Right after the Dayton/Xenia Hamfest, I posted to ask if Ten-Tec had any
news or announcements there as that is the premiere event in the USA for
manufacturers to introduce product and make major announcements. I had
begun to despair of the company re-entering the amateur radio market.
Although I don't think I received any response on this message board, I
did very kindly receive private e-mails from a few members who
communicated news that they requested I not divulge (I haven't and I
won't) but that I took as encouraging.
Sadly, none of the things which they were told have as yet come to
fruition. There has been zero communication from the company on its web
site and the ever-decreasing traffic here is a reflection of the
community losing faith that the company will return to the amateur
market. I just received an email today from someone who purchased some
NOS Ten-Tec parts from me, that when he sent an email query for a single
replacement part for an Omni VI, he received the following reply:
“Thank you for your email inquiry regarding parts availability and/or
pricing. We are currently doing a large production run of
commercial/government receivers through to the end of the year.
Unfortunately, we will be unable to fill your request at this time, but
hope to be able to respond to your requests in the new year.
Thank you for your patience as Ten Tec moves forward with its ambitious
plans.
Tentec Sales & Service. “
Next YEAR?! Ten-Tec had a loyal following not just because of its gear
but because of the "Legendary Ten-Tec Service". When Ten-Tec was
purchased the last time, the new owner put out an informational release
that addressed certain business realities that although being
legitimate, were done with a tenor that gave the impression that
customers wasting employee time contributed to the downfall of the
business and that as a practical matter, his strategy was not to have
any direct communication with the customers and the indirect
communication would only be part-time, and as the above reply would
suggest, pretty ineffectual. Since that time, there have been no other
official announcements on the Ten-Tec web site. I know he floated the
idea of running 100 Eagles off the line on this page if people would
commit to buying them in advance. Since the market for those rigs was
trashed by the RKR fire sale and he wanted the full retail price, that
didn't seem to go anywhere.
Of course, people on this page have made various comments that he should
do this or that over the ensuing months (years? I've lost track) and
that is natural arm-chair quarterbacking by fans, AKA people who care
about your product and have made an emotional investment in your brand.
The same thing can be observed in the auto industry and even more-so in
the motorcycle industry.
Well, this seemed to have festered and culminated in a rant against the
place where his most loyal customer base likes to talk shop. More
goodwill down the drain. I WANT to be optimistic about Ten-Tec's
future, I've got over a dozen TT rigs. At this point I am very dubious
of that future. When the only bright spot is "Hey, I got my rig
repaired. Yay!" and I am glad that service is still being provided, I'm
not hanging my hat on that. I really don't think that a design that
will be 8 years old, minimum, if reintroduced to the market will compete
well with the IC-7300 and a plethora of other rigs that are 60-70% of
the price of an Eagle. The Omni VII is over 10 years old. When I look
at the single amateur product that is being offered for sale, it is an
amplifier for which you must pony up a 50% or so deposit and wait 8-12
weeks for it to ship. This indicates an inherent aversion to risk that
would be classified as too high by an objective business analyst. 50%
should more than cover the actual production cost, discounting front-end
engineering costs which are recouped via sales and facility costs, which
continue if you ship anything or not. If you do not have enough
confidence in the sale-abilty of your product to keep some in stock, why
should I risk purchasing something that, from the sales strategy of the
maker being my guide, may be hard to unload? With the idea on the
Eagles, again the desire to shift risk to the customers was expressed.
Again, I am VERY desirous of Ten-Tec re-entering the market as a maker
of high quality ham gear. I am willing to pay a price premium if
support returns to a more normal, customer friendly level so that I can
enjoy buying from a domestic supplier. If, however the present customer
service model is continued upon relaunch, it will be Elecraft (which I
owned once, very briefly) or a 'rice box'. If staff have not been
trained in how to politely gather information needed from a customer,
listen to an issue enough to say "do you have the latest software? Try
a download and reset. If that doesn't do it, we'll need to issue you
you an RMA for service to look at it." and get off the phone, that is a
MANAGEMENT issue not a 'problem' with your customer. If I am interested
in buying a rig that does not sell through retailers and the management
of a direct sales operation doesn't want staff "wasting time" talking to
customers to convince them they need to buy what you are selling, who IS
going to do that? All problems in a business are management problems,
100%, 100% of the time. I hope things turn around, I really do but I am
far from optimistic at this point. I am NOT bashing the new owner, just
pointing out the concerns that I have.
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|