[Icom] happy ending to the texas tower customer non-service

Tue, 26 Mar 2002 16:06:39 0000

WHERE'S The BEEF??
If I had bought the radio from Texas Towers you can bet that I would be sending it back directly to Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu or whoever manufactured it. Texas Towers didn't make it they are just the middleman! I would want the manufacturer to deal with it directly and the letter I would send to them would let them know exactly how I felt about it. Has the manufacturer been informed of this problem?
  If it was just a loose nut, what's the problem? Hams don't know how to tighten nuts now! Texas towers isn't in the business of tightening loose nuts now are they? Maybe I should think about going there next time I need an oil change so I can have them loosen the nut on the oil drain plug.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2002 10:10:17  
 Duane Budd wrote:
>Interesting response, George.
>
>K5ZZ, a friend in Greenville, TX, has told me that he does
>not shop there because of the poor way he has been treated
>IN PERSON within their store.
>
>Ah well - different strokes...
>
>
>Duane Budd
>[email protected]
>Johnson City, TN
>
>**All outgoing Email is screened by Norton Antivirus**
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [email protected]
>[mailto:[email protected]]On
>Behalf Of George, W5YR
>Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 12:36 AM
>To: [email protected]; [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [Icom] happy ending to the texas tower customer
>non-service
>
>
>Hi, Paul
>
>I am sorry to hear of your problem with the new 746PRO. I
>wonder, though,
>if you are not tarring Gerald and Matthew with an undeserved
>brush here in
>this particular case.
>
>I must make you aware that I have lost count of the number
>of radios that I
>have bought from them since 1982, together with untold
>antennas, keys,
>coax, and you name it. In all those transactions, some of
>which included
>trade-ins, etc. I have never ever gotten a defective
>product. I have never
>been treated with other than respect and regard for myself
>as a long-time
>ham in this area and a loyal customer. I have never haggled
>with Gerald
>over the price of a radio - he doesn't operate that way. I
>have never left
>his shop feeling dissatisfied or neglected.
>
>Someone else posted that you get what you pay for and with
>the current
>cut-throat situation in ham radio merchandising in this
>country, I believe
>that is a correct assessment. Most of the dealers who
>operate primarily
>over the phone have profit margins that are very small and
>thus the amount
>of time and added service after the sale they can offer is
>necessarily
>limited. Since I have never had a problem, I can't speak
>from experience,
>but knowing Gerald and Matthew as I do, I suspect that they
>put more
>thought and concern into dealing with your situation that
>your posting
>suggests and that you give them credit for.
>
>Let me ask this: where do you live? I live about 6 miles
>from TT. If I had
>a problem I would be knocking on the door before they opened
>the next
>morning. But, if you are in Cincinnati, as your email
>address suggests,
>they may well have figured that for the amount of shipping
>cost and lost
>time involved, you could return the set to be repaired to
>Icom easier and
>more effectively *for you* than sending it to them where
>they would have to
>just send it to Icom - they have minimal repair facilities
>there and do
>essentially no service work.
>
>So, it appears to me that their response was based upon what
>would make the
>most sense for you, for Icom and for them. Send the broken
>radio to Icom
>where it has to go anyway, if you don't avail yourself of
>some local shop -
>which you did - but which they had no way of knowing about -
>and get it
>fixed right and promptly under warranty and returned to you
>at no cost.
>
>I know that I am biased by 20 years of favorable experience
>with TT and its
>owners, but I really cannot imagine them literally telling
>you to mind the
>door on your way out. I can see them recommending that you
>send the radio
>to Icom since (a) Icom warrantees the radio, not the dealer
>and (b) even if
>they wanted to, they have no repair facilities . Nothing I
>have ever seen
>in their ads or web site suggests that defective products
>are to be
>returned to them. The one exception would be for a radio
>that was DOA when
>you unpacked it. I would bet money that they would replace
>it without a
>moment's hesitation. When I bought my PRO there last year, I
>did not even
>open the box and make sure the radio was OK, since I knew
>that if it were
>not, it would be replaced with no questions asked. But, that
>would be based
>upon a DOA situation, not a case of my using the radio for a
>couple of
>weeks and then finding something wrong with it.
>
>So, I sense your anger and frustration, but honestly I think
>that you had a
>degree of unrealistic expectation over the transaction and
>you had the
>misfortune to get a radio that failed shortly after you took
>delivery. But
>ask this: what would you expect TT to do if the same thing
>had happened 6
>weeks or 6 months after you got it? Should they be expected
>to take it back
>and give you a new one? What is the reasonableness test here
>for dealer
>support? I believe that it ends with the understanding and
>commitment to
>replace a DOA radio upon delivery. Once the customer has had
>the radio and
>used it for even a short period of time, that establishes
>that the dealer
>provided the customer with a working product and has no
>further obligation.
>Again, the radio is warranteed by Icom, not Texas Towers.
>
>Forgive the preaching, Paul, but as I said I am baffled by
>your report of
>this incident, and I cannot help but feel that your anger
>and frustration
>have displaced some sense of fairness and normal business
>practice here.
>
>I am very glad to you found a local shop to deal with the
>problem. We are
>fortunate in having one of the best in the country - AVVID -
>here in the
>metroplex area. But fortunately I have never had need for
>their services
>since I maintain all my equipment. However, the PRO will be
>the exception
>since I am no longer up to dealing with an SMT radio!   <:}
>
>Note that this is a private posting as I feel that this sort
>of
>conversation is really not appropriate for the reflector.
>You have made
>serious public negatively accusations against TT and really
>smeared them,
>as was your intention, but I did want you to know that not
>everyone, as you
>imply, is treated as you feel that you were. Gerald and
>Matthew Williamson
>are two of the most decent and honorable guys I know. They
>have been in
>this business for a long time now, and will likely be in it
>when many
>others have passed by the wayside.
>
>I honestly hope that you reconsider any public displays at
>Dayton which
>would seem to reflect negatively more on you than on them.
>Recall that for
>every isolated case like yours, they have hundreds of other
>satisfied and
>repeat customers all over the nation and a lot of the world.
>
>73/72/oo, George W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas
>Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe
>Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 56th year and it just keeps
>getting better!
>QRP-L 1373 NETXQRP 6 SOC 262 COG 8 FPQRP 404 TEN-X 11771
>I-LINK 11735
>Icom IC-756PRO #02121  Kachina 505 DSP  #91900556  Icom
>IC-765 #02437
>
>All outgoing email virus-checked by Norton Anti-Virus 2002
>
>
>paul wrote:
>>
>> hi steve   746pro..  you are not going to believe this
>one...  someone at
>> the factory forgot to tighten the nut that locked the main
>vfo dial in
>> place..  it was flopping around like a fish out of water..
>2 weeks old from
>> texas tower..  they told me  "ship it to icom..  its yours
>now..  not our
>> problem"
>>  their customer service reps  practice bending over while
>they tell their
>> "FORMER CUSTOMERS"  "to pucker up"  73  paul
>
>----
>Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan W6OLD,
>[email protected]
>Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>
>
>----
>Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan W6OLD, [email protected]
>Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>

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