When a vendor you've paid good money to won't even give you a decent way of contacting them to handle problems, what can you do? Well, at the very least you can make a little noise about them on the Gripe Line, as one reader chose to do after he got the silent treatment from high-end audio equipment manufacturer Tascam. The reader, an IT administrator at a university, wrote: "I found an extreme example of either When a vendor you’ve paid good money to won’t even give you a decent way of contacting them to handle problems, what can you do? Well, at the very least you can make a little noise about them on the Gripe Line, as one reader chose to do after he got the silent treatment from high-end audio equipment manufacturer Tascam.The reader, an IT administrator at a university, wrote:“I found an extreme example of either corporate stupidity or a total lack of concern for customers in the last two weeks. We have a good-sized audio system that was installed in a new building in the last two years. We are now trying to implement some of the bells and whistles on some of the gear and need to get more detailed information than the manual has about an input for emergency paging. Note this installation is used as a showcase by the installer. The vendor is Tascam and this is a professional installation, not a consumer level or small business.” “I went to Tascam’s website to get a number for support. Okay, no toll-free number so I dropped an email to the support address – saves waiting on the phone. A week goes by and nothing. I call — get someone and get shunted to the voicemail of the tech who handles this unit (he hasn’t arrived at work yet) so I leave a voicemail. No response to this day. In the meantime I’ve called twice and both times gotten a message about ‘We are either at lunch or all techs are busy. Please call back.’ NO chance to leave a message, no way to tell them to call me. This is insane! No way for a customer to leave a message — instead I’m supposed to spend my time playing phone roulette — dialing Tascam and hoping someone will be there. Well, not here. I have a call into the rep for Tascam who handled our account. At this point my attitude is that on anything I have a say-so on, Tascam will not be on the vendor list. We pay good money for the equipment and don’t expect to have to play phone tag. This is professional equipment and I expect the ability to at least leave a message.”“Lest you think I’m down on all companies I need to praise one. Some of the equipment in this same building is from QSC Audio and they have been more than helpful — above and beyond the call of duty. They will be getting my business but unless Tascam changes their attitude they won’t see me again.”Read and post comments about this story here. Technology Industry