BigBoyToys
Pisces
HDF Supporter
Chillin' in the Pacific Northwest
  
Spokane, WA
Posts: 5,940
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Post Rank: 12
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Posted: Oct. 08 2008,6:38 pm |
Post # 23 |
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It's for the better I guess.
Problems were numerous. Â Here is a copy of an email that I sent to the CEO of the company.
Jonathan,
It is with my deepest regret that I have to inform you that today, October 7, 2008 will be my final day as an employee of (EDITED COMPANY NAME).
The reasons for this are numerous, but primarily due to some customer "input" that I have received from my customers. Â My wife took a couple of calls today from customers that were/are not very enthusiastic as to which way this transition is headed, and after a long discussion with my wife and subsequent calls tonight that I made to a few of my customers, I feel that it is in the best interest of all involved to part ways now rather than later.
A few of the concerns of the ones that I spoke with, are the increase in fees to have me service their equipment, at the rate of $(edited) versus the $(edited) which you told me and that I relayed to the customers. Â Another thing that the customers are hearing already is that "If Jim is unavailable we will send another tech but he can contact Jim through the 2-way if he has any questions". Â THIS is NOT what the customers want to hear, especially only a day or two into the transition, nor is i what we agreed to. Â Another thing that I have heard, and I have to agree with my customers, is "why do we need to replace equipment and software when we recently replaced some equipment based on your(My) reccommendations?" Â Well, quite honestly, this is the one that bothers me quite a bit. Â You see, as you know, there is more than 1 way to setup an office network, and alot of equipment and software out on the market are comparable. Â When I reccommend something to a customer in the past and they purchase that item based on my reccommendation, it really looks bad on me when you have a salesperson go in and say "No, that is not what you need. Â You need this". Â I understand that (EDITED COMPANY NAME) is trying to develop consistency in the equipment of their customers, and that is fine. Â But the way that it's being done with my customers is UNACCEPTABLE. Â For instance, (EDITED COMPANY NAME) is a reseller of Trend Micro AV. Â I am a reseller of both AVG and ESET NOD32. Â I can tell you from YEARS of experience out of all the AV programs out on the market, and I've had lots of experience with most of them, that I would not personally recommend Trend Micro because of high computer resource usage when compared to certain other programs that do just as good of a job, and in some cases better, while utilizing less resources. Â Another thing is the Sonic FW. Â Sure Sonic is an ok firewall, but is it the best for the $ ? Â I prefer a Cisco, but I am also personally able to support Cisco Products without the customer having to buy the pricey Cisco SmartNet support contract. Â AGain, this is just a personal opinion on the examples, but personal opinions translate into recommendations and sales.
I also feel that there is an appearance of walking a fine line between selling a customer what the need and what they don't. Â A Linux Email server that has been running for 8 years with no problems, does NOT need to be replaced with a Windows 2003 Server with Exchange. Â I will NEVER recommend something to my customers if I don't feel that they need it. Â I can GUARANTEE you that the 8 year old Linux Server will stay up more consistently than a brand NEW MS Exchange Server. Â Once again, I do not agree with selling a customer something that they don't need, especially when their efficiency and up time would be reduced. Â SUre, the Linux server is not a "Standardized" equipment with my customers, such as like (EDITED COMPANY NAME) want to standardize their customer's equipment. Â But I adapted and am supporting it.
I also have some reservations about other Techs handling my customer calls in the future, as it pertains to qualifications, knowledge, and first time fix. Â My customers are used to me fixing all of their problems on the first trip out there. Â That happens 99.9% of the time. Â Whether its software, hardware, Server, Laptop, Storage, PC, etc, they expect me to know that stuff. Â I went out on a training call today, and ended up training the other 2 in how to fix some DNS and Active Directory issues on the Server, which I was more than happy to share my knowledge. Â I was told that they have never done that before. Â I am not complaining about their knowledge and skills, I believe that the 2 are VERY capable and really nice fellas to boot, but when a customer calls up with a Server down and a tech gets osite and can't identify Active Directory Corruption, nor do they have the knowledge to fix it, that definitely translates into more critical (Server is VERY critical)downtime for my customers. Â In the case today, I was more than happy to share my knowledge and experience with them and the issues were successfully resolved based on what I told them to do. Â When leaving the site, I was told that they probably had "more training than I did". Â I am very glad that they were able to learn a little from me, and I hope that they will be able to utilize their new knowledge in the future for (EDITED COMPANY NAME).
My customers simply have high expectations, know that I can provide that, and expect that. Â They do not feel that it is going to work out, and I am listening to them.
I do have a few more concerns, but those are primarily policy concerns so it's not necessary to go into them.
I will be in early Wednesday morning to return everything that  provided me.  I would very much like to do business with (EDITED COMPANY NAME) in the future, especially on some of the larger projects and equipment sales.  I would also be open to sub-contracting if (EDITED COMPANY NAME) ever needs a service that I can provide.  And, if (EDITED COMPANY NAME) techs ever need any additional brains to pick for a solution or on how to perform certain tasks, I will be available for that.
I am very sorry that this didn't work out, and I was committed to making it work, but as I made it very clear previously, my customers have my ear.
Thank You,
Jim Prior, MCSE, MCDBA, A+
Priority Computer Services, LLC
3623 E. 13th Ave.
Spokane, WA 99202
509-340-1896
Jim@PriorityCS.net
www.PriorityCS.net
Edited by BigBoyToys on Oct. 08 2008,6:44 pm
 OBAMA=OneBigAssMistakeAmerica |
11-24-2024 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#19,435) from: BigDog
) and am considering them. Â I currently run my own business but it's slowing down a little with the economy, but still paying the bills.
