Alien Bee does it again

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Archive 2009 · Alien Bee does it again

Ravitej
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p.1 #1 · Alien Bee does it again

I cannot believe Alien Bee / Paul Buff sometimes. I love the lights and everything else. For the first time I had a product cease to function correctly – a Vagabond portable power unit. Talked to a very nice guy who said simply send it in. Got it back quickly functioning perfectly with a thank-you. Totally taken care of. No hesitation to simply take care of my needs – with a smile.

I normally don't write posts like this. But I'm an advertising / marketing art director and we preach to companies to provide great customer service that makes the consumer so happy that they just keep coming back for more. AB / Paul Buff is an example we oft quote and have personal experience with. This is the way to do business.

We also find that when customer service is really good, it's almost always how management treats their staff. If customer service sucks, it's usually bad management. Or greedy attitudes. When a company treats their employees and their customers well, it's usually because the owner / managers have a desire to serve people.

That doesn't mean that the owner (ahem) will not get in people's faces when they don't treat him well. I certainly don't hesitate to voice my opinion. But most companies that have a little attitude are just being defensive of practices that they feel are for everyone's best interests. And as a business owner myself, we all want to make a profit and be prosperous. For a company to find a common ground where everyone benefits is a nice way to do business.

Oct 21, 2009 at 06:28 PM

cwebster
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p.1 #2 · Alien Bee does it again

I don't think Paul's customer service has ever been in doubt. I too was very impressed when I had to send a B800 back because it arrived in non-working condition. The replacement arrived the very next day with a UPS pickup order so I didn't even have to take the defective unit to be shipped.

<Chas>

Oct 21, 2009 at 06:41 PM

sherijohnson
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p.1 #3 · Alien Bee does it again

very good to hear

Oct 21, 2009 at 07:34 PM

EA6B
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p.1 #4 · Alien Bee does it again

WL5000 purchased in May is still going strong! That's May of 1985!

E

Oct 21, 2009 at 08:20 PM

SkankPile
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p.1 #5 · Alien Bee does it again

I hear about more vagabonds dieing than anything else. I wonder what is the culprit in these little solid state devices.

Oct 23, 2009 at 01:33 PM

photogmatt
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p.1 #6 · Alien Bee does it again

Being an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 user, I wish I had gone with Alien Bees instead.(I heard the light output was cleaner on the D-lite) I just found out no umbrellas I own will fit the D-Lites because they used a centuries old 7mm shaft size. When confronted, I was told they had to remain compatible for their old users with 7mm umbrellas. Why not make it 8mm with a screw to adjust it to 7. So much for staying with present standards.

Not to mention Elinchrom accessories are really pricey for an "entry level" kit, and portable battery for it is way beyond affordable for someone like me. Live and learn I guess.

Oct 23, 2009 at 02:00 PM

balls
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p.1 #7 · Alien Bee does it again

SkankPile wrote:
I hear about more vagabonds dieing than anything else. I wonder what is the culprit in these little solid state devices.

The inverter most likely. Mine blew up in less than a week of ownership. The switch likely shorted, and when I attempted to replace the blown fuses I was treated to a shower of sparks and a nasty black cloud of smoke.

There is a website (from a former pcb employee--probably sour grapes) proselytizing the flaws of vagabond II's. According to the website: the company in charge of making the inverter had no experience making them.

The PCB support staff was great. They had one shipped that day, and sent me a lable to UPS the defective unit back at my convenience. I used the new Vagabond II and it worked fine, but I am a little hesitant to keep it charging in my house, so it's been banished to the garage.

Oct 23, 2009 at 04:15 PM

SkankPile
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p.1 #8 · Alien Bee does it again

balls... love the screen name.

Oct 23, 2009 at 04:20 PM

balls
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p.1 #9 · Alien Bee does it again

SkankPile wrote:
balls... love the screen name.

Thanks. It was my nickname in college, a play on my rather long and ethnic sounding last name.

Oct 23, 2009 at 05:12 PM

balls
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p.1 #10 · Alien Bee does it again

I should temper my PCB post.

I've own a 2003 VW GTI.

Since owning it, it's had a brand new engine (at 40k miles). The ECM replaced twice. A cracked flywheel, which caused premature wearing on the clutch.

So maybe I just emit an aura of fail around me.

Oct 23, 2009 at 05:18 PM

oobie
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p.1 #11 · Alien Bee does it again

I've had/used one for a couple of years and it's still going strong. The battery is a little long in the tooth perhaps, but otherwise, it functions perfectly.

Oct 25, 2009 at 09:18 PM

Paul Buff
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p.1 #12 · Alien Bee does it again

balls wrote:
SkankPile wrote:
I hear about more vagabonds dieing than anything else. I wonder what is the culprit in these little solid state devices.

The inverter most likely. Mine blew up in less than a week of ownership. The switch likely shorted, and when I attempted to replace the blown fuses I was treated to a shower of sparks and a nasty black cloud of smoke.

There is a website (from a former pcb employee--probably sour grapes) proselytizing the flaws of vagabond II's. According to the website: the company in charge of making the inverter had no experience making them.

The PCB support staff was great. They had one shipped that day, and sent me a lable to UPS the defective unit back at my convenience. I used the new Vagabond II and it worked fine, but I am a little hesitant to keep it charging in my house, so it's been banished to the garage.

Not quite accurate. First, Chad Pryson was fired for having a very bad job attitude and mediocre engineering talents. We were polite and voluntarily gave him a good separation package even though he had be at work only a few months. He responded in a very childish "I'll get even" way as you may have seen, with inaccurate and libelous public website. Most people can read between the lines when looking at Chad's now defunct website.

Second, We severed ties with this particular inverter company after the first batch. That was close to two years ago, These things are really hard to get made properly - it's infant science. But our record has been pretty good now that we have ironed out most problems and improved the reliability.

I just did an analysis on AlienBees - made in our facility. The result came out indicating a 0.88% problem rate per year, going back to 2001. I believe that is very low by industry standards. Compare it to your VW experience and others.

Oct 26, 2009 at 01:48 AM

dmward
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p.1 #13 · Alien Bee does it again

It would be instructive to know how Paul defines "problem". That is an admirably low annual rate over 8 years.

Having been involved in telecom startups and product development I have an appreciation for the engineering effort and dependance on outside component suppliers.

It would also be instructive to hear what other companies delivering monolights have for an annualized "problem" rate. over that period of time.

I recall, a long time ago, pointing out to the manager of a large --4,000 plus endpoints-- what the MTBF was for the modems we were recommending. His response; "in another words, one of them is likely to fail every week, can you predict which ones?" And considering how the MTBF is calculated, based on the MTBF of each component Paul's analysis is impressive. I wonder how many units that represents and what the calculated MTBF is for the units. It sounds like they are probably exceeding the MTBF.

Based on that rate, and a reasonable gross margin, he could probably offer a life time warranty and still be handsomely profitable.

Now that would really mess up the competition.

Oct 26, 2009 at 03:36 AM

bacilonur
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p.1 #14 · Alien Bee does it again

It's not in PCB's best interest to have flawed products that he has to offer free support on, so I think he should be the one left to worry about that. The fact that he removed the boom from his product lineup is good evidence of that. The only other products with MTBFs that I suspect are rather low would be their 10 and 13ft stands and the ABR. Even then, I could be running a rental business with his gear and just keep enough backup gear for when something goes wrong and they'll do all the repairs or replacements I'd need practically for free.

Contrast that against the $600+ it cost me to replace the bulb & cover on one of my Profotos.

And, if anything, the fact that he dumped $200k worth of Vagabonds and scrapped the original AB Max plans (which would have been awesome for square wave inverters, but oh well) shows that he's at least trying to do things right even if it takes longer and more R&D instead of reaping cash from early adopters, like a certain company that starts with a P and ends in a W.

Oct 26, 2009 at 06:03 AM

balls
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p.1 #15 · Alien Bee does it again

Paul Buff wrote:
I just did an analysis on AlienBees - made in our facility. The result came out indicating a 0.88% problem rate per year, going back to 2001. I believe that is very low by industry standards. Compare it to your VW experience and others.

I'm not sure what the real failure rate is for VW's but here is a comparison of my experience with both VW and PCB Inc.

When my VW died, it was in the middle of the highway. Luckily I had a broham who lived nearby who sported me a ride. VWofA was happy to tow my GTi to the local dealer for a looksee. The next business day, the dealers mechanics tried as hard as they could to pin the problem on me. The engine wouldnt' turn over, so they poured over my service records and audited the ECM 3 different times to find fault. Finally they had to disassemble it to figure out the problem. Turns out the #5 piston shattered like glass. An unpossible occurance unless you were pulling like 3x the horses on the engine. The ECM data proved that I wasn't, so they had to fix it underwarranty.

When my vagabond II died, I called PCB Inc the next morning. I spoke to a support staff (Mike?). He confirmed my address, then told me a replacement model was on the way that day. I spent more time looking up the phone number to call, than actually talking with support. The new unit arrived and has worked for me with no issues.

I think PCB's next business venture should be cars.

Oct 26, 2009 at 06:20 AM

EA6B
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p.1 #16 · Alien Bee does it again

If they made cars, everyone would be driving in the Buff, so to speak!

E

Oct 26, 2009 at 06:45 AM

dmward
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p.1 #17 · Alien Bee does it again

It's not in any manufactuers interest to have flawed products. It is however, a reality that perfection is expensive. So quality control measures are instituted to attempt to find any flawed product prior to shipment to customers. But like everything else that process is imperfect. So, some get through.

It sounds like PCB, while being a price leader, is also a quality leader. With the new lights, I think we'll realize they have also become a technology leader. To say nothing about their outstanding customer service.

However, driving "in the buff" is a scary thought.

Oct 26, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Deezie
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p.1 #18 · Alien Bee does it again

Did you guys take the time to read the article? Clearly there's bad blood between the Paul and this former employee. I would guess that there's a little bit of truth on both sides. http://www.paulcbuff.net/old_index.html

Oct 26, 2009 at 02:54 PM

E-Vener
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p.1 #19 · Alien Bee does it again

Deezie,

yes I read it a while back in fact.

Afterwards I checked in with three people I've gotten to know who have been in the recording and music industry since the 1960s and they each said great things about Paul's music industry career, the products he developed, and confirmed that Paul C. Buff was very much that he was involved in the production of the music he says he was, in introducing the recording tools he says he had a hand in, and that he did indeed have a relationship with Frank Zappa. Each of them all wondered what he was up to these days .

So based on that and nothing else I tend to go with the "disgruntled employee with an axe to bury" theory as to the validity of that person's rants. Especially snce that is what he leads off his attack with.

No doubt Mr. Buff has a strong ego and a temper but in my experience that can either make for a very rewarding or very difficult working experience -- depending on the employee's personality especially if the boss really knows what he's doing and how competent or incompetent and strong / weak willed the employee is.

To be clear, I neither work for, nor have I ever met with or even spoken to Paul Buff and outside of independently reviewing a couple of the Paul C. Buff company products for the magazine I write for, I have never had any business dealings with him or his company.

Oct 26, 2009 at 04:07 PM

Steve Ickes
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p.1 #20 · Alien Bee does it again

I don't care how much you do or don't pay for a product. At some point, it will fail, break, etc. That's just a fact of life. The issue for me isn't that something broke, it's how quickly, easily, and stress-free I can get it resolved. As an IT guy, I've wasted too much time on hold, getting my calls dropped, having my calls and emails go unanswered for days or weeks at a time, and listening to a vendor or manufacturer try and shift blame.

If all companies did customer service like Paul C. Buff, the world would be a happier place.

And as far as former employees, disgruntled or not . . . who cares. Whatever it was or wasn't like to work for Paul C. Buff has no bearing on my satisfaction with their products. And although Paul's background sounds interesting, whether or not it is factual has also no impact on my decision to purchase their products.

Oct 26, 2009 at 04:36 PM

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