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Great Plains Audio-Still in Business?

MRL_Audio

MRL_Audio

RIP 2022
Does anyone know if Great Plains Audio is still in business. Many of the links on the website do not work. The worst is the contact link. Don't know how to reach them. Recently acquired a set of nice Model 14's and want to talk about some potential upgrades. My understanding is this is the place to go to for everything Altec Lansing. If any one has contact info can you PM me? Thanks.
 
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DO NOT try to contact them via e-mail- call them at their posted #........they should still be open and thriving AFIK.....
DC
 
First - thanks for the replies. Perhaps I am brain dead. The link to "Contact Us" doesn't work so I can't get to a phone number which is why I came here... am I missing something?
 
I thought the statement that the OP didn't know how to contact Great Plains was pretty ludicrous until I actually took a look at their website to look for the phone number....... you have to dig for it.

(405) 789-0221

I'll send a message to Todd White, as he has a close connection to Great Plains. I know the website isn't their first concern, but the phone number shouldn't be hard to find!

A lot of the links don't work, becasue they were just links to Altec Pro. I think the old Altec Pro site disappeared with the name changing hands again.
 
Back when I was interested in a build with their products they were slow to respond to emails, and when they did they were out of stock on pretty much everything. Now about a month ago I was ready to give them another shot, fired off another email and never heard anything back. Needless to say I will not be using their drivers for any future builds.

-Steven
 
StevenZ said:
Back when I was interested in a build with their products they were slow to respond to emails, and when they did they were out of stock on pretty much everything. Now about a month ago I was ready to give them another shot, fired off another email and never heard anything back. Needless to say I will not be using their drivers for any future builds.

-Steven
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You can lead a horse to water........................
 
StevenZ said:
Back when I was interested in a build with their products they were slow to respond to emails, and when they did they were out of stock on pretty much everything. Now about a month ago I was ready to give them another shot, fired off another email and never heard anything back. Needless to say I will not be using their drivers for any future builds.

-Steven
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Dude, you need to realize a small business with a couple employees is up to their neck, 60 hours a week, in production, ordering, receiving, shipping, and talking on the phone. There isn't more than ten minutes a day to spare for the internet and e-mails.

You need to get over your demand for feeling significant and fit into another's preferred means of communication.

Some businesses are face to face, some are person to person, or in person. Others are phone only, others are completely over the internet, and some you will never see a person, but you will see the results of a transaction. If you can't figure things out, or take the word of many of us who have painlessly dealt with an outstanding company, then you are a paticular type of gentleman.
 
Absolutely true

Boy are you right on there.




sheltie dave said:
Dude, you need to realize a small business with a couple employees is up to their neck, 60 hours a week, in production, ordering, receiving, shipping, and talking on the phone. There isn't more than ten minutes a day to spare for the internet and e-mails.

You need to get over your demand for feeling significant and fit into another's preferred means of communication.

Some businesses are face to face, some are person to person, or in person. Others are phone only, others are completely over the internet, and some you will never see a person, but you will see the results of a transaction. If you can't figure things out, or take the word of many of us who have painlessly dealt with an outstanding company, then you are a paticular type of gentleman.
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Hey I've got a great idea. Let's all gang up on the guy who tried to do business with GPA and was left wanting more. Sounds good to me!

The fact is, I contacted them about a year ago, wanted to place an order, was told they don't have anything in stock, so I fired off another email asking for an ETA on when the drivers I was interested in might be there. I never received a response. So, like I said, last month I fired off the same email in which I requested an ETA and asked again what the status of their drivers was. Again, no reply.

Regardless of which way I've contacted them, I should have gotten an answer. I'm not looking for a reply within 10 minutes. Hell, a few days would even be fine for a reply, but to completely disregard any potential business and not even have the time to reply with one sentence stating the availability would have been nice.

And Dave, your attitude is not needed. Who do you think I am? I am one of the easiest people to deal with and have patience way beyond what I should. I'm not slandering anyone and I know more about running a small business than most. How so? I've been working for a small family business for the last 10 years and in the last 2 years I have jumped aboard another small business consisting of 2 employees, my boss and I. So for you to have the audacity to tell me I need to get over a demand for feeling significant is absolutely ridiculous. I know how it is to work 60+ hour weeks and not have a day of vacation in over 2 years. I know what it means to have zero personal time so much so that it stresses personal relationship. So, in short, piss off. You don't know me.

With that said, I make time for my customers, no matter if it's during work hours or at home. Because you know what? Without customers and without customer satisfaction your company will sink. I'm just merely explaining my experience with them, so take it or leave it. I don't care which you do.

-Steven
 
A person would be doing himself a big disservice by no using their products. Bill is a real nice person and concentrates on the products they have. They have always answered the phone when I called them (not to say they have for other people). I just bought there 1200 hz crossover for Model 19 but am using it on my 416-8C and 399-8A. When I called them they didn't have the face plate in yet for the crossover and every couple of days I would check for two weeks and they finally got them in from the manufacture that they were using to build them. But use the phone not e-mail.

I went down and picked my original drivers up, but this time had the crossovers shipped to me. As I understand when they ship their drivers they are packed second to none. I've been extremely satisfied with their products and service.

Just don't get too upset with their website, e-mails and lack of answering the phone. Any other company it may sink the company for this kind of behavior, but it shouldn't with this company because once you get their products you won't be disappointed.

Just hang in there and use the phone (405-789-0221) not e-mail. And yes their website is kind of a dead end when you try to click on something and it leaves you a broken site message. That is just the charm of a busy not enough staffed company. I know a person says why don't they hire more people. But they are still open and make these decisions so they can stay open and keep offering fine products.

Treat this company as a little local company you deal with and trust, like your local interior trim company or one man house repair guy. You trust them.

That ought to get people in an uproar and say I will never use GPA for anything. Just understand and have a humor about it.
 
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There is a reason Great Plains Audio is the best Altec supplier in the world - they have the best(original) tooling for most of what they make, and they are some of the nicest folks to deal with - OVER THE PHONE.

I have purchased recone kits, drivers, and specialty parts from them for close to fifteen years, without a problem. I used the phone.

From your scenario, you have not purchased a single thing from them, and evidently are unwilling to use their preferred method of contact.

Standing up for a company whose owners have invested their life savings, time, and faith wholeheartedly to providing a needed service to the Altec community does not constitute bullying or piling on, even if you perceive that it reflects poorly on you.

Bill does not run his company in the same fashion that you run yours. He follows a phone based communication model, and he is not going to change overnight what has worked well for him for years. A reasonable or humble businessperson both uses all available communication tools, and PREFERENTIALLY uses the most effective recognized communication tool, to achieve their desired results.
 
I agree and I'm happy you've had such a great time dealing with them. Good for you. What I'm getting at is my personal experience. Obviously it's not the same as yours. If you don't want to deal with email orders, don't list an email address as part of the contact information. Obviously.

For me, my time is valuable so my preferred method of communication is email as I can type out a list of questions and not worry about further fluff conversation. It's also a way for me to keep records such as ETA dates and prices or information on specific models. I don't mind calling a company, in fact, the company I work for accepts both email and phone orders. It doesn't matter which way they come in. All I was trying to state is my own experience with attempting to purchase one of their products. Their replies were swift when I first contacted them, then there were none.

To all who are reading this thread. It's obvious that their preferred method of contact is via phone. So if you have questions or concerns, call them. Don't be an idiot like me and actually try to contact them by their listed email and have information in writing. Silly me to use a current method of communication. Tsk Tsk.
 
I can see both sides of this discussion. However, if a company does not intend to answer their emails in a timely fashion, or at all, a link should not be provided on their website and they should inform potential customers to use the phone. Doing so would eliminate frustrated customers and the bad publicity that comes from threads like this. I too have been a small business owner and I worked many years in customer service. Problems like this are easy to solve and quite frankly inexcusible. My opinion, BTW, is no refection on the owners or employees of GPA as I do not know them and have never done business with them.

cubdog
 
Yeah, c'mon guys, if GPA mostly only functions via phone calls, they ought to have a giant phone number on their homepage and state their preference, rather than no number on the homepage and a broken contact link. It's ridiculous to think that suggesting as much is some kind of slanderous attack on the owner.
 
Their replies were swift when I first contacted them, then there were none.
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This too would not leave a good impression on me.

Apologies for my previous snarky post, StevenZ. I was unaware that you had received email responses from them.

It's my understanding that they attempted to improve email communications a while back, and that might have been the window in which you contacted them. My WAG is that email correspondence simply consumes too many valuable man hours that are better used elsewhere.

A couple good points made in the posts above.

FWIW, many of us started doing business with GPA long ago, before they had a website, or under the old website which displayed their phone number on the main page.
 
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Was not looking to stir up a pot here. Just looking for contact info which I have. Thanks to all who replied. On to the phone...
 
Yeah MRL, they are still around. Just had them clean up a set of 808-8B drivers and turn them into 802-8Gs with new diaphragms a couple of weeks ago.
As was said above calling is probably the best way to reach Bill.
 
I'm involved in restoring a pair of '50s Altecs. GPA just reconed four 803s for this project. They've been received back (took about 3 weeks, I guess), and will be installed on Friday. Looking forward to hearing them.
 
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