Gibson Europe Leads Musical Instrument Industry with Round-the-clock Customer Service

 Gibson Guitar, Slingerland Drums, Epiphone Guitar, Baldwin Piano move ahead  of  competitors with 24/7 Customer Service for the European Market

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…Vianen, The Netherlands…April 26, 2005…Gibson Europe has implemented personal 24/7 communication coverage with European consumers to achieve a level of customer service that is unmatched in the worldwide musical instrument industry. Gibson Guitar Corp. has provided years of excellent customer service to consumers throughout the US and will now provide exactly the same service for Europe with a multi-lingual staff and a user-to-user support forum in the national languages.

In a business where few companies offer a toll-free phone number and some even warn customers that email responses could take from five to ten working days; Gibson Europe and Gibson Guitar Corp. combined efforts and now offer a Universal International 800-Freephone Number, which is 00 800-4 GIBSON 1 number, (00800 4442 7661)and a Customer Service staff, 24 hours/7 days a week which will provide immediate responses.

This service will primarily be targeted in Western Europe and does not cover the entire continent.  The countries and languages that this service is applicable to initially include Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Germany, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

For mobile calls this will be subject to the providers’ terms and conditions. This international customer service department handles numerous phone calls, emails and letters every week in various languages relating to Gibson Europe’s extensive family of instruments, amps and gear. The 24/7 email address is service.europe@gibson.com    

“A guitar player or piano player with first-hand knowledge of the quality of our instruments and our service does not have to think twice about buying another Gibson or Baldwin,” says Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar.  “We’re in it for the long run – Gibson and Baldwin have been making instruments for over a hundred years – and we view top quality customer service as one of our strongest long-term sales tools.”

Gibson Europe’s Customer Service department, located in The Netherlands headquarters in Vianen is staffed with musicians who are familiar with every aspect of Gibson Europe’s inventory of brands. They handle a variety of services for Gibson and Baldwin owners and fans, including questions about any of the guitars, mandolins, banjos, basses, pianos, amps, drums, and other instruments that the companies have made since 1894, warranty card registration, and catalog requests. The intranet site, which the Customer Service staff built and maintains, includes historic information, detailed model specifications and serial number information. A library of book and company archives from Gibson’s original Kalamazoo plant are also available for references.

Gibson Europe is the centralized sales, marketing and distribution center for Gibson Guitar’s world-famous musical instruments. Located in Vianen, The Netherlands, Gibson Europe provides the connection between Gibson’s corporate headquarters in the US and Gibson’s distributor-partners in continental Europe, the U.K., Scandinavia and the Mediterranean. Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins and banjos. Gibson Guitar Corp.’s family of brands now includes Epiphone, Dobro, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Valley Arts, Slingerland, Maestro, Baldwin, Hamilton and Wurlitzer. Visit Gibson’s website at www.gibson.com/eu

QUALITY     PRESTIGE     INNOVATION

Contacts:

Philippe Rialto                 Europe Customer Service  + 800 4 GIBSON 1 or  service.europe@gibson.com