SVS Purchase Experience

[squeedle]

Sounds like a really crappy way to do business. Advertising an item as being in stock and shipping tomorrow when they know the item is out of stock is just plain wrong in this day and age. Not disclosing the item is shipping via freight during the purchase process and deliberately hiding that information in an FAQ is wrong on so many fronts. I would not be happy - at all. Your experience has me rethinking ever buying from SVS.

Martin

Thank you for a sane reply!

 

[spacevector]

OP, may be because you ordered 2, freight is needed. May be you can ask customer service to ship separately to bring individual shipment under 150lbs so they can ship Ground or equivalent.

 

[squeedle]

OP, may be because you ordered 2, freight is needed. May be you can ask customer service to ship separately to bring individual shipment under 150lbs so they can ship Ground or equivalent.

Order already shipped. But looking at their FAQ it seems to indicate that even a single PB-3000 is shipped freight.

 

[PierreV]

The only thing that would have irritated me was the inaccurate "in-stock" claim.

As far as the delivery itself is concerned, it could also be - had you ordered a similar subwoofer that shipped in a more "normal" way - that you would complain about how it was damaged in transport, improperly protected or secured, or that a possibly exhausted delivery van guy just had pushed it out without care. There are always reasons to whine if one wants to.

The fact is that when you order large/heavy items, this is how it goes. My large speakers were delivered in vans by the dealer, their heavily armoured boxes occupy a full garage in my house I decided to pick my subs myself (and did look up the packaging dimensions to be sure to take the correct car, called in advance to check stock and reserve the things).

I chose to live in a place that isn't accessible to large trucks. That has many advantages, such as not having to deal with large trucks driving in front of my home or delivering to the neighbours. This also has consequences I have to assume. Those include being present when a large delivery is expected, reminding my heating oil supplier to use his small delivery truck, etc... And yes, I am also always expecting the delivery guy to need some assistance. Great if he doesn't, but wouldn't whine if he does.

 

[redeyes]

I got a PB3000 and actually UPS delivered it no probs. The box was HUUUUUUUGE and well padded and the thing came perfect in one piece which I love. After all that, the Sub itself is absolutely disgusting. I'd buy it again.

 

[squeedle]

The only thing that would have irritated me was the inaccurate "in-stock" claim.

As far as the delivery itself is concerned, it could also be - had you ordered a similar subwoofer that shipped in a more "normal" way - that you would complain about how it was damaged in transport, improperly protected or secured, or that a possibly exhausted delivery van guy just had pushed it out without care. There are always reasons to whine if one wants to.

The fact is that when you order large/heavy items, this is how it goes. My large speakers were delivered in vans by the dealer, their heavily armoured boxes occupy a full garage in my house I decided to pick my subs myself (and did look up the packaging dimensions to be sure to take the correct car, called in advance to check stock and reserve the things).

I chose to live in a place that isn't accessible to large trucks. That has many advantages, such as not having to deal with large trucks driving in front of my home or delivering to the neighbours. This also has consequences I have to assume. Those include being present when a large delivery is expected, reminding my heating oil supplier to use his small delivery truck, etc... And yes, I am also always expecting the delivery guy to need some assistance. Great if he doesn't, but wouldn't whine if he does.

You're right, I would be upset if I ordered something that arrived damaged. That's a normal response that a normal person would have.

And for the tenth time, the purpose of my post wasn't to complain that freight shipping sucks. Or that it was inappropriate of SVS to select it. It was simply that it was not disclosed anywhere in advance. If you disagree that it should be disclosed in advance, so be it. But based on the shipping notification email I got from SVS with a huge bullet-pointed list of things to prepare for and look out for upon delivery--which reads more like a ransom note than a shipping notification--it seems obvious this shipping method brings with it many potential downsides that customers have complained about in the past.

 

[redeyes]

You are going on and on about nothing. This is how it is for large expensive items.

 

[ta240]

Sounds like a really crappy way to do business. Advertising an item as being in stock and shipping tomorrow when they know the item is out of stock is just plain wrong in this day and age. Not disclosing the item is shipping via freight during the purchase process and deliberately hiding that information in an FAQ is wrong on so many fronts. I would not be happy - at all. Your experience has me rethinking ever buying from SVS.

Martin

The sad thing here is they likely know that both of those things would cause some people not to order; so they lie or bury the information. Connecting inventory to a site or even just manually updating it is so easy anymore that there is no excuse other than tricking the customer, for them to leave it saying "ships tomorrow". It is also super easy to add a note to the product page about the freight requirements.

The other bad thing is it encourages other retailers to lie; because if a competitor is honest about it being weeks before their product can ship and also lists right in the description that it will ship by truck freight that you may have to meet somewhere other than your house, they would lose customers to the sites that don't say those things up front.

A lot of companies forget that buying something, especially something expensive, should be a pleasant experience. Not "ha, we've got your money, now deal with it!"

 

[Pdxwayne]

I feel like a lot of people are misinterpreting the issue here. It's not about whether freight shipping is better, worse, justified, unjustified, etc. It's simply about letting customers know what they are getting BEFORE the item ships. That''s really it.

And, separately, as to the issue of shipping heavy items, SVS's competitors use standard shipping means such as FedEx/UPS to ship items that are significantly heavier than those I ordered, so clearly that is not a limiting factor here.

I think weight is just a partial reason. Size of box is another. I got my +100lb sub via FedEx too, but it is a sealed 15".
You can also check with SVS regarding how they would ship their sb4000, which is +100lb. Likely that one can ship FedEx/UPS.

 

[squeedle]

I got a PB3000 and actually UPS delivered it no probs. The box was HUUUUUUUGE and well padded and the thing came perfect in one piece which I love. After all that, the Sub itself is absolutely disgusting. I'd buy it again.

Maybe they elect to ship UPS when it is cheaper for them? Interesting. But glad to hear you like the sub! It has been a many-years-long dream of mine to have an SVS sub myself, so I am excited to finally hear them for myself!

 

[redeyes]

I purchased mine from a dealer I think. Absolutely no issues.
I'll say this: it's amazing getting REAL low end air from a sub and also having it be extremely accurate and flat if positioned properly. I use mine in a studio setup actually.

 

[AdamG]

I’m going to put a Fork in this thread. It’s done!