NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/dcom/modems-part1/6875

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 14.3 KB | 261 lines

Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,biz.comp.telebit
Path: news.iag.net!tous!sgb!steven
From: [e-mail] (Steven Bradley)
Subject: Telebit's Service Policy
Organization: The Forest City Exchange, Forest City, Florida
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 22:19:58 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Recently, I had the (mis)fortune of having to deal with a company known as
Telebit Corporation, located in Chelmsford, MA, 1-800-Tel-ebit.  It took a
threat of filing complaints with the Boston BBB office to obtain any form
of satisfactory resolution from them (and the fact I am systems administrator
for the Central Florida BBB office most likely encouraged that direction as I
am sure they loved hearing the BBB greeting each time they had need to call
me!)

Anyhow, after some thought, while they did provide what I consider acceptable
service, I did not like the way it was handled.  Therefore I will provide the
full story here and let you decide.  If you feel they were wrong and feel like
telling them so, I am including names and extensions where possible.  If you
feel I got a fair deal, I feel I did too in the end.

I had been having some problems with a Worldblazer modem for two or three
months.  In the past I was provided version 7.20M firmware to provide the
adaptive data/fax answer capability and never sent them the $100+ fee to
update it to the final version - it was beta code.  That was another issue,
when I bought the Worldblazer, I was told for the better part of nine MONTHS
that when the adaptive answer was done, I would receive it at no charge.  Well
when it was done, the story changed to "it will cost $$$".  There was a problem
though with this.  When I bought the modem, I bought it under the understanding
the update would be at no cost.  After MUCH battle, I received 7.20M.  It is
truly amazing that my USR Courier came with this as standard equipment!!!

Since the firmware was beta, I chose to install the older distribution of
firmware to verify the problem was not in the firmware.  The problem persisted.

The problem:

After a PEP connection, all LEDs would remain lit and it would not hang up,
would not receive commands, would not honor DTR.  Other Worldblazer worked
fine.  This was ironically the newest of the Telebits - and after the hassle
with them on the adaptive answer - my modem buying went to U.S. Robotics
instead where the new options like 33.6Kbps and CallerID are provided as free
of charge updates and not a nickel and dime attitude that Telebit has fostered.

I called last Tuesday innocently asking what the repair estimate would be.
I suspect one simple chip problem, could be age or heat dependent.  It was
nine months out of warranty.  The response left me initially speechless!

That will be $225 says the customer service person.  WHAT???  For a 14.4Kbps
modem????  I could buy a Sportster 28.8Kbps BRAND NEW with FIVE YEAR warranty
for that price I scream.

She says "well you do not have an extended warranty, that may make it less
costly, I will transfer you to Kim in extended warranties."  I speak to Kim.

She directly states that I could pay $80 for a one year extended warranty.  I
am an honest person, I ask "that would be to cover the nine months out of
warranty and the next three months for the 1 year extension to follow the end
of the normal warranty, is this correct?"  She says (and I quote) "why would
you want to start it back then, I will start it from today and give you a full
year".  That sounded very good to say the least.  I say, ok.  That will be
fine.  She gives me a service contract number and I give her my VISA info to
bill it.

She calls me back and says "she forgot to tell me that the $80 is for the
advance replacement option, she can do the same for $50 if I don't mind a
ten day turnaround".  Oh, $30?  No problem, leave as-is.  She indicates Ann,
at extension 418 will handle it, she is the RMA administrator.

Well "Ann" was quite unreachable most of the day and it was 3:30pm when I was
finally able to make contact.  The modem was supposed to go out 2-day delivery
to arrive counter pickup, Longwood FedEx office by Thursday morning.  This all
occured on the Tuesday.  When I reached her, the story changed "oh, there is
a problem - you need to speak to Randy Dole, extension 105."

Randy who I find is the customer service manager, apparently approves all
service contracts and is the top person in the department indicates to me
persistently that "he could not authorize this contract on an out of warranty
modem".  I explain repeatedly that his representative, representing Telebit
Corp, had already entered into agreement on behalf of Telebit when she made
this offer and furthermore called me back with more details and also recieved
my credit card info as acceptance of the offer made.  Kim made it very clear.
I asked all the right questions and received acceptable answers.

It took mentioning my employer and the fact I would be contacting the BBB
office in Boston (who has a WWW net presence and is the first BBB office to
go completely online on the net, more than just a small place!) to get him
to start to think about this further.

His first approach was "well you want another modem by Friday, right?"  Yes,
that was the agreement from this morning I say.  Ok, you overnight the one
you have for our inspection and we will overnight one back.  Heck!!  That
would cost me over $30 instead of $18!  Plus the cost of finding a box to
ship it in, the original plan was use the box they ship to me, to return it!

He kept saying he could not honor the low price of $80 and that it was
unrealistic.  Well -- hate to break it to you but Telebit offered, I accepted.
Now Randy was trying to reneg on the agreement.

He says their service contract clearly indicates that they can inspect a
modem before admitting it to the program and he wishes to do so.  Well...
this is not what I was told by "Kim" - I repeatedly ask to have her conference
in on the call and offer to do so on my lines if needed.  He says "she is not
available".  Bullsh*t is what I think.  Apparently there is a $100 fee as well
that should have been charged to place the out of warranty modem back under
warranty.

Finally after much discussion, he agreed to do the following:

Ship me 2-day delivery modem of comparable value, for $80.  I return the old
one.  No service contract.  Ninety day warranty on the replacement (same as
what it would have had upon return from the $225 flat rate repair visit).  I
indicated this would be acceptable.  I mean in my eyes, I see what is a
reasonable repair cost ($225 is NOT).

I requested explicitly that it be held at the Fedex Longwood counter.  As an
aside, I have my own fedex account and offered its use, but was declined when
I offered.  I called on Wednesday for the tracking information and I learned
just how small Telebit Corp is.

Only Ann at extension 418 could provide that tracking information.  I had to
wait for her to arrive in the office.  I find it was not shipped.  I asked
"why this time?" Oh - we did not have the street address of Federal Express
for counter pickup!  WHHHATTT!??!?!!?!  Give me a break!  1-800-Go-Fedex or
1-800-238-5355 come to mind!

I do not know the age or if the person who flagged the order had above a
fifth grade education level, but my guess is that person did not or they
would have PHONED and ASKED the address.

She indicated they would ship priority overnight.  Ok, I am pacified so far.
But there was more -- one reason for counter delivery is that all counter
delivery means for a 2 day package is it could arrive anytime after 3pm the
day after its send and before 10:30am the 2nd day after its sent.  In other
words had it been sent when it was supposed to, I could have received it
that afternoon or the first thing on the way to work the next morning if it
had come in early.  I lost that benefit when they fouled up shipping.

"Fedex's trip to hell and back" would be fitting for what happened next.

The modem was shipped that day, I had the tracking number slightly after 4pm.
The next morning, I checked the net and found it had arrived at 7:58am in
longwood and WAS PLACED ON A VAN FOR DELIVERY!  Grrrrr!

I call fedex.  The person says it would be as late as 3pm before they could
call the van back.  I demand immediate recall as it was a P1 shipment and it
was marked HLD - hold for pickup.  She was nasty and hung up on me.  I call
back to a supervisor.  The supervisor indicates apologies on the mishandling
and finds that they have err'd.  She indicates they will send someone out to
the van to retrieve the package and call me when they have it.

I receive a call from local Longwood Fedex - package is being returned, they
have hired an outside courier to meet the driver and obtain the package as
they had no one available to go out to do so.  By 9:48am the package is back.
At 11:55am I was able to retrieve it.

That night - I find a nice, reconditioned Worldblazer, it has worked now
for the past two days and three nights.  No apparently problem.  It came
with LA7.05C firmware, which I promptly swapped with the LA7.20M firmware
(the one to return to Telebit is original 7.02 code).  It appears to work
correctly.  I am happy with the condition and performance of the modem.

I found also to my surprise that the modem came with Airborne Express
shipping prepaid.  So I see my service costs now down to $60 and $20 for
return (ie $80 for the total), which is very reasonable for the repair.

Someone will say "what are you complaining about?"  Well I am not necessarily
complaining -- I am providing details of my recent experience with Telebit
Corp.  In some ways I feel it was poorly handled, they should have not reneged
on the agreement, they should have honored it, sent me the modem, given me the
full year extended warranty for $80, and not questioned it - or after they
questioned it and realized I had indeed been told different, if they had
chosen to honor the agreement I had and even though it may have been an error
on their part originally - if they had accepted without hassle the deal that
was negotiated, I would not have seen a need to mention this here for the
rest of you.

I did call my rep - Jeff at American Data Corp.  They knew of no one other
than Telebit who could repair it.  The current cost quoted from them was
$508 as of last Tuesday (27th of Feb).  Their prices have been good in the
past and I did spend much $$$ on these modems when I bought them originally.

My Telebit products include 1 Trailblazer (grey with fan), 1 T2500, and 2
Worldblazers.  I purchased the Worldblazers new at prices of over $600
originally.  The T2500 and Trailblazer were less expensive, reconditioned,
from a surplus dealer.  The T2500 looks like-new and runs well.  Same with
the Trailblazer.  I also bought from Telebit extra manuals for them and a
spare power supply.

In other words I put out some big bucks for their overpriced antiques (compared
to V.34 USR Couriers with CallerId and HST!).

I am quite insulted of the amount of time, hassle, and frustration it created
in getting some service.  I was not misleading - I told them the serial number
and that it was nine months out of warranty.  Everything I was told, they had
volunteered.  When I cross questioned, there was no mistake of what I was
offered.  What I ultimately received, while it was acceptable, it was not what
I had accepted that morning and they had renegged on the agreement.

They made an offer, I accepted.  They should have been man enough to accept
that and honor it.  Atleast I have a working modem.  Next time I may choose
to add another U.S. Robotics Courier online instead.

A couple of related issues:

Whenever Telebit comes out with a new feature, its a new PAL security chip
and more money.  Their hardware appears to run about as well as USR's does.
USR recently added CallerID and 33.6Kbps to their modems at no charge.  Not
even to download the code!  I know, as I obtained mine last Thursday, quite
ironically the same day the Telebit arrived.

USR Couriers come complete with 14.4Kbps FAX and adaptive answer as part of
the standard product.  Telebit feels that is something that you should buy
after the sale, bringing the total bill to over $600 plus.  That is for the
technology of a 14.4Kbps modem and proprietary protocol (PEP).  In comparison,
I can get USR Courier, for $409, with proprietary protocol (HST) and free
updates (FLASH), V.34bis (33.6Kbps throughput) for 2/3rds the cost!

The latest free update included distinctive ring response on the Courier too!

If I wanted something a little closer to compare, the FastBlazer would likely
be the product Telebit offers, but I am sure it would be 200-300% the cost of
an equivilent USR Courier offering in price range.

I have mentioned this before -- some time back.  Recently I had a situation
which caused me to be left with considerable distaste.  I may have won that
"round", and received something that provided an acceptable resolution, but
that does not mean I was happy over all of the hassle it took to obtain it.

Think about the above before dealing with Telebit Corp.  If someone at Telebit
cares to contact me to apologize on behalf of those who mislead me, and/or
try any effort at damage control, I can be reached at [phone], ext 310
(work - BBB office) or my home address:

    121 Cambridge Drive,
    Longwood, FL  32779-5707

An apology for all the trouble that Kim, Ann, and Randy placed me through
would be appreciated.  If they were to honor the original agreement of the
one year extended warranty, that would be nice too (not that I expect a need
to use such, my other modems have ran fine for a very long time).  I really
thought they were offering me this as a means to promote the value of their
extended warranties.  As it is, other than service, I really doubt I'd ever
consider another Telebit product (in new condition, perhaps one used though).

They met my minimal requirements, but not the agreement promoted and accepted
earlier that day.  My faith in Telebit only falls - to quote my rep at
American Data when I mentioned this to him "we do sell other manufacture's
modems too".  Yes, that is true ... There are others.

Telebit -- it's your turn ...

Steven
--
Steven G. Bradley    |    The Forest City Exchange    | 121 Cambridge Drive
System Administrator |      Forest City, Florida      | Longwood, FL 32779-5707
                     | 1200-14400/PEP  1200-33600/HST |
[e-mail]   | [phone]  [phone] | Tel: [phone]