TC Electronics Customer Service

Gear
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I own one TC pedal, a Spectracomp compressor. So far it works, so I’ve had no need of TC’s customer service.
But I’ve been investigating other pedals such as the Sentry, HoF2, Ditto+ and Plethora X5.
Anyway in searching out various reviews etc., I’ve seen comments online about how bad TC’s customer service is.
I’ve even noticed Ovnilab refuses to review their Hypergravity/ Spectracomp pedals as he says TC is dead to him after previous bad customer service.
Is all this fair? Should I be avoiding TC, if you take at face value some of the online comments? TC seem to do some inventive/good stuff, so it would seem a shame if it’s not warranted?
Anyone got any direct experience having needed their customer services - what did you find? I’d be keen to hear thanks.
(My only personal moan so far about TC is they do inventive stuff, but seem to put little effort into explaining all the stuff they give you access to, that you can tweak. For example scant info on the differences between toneprints for the Spectracomp)

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@studio had a bad time with them a while back:

which lines up with the reports I have read elsewhere. I remember there being other complaints too but I don’t see them at the moment.

I had a bad experience with one of their products (BH250, arrived defective) but I RMA’d it to the store and they dealt with TC. I got refunded no problem.

I’ve posted elsewhere that for their newer products I treat them just like Behringer (their owner); some great gems there but your warranty is basically buying a replacement if the first one breaks.

I’m really happy with my TC Nether for what it’s worth. But I would assume any customer service call will go down like it did for @studio.

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My only experience with TC customer service was when I had a support question regarding my Polytune 3. I contacted them through the website, and within 48 hours received a very lucid and helpful response.

I was quite pleased with the CS I received.

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4

I usually take customer service complaints with a grain of salt as it’s really case by case.

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5

I like some of their pedals and some of their amps too much to not get them. I have not had to deal with them, but everything I have had has been fine so far.
You might want to just make sure you buy from a source that is reputable and has good return policy, and it couldn’t hurt to buy the added $3 - $7 one, two, three or more year warranty that places like Amazon and Ebay sell so you are covered and don’t hav to deal with TC in the event of something dying on you.

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On this side of the pond I usually buy from Sweetwater because using them includes technical support and their own warranty. My X5 arrived with a dead display. The Sweetwater service tech ran me through the troubleshooting he wanted to do and then sent me a free return shipping label. I never talked to TC. I’ll put Sweetwater in the middle if I ever have trouble getting support. They carry enough weight to get answers. I like buying through dealers with added support if that’s available.

Although not TC, I’ve received really great support in this industry In general. Ibanez sent me the wiring diagram for my bass when I was chasing down a free wire from the active board. Darkglass was very cool about offering me insight into their product when I was chasing a system problem. They didn’t really have to do that.

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Thanks one and all for your comments. What I take from this so far is

  1. People have different experiences with TC, some good some bad
  2. Their kit is good enough to warrant not giving up on them, but
  3. It’s better to put a reputable dealer and/or extended warranty between you and them
  4. Bad service is not the norm always, as Dave’s examples with Ibanez and Darkglass shows.
    Cheers all.
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