and is not fit for purpose. 
Then they can't be arsed to repair it, they would rather write the whole receiver off and replace it. 

Cost per unit being cheaper than paying a skilled person an hour of their time maybe.. 

Could even be they don't have enough of these sorts of requests to warrant employing anyone to do them at all

Voxman

It's not that I don't see where you guys are coming from, but just seems a bit sad that a post to praise great customer support seems to somehow have evolved into a bit of a criticim of Line 6. 

To put this in perspective guys I bought my G10 Relay in mid 2018 so it is way, way past warranty.  Line 6 possibly thought if they replaced the USB something else might go on an older unit so let's just look after the customer and replace the whole thing.

So c'mon guys, let's cut em some slack here and focus on the message that Line 6 really have gone above and beyond and been exceptional here. 

Danny1969

Sorry, you are correct in as much as  they have done the right thing by you. Some companies wouldn't, I have customers at battle with Dell over their laptops breaking at the lid plastics due to a design fault. Dell say it's customer abuse and won't repair them. It's not the customers fault at all, the hinge design is not fit for purpose. 

I just can't get over a company like Line 6 with a team of talented engineers would ever think it was a good idea to put an unsupported micro USB socket on a device designed for gigging. What were they thinking ?

Voxman

Danny1969 said:

Sorry, you are correct in as much as  they have done the right thing by you. Some companies wouldn't, I have customers at battle with Dell over their laptops breaking at the lid plastics due to a design fault. Dell say it's customer abuse and won't repair them. It's not the customers fault at all, the hinge design is not fit for purpose. 

I just can't get over a company like Line 6 with a team of talented engineers would ever think it was a good idea to put an unsupported micro USB socket on a device designed for gigging. What were they thinking ?

Maybe it's because Line 6 recognise this that they are going above and beyond. 

Fingers657

I’ve never had to use Line 6 customer service, Thankfully the L6 products we use have never had any problems (Touch wood not temping fate )
It’s always good to hear a company is doing its best for customers when you hear so many nightmare stories these days.

jellybelly

The relay is an old product, regardless of when it was purchased - it might have been designed 10-15 years ago, or is merely an evolution of an old design. The company as it exists now can't be held fully responsible for their stuff not being 100% repairable. They have to be profitable and priced competitively. Those things don't tend to go hand in hand with easy repairability where small-sized consumer electronics are concerned. 

I've seen plenty of good stories from L6 customer support over the years and their dedication to updating the Helix platform is exemplary. I think they deserve a break. 

DiscoStu

Good to hear a happy ending and proper customer support.
I had a similar experience with Hercules a few years with their wall hangers, which I documented on here.
I had two of my wall hangers fail and they offered to replace ALL of mine with newer versions, not just the two which broke.
Happy Disco.

Danny1969

It's nice they are helping. The next time I get asked to fix one of these (I've already done about 8) I will tell the customer Line 6 might well replace it for them if they ask.