Mike,
Keep up that good work. I'm sure there is lot of us in the silent majority
cheering you on ! I'm not sure people that have never owned a small
business understand cash flow.
Good Luck,
Martin
N4UU
On Sun, Mar 5, 2017 at 9:55 AM, bob barnes via TenTec <tentec@contesting.com
> wrote:
> Everyone take note all radios break down for whatever reason I fully
> understand this owners problems and frustrations as I too have owned
> and operated a small business. He wants to give superior service, he would
> like for his service people to talk to every customer in his position where
> cash flow is a major problem impossible to do! Remember time is money to
> him there are only so many hours in a day and only so much money to be
> had. Tough business!
> So I suggest in fairness to him you want him to survive right? When you
> return that radio spend some time explaining every problem you have with
> it. be very concise in your writings. Spend some time explaining it in
> writing to his service guy it will pay off! I sent an amplifier off to a
> supposedly Tentec expert he stole my amplifier my big mistake! Before
> sending that radio off spend a day just thinking what needs to be fixed and
> the problems it has.
> Remember he is just getting this company back on its feet an endeavor I
> wouldn't even consider so lets be patient and see what he can do with the
> bones of this fine company!
> bob k0wtz all things are possible in Christ Jesus our savior
>
> On Sunday, March 5, 2017 5:28 AM, Mike Dishop via TenTec <
> tentec@contesting.com> wrote:
>
>
> A couple of days ago I made a post about being part of the solution
> rather than part of the problem and how anyone could step up and make a
> difference. Out of the 400+ thousand hams, one person took me seriously
> and sent me a check to help support Ten Tec. That gentleman's call is K5TN
> and to you sir, THANK YOU from the top and bottom of my heart. I'm not
> cashing your check and will send it back, but of everyone in the world who
> reads these forums, YOU put your money where your mouth is. It is nice to
> know that our company has one absolutely true friend and supporter. It is
> nice to know that ONE person really wants to be part of the solution
> instead of part of the problem. Thank you sir.
>
> OK, lets talk CUSTOMER SERVICE
>
> When I was quite a bit younger, I worked for a huge conglomerate that shut
> down the R&D department that with 5 people had driven more innovative
> features that made the company products sell than any other branch of the
> operation, and they shut it down. I questioned the wisdom of eliminating
> this department and the talented team that really delivered. My boss
> explained to me that what good was all the future development in the world
> if the company had to shut down and go out of business today? I learned a
> lesson here that I want to share with you. What good is all the customer
> relations in the world if the company has to close?
>
> I've explained more than one time what I'm doing and why again and
> again. Despite this I am repeatedly forced to spend my valuable time on
> this. Why?
>
> I've explained why you can't talk to service. I've posted photos of our
> new PCB assembly facility and we are still servicing every radio we have
> made if we can get the parts. It costs me a lot of money to keep Ten Tec
> open each month. The only way I can do that is to take care of the
> commercial customers FIRST. They are the reason the company is open.
> Fortunately, that cash flow is allowing me to reintroduce the other
> products one at a time. The Eagle is next. Right or wrong, expensive or
> not expensive, there are people who want to buy Ten Tecs and that is a good
> radio. It isn't about what you can buy from Japan, China or elsewhere. It
> is about buying what you want. Ford trucks are generally cheaper than
> Chevy trucks. So why do people buy Chevrolet trucks? The truck is easier
> to work on for one. The drivetrain is more robust. At the same time some
> say the Ford has a stronger frame. If you don't buy a car based on the
> decision of price only, why should you buy a radio? You guys keep your
> radios longer than you keep your cars usually, and you spend as much time
> or more using your radio than you do driving, so shouldn't you buy WHAT YOU
> WANT and not worry so much about if the Eagle is 1600-1700 as compared to
> an Icom 7300 at 1300? My goodness if you pimp out a K2 and make it do
> everything an Eagle does you spend 2300 dollars! And the K2 is far below
> the Eagle on the Sherwood chart! Should they quit offering the K2 or lower
> their price? Doesn't the better performing Eagle deserve to sell for at
> least as much? After all they are both designed and made in America.
> Should all the K2 owners dump them and buy Eagles because the Eagle is less
> expensive?
>
> Someone said our customer service was "sub par". Robert went into full
> retirement end of last month. I'm sure he appreciated that comment. It
> probably will be worse than it was now that he is gone until I do something
> else.
>
> Ten Tec is wholly owned by me sinve January 1 2016. To have sub par
> customer service I would have had to have sold you a radio. To whom have I
> sold a radio? What do I owe you? Fact: I am repairing the radios that the
> other people sold you. I don't owe you anything. I have no obligation to
> you to answer your email you or sell you my parts. I'm supporting you
> because we are working on a new transceiver so that all the infrastructure
> will be there to continue on when it is ready. Maybe at that time we will
> have the cash flow supported by new sales to support the expensive and free
> customer service you want.
>
> The company isn't going to close as long as our expenses do not exceed our
> revenue. Think about that. this is the coldest and hardest fact of
> business that has to supersede EVERYTHING else and all discussions of if I
> am doing a good job or if customer service is good or not good. Anyone who
> thinks anything other than this most basic tenant of business is a fool.
> I'm not going to spend money I don't have. So if you KEEP sending in your
> radios for repair (PLEASE EVERY BIT HELPS) and keep buying parts from us
> (PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH THE EMAIL) and keep ordering the products that we
> do have (PLEASE WE DO WANT YOUR BUSINESS) then we can get this thing back
> on track. Look people I'm doing this all by myself. I need time. We have
> moved in 12 calendar months from having stacks of unrepaired radios from
> RKR and no parts to build radios and no machinery to build them with to
> now having maybe a back log of 10-20 radios at any given time and usually
> nothing over thirty days, having moved into a cost effective and efficient
> facility in TN, setting up the new surface mount building in OH where we
> built THOUSANDS of boards in house last year for TEN TEC, and delivered
> HUNDREDS of new radios to customers, in addition to R&D on a new
> transceiver, all in one year. ONE YEAR. What did YOU do in your last year?
>
> How can I improve customer service now? The next thing I am working on
> short term is our TEN TEC web store. I'm learning a little bit about how
> to do this myself. I even was able to post two news articles over on the
> Alpha RF Systems site. If you go there and click on the NEWS tab you can
> see my two articles, the first about the amps we are building in Colorado
> and the next about the SMD assembly facility in Ohio. I asked Boyd to take
> photos about the final assembly, repair and alignment center in Tennessee
> and when he gets those to me I will make a similar article for you to see
> on the TT website.
>
> So what I am going to do next is make it so we can send repair invoices as
> a email to you where you can log in to your web cart, buy the repair and
> pay for it by checking out securely with your credit card. We have been
> testing this on the Alpha site for 4 months and it is working great! I'm
> also going to put what products we have like microphone cords, microphones,
> speech processors, etc and it will show real time inventory of units in
> stock! Next I will try to put dial string and PTO kits and batteries and
> little common items like that in the store and I hope this will stop the
> personal emails for dial strings.
>
> Now of course the month I'm going to spend doing this is going to delay
> the launch of every other product by one month but who cares about that?
> We will have better customer service! Before I get this done I have to
> work on the corporate tax return due this month.
>
> A special thank you to those of you who are patient, understanding, and
> support my efforts in this herculean task. Rick, Bob, Ron, and the rest of
> you who are regular contributors and who try to help people understand what
> we are doing - I really appreciate it.
>
> To those of you who are being critical you are not criticizing Ten Tec.
> You are criticizing me and I take it personally. I didn't make this mess
> or gut the company. I'm the guy keeping it alive and putting it back on
> track. What right at all do you have to criticize me? Do I come in to
> your house and criticize how you live your life, how you raise your kids,
> or judge you for why your wife left you? If I did that you would say to me
> "What in the heck do you know about me or my life or my house?" You'd
> tell me "There are perfectly valid reasons for the choices I made". So why
> do I deserve to be treated differently?
>
> If you don't like what I'm doing, if you can't say something nice, then
> why not just keep your mouth shut? What business is it of yours? If you
> bought a transceiver from RKR or RFC you didn't buy it from me. If you have
> a beef, have your beef with them, not me. Are you upset that I bought the
> assets of what was left? I'm sick and tired of reading this drivel over
> and over again in our forum. I am now going to formally appeal to the
> moderators and owners that whenever this negative stuff is posted in the
> future that you just delete it and don't even send it out. I believe I
> speak for us ALL that it is counter productive and that we are ALL tired of
> hearing that the sky is falling! I started this journey a year ago October
> and TEN TEC is still here, radios are being repaired in a timely manner and
> radios are going out the door. When I respond to this stuff I am wasting my
> time and it is just another lost hour that a new radio isn't designed. You
> may not have anything better to do but I do.
>
> I need those of you who support TEN TEC to step up and start ripping to
> shreds these jerks on eham and QRZ who raise this crap every three months?
> People who spread lies and negativity damage the company and jeopardize
> people's jobs. When somebody starts grinding their axe it is just like a
> little duck farting under water, but when I respond and defend myself I get
> criticized and told I should handle things this way or that way. It doesn't
> matter what I say, there is criticism. So I generally just don't say
> anything at all, and then I'm criticized for being non responsive. I loose
> no matter what I do. I unloaded on somebody who was spreading out and
> out libel and then was told that customers are going to question if I have
> the sanity to run a company and don't want to buy from me!
>
> I know my own course. I know what I have to do. I know what I can do with
> what I have to work with. I'm going to do what I have to do and that is the
> way it is until something changes. It is going to take as long as it takes
> me. All the criticism in the world isn't going to change things. The only
> thing that is going to change things is money. Time is money. It takes time
> to make money. As I make money I do what I can do to bring TEN TEC back
> into the amateur market one step at a time.
>
> Just remember that every disparaging and negative remark delays the
> introduction of a new product by a day. If you get ripped to shreds on
> Monday, how good are you at YOUR job the rest of the day? You know what my
> problem is? I can't walk off the job. I have people with families who
> depend on me. Good people who are hams just like you. Those are the
> people you hurt when you spout your hate, negativity, jealousy or just
> stupid opinion for whatever reason or motivation you have. I don't want to
> hear it any more. No one here on the forum wants to hear it. This needs to
> stop and it needs to stop immediately.
>
>
> 73 DE N8WFF
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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