Bill, Steve Since I am in the market for a piece of equipment in this price range the discussion caught my eye. I would be concerned about flaming a manufacturer in public but feel this information is a very real part of a purchase decision and we should have access to it. I think Steve's idea of a posting and private reply is a good one and follows the IPC rules on recommendations. If asked, any of us would freely recount our experiences with a particular piece of equipment or manufacturer. Just specify that it our personal experience with this piece of equipment/manufacturer, keep it factual and don't involve your employer. >-----Original Message----- >From: Stephen R. Gregory [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] >Sent: Saturday, June 05, 1999 12:59 PM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [TN] : Ramifications > >In a message dated 6/5/99 5:41:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time, >[log in to unmask] writes: > >> I would like some inputs and advice from the Tech-Net community at large. >> >> Consider the following: >> >> I recently purchased a piece of electronic manufacturing process >>equipment. >> The cost of the item was between $10 - $30 K. I would like to inform the >> community about the very poor service and technical support from the >> manufacturer and sales rep. The intent of disclosing this kind of >> information is to inform others who may be considering a similar purchase >to >> be aware of these shortcomings when purchasing this item. >> >> This is not a "single event" occurrance, this is month after month of not >> responding to e-mails, faxes, and phone calls. I am frustrated beyond >> tolerable limits. >> >> What then are the risks disclosing this kind of information on this forum? >> Is it important for us to share bad experiences with the hope that perhaps >> corrective action from the offending party may take place if disclosure >> results in "lost sales"? Maybe this is not the right place for this? >> >> Your thoughts and comments are welcomed. >> >> Bill Kasprzak >> Moog Inc. >> > >Hi Bill! > >Boy I hear ya'! I think all of us at one time or another have been totally >frustrated with the support from equipment vendors after they've sold us >their wares. Before the sale is made, the story always is that you'll be >supported 24-hours a day, 7-days a week should you ever have any problems, >which you won't because their equipment never breaks and it does whatever >it's supposed to do better than any other equipment out there. > >While all are more seasoned than to buy that line, there are those vendors >out there that truly do try as hard as they can to make sure that their >customers are supported well and that they are happy with their purchase. On >the other hand, there are times that a company that has been known for it's >outstanding customer support can get into a bind for whatever reason. They've >had a mass exodus of Field Service Engineers so they're short handed, or for >some reason when the machine was originally built there was some errors made. >But if they're up front about those kinds of things to their customers, and >let them know that they're honestly trying to correct the poor support >situation, I think most of us are reasonable enough to understand, and will >cut them a little slack while they're trying to correct the problems. > >But there's absolutely no excuse to ignore their customers, or try and >"suger-coat" a bad situation by not being up front about their problems. You >lose a great deal of credibility by doing something like that, and once you >lose credibility, it takes a long,long time to regain it. > >Actually, I don't think it's a bad idea to expose a company that is marketing >something that doesn't work as they say it does, or doesn't support their >customers like they promise before the sale. Just as long as it's based in >fact, and all other avenues have been exhausted to try and get some >satisfaction. Maybe even the threat that you may let all of your colleages >know about the poor support that you've been receiving will be enough to >light a fire under their butts and get them to start taking care of you the >way they should. > >I don't know how Jack feels about doing something like this on the TechNet, >but I feel that if something is being marketed to those of us in this >industry that is really no good and a waste of good money, I would appreciate >knowing about it before I fell for the same trap. Maybe just a post like: "If >any of you are considering buying a "XYZ Machine", send me a email and I'll >share with you privately the experiences I've had with it and the support >I've recieved." That way you won't be out and out flaming them publically, >but you'll still be able to get the point across to other people that maybe >thinking about buying the same thing. > >Companies can spend a lot of money on "glitzy" marketing and advertising, but >the most effective advertising out there is word of mouth...and sometimes >they forget that. With the advent of the INTERNET, word of mouth goes a lot >farther and reaches a lot more people than it has in the past... > >-Steve Gregory- > >################################################################ >TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c >################################################################ >To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following >text in the body: >To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> >To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet >################################################################ >Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section >for additional information. >For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or >847-509-9700 ext.312 >################################################################ > ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. 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