Divided by 13 Customer Service

[krbentley]

I have seen threads before that have questioned Fred's concern for his customers. I want to share an interaction I had last week. I have a CJ11 that has a handle that was fraying that I wanted to replace. I called Fred to see if I could order one from him or if he could refer me to where he buys his handles. He simply asked for my shipping address and the color of the handle I wanted. Two days later I have a new handle that he sent Fed Ex Express at no cost to me. Having dealt with Fred a hand full of times over the last couple years I have only had positive interactions. Thanks to Fred for taking care of me and building some of my very favorite amps.

[Simto]

I've had same experiences, the couple of times i've called him we've always chatted for a while and he shares a lot of his knowledge, very helpful and cool guy.

[jwilliams]

I spoke to Fred on the phone a few months ago and he was very, very helpful. He was more than willing to answer any questions I had and told me anything and everything I could have ever wanted to know about his amps. Great guy.

[hathisisfunnyha]

+1000

If you ever are thinking about buying a /13 give him a call. He will first off ask you about what style of amp you are going towards and will point you in the direction of the best amp whether its in his stable or not. Super nice guy too

[wstsidela]

Another fan of Fred. I talked to him for two days and ended up buying another amp. He was nothing but gracious. I will own a /13 one day.

[Eskimo_Joe]

That is great, but that's not exactly a tough problem to solve. Try calling him about a noisy amp that picks up radio stations that you spent 4k on and see how that call goes.

[Simto]

That is great, but that's not exactly a tough problem to solve. Try calling him about a noisy amp that picks up radio stations that you spent 4k on and see how that call goes.

I did, but in my case, i found out it wasn't the amp, but my house that isn't grounded properly, because it's totally quiet whenever i play it anywhere other than home. Lucky for me my amp room is in my basement so it doesn't pick any radios up there.
He acutally told me he had the same problem before moving his shop somewhere else because his old shop had grounding issues too.
Heard stories too about him kinda denying the fact they can pick up RF, but didn't when i spoke with him.

[Mike9]

I emailed Fred about my Dyna Ranger. I got an email back that same day simply saying: CALL ME

I called and we talked about my concern and he said to try this and that and if that didn't work to send it in. This is a second had pedal too - that's concern for one's product. I finally sorted it out and now I really like this beast.

[peanutavalon]

Sorry to rant here but I totally disagree with some of the above posters. In my experience the customer service is awful..I've had two amps show up doa direct from the factory. I call and ask nicely for some helpful trouble shooting tips and his response is basically "what do you want me to do about it? Got any extra 5789 tubes? It worked when I tested it..."
He has a used car salesman attitude. He's nice as pie til he gets his money after that..tough sh%$..you have to fend for yourself. He also told me he'd send some extra preamp tubes since the ones I had were doa...never sent them. Never responded to any emails. I've bought three of his amps direct because I like them alot. Gig them every night...but now I think I'm done with this guy. He doesn't take care of the working man musician...only rock star Knighted royalty.

[guitarstar2005]

A-1 guy!

[The Kid]

Another fan of Fred here.

[popinvasion]

I have 2 D13's. had 5 in total at one point. Love Fred's work.

[Gearopenia]

While I was calling to buy new he was very helpful. Then I bought a used one and had some questions and he had no time.

[Crash-VR]

Ahhh... Whatever... If your amp is picking up radio stations,try playing the guitar and see if you can still hear them. There are compromises to some circuits. If you have a bad tube, welcome to the world of modern production tubes and careless shipping companies... My experiences, new and used, with Fred have been nothing but positive. I do feel he, like me, doesn't have time for Bulls*^t. I read and heard him say many time his amps are designed for stage (read gig) volumes. Use them there and you will "get it"...

[peanutavalon]

I have 2 D13's. had 5 in total at one point. Love Fred's work.

I love Freds work too which is why I have a few of his amps...I have whole heatedly tried to have a friendly conversations with the man about repair and trouble shooting and he is short and smug on the phone. It's not a great way to treat customers who have spent over $5k on your product. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day 5 times.

[popinvasion]

I love Freds work too which is why I have a few of his amps...I have whole heatedly tried to have a friendly conversations with the man about repair and trouble shooting and he is short and smug on the phone. It's not a great way to treat customers who have spent over $5k on your product. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day 5 times.

Fred has been great with me on the phone, but I did have an instance where he had a bit of attitude. It seems to me that he does not like email, wants people to call, and he is building while talking. So he had a moment where he was short, to the point, and not sugar coating anything. I think you can find him have a day here or there like that. I took it slightly personal, but then I called him again and it was a great conversation.

[melvins]

I've had good experiences with him on the phone, very informative and helpful. Makes a killer product too.

[ToneDoctorUK]

We are by no means Fred's biggest dealer and one his newest in the UK, we are a small but growing business.

A previous poster commented that "He doesn't take care of the working man musician...only rock star Knighted royalty."

I couldn't disagree more, Fred has bent over backwards to help us on board, happy to advise and share his knowledge, super fast delivery, cross-channel shipping with no issues unlike other companies I've dealt with, A1 products every time.

It's a pleasure to work with him, he prefers phone to email but that's no bad thing, you can't beat a real conversation rather than trying to play email tennis.

Many could learn from D13's passion to their craft and work ethos.

[kevin hart]

Big fan of Fred and his amps for over 8 years.

[GasMask]

I suggest anyone calling Fred (or any builder for that matter) to start the conversation by asking him if he has a few minutes to talk. He might be right in the middle of soldering or working with a client. He's a hard worker. One morning (years ago) the phone rings at a little after 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday, and my wife answers. I told her to tell whoever it was I was asleep! (been playing out the night before 'till the wee hours) She comes back and says it's Fred Taccone calling- so I took the call! :jo Now, I'm in Austin, and Fred's in CA- 2 hours behind me. He's up working just after 5:00 a.m on a Saturday!

He's big on the 5879 tube. I think this is the cause of so many noise issues and other problems. This is a temperamental tube IMO.

[spiltmilk]

I bought my ERT on eBay and despite the fact that Fred didn't get a dime of my purchase, he's been nothing but helpful when I've needed something--even when I could tell he was busy. When I later bought a cab from him, it was ready 3 weeks ahead of schedule and he overnighted it to me.

[rhinocaster]

I've had great conversations with Fred where he's been great and helpful, and I've been totally blown off (when I called him as a dealer) by him too.

Strange when you have someone that can be one of the good guys in the business one day and then deal with someone that could be the poster child for everything that's wrong with these small, boutique builders the next day.

If he could minimize his bad interactions with customers (whatever causes them) he'd have a sterling reputation because when he's good, he's really good.

Makes great amps too. :)

[rockinrobby]

Fred is simply the Best... #1 in my book!!! Oyeah the Divided by 13's ROCK!!!!!!!!!

['58Bassman]

While I was calling to buy new he was very helpful. Then I bought a used one and had some questions and he had no time.

Maybe he was just busy. That kind of thing happens. Besides- he won't get much/any building done if he's on the phone all day.

[rhinocaster]

Maybe he was just busy. That kind of thing happens. Besides- he won't get much/any building done if he's on the phone all day.

Certainly, anyone can get busy and be short on the phone, but when you're a dealer that just sent a big check to someone and a pedal gets dodgy, you don't want to hear, "Well, it worked when I sent it out" with a snippy attitude when you're just looking for info on fixing it.

When you're not accusing but Fred still gets defensive, it's troubling. Let's just take care of the problem Fred. The same is true when people complain of interference or radio noise in the amps and they get, "I've never heard this before" when this problem has been reported for years with /13 amps.

You can't just explain the bad attitude away to those that have actually experienced it.

[sickboy79]

I had a great experience calling Fred. I also bought my amp from eBay. He was nothing but helpful and glad I was digging the amp!

[pir8matt]

I've called 3 or 4 times. He was a little short once, but the other times he was more than gracious and talked much longer than I would have expected him to, and was very informative and forthcoming.

I had some RF issues at one point and it turned out to be cables that were picking them up. An astute soundman flushed out the problem when I was at a rare early soundcheck.

Great product and I think Fred is a cool guy, but I think a lot of this constant back and forth about whether his customer service is good or not (all provided by him, of course) could be largely circumvented by having better FAQ's and manuals available via the /13 website. Someday maybe.

[The Kid]

I have seen threads before that have questioned Fred's concern for his customers. I want to share an interaction I had last week. I have a CJ11 that has a handle that was fraying that I wanted to replace. I called Fred to see if I could order one from him or if he could refer me to where he buys his handles. He simply asked for my shipping address and the color of the handle I wanted. Two days later I have a new handle that he sent Fed Ex Express at no cost to me. Having dealt with Fred a hand full of times over the last couple years I have only had positive interactions. Thanks to Fred for taking care of me and building some of my very favorite amps.

He just did the same thing for my EDT combo. He just said email me your address and I'll send two right out free of charge.

I told him that I only needed one, and he said, "Hopefully you'll keep gigging as much as you do and need the second one someday!"

He's always been awesome every time I've dealt with him. I always ask if he's got a minute though before I launch into my explanation. He hasn't turned me away yet.

Awesome guy, awesome amps.