Lightspeed Customer Service, not up to par

[Phillip]

Lightspeed Customer Service... [update]fixes the problem

Venting. They have my Zulu 2 set. I want it back before AirVenture. No can do they say, you didn't ship it to us via overnight, you wont get a one day turnaround on repairs. They'll fix it by Friday! I guess I'd see it when I get back from KOSH. Woo-hoo.

I've offered money for expedited handling, no go...

If we are repairing or replacing your headset, we expect to ship it no later than 07/17/2015 1:25 pm.

If you are expecting a refund check, please allow 10 business days for processing and delivery of your refund.

If you have already received your replacement headset, no further action is required.

You should receive an email in approximately 3 weeks requesting feedback on your Lightspeed Aviation Service Experience. We value your input and would appreciate your time in completing the survey.

I like that last part about the survey.

 

[bnt83]

Venting. They have my Zulu 2 set. I want it back before AirVenture. No can do they say, you didn't ship it to us via overnight, you wont get a one day turnaround on repairs. They'll fix it by Friday! I guess I'd see it when I get back from KOSH. Woo-hoo.

I've offered money for expedited handling, no go...



I like that last part about the survey.

There is probably 50 people just like you that already called, asked and received the expedited repairs, meaning they are booked. That's just how it goes dude. Doesn't matter if you are trying to get $40k transponder or $600 headset.

I just listened to an hour report about hospital staffing issues in the southern states due to retired snow birds boosting populations as much as 25%. What a nightmare.

Good luck.

 

[oregonboy109]

First negative review of Lightspeed CS I've heard. Apparently they're usually pretty good.

 

[Phillip]

First negative review of Lightspeed CS I've heard. Apparently they're usually pretty good.

What I've expected from $800 purchase. Live and learn.

 

[Phillip]

There is probably 50 people just like you that already called, asked and received the expedited repairs, meaning they are booked.

Not how it was explained to me on the phone. They say I've got into a "slow queue" due to having shipped the headset second day delivery and not overnight. I was promised a one day (!) when I called originally, but the implied condition of "ship it overnight or else" somehow escaped me. I call bs on the inability to expedite handling.

 

[pbramlett]

Get another ANR headset...problem solved. Now if one is out of service you have a backup.

 

[bnt83]

Not how it was explained to me on the phone. They say I've got into a "slow queue" due to having shipped the headset second day delivery and not overnight. I was promised a one day (!) when I called originally, but the implied condition of "ship it overnight or else" somehow escaped me. I call bs on the inability to expedite handling.

Hmmm. I iope it's just a communication issue and they get you fixed up.

 

[James331]

I've always had great experiences with lightspeed. Sent my 5+ year old Zulu 1 in before, things got enough hours on it to have its ATP a few times over lol, they always replaces the pads fix everything, ship it back, and have yet to even charge me.

I just use my pax/backup DC 46s, IMO if you don't think LS has good customer support, it's ether a freak experience, or you're one of "those" customers.

 

[DavidS]

I had some new Duracell alkaline batteries give up the ghost in my Zulu.2 - the battery acid melted the plastic casing and the battery retaining clip. It still worked, but was a mess internally. Overnighted it to them, out of warranty, and they sent it back a week or two later, no charge. Given that it was out of warranty and they didn't charge me, it didn't really bother me that they took their time.

 

[Vaflier]

They also do repairs at Oshkosh

 

[flyingron]

I've never had to send one to them. I've come up to Oshkosh and described my problem and they've just handed me parts. In one case it was my fault. I set something really heavy down on top of a set and broke them. They dug under the booth and said it wasn't the same color as the part I had but it was the same fit and just gave it to me. In another case the button on my battery box broke and they asked if I could use a soldering iron (they offered to repair it for me if I couldn't) and I said yes so they gave me the complete cord assembly and told me how to install it.

 

[Bill]

First negative review of Lightspeed CS I've heard. Apparently they're usually pretty good.

I bought the 1st gen Zulu, first time in the plane I went to adjust the mic and the boom snapped off in my hand. I called LS, asked for a replacement. No, they said, I'd have to get an RMA number and return it for repair. I said how about this, I just paid $900 for a new headset, why don't you ship me a new one and I'll box this one up and send it back to you. "We can't do that" they say, "I can't buy your products anymore" I say. Silence followed by "Sorry, that's our policy". *click*

Went Bose and never looked back.

LS == cheap plastic crap with lousy customer service.

 

[oregonboy109]

I bought the 1st gen Zulu, first time in the plane I went to adjust the mic and the boom snapped off in my hand. I called LS, asked for a replacement. No, they said, I'd have to get an RMA number and return it for repair. I said how about this, I just paid $900 for a new headset, why don't you ship me a new one and I'll box this one up and send it back to you. "We can't do that" they say, "I can't buy your products anymore" I say. Silence followed by "Sorry, that's our policy". *click*

Went Bose and never looked back.

LS == cheap plastic crap with lousy customer service.

First negative review of Lightspeed CS I've heard. Apparently they're usually pretty good.

Cheap plastic crap? I don't think so. The Zulu 2s have great build quality and mine have worked flawlessly from day one. Sorry you and the op had different experiences.

 

[JOhnH]

I've always had great experiences with lightspeed. Sent my 5+ year old Zulu 1 in before, things got enough hours on it to have its ATP a few times over lol, they always replaces the pads fix everything, ship it back, and have yet to even charge me.

I just use my pax/backup DC 46s, IMO if you don't think LS has good customer support, it's ether a freak experience, or you're one of "those" customers.

About two years after I bought two Zulus I called them because black stuff was flaking off the ear pads all over my face. They said "sure, we can help. We will send you new, easily replaceable pads for ~$100. (two headsets). I'd never had ear pads deteriorate that badly that quickly before so I was a little miffed at the muffs. I paid it, but next time I will seriously look at other headsets. Perhaps from the Squawk Shoppe.

 

[Mike5250]

I've had great lightspeed service and they even honored a trade in of an old lightspeed non-anr model. If you don't like their support, not sure how you will get better service with others.

 

[rwellner98]

About two years after I bought two Zulus I called them because black stuff was flaking off the ear pads all over my face. They said "sure, we can help. We will send you new, easily replaceable pads for ~$100. (two headsets). I'd never had ear pads deteriorate that badly that quickly before so I was a little miffed at the muffs. I paid it, but next time I will seriously look at other headsets. Perhaps from the Squawk Shoppe.

I love Squawk Shoppe, so not trying to talk you out of going there, but the ear seals are only $20 a pair for Zulus. That doesn't seem unreasonable and would only have been $40 for both your headsets. Not sure what happened there.

 

[JOhnH]

I love Squawk Shoppe, so not trying to talk you out of going there, but the ear seals are only $20 a pair for Zulus. That doesn't seem unreasonable and would only have been $40 for both your headsets. Not sure what happened there.

Ear seals, head pads and mike covers, plus tax and shipping. $100 was an estimate from a couple of years ago. It might have only been $97. But it was a surprise because the reason I bought Lightspeeds was that I kept hearing great things about their service and how they would fix and replace things, including pads, with no charge.

 

[Non Compos Mentis]

I am occasionally not far from Lightspeed's offices, so I stopped by with a headset needing repairs, thinking I'd pick it up next time I was there in a few weeks. The receptionist was very apologetic that the guys had just stopped for lunch, and wouldn't be able to repair the headset for an hour or so.

Say what?

OK then. I got a bite to eat, picked up the headset an hour later, no charge.

In my experience, over-the-top excellent customer service!

Sorry you were disappointed.

 

[JOhnH]

If a business wants to develop a solid reputation, they have to provide consistently good customer service. The few they **** off will complain to more people than the many satisfied customers will sing their praises.

Why do some people get new ear pads for free and I didn't? Did they not like my voice, or my name? I'd feel less dissatisfied if everyone paid the same that I paid.

I own a business. I know you can't just keep giving things away. But if you treat one customer better than another, you are going to foster ill will with that other. If I give something away for free, I know I am going to hear a bunch of complaints from other customers when I charge them for the same thing.

I am occasionally not far from Lightspeed's offices, so I stopped by with a headset needing repairs, thinking I'd pick it up next time I was there in a few weeks. The receptionist was very apologetic that the guys had just stopped for lunch, and wouldn't be able to repair the headset for an hour or so.

Say what?

OK then. I got a bite to eat, picked up the headset an hour later, no charge.

In my experience, over-the-top excellent customer service!

Sorry you were disappointed.

 

[Phillip]

Get another ANR headset...problem solved. Now if one is out of service you have a backup.

What I've done, after I stopped steaming about the exchange. I wouldn't mind owning a third spare and this did it. After all this is free market, Lightspeed is free to do as they like about their customers and I am free to shop elsewhere.

 

[DFH65]

For 800-1000 a pair they can afford to replace a few muffs or whatever free of charge I would think without significantly impacting their profit margin.

 

[Phillip]

Hmmm. I iope it's just a communication issue and they get you fixed up.

It is possible I got a lazy rep on a really bad day. All Dana (I think that was her name) had to do was (lift lazy butt out of the office chair) enter a command into their system to expedite repairs. If they are swamped, then communicate that and I would understand. But "we cannot do that" and "there is nothing to be done, I'll just sit here and wait for you to hang up" is just, well, lame.

 

[James331]

For 800-1000 a pair they can afford to replace a few muffs or whatever free of charge I would think without significantly impacting their profit margin.

They've done that for me twice, ear seals plus top pad.

I've never had them flake to the point I could see a flake, just noticeable from a couple tiny dull spots. Are you guys leaving them on the glare shield in the sun or something

I use mine nearly everyday and have never had a issue like that, or ANYTHING snapping off.


FYI if you do have to buy your own ear seals, bout 30 bucks

http://www.amazon.com/Lightspeed-Av...550&sr=8-1&keywords=lightspeed+zulu+ear+seals


From handling Bose, DC, Lightspeed etc, the build quality is all about the same IMO, however when it comes to handling a beating DC still wins, of course that's not who you want for ANR.

 

[tyndall]

Are you guys leaving them on the glare shield in the sun or something

My ear seals fell apart within two years. It had less than 50 hours outside of it's bag. The rest of the time it was in a closet at home.

Replaced it with a Halo after looking at a new LS at Oshkosh and the rep literally grabbed it right out of my hands and then said "I want to show this to another customer".

 

[JOhnH]

They've done that for me twice, ear seals plus top pad.

I've never had them flake to the point I could see a flake, just noticeable from a couple tiny dull spots. Are you guys leaving them on the glare shield in the sun or something

I use mine nearly everyday and have never had a issue like that, or ANYTHING snapping off.

Mine have never been on the glare shield, except when the plane is in my hangar, which is a huge percentage of the time. Otherwise, they are on my head or on the yolk. If we are spending the night somewhere, the canopy cover goes on first. If we are going into a restaurant the folding automobile style windshield protector goes up. If we are just getting fuel, they go on a seat (front or back) that is in the shade.

These were the most expensive headsets I had ever bought so I took care of them accordingly. The pads just fell apart anyway. I could possibly understand if they were 5 years old, but these were less than 2 years old and had less than 200 hours on them.

 

[rwellner98]

Ear seals, head pads and mike covers, plus tax and shipping. $100 was an estimate from a couple of years ago. It might have only been $97. But it was a surprise because the reason I bought Lightspeeds was that I kept hearing great things about their service and how they would fix and replace things, including pads, with no charge.

Well, not sure what happened in the past. But new seals, head cushion and mic cover today would run you $39 including shipping, or $72 for two. Maybe they went down in price...

 

[retailguy]

Well, no direct lightspeed experience. I will agree with those that say the service is "excellent" is an overwhelming majority.

When I was deciding between Bose and Lightspeed, I did a lot of reading. The conclusion that I came to was that Lightspeed had many more reviews, again mostly all glowing. It bothered me then that so many repairs were necessary, though, and so on that basis I bought Bose.

several years later, no warranty claims. I have no idea how Bose's warranty claims are as I've never needed them. 400 hours on them and haven't even replaced the pads, though that day is coming soon...

 

[James331]

My ear seals fell apart within two years. It had less than 50 hours outside of it's bag. The rest of the time it was in a closet at home.

Replaced it with a Halo after looking at a new LS at Oshkosh and the rep literally grabbed it right out of my hands and then said "I want to show this to another customer".

Mine have never been on the glare shield, except when the plane is in my hangar, which is a huge percentage of the time. Otherwise, they are on my head or on the yolk. If we are spending the night somewhere, the canopy cover goes on first. If we are going into a restaurant the folding automobile style windshield protector goes up. If we are just getting fuel, they go on a seat (front or back) that is in the shade.

These were the most expensive headsets I had ever bought so I took care of them accordingly. The pads just fell apart anyway. I could possibly understand if they were 5 years old, but these were less than 2 years old and had less than 200 hours on them.

Maybe it's lack of usage that is causing the seals to have issues?

Like I said, mine are well over 5 years old, thinking back, yeah, I've gone through 2 (maybe 3) sets of top pads and I think one set of ear seals over the nearly 3,000hrs I've put on them.

Most of the time the the top pad would get beat up from the headset being hung up, something I normally don't do in my own planes or work planes

The ear pads had a little area where the pleather came off, but the big issue was I got a buffeting noise when flying a certain airframe, LS sent me a thicker set, if memory serves, probably have 900hrs or so on the current seals and top pad, no issues or wear.

Replaced the cord once, I slammed it in the pilots door on a C208B by accident, cut through the rubber protective sleeve revealing the inner wires, still worked fine, LS put a new cord on, again for free, they also noticed that the old version of the case I shipped my LS headset in wasn't as nice as the new models case, so they sent my headset back in a brand new case, free again, cool.

Only thing where I noticed some lack of quality, over the thousands of hours this headset has seen, there are areas on the control module and the area around the ear cups where that black rubber coating has started to wear off, I debated just buffing it all off, but it's really not that noticeable since the hard plastic underneath is also black.

I haven't heard of any working pilots, or guys putting a good amount of use on the headsets having issues, perhaps it is a lack of use problem

 

[rwellner98]

Well, no direct lightspeed experience. I will agree with those that say the service is "excellent" is an overwhelming majority.

When I was deciding between Bose and Lightspeed, I did a lot of reading. The conclusion that I came to was that Lightspeed had many more reviews, again mostly all glowing. It bothered me then that so many repairs were necessary, though, and so on that basis I bought Bose.

several years later, no warranty claims. I have no idea how Bose's warranty claims are as I've never needed them. 400 hours on them and haven't even replaced the pads, though that day is coming soon...

I'm familiar with service from both companies. Both are great on the whole.

I think I might have said this already on this thread, but for me it was the ability to bluetooth music to the headset that currently only zulu has. If you don't need that feature, both of these vendors make great gear.

 

[JOhnH]

Well, not sure what happened in the past. But new seals, head cushion and mic cover today would run you $39 including shipping, or $72 for two. Maybe they went down in price...

The exact price isn't the issue. Big deal, I forget exactly how much I paid for a minor item several years ago.

But what I remember is the feeling of disappointment I got when they charged me at all. You can see right here on this thread that they DO replace those items for free when they feel like it. Why was I not given that good customer service. And since they chose NOT to give me that good service, I am not obligated in any way to defend them.

 

[Warrior]

Lightspeed pleased me when they fixed my several year old Zulu which needed more than just pads. I happily paid the 30 or so bucks for the pads.

We are dealing with a warranty issue on a mobility chair for my mother in law. It came with a 13 month warranty and about 13 months and one week we have a problem with the chair. Hopefully we can get it fixed but we shall see. Most warranties aren't anything like the wonderful one we get with Lightspeed Zulu.

 

[flyingron]

Lightspeed had a bad run of seals where the outer surface got all flakey. I'm fairly sure this was limited to the 30-3G line and not either of the Zulus, and LS certainly gave me a free replacement.

I've not had any problems with my Zulu.2 yet, but if you need parts (mike muff, ear pieces or have some broken stuff) and you can wait, I'd hit them up in the booth at Oshkosh. I've generally found they'll just give you what you need.

Amusingly, I passed by the Vertex standard booth and mentioned in passing that I had a set of AA cells that leaked all over my battery case (clearly not their fault) and they just handed me another.

 

[Phillip]

Re: Lightspeed Customer Service ... fixes the glitch!

Who would have known....Lightspeed Aviation folks do read this forum. I've got the call today from Mary Anne, the head of the service department. She offered to overnight the headset to me and made sure it got here on time for the KOSH departure. My offer to pay for the overnight ship was declined. Dana, the service rep, also have written a very nice letter and have completely redeemed the company in my eyes. Well done, Lightspeed.

 

[JOhnH]

Re: Lightspeed Customer Service ... fixes the glitch!

Who would have known....Lightspeed Aviation folks do read this forum. I've got the call today from Mary Anne, the head of the service department. She offered to overnight the headset to me and made sure it got here on time for the KOSH departure. My offer to pay for the overnight ship was declined. Dana, the service rep, also have written a very nice letter and have completely redeemed the company in my eyes. Well done, Lightspeed.

Well, that's good.
But it's a shame it took public attention to get them to do the right thing.
I still say good customer service has to be consistent and not coerced.

 

[kgruber]

I was out instructing in an AC500B today, and forgot my Bose. I had to wear the Lightspeed that was in the Shrike.

Piece of junk......really uncomfortable in the right seat with the cord strapped across my chest.

Poor design. Bose MUCH better.

 

[Rigged4Flight]

Whenever I get what I consider to be surprisingly inappropriate customer (dis)service from a company I like, I do one of two things: consider it a one-off and let it pass, or send a letter to the CEO/President/Owner.

I've only gone the letter route a few times, but I don't think I have ever been disappointed by the response. I don't fill the letter with hate - I just explain what happened, why I thought it should have gone differently, and what it would take to return me to happy customer status. A couple of times when I sat down to compose a letter I talked myself out of it by realizing that I really didn't have a valid reason to complain.