Peavey: Undercover Boss

[Psychobilly444]

Has anyone seen this!? Usually, this show points out problems with companies and then the awesome boss fixes things and rewards their hardworking employees. Peavey totally bones them! Promises money to those select employees and never pays up and then lays them off!

Kudos to the producers for keeping it legit and shame on Peavey. Business or not, you don't make promises and stab people in the back. Not that it makes a difference, but I am boycotting Peavey from here on out.

 

[Bettyboo]

I just watched that; clearly the company has been badly managed with the upper tiers of management now very distanced from the workforce. At the end, he just threw money at 3 employees to make himself feel better; that's not gonna help the company...

It's obviously very tough to keep jobs in the US in a global economy. You need more management skills than just reactive processes like we saw in that program; nepotism isn't the route forward.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

i watched it a few months ago.

 

[Psychobilly444]

He threw money to make himself feel better, but NEVER PAID THEM!

 

[frankd]

I always heard that skynrd was pissed at Gary rossington for jumpimg into a deal with peavey.
and that while in the end they wanted to keep the deal but use marshals onstage but Hartley
kept to close a watch to let it happen. and then there's Eddie who had his own personal babysitter
to keep those 5150 qmps going.James brown
http://www.amptweaker.com/page/About-James-1.aspx

 

[Bettyboo]

He threw money to make himself feel better, but NEVER PAID THEM!

Initially, I only watched upto the 40 min mark, just watched the remainder...

The fella working on the cabs and the soldering lady seemed like great employees who'd given a lot to the company over years; they deserved support. But the Indian fella did nothing for the company, he was a short term employee who wasn't very good at his job. &, no, this isn't a racist rant... I noticed he wasn't discussed in the last section, probably for legal reasons, is probably back in India now with the Peavy management backing out of their promise?

It's a shame that folk who have given so much to the company are just not respected by management, hence why the company is struggling. The Peavy fellow obviously had a great idea and built good amps, but just never developed the management skills. Also, when all the manufacturing jobs in the US are sent overseas, where are the new jobs coming from? The future looks very bleak for the US manufacturing sector when a corporate greed culture dominates. I'm sure the top tier are still getting their bonuses when the factory workers are being sacked...

 

[smitty_p]

This is a rather demoralizing video.

I guess I just don't know what else to say.

 

[Bullfrog]

I've had a lot of friends over the years that have worked for Peavey.

I promise ya it's nothing new. Always been like that.

 

[frankd]

Man my take was that guy just didn't give a crap. he was like they got 6 wks to get a new job.
hell he is still gonna be in the house mommy and step daddy gave him with the horses
they bought and the weekly check they give him.

 

[Dave_Death]

Yeah I saw this recently. Hartley and his shitbird step-son are terrible managers.

I have a heap of Peavey amps but I'm not keen to send any more money their way. None of my stuff has been bought from their current distributor and the new stuff was bought at fire sale prices via their old Australian distributor when that change happened at the end of the 2012-2013 financial year so in buying it I was only helping someone who had been screwed-over by Peavey, and I don't feel too bad getting a 6534+ and Classic 30 at less than half the retail price.

If Peavey keeps this up they will end up little better than Behringer, just cheap crap. I felt really bad for that guy who made the Classic combo cabinets and had another job lined up, he really got screwed

 

[smitty_p]

Here's Courtland Gray's response to the episode:

http://musicincmag.com/News/2015/150220/150220_Peavey.html

EDIT: Broken link fixed.

 

[dbb]

In defense of Peavey they did try to maintain the Meridian factories longer than most other brands - and much of their market is now outside the USA - but there does seem to be a sort of trowing in the towel feeling to the events.

 

[smitty_p]

In defense of Peavey they did try to maintain the Meridian factories longer than most other brands - and much of their market is now outside the USA - but there does seem to be a sort of trowing in the towel feeling to the events.

I hear ya, Dave. I do give Peavey credit for that. I also realize it is a really tight environment in the music equipment business world.

It turns out only part of Plant 3, mentioned in the video, was shut down and most of the employees were reassigned.

What bothers me a little, though is some of the condescending attitudes I picked up on. I didn't like how the employees' issues were viewed as just poor communication. The fact that Courtland seemed to chalk so much up to poor communication makes me think he was a little out of touch. True, it could have been much better, but the real issue is the fact that the employees were very uncertain about their jobs and that they had experienced serious financial hardships.

I'm certainly not snobbish about my gear. My Jackson was made in China, my Washburn was made in Korea, and my Marshall DSL5C was made in Vietnam. Interestingly, my Peavey Transtube and my '73 Fender Champ are the only amps I have that were made in the US.

But, I'm sorry (actually I'm not!), but I am an American, after all. I understand the economics but, I DO feel saddened when a fellow American loses his job. What makes me feel even worse is the feeling that I may have contributed to that by my purchasing.

 

[Dave_Death]

Here's Courtland Gray's response to the episode:

http://musicincmag.com/News/2015/150220/150220_Peavey.html

That link was broken. Fixed now

 

[Psychobilly444]

I'm not condemning them for business decisions. Business is business and the bottom line rules the land. I get that. But, you DO NOT promise someone something and then back out. That's bull spit! Like mentioned a few posts back, the cabinet guy, had another job lined up and he STAYED LOYAL to Peavey only to get boned. I hope to God that the other job was still open for him!

 

[Psychobilly444]

That link was broken. Fixed now

I wonder how much pressure and pissed off phone calls to Peavey actually pressured them to pay up IF they did at all? Every other episode of Undercover Boss shows an update of what the rewarded people are doing, that means the rewards were paid prior to the show being completed. How long were these loyal employees left hanging in the wind?

 

[Dave_Death]

Also note that they do not contradict the claim that the woman was laid off: it only says that her husband still works there

 

[Psychobilly444]

Also note that they do not contradict the claim that the woman was laid off: it only says that her husband still works there

Right?

 

[smitty_p]

Like mentioned a few posts back, the cabinet guy, had another job lined up and he STAYED LOYAL to Peavey only to get boned.

This is in the press release in my post (#11) above:

"After the initial shooting, Michael was given an hourly raise to the level of the job offer he referred to. Michael remains employed at Peavey; he was not laid off."

One thing for sure, Peavey is getting a real black eye for all this. I've been looking this up, and this episode is all over guitar land. It's been discussed on Talk Bass, the Gear Page, TDPRI, My Les Paul, the Marshall Forum, and Strat-Talk. Those are just the ones I saw. Peavey is not looking good to a lot of folks, right now. The opinions very heavily lean in the direction that Peavey handled this quite poorly.

 

[frankd]

Here in the past 3-4 years or so I have had marshal fender orange epi blackheart aka crate
and a few hand built custom amps all never let me down except for the peavey vyper sitting in the bedroom
I keep saying im going to turn it into a cab but never do. back in the old days I would have already taken
it out and shot the hell out of it but ammos to valuable now days to waste.