To some this may seem silly, but I think this is a valid question.  For those of us who spent thousands of dollars on Motif XF8’s, we are not eligible for any of the new promotions or bonus packs that come out.

In particular, I purchased my Motif XF8 (I did get the Premium Pack which is cool in itself), but a few weeks later the white Motif came out and gave twice the promotion I received.

Then most recently, if you purchased a Motif XF, they gave away a free portable speaker!

Now, I’m not a greedy person or asking something for nothing, but shouldn’t Yamaha at the very least offer us some of these goodies at a greatly reduced rate?  After all, we spent thousands of dollars on this equipment.  I even went all out to trick out my Motif as far as I could.

When I asked Yamaha regarding this, they told me there was nothing they could do and are basically ignoring me.  I consider that poor customer relations.

I doubt this will change Yamaha’s mind, but I’ve been buying their gear since 1976 (I’m sure many of you have as well).

I do think Yamaha should give that some consideration along with buying a Motif.  I’m sure that some of us would have held off on buying a Motif if we knew a much cooler promotion was down the pike by just a few weeks.

Maybe contacting Yamaha in numbers (the old strength in numbers) will get them to change their policy and reward us in some way for spending a lot of dough on their instruments.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore the Motif XF8 (a bit complicated and confusing at times, but we all know that), but I’m not too keen on their policy.

I’d love to hear what others have to say about this.  The Motif XF is currently the flagship keyboard but the MOX is getting all of the attention lately (except for the new DVD coming out in December).

Peace

I bought my XF8 3 years ago for the same price it sells for now.  No promotions, no rebates, no Yamaha incentives.  No complaints from me, the machine was worth the price by itself.

Jim Shoe - 06 December 2014 06:30 AM

When I asked Yamaha regarding this, they told me there was nothing they could do and are basically ignoring me.  I consider that poor customer relations.

Sorry to suggest this, but you do sound a bit greedy.

You must have contacted them several times to be ignored, otherwise how do you know you’re being ignored? They clearly answered your first attempt at contact.

Personally, I’d ignore anyone who already got a promotion deal and felt that they deserved a better one in hindsight.

You could be like that about everything you wanted to buy and you could also hold out for a promotional deal that may never come...and never buy anything.

You are forgetting to consider the value of the time in which you’ve owned your XF8 prior to the incentives being offered. If you’ve gigged, recorded, composed, or just enjoyed playing with it already are you willing to trade that compensation for the incentive now being offered?

Every product has a manufacturing/marketing life cycle. At some point the item is made available for purchase, and at some later time its gone, often replaced with an “improved” version. Is there ever an ideal time to buy a product during that cycle?

Early purchasers get to use the “new” technology sooner, but for the privilege might have to deal with bugs and pay more than those who buy later. Later purchasers might get a unit with fewer problems, and pay a bit less and/or receive promotional items if sales aren’t as robust as the manufacturer would like. Those who wait until the product is nearing the end of production might pay the least, and/or get very good promotional items, but be disappointed when the “latest greatest” model comes out shortly after their purchase.

My personal approach is to buy something when I want/need the features it has, and I’ll usually try to get the best deal I can at the time. Understanding how things are marketed, I don’t expect the manufacturer (or dealer) to provide me with promotional items that are offered to entice later purchasers, although sometimes that’s done for reasons of good will.

What I do expect is for a manufacturer to make good on any problems that are “manufacturing defects”, such as bugs in an operating system. I’m appreciative when firmware is updated to include improvements that are found in later production units.

You might even consider purchasing used gear, which has the benefit of being less expensive but also has the accompanying risks. Buy when/where you will, there are potential advantages and disadvantages at any time.

Most of you gave good advice, I am a big boy, it’s just that I purchased the Motif XF (which we all know didn’t cost $50) and a week or two later the promotion I got was doubled and they wouldn’t do anything about it.  And like most people in this day and age, money is tight and there were a few things in the new promotion I would have loved to enjoy.

True, the Motif XF8 without any promotion is a glorious instrument (which I do state).

I must have just got a bad Yamaha rep because this one guy was actually rude.

And to philwoodmusic, I am not a greedy person.  In fact, if you knew me, you’d know me to be a very kind and giving person.  I had a bad experience, decided to see what people would say, and that’s that.

With what’s on the Motif, I could spend a lifetime just understanding all of it’s nuances.

It’s just when you miss twice the promotion by a week or two, that can be hard to swallow.  That’s all.

The one thing about blogs, forums, etc., is with just words on the screen, the intent, emotion, etc. can be misconstrued.  People may think I wrote it for I hate Yamaha thread, but that’s not the case.  I have purchased their equipment (and a lot of it) since 1976 and love every item I have.  To receive a rude person from their customer service department, and receive no compensation for being such a loyal user of their equipment, well no other way to say it, I was hurt and disappointed.

piddy mentioned it better.  Yes, playing the Motif has given me great joy.  If all of you read what I wrote above, perhaps it will give you a clearer picture of what I was trying to convey.

And once again philwoodmusic, no, and I mean no, I am not greedy.  I am quite the opposite.

Nuff said.

Peace

There’s something to be said about building a good relationship with a local dealer. When you drop $$$$ in a store year after year, they often will be glad to write up a second receipt with a date that lets you qualify...especially if you bought the instrument less than a month before the offer.

I’ve spent thousands with a few online vendors but I would never expect something like that from them.

meatballfulton, I do understand that completely.  I’ve seen promotions with dated equipment where they give away the store.  I’m not going to repeat what I wrote because you can read what I wrote above.

And yes, I adore the Motif XF.  I do feel blessed I received a promotion and the update 1.5 right out of the box.

Only thing I’ll restate is I was disappointed there a couple of things I missed getting by a week or two that I would have liked from a company I have grown to adore, love, be loyal to and respect, became (unfortunately) just like the other big corporations out there.  I did get a very good customer service rep admit that very statement to me as well as the GM from the store I purchased it from.  Things used to be different.

Remember I have been buying Yamaha gear since 1976.  True, times change, but in this country we the consumers have to stop letting corporate America transform their mindset into a huge egocentric thing where the consumer and their loyalty means nothing.  For some (perhaps many or most), that could potentially hurt their sales.

Sorry for the soapbox, but I’m a bit older and have seen these changes happen through the years that perhaps some of you may not have.

Peace

Jim Shoe - 06 December 2014 12:40 PM

Most of you gave good advice, I am a big boy, it’s just that I purchased the Motif XF (which we all know didn’t cost $50) and a week or two later the promotion I got was doubled and they wouldn’t do anything about it.  And like most people in this day and age, money is tight and there were a few things in the new promotion I would have loved to enjoy.

True, the Motif XF8 without any promotion is a glorious instrument (which I do state).

I must have just got a bad Yamaha rep because this one guy was actually rude.

And to philwoodmusic, I am not a greedy person.  In fact, if you knew me, you’d know me to be a very kind and giving person.  I had a bad experience, decided to see what people would say, and that’s that.

With what’s on the Motif, I could spend a lifetime just understanding all of it’s nuances.

It’s just when you miss twice the promotion by a week or two, that can be hard to swallow.  That’s all.

The one thing about blogs, forums, etc., is with just words on the screen, the intent, emotion, etc. can be misconstrued.  People may think I wrote it for I hate Yamaha thread, but that’s not the case.  I have purchased their equipment (and a lot of it) since 1976 and love every item I have.  To receive a rude person from their customer service department, and receive no compensation for being such a loyal user of their equipment, well no other way to say it, I was hurt and disappointed.

piddy mentioned it better.  Yes, playing the Motif has given me great joy.  If all of you read what I wrote above, perhaps it will give you a clearer picture of what I was trying to convey.

And once again philwoodmusic, no, and I mean no, I am not greedy.  I am quite the opposite.

Nuff said.

Peace

You might be a big boy and a perfectly nice guy, but do you even read the way you write things?

Ever considered that?

philwoodmusic, the Motifator website is a forum for understanding a complex instrument, give good advice and ask questions.

I do not believe that the people who run Motifator intended for people to cut people down or attack them for a simple comment or question.

In the future, I would stick to the subject matter and avoid attacking, yes I said attacking a person who simply threw something out there to see what others had to say about an experience and question that was on my mind.

As the old saying goes, if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say it at all.

What you wrote wasn’t constructive.  The others that responded were constructive.  You are being destructive.

I heard some thoughts on the matter, I’m done with it.

Thank you to all of you that gave constructive and thought out opinions.

You’ve been offered a stack of sage advice which you don’t have to like at all, of course, but to pull the ‘I outrank all of you by age and experience’ move when there is no way of telling that about any of us is quite interesting and rather unfair.

Now, I’m destructive and not allowed to post....because you say so?

Nobody is attacking you at all, and if you read what I said, I said you sounded greedy, and not that I thought you were, I hope the apology that I prefixed it with should have been enough to get that over.

Cheers!

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Sadly, we live in a world where we’re now trained to expect ‘more’ every time we buy anything. Anything that just ‘is what it is’ comes across as a rip-off. It’s a shame that Yamaha feels it necessary to shovel coal on this fire to quite the extent they seem to but they are under enormous pressure from the big box stores to candy-coat every item they offer with other stuff, especially in the run up to holidays.

That said, Yamaha should (also) recognize that along with the benefits of endless promotions comes the potential of negative response when customers feel like they missed out on something. We - and I’m sure this applies to the OP - are not ‘greedy,’ it’s just that we’ve been successfully programmed! And, to the OP’s original point, Yamaha representatives should exercise better discretion when it comes to making a customer feel like they’re valued and being taken care of.

Certainly during the five years when Keyfax ran Steinberg Upgrades for Yamaha we insisted that there were grace periods and allowances made.

YamahaMac, you sound like a decent deep person who gets it.  Of course everything is about timing, but the way companies just gave up loyalty to customers is very frustrating.

psychobabble, your ID name is perfect.  You did not read and understand what I myself or YamahaMac wrote.

This was not just about me.  It is about everyone who purchased a Motif, and (yes I know it does not apply for the most part to this forum) but corporate America itself.

Corporate America used to for the most part a glorious, caring, family orientated thing that cared about loyalty and did something to keep customers.  That no longer exists.  Unfortunately even with a company I highly respected like Yamaha.

Once again, thank you to all of you who wrote constructive and well thought out responses to a simple question to see what people thought.  Some gave it serious thought, some didn’t.

Peace

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