growlingsoulpup
New member
Hello all. Would like to share with you guys an unpleasant experience my band had with Fourtones recently. I'm not posting this with the intent of flaming Fourtones or defaming them in any matter, I'm just hoping to share this with the rest of the local music community and perhaps in the process, get some answers.
My band has been jamming at Fourtones regularly on a weekly basis for quite some time now. Normally, what we'll do is to book the studio for next week the moment we finish a session, so we won't need to worry about studio bookings for the rest of the week. Last Thursday, as per usual, we booked the studio for the next week when we finished our session. At that point of time, we were informed that the slot we requested was available, and our booking was confirmed.
However, a few days later, we were contacted by Fourtones and informed that the slots we had requested were not available. Instead, we were offered a booking at a different timing. As the timing did not conform to our schedules, we declined the offer. Although we were unhappy with the inconsistency, we decided to let it slide as we were long-time customers with Fourtones.
On Friday this week, however, we attempted to make a booking for next week. When Fourtones was contacted, we were told to make our booking via SMS, which was followed by an abrupt hanging-up. Rationalizing that as one of the better-known studios in Singapore, Fourtones might be very busy, we ignored this unprofessional customer treatment as well. However, our booking SMS was not replied to, and we only received word back on our booking request when we made the effort to contact Fourtones again today, upon which we were told that the slots we had requested were not available. We therefore made a booking with another studio. About an hour ago, we were contacted by Fourtones again and told that our slot was available after some shuffling.
Now, I don't wish to make a mountain out of a molehill, but in my opinion Fourtones has behaved rather unprofessionally by first cancelling a booking we had made previously and telling us that it was no longer available, and subsequently marginalizing our attempts to book a slot for next week. I might be a tad idealistic, but speaking for myself, I was under the impression that one's word is one's bond.
Therefore, if a studio is to confirm a booking with me, I would expect them to not cancel it without previous warning or explanation. I would also expect a certain level of courtesy when dealing with customers. I understand that the "brudder" nature of the local scene might lend itself to a certain amount of familiarity, but hanging up abruptly on a customer is, to me, crossing the line. I would certainly expect the studio to inform me if the slot I have requested is available and not for them to wait until we have to make the first move and call them up. At the very least, I would expect a reply to the message that was requested at the expense of courtesy.
This might all be a big misunderstanding, and I am aware that I have only one side of the issue presented here. That is why I sincerely hope that Fourtones can clarify this matter. As regular customers of Fourtones, we value our consumer/business relationship with them. Regretfully, these events have led us to doubt if Fourtones places the same value on that relationship. Hopefully, a full explanation, and apology if needed, will be provided.
My band has been jamming at Fourtones regularly on a weekly basis for quite some time now. Normally, what we'll do is to book the studio for next week the moment we finish a session, so we won't need to worry about studio bookings for the rest of the week. Last Thursday, as per usual, we booked the studio for the next week when we finished our session. At that point of time, we were informed that the slot we requested was available, and our booking was confirmed.
However, a few days later, we were contacted by Fourtones and informed that the slots we had requested were not available. Instead, we were offered a booking at a different timing. As the timing did not conform to our schedules, we declined the offer. Although we were unhappy with the inconsistency, we decided to let it slide as we were long-time customers with Fourtones.
On Friday this week, however, we attempted to make a booking for next week. When Fourtones was contacted, we were told to make our booking via SMS, which was followed by an abrupt hanging-up. Rationalizing that as one of the better-known studios in Singapore, Fourtones might be very busy, we ignored this unprofessional customer treatment as well. However, our booking SMS was not replied to, and we only received word back on our booking request when we made the effort to contact Fourtones again today, upon which we were told that the slots we had requested were not available. We therefore made a booking with another studio. About an hour ago, we were contacted by Fourtones again and told that our slot was available after some shuffling.
Now, I don't wish to make a mountain out of a molehill, but in my opinion Fourtones has behaved rather unprofessionally by first cancelling a booking we had made previously and telling us that it was no longer available, and subsequently marginalizing our attempts to book a slot for next week. I might be a tad idealistic, but speaking for myself, I was under the impression that one's word is one's bond.
Therefore, if a studio is to confirm a booking with me, I would expect them to not cancel it without previous warning or explanation. I would also expect a certain level of courtesy when dealing with customers. I understand that the "brudder" nature of the local scene might lend itself to a certain amount of familiarity, but hanging up abruptly on a customer is, to me, crossing the line. I would certainly expect the studio to inform me if the slot I have requested is available and not for them to wait until we have to make the first move and call them up. At the very least, I would expect a reply to the message that was requested at the expense of courtesy.
This might all be a big misunderstanding, and I am aware that I have only one side of the issue presented here. That is why I sincerely hope that Fourtones can clarify this matter. As regular customers of Fourtones, we value our consumer/business relationship with them. Regretfully, these events have led us to doubt if Fourtones places the same value on that relationship. Hopefully, a full explanation, and apology if needed, will be provided.
