Lightspeed Headset Story-Wow

I'm a die-hard David Clark customer, but stories like this make you
start questioning what you're being loyal to. I may have to look at
Lightspeed when it come time to replace my DCs.


-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## VP, Product Development
## MFM Software, Inc. (http://www.mfm.com/)
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine."

I had the same thing happen with my 3 year old 15xl. My stirrup and
headband broke from years of pure abuse. I called lightspeed. The tech
offered to send me a "goodie bag" of parts, send it in, or trade up. I
took the free parts. three days later I got a box with enough parts to
build new headset except for speakers,mic and anr box. After previous
experence w dc's, I am a lightspeed customer for life!
Al Gilson wrote:
I have a Lightspeed 15XL ANR headset and I like it. It really cuts down
on the noise. However, when I pulled it out to go flying a couple of
weeks ago, I discivered that the headband was broken. I was depressed.
I have had it for about 18 months and I figured I was going to be
royally screwed trying to get it fixed. I called Lightspeed on Monday,
October 3rd-described my problem and they gave me a choice: Send it to
them for repair or they would send me a new headband.......no charge! It
looked simple so I opted for having the parts sent.

The new headband arrived on Wednesday. As I was dismantling the headset
on Wednesday evening I realized two things: First, I discovered another
broken part on the yoke that holds the earpiece, and secondly, these
puppies are a major pain to put together! With my tail between my legs
I called Lightspeed on Thursday again figuring that they were gonna say
"too bad, so sad. Now it will cost you."

Nope. They said, "Here's a return authorization number and send it
over." I sent the new headset back with it, plus the old parts via UPS
on Friday, Oct 7 and it arrived in Portland, OR on Monday the 10th. They
sent me an e-mail saying they got it and were doing the repair. On
Tuesday, I got another e-mail that said it had been shipped.

UPS delivered it today, Wednesday, October 12. New headband, and
earpiece yoke. Plus they replaced the ear seals! All no charge except
for the $6 I paid UPS to get it to them. I tested it out today and it's
as good as new.

I'm impressed. In this day and age of customer "no" service, these
folks did OK in my book.

- - -
Al
1964 Skyhawk
Spokane, WA KSFF

Their service *is* impeccable, but only because it has to be.

The early models of the Lightspeeds did have some design issues, and
Lightspeed itself admitted this to folks at Oshkosh a few years ago.
However, the newer designs are high quality headsets.

Roger that. I've owned 6 pair now, from early 15s all the way to their new
Twenty 3Gs.

They may *look* similar, but they're not. The 15s were toys, by comparison
to their new stuff.

After many trials and tribulations with their early models, I am now a VERY
satisfied Lightspeed customer.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I recently purchased a brand new pair of 30-3Gs at Oshkosh this year.
After 4hrs of use the ANR quit working. I called up service,
yep got a return authorization, I had to pay to ship them to lightspeed for
repair. Ouch! Got them back pretty quick as I recall (within a week of being
shipped).

Now after just completing my 20th hr with them, they are on their way back to
lightspeed for repair. This time the on off button will not always turn
the ANR off when putting them away in the nice padded headset bag that came with
them. Oh yeah, I had to pay again to ship them back for repair. I complained
again about that, and the tech said he would work to get me a re-imbursement for
the the shipping. We will see. At about $23 to ship them every time, this
could add up.

I will say that the service dept is great and they really work to make things
right. However, I'm concerned about their quality of the product, or do all ANR
head sets act up in this sort of way. Believe me I am not abusing these things
at all.

Thank goodness I did not sell my 2 sets of David Clark non-ANR head sets. One I
used for my primary training and got over 100hrs on them with out a glitch. The
other pair I purchased on ebay used. They are 9 yrs old. I purchased a new
cord and replaced the seals and they work just as good as my newer ones.

I really like the Lightspeeds, the ANR and all that, but I am very concerned
about the Quality Control. I was thinking of writing or calling the president
of the company to voice my concerns. I wonder if it would do any good.

Kevin Kubiak

I really like the Lightspeeds, the ANR and all that, but I am very
concerned
about the Quality Control. I was thinking of writing or calling the
president
of the company to voice my concerns. I wonder if it would do any good.

I'm really surprised to hear this about one of their new models. My Twenty
3Gs have been completely bulletproof.

BTW: His name is Alan Schrader. He's one of the good guys, and, yes, it
will help to call him.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

bill wrote:
I was even more shocked! What absolutely awesome customer service and
support. I'm most likely a customer for life.


I think it's important to mention the service to them as being the reason you
continue to buy from them. They need direct feedback that their service is
critical to keeping their customers. Some companies are too stupid to figure
that out.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Mark T. Dame wrote:
I'm a die-hard David Clark customer, but stories like this make you
start questioning what you're being loyal to. I may have to look at
Lightspeed when it come time to replace my DCs.


I broke my high dollar David Clark headset in a plane crash amd you can be
damned sure they charged me to repair them. You can be equally sure the next
set I bought weren't David Clark.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

In article ,
Scott Skylane wrote:



Their service *is* impeccable, but only because it has to be. Buy
yourself a set of David Clarks, and you will most likely have no
Customer Service experience, what so ever.


But if you do need the DCs serviced, you can expect as good from them.
I sent mine back a while back, got them back No Charge.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

Jay Honeck wrote:

I really like the Lightspeeds, the ANR and all that, but I am very
concerned
about the Quality Control. I was thinking of writing or calling the
president
of the company to voice my concerns. I wonder if it would do any good.


I'm really surprised to hear this about one of their new models. My Twenty
3Gs have been completely bulletproof.

BTW: His name is Alan Schrader. He's one of the good guys, and, yes, it
will help to call him.

The tech was really surprised too as, I have the new control box on the 30-3Gs
which was supposed to take care of a lot of the problems they had in the past.

Thanks Jay. I'll give him a call. I'm really disappointed because of the
hassle and the fact that I really like them and hate to fly with the other ones
now. I'm a quality assurance manager for a large telecommunications company,
and I know how important quality is to our customers.

Kevin Kubiak

Thanks for reminding me of Alan's name.

2 years ago at OSH, one of my partners and I were shopping for headsets and
we accidentally ran into him at one of the vender booths. We were trying to
get the vender to lower his price and Alan quietly pulled us aside and told
us who the lowest priced vender at the show was, and told us that we
wouldn't find a lower price. We talked with him for about 20 minutes. Very
nice guy, very accommodating.

One complaint that I have about my 20XL's, is that when you wrap the cord
around the headset, the ANR box ends up directly on top of the earpiece, so
you have to leave the cord sloppy loose and it often falls off.

Jim



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:5Jv3f.431678$x96.241952@attbi_s72...
I really like the Lightspeeds, the ANR and all that, but I am very
concerned
about the Quality Control. I was thinking of writing or calling the
president
of the company to voice my concerns. I wonder if it would do any good.

I'm really surprised to hear this about one of their new models. My
Twenty
3Gs have been completely bulletproof.

BTW: His name is Alan Schrader. He's one of the good guys, and, yes, it
will help to call him.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"