Jerry,
I think you said a lot with two phrases: "emotional investment" and "fans."
I very much like the three Ten-Tec rigs I have owned (including the one I
currently own), but I am neither emotionally invested in the future of Ten-Tec
nor do I consider myself a "fan" (I'm a customer).
They made some great gear, and I got fair value for what I paid (that's why I
bought their gear to begin with).
If they start doing making good stuff again at a price that makes sense, I will
give them fair consideration (along with other rigs) when my Orion II bites the
dust. If they don't, I'll look elsewhere. There are a lot of great rigs on
the market nowadays.
73,
Bernie K5XS
-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Stewart <ne4l@hughes.net>
To: TenTec <TenTec@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 16, 2017 11:22 pm
Subject: [TenTec] Future of Ten-Tec in the Amateur Radio Market
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
listTenTec@contesting.comhttp://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
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