How to purchase from GPA?

[aeyb701]

My several transactions from Canada have always been excellent. A 604C recone was 2 weeks door to door (ie return) and packed better than how I sent it which was done carefully to begin with I thought.
Phoning as has been said gets fast, courteous service, whether Bill H. himself or (?)Mike answers.
I think there should be a header or other notice at the top of this forum that tells people of the GPA email vs phoning topic as it comes up like clockwork 3-4 times a year.
Jon

[magnarc]

This is not meant to mean any offence.

Altec gear at its peak (the gear we all love) came from a time when there was no email and face to face or telephone communication was it.
GPA seems to be of that era, good personalised one on one service to people who love gear from that period, many of whom are also of that vintage and prefer non electronic means of communication. Unlike so many companies, at least you get to speak to a real person when you call, not some machine or muzak.

I too am from Australia, and yes it annoys me to be up calling the US at odd hours. I get my answers fast, and often after a phone call, I can get all the information, shipping etc emailed to me.

I think that it is a small sacrifice to continue to enjoy the best in audio.

Funnily enough, every piece of Altec gear I own is older than I am, in some cases by 20 years.

[voice of the theater]

Nicely put! Often times when a company goes under, you have to deal with aftermarket parts from another source/company that don't perform the way the original parts did. In a car, for example, it may not be a disaster if the aftermarket part isn't identical to the original, as long as the car still runs reasonably well with the new part. With high end audio, like Altec Lansing, obviously it's a disaster if your speakers sound different because you couldn't obtain original parts to replace/repair the broken parts. I think we're incredibly lucky to have GPA--former Altec employees who use the original Altec designs and specifications and often use the original Altec machinery--producing AUTHENTIC Altec Lansing replacement parts/repairs. The fact that they're not email savvy is a very small price to pay--I prefer talking to Bill anyways compared to email and as others have said, they answer the phone quickly and you don't have to be reconnected to ten different people/departments or sit through painful voice prompts......

[gortnipper]

Thanks for the advice guys, I guess I'll have to call.

Another question, how well do they package the items to protect from damage during transit?

Very well. I had mine shipped twice - once to San Francisco and then from SF to Auckland. No problems with the packaging protecting the drivers - very good and sound packaging. However, since I had #3 and #4 of the 8H-III drivers, there was a problem with some cardboard dust in the first run of the boxes, but Bill assured me that they sorted this out after the first few shipped.

[lowpoke]

I live in Australia and had the same frustration emailing Steve. I then tried emailing Bill and he got back to me in a couple of days. After that he emailed from his home email address to which I also replied. Correspondence was quite reliable after that point.

I purchased some diaphragms for my compression drivers. Shipping quote was outrageous given they weigh next to nothing, but Bill was very helpful and got an accurate price (which was actually only US $8.00).

As practically everybody who's ever dealt with him has reported, Bill is very helpful and knowledgeable once you actually get a hold of him. He went out of his way for me for a pretty insignificant sale (in monetary terms) which I made sure I let him know was most appreciated.

[Todd W. White]

After lengthy discussions with Bill, I have agreed to take over the bulk of GPA's e-mail load. I have re-vamped the website, cleaned up some errors that I found in it, created new e-mail accounts, and setup a new system (in house) whereby orders can be taken and price quotes issued in a timely manner. Further, I will be fielding most of the technical questions, with help from Steve, as needed. Turn around for answers via e-mail will normally be no more than one business day.

We also hope to have an online webstore for the GPA website in the near future.

We hope this will help you, the customers, to have a better online experience with Great Plains Audio.

Todd W. White, Marketing Specialist
Great Plains Audio, Inc.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

[Altec Best]

Sounds Great Todd looking forward to it. :2thumbsup: