My Fractal Audio Support Experience

T

tbrooks1060

Member
I have to say that I'm disappointed that my Ultra experienced a problem in the first 16 months that required me to ship the unit back to Fractal for bench repair. Having said that, the Fractal RMA process went pretty smooth. They will not necessarily reach out to you through each step of the process, but I assume that's because they are hard at work. They will however respond to email inquiries and give you status updates. It took about 2 days to get the RMA via email once I sent the service request to the support team. I shipped my unit over night to Fractal and it took about 4 days for them to test unit and provide estimate for repairs. I logged into the link, paid the invoice which was only about $75 which included parts, labor and return shipping. I received a tracking number that same day and the unit was shipped via ground back to me. All together, it will be about two weeks without my Ultra which I think in pretty much the norm to be expected. I'm not a gigging musician so my world didn't come to a complete stop but I have to say that I've missed my Ultra very much!

Pro's: Fractal has a formula that works from a support perspective.
They are responsive to any inquiries that you make.
Repairs are quick once they put their hands on the actual unit.

Con's: Repair cycle is about two weeks from the time you ship till unit is returned.
Difficult to have a verbal conversation with the support team. The repair seemed to be simple and quick. Would have been nice to have a troubleshooting discussion verbally and advised of a couple of things to go check to maybe facilitate a local fix vs. two week downtime.

Summary: Nice job Fractal on the support aspect of your business. Would be nice to see you scale support to allow incoming verbal inquires but we all know that just makes the price tag go up a bit.
 
I'm curious as to what actually happened?

Seems like what I expected from Fractal, it's nice to see a small company try to support even their EOL products.
 
Um, yeah. He got a repair for $75 on an out-of-warranty item, and he had regular email contact throughout.

Expecting phone access to the service staff is (*cough*) a "tad unrealistic". I can't think of any manufacturer who'd allow this - their costs would skyrocket with all of the lost productivity.
 
funny_polymath said:
Not sure why you're disappointed. Seems quite acceptable to me...
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I think the 'disappointment' was just to do with the fact the unit broke within 18 months of owning it. I got the feeling the rest of the post was in a more positive light re: the support received, apart from the fact that the OP couldn't talk to the repair staff during the process...
 
It's always nice to be able to have a conversation with the company your doing business with, no argument there. Considering FAS is small and a somewhat boutique company that is probably tapped out with respect to actual live bodies to get things done, based on the OP it sounds like there service is on par with how it should be given the size.

I would not have expected any thing more or less and would have been satisfied with those results. If I were a giging musician I would have a back up for issues like this nothing is bullet proof.
 
Manning said:
Um, yeah. He got a repair for $75 on an out-of-warranty item, and he had regular email contact throughout.

Expecting phone access to the service staff is (*cough*) a "tad unrealistic". I can't think of any manufacturer who'd allow this - their costs would skyrocket with all of the lost productivity.
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Hard to get a repair person to LOOK AT a piece of gear for $75.00, let alone fix it.
As to the unit breaking after only 18 months, well, yeah, I guess that would annoy me. I've had my Ultra since, I think, 2007, without one hardware problem.
 
maybe FAS will be giving 2-year warranty some day? would be amazing to see, its standard in europe...
 
Well I work for Cisco Systems and we build far more complex hardware than a guitar preamp! And yes...people that buy our gear can call in and speak to someone and get realtime support for issues they are experiencing so it's not (*cough*) a tad unrealistic. In fact, you can contact most music manufacturers and speak to someone in the support department. I've personally done that with TC Electronics and Boss/Roland! Again, my post was positive and commending Fractal for their support architecture. However, there is always room for improvement otherwise a new Fractal will appear on the scene and the Axe-Fx will fade away!
 
tbrooks1060 said:
Well I work for Cisco Systems and we build far more complex hardware than a guitar preamp! And yes...people that buy our gear can call in and speak to someone and get realtime support for issues they are experiencing so it's not (*cough*) a tad unrealistic. In fact, you can contact most music manufacturers and speak to someone in the support department. I've personally done that with TC Electronics and Boss/Roland! Again, my post was positive and commending Fractal for their support architecture. However, there is always room for improvement otherwise a new Fractal will appear on the scene and the Axe-Fx will fade away!
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Um, OK, you're comparing Cisco (a large network manufacturer whose clients are predominantly corporate) to a small boutique manufacturer now? Let's just move on.
 
John Suhr who doesn't have a large business, though they have been growing over the years, still the waiting list for a custom Suhr is now up to 1 year as of this month. His support is leaps and bound above Fractals, even when he started many years back and had just a handful of people. If i have an issue with my guitar or question, I can not only call and talk to someone, I can talk with John, have on many occasions over the past year. Let's be honest, most companies get worse in customer support as they grow, if that holds true with fractal, their support would not be much better than line 6 which is horrid.


The OP has a valid point, and over the years Fractal has turned off a many of customers because of the same point he's making. You can post till your fingers fall off about how it's not valid, and their response was fitting for the situation, but that doesn't change the fact that not everyone include myself agree with that. It was "minimum" of what u'd expect from a piece of gear at this price point, and it surely was way below what one would hope for from a Small American Company who is suppose to be proud of their product.
 
tbrooks1060 said:
Well I work for Cisco Systems and we build far more complex hardware than a guitar preamp! And yes...people that buy our gear can call in and speak to someone and get realtime support for issues they are experiencing so it's not (*cough*) a tad unrealistic. In fact, you can contact most music manufacturers and speak to someone in the support department. I've personally done that with TC Electronics and Boss/Roland! Again, my post was positive and commending Fractal for their support architecture. However, there is always room for improvement otherwise a new Fractal will appear on the scene and the Axe-Fx will fade away!
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You are comparing FAS to Cisco ?? Seriously? Heck, there are more people in my dept. than FAS employees! It's hardly a FAIR comparison.

Have you ever taken anything in for tech repair ? 2 week turnaroud - incl. shipping - is FREAKIN' FANTASTIC in my experience. It took SIX weeks (local repair center) to get Roland to fix my VG99 screen - and it was still under warranty!
Honestly don't believe you should anything but GOOD to report on your experience.
 
I will take a 75$ repair (including return shipment!!) over a phone conversation any day! If the problem was resolved cheap, quick, and accurately......I personally don't see a problem.

This is a little off point but the Owner/Developer regularly posts on these boards lending helpful advice and sharing all the cool up and comings.....And we get pretty damn remarkable free Firmware updates!! That's pretty Rad stuff!

The Pros seem to GREATLY out way the Cons IMO.
 
Joe Jaeger said:
John Suhr who doesn't have a large business, though they have been growing over the years, still the waiting list for a custom Suhr is now up to 1 year as of this month. His support is leaps and bound above Fractals, even when he started many years back and had just a handful of people. If i have an issue with my guitar or question, I can not only call and talk to someone, I can talk with John, have on many occasions over the past year. Let's be honest, most companies get worse in customer support as they grow, if that holds true with fractal, their support would not be much better than line 6 which is horrid.


The OP has a valid point, and over the years Fractal has turned off a many of customers because of the same point he's making. You can post till your fingers fall off about how it's not valid, and their response was fitting for the situation, but that doesn't change the fact that not everyone include myself agree with that. It was "minimum" of what u'd expect from a piece of gear at this price point, and it surely was way below what one would hope for from a Small American Company who is suppose to be proud of their product.
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I think you are overestimating the number of customers who are "turned off." The vast majority of Fractal users are more than happy with the way things are with this small company. Cliff is a busy person and keeps developing his product continuously. I don't want these people calling him keep him from making improvements with the product. It is actually unbelievable how he can keep up the level of customer service that he provides.
 
bammbamm said:
I think you are overestimating the number of customers who are "turned off." The vast majority of Fractal users are more than happy with the way things are with this small company. Cliff is a busy person and keeps developing his product continuously. I don't want these people calling him keep him from making improvements with the product. It is actually unbelievable how he can keep up the level of customer service that he provides.
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That is your opinion, I disagree with it, really you have no clue of my experiences over the years with different users and private conversations I've had with those users. Out of the many users I've spoken with privately about this issue, "many" of them left because of the reason I posted earlier. Cliff does great with updates, and he's actually improved his personality via these forums over the years, and I still love my Axe, but that doesn't blind me to the experiences I've had or seen over the years, and the comments from those who have shared their's with me.

It's funny how you ignore the parts of my post that clearly show a company that is small, that is American, that builds some of the best gear/guitars in the world, but the customer service is "worlds apart from Fractal, that is Fractal's weakest link" The fact you do ignore that part of my post and just "nit pick other parts" makes me laugh, and not take you serious. But hey, to each his own. You love the service, so be it, I'll not try and sway you, I think it's just "ok" I would expect a bit more from them really.

I wonder if someone did a poll at any of the guitar forums, and worded it like this.

If someone was to build a preamp/effects processor on par with the II, but had customer service like Suhr or any other company that is on that level of A++ service, how many would jump ship in 2 seconds? I'd raise my hand in 1 second to that. The fact that there is no competition that is close to the level of the Axe has kept me as a customer, but if anything goes wrong with my Axe, i'm not going to be thrilled with the level of service i'll be getting. It will just be "ok" Would be nice to be thrilled through the whole process is my point and others have been making this point for many years.
 
s0c9 said:
You are comparing FAS to Cisco ?? Seriously? Heck, there are more people in my dept. than FAS employees! It's hardly a FAIR comparison.

Have you ever taken anything in for tech repair ? 2 week turnaroud - incl. shipping - is FREAKIN' FANTASTIC in my experience. It took SIX weeks (local repair center) to get Roland to fix my VG99 screen - and it was still under warranty!
Honestly don't believe you should anything but GOOD to report on your experience.
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Did you even read my original post? I had no problem with the two week turn around and I agree that is acceptable. My only critique was the fact I could not simply talk to a support person and discuss the symptoms I was having and maybe have a couple of things to try before I ship the unit out for a couple of weeks!
 
Joe Jaeger said:
That is your opinion, I disagree with it, really you have no clue of my experiences over the years with different users and private conversations I've had with those users. Out of the many users I've spoken with privately about this issue, "many" of them left because of the reason I posted earlier. Cliff does great with updates, and he's actually improved his personality via these forums over the years, and I still love my Axe, but that doesn't blind me to the experiences I've had or seen over the years, and the comments from those who have shared their's with me.

It's funny how you ignore the parts of my post that clearly show a company that is small, that is American, that builds some of the best gear/guitars in the world, but the customer service is "worlds apart from Fractal, that is Fractal's weakest link" The fact you do ignore that part of my post and just "nit pick other parts" makes me laugh, and not take you serious. But hey, to each his own. You love the service, so be it, I'll not try and sway you, I think it's just "ok" I would expect a bit more from them really.

I wonder if someone did a poll at any of the guitar forums, and worded it like this.

If someone was to build a preamp/effects processor on par with the II, but had customer service like Suhr or any other company that is on that level of A++ service, how many would jump ship in 2 seconds? I'd raise my hand in 1 second to that. The fact that there is no competition that is close to the level of the Axe has kept me as a customer, but if anything goes wrong with my Axe, i'm not going to be thrilled with the level of service i'll be getting. It will just be "ok" Would be nice to be thrilled through the whole process is my point and others have been making this point for many years.
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Joe....You get it! My original post was a positive one concerning my support experience with Fractal. It's funny how folks like to rip one page out of the book and use as a target!
 
Manning said:
Um, OK, you're comparing Cisco (a large network manufacturer whose clients are predominantly corporate) to a small boutique manufacturer now? Let's just move on.
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I'm simply making the point that Fractal should look at opportunities to improve their support model where they can! Just because you have people on a waiting list to buy your product doesn't mean you never have to make improvements to other aspects of your business. BTW...I'm a FAN of Fractal!!! I just purchased the Axe-FX II and MFC-101 yesterday and departed with $3500 bucks! I'm looking forward to it breaking in another 14 months so I can go another two weeks without...lol. Wait, I will still have my Ultra so I will be in good shape!
 
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