Yet another thank-you to Chuck Surack

[bookumdano4]

Unlike when I was in the 1970's, I don't seem to need a continuous stream of new gear flowing into my life in the 21st century. But when I need something, I usually r-e-a-l-l-y need it. On somewhat of a random thought/whim, I contacted Chuck a few days ago to ask if he could do a certain kind of deal for me to buy something. Within an hour, he said yes and the gear was on its way to me.

Even though this may not the biggest forum left standing, I want to thank Chuck here for his graciousness. I'm finding it harder to identify people like this in a world of blank faces lit up by blue cellphone screens.

Little gestures of caring are getting so hard to find in the biz world.

Anyway, thanks again Chuck.

[Anderton]

I have met few people with Chuck's integrity and humanity. His persona is who he is...what you see is what you get. I only wish there were more people like him.

I think one of the reasons for Sweetwater's success is he leads by example. The people who work there can't help but get caught up in the same kind of attitude. It permeates the corporate environment.

And GearFest is off the hook

[AlamoJoe]

I recently bought a guitar from Sweetwater, Sight unseen. That's a first for me. I was really impressed with the speed of service and delivery, and the willingness of everyone I talked to there to engage me about the product, answering all my questions with no pressure to make the sale, Really impressed with the sales staff.

And having fun with the guitar as well!

[Ernest Buckley]

Two stories...

1) Back around 2004-5 or somewhere in there I had a session with my biggest client scheduled for July 5-6 (at the time I was operating a small project studio and actually making $$$). My MOTU MIDI Time Piece decided to die on me on July 2. I had purchased that unit in 2000 from Sweetwater so its sudden death was shocking and not cool considering I had a big session coming in. With only 2 days to go before the session I called Sweetwater and told them my dilemma. Within minutes, they were sending me a brand new unit for free. They only charged me to send the new unit FEDEX overnight so I could get the unit up before July 4 in which there were no deliveries. They told me to put the old and dead unit in the new boxes package and send it back... no questions asked. My session happened without any issues. The client was happy, I got paid, the project was successfully completed. Thanks to Sweetwater, I was able to keep working without any hiccups.

2) In later October of 2012, I was doing a lot of vocals for various clients... so I finally pulled the trigger on a Mackie Control Universal, figuring it would speed up my workflow which it did. I was recording like a madman that week and the ability to have all my DAW tracks on faders was a Godsend. Then the East Coast got slammed with Super Storm Sandy... I had 6+ feet of salt water in my studio. I was able to salvage my computer, hard drives, and guitars but I pretty much lost everything else... keyboards, microphones, my entire CD collection, hundreds of books, journals that I kept from 1995.... all gone including that brand new Mackie Control Universal. I called Sweetwater asking if I could send back the salt water riddled MCU... my sales rep said no... I was disappointed but I figured sending Chuck an email might not hurt. The next day I got a call from my sales rep stating that Chuck was sending me a brand new MCU... no charge... and he was also sending giving me a gift certificate so I could re-purchase some of the gear lost... so I purchased the most important piece I needed for my work... a microphone.

Chucks company Sweetwater is my go to for all my audio needs since 1996... thats 20 years of superior customer service. I don`t know any other company that stands by their products and their customers like Sweetwater. The last piece I`ll add is that I have called Sweetwater for Tech support on several occasions about gear that I didn`t even purchase from them. This was years ago but the point is, they listened and they walked me through a couple of learning curves.

I`m sure we can all tell stories about how many times we have called manufacturers directly, only to reach some recording and then given a ticket which is just a nice way to say... we`ll get back to you in a few days if you`re lucky. Not with Sweetwater. You call them and you`re talking to a human being after two rings and their tech support is second to none....

So... you put all this together and you add 20+ years of superior service, it equals a lifelong loyalty. Chuck is a rare soul and Sweetwater deserves all the success it is enjoying.