Mike, It is NOT the quality or worksmanship of
the tower that we are all concerned with. The main
concern is the questionable business practices of
First Call Communications (Joel)! Can't you see the
pattern of excuses and stories he has told to people
that have replied on the reflector as well as countless
other hams that don't even know about the reflector?
DAN, WA2NDP
On 22 Jan 01, at 0:22, Michael Tope wrote:
FWIW, a friend of mine in Thousand Oaks, Ca bought a Tri-Ex crank-up from
First Call. Despite long delays, lots of phone calls to Tri-Ex and First Call
(my
friend jokes that First Calls motto should be "your First Call won't be your
last),
his tower was finally delivered from Tri-Ex's facility in Visalia last fall.
From what
I can see, it was worth the wait. It is a very nice tower. The galvanize
finish,
unlike Rohn, is very clean, and the tower looks to be built like the proverbial
brick outhouse.
>From what I could gather from my friends situation, this was a case of demand
outpacing supply and a salesman's reluctance to turn away perspective buyers
(perhaps a case of misguided optimism about the manufacturers capabilities).
Hopefully, the switch to Will-Burt will remedy some of the supply problems with
what appears to be a very nice product. I would personally consider buying one
once it is demonstrated that the new manufacturer is able to deliver the
product.
73 de Mike, W4EF..........................
P.S. I have no financial or business interest in Tri-Ex, First Call, or Will
Burt
----- Original Message -----
From: "d" <wa2ndp@combase.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Cc: <K4XT@aol.com>; <wgcooper@airmail.net>; <w4pku@aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] set the record straight
> Joel, If you want to set the record straight then
> please explain to me why my tower was NOT shipped
> during the third (3rd) WEEK OF OCTOBER 2000? That's
> when it was completed.
> Also, why haven't you refunded the $9,000+ to
> Bill, K4XT? DAN, WA2NDP
> On 21 Jan 01, at 10:19, Joel wrote:
>
> I have been witness to a lot of negative remarks being posted
> regarding First Call Communications over the last few days. I believe
> it is time to set the record straight for many comments are very much
> "off the wall" or a year or two behind times. As we also noticed over
> the last twelve months it was Bruce at U S Tower who got attacked, than
> Gerald at Texas Towers and now I guess its back to First Call.
>
> Before I get into certain postings it would be nice to have everyone
> know that a few people who made comments on T/T never ordered nor
> spoke to us about a tower but just joined in for the fun of it. . I
> guess its more of a "search and destroy" mission for them as they were
> probably tired of hearing about 3 in 1 oil over and over again and have
> nothing else to do. Another person making a not so nice comment
> purchased a NON TOWER item in September of 1999 and here he is 17
> months later attacking First Call and the tower delivery problem. Why
> is this person attacking First Call? Was he robbed or screwed or lost
> money? Not at all, I guess just having a little fun trying to get rid
> of the few remaining dealers that are left that can really discuss your
> tower needs and installation.
>
> I think we have to remember at this point that just in the last 22
> months First Call sold over 1,000 towers in the U.S. However what
> we're seeing on T/T are just a few people who had problems getting
> their tower from the Visalia factory with promise after promise broken.
> There are close to 1,000 other tower owners who got from First Call
> just what they paid for but yes, many had to wait longer than expected
> for delivery.
>
> Now lets get down to the tower delivery problem with a little
> background on Tri Ex over the last year or so.
>
> In January of 2000 First Call was offered the Tri-Ex line by the
> President of Tri-Ex. Tri Ex suggested that we work with their
> sub-contractor one mile away from the original Tri-Ex site in Visalia
> which we did.. Over the next few months with advertising and
> telemarketing and with people that wanted a strong tower at a good
> price the factory was loaded up with orders. Promised delivery times
> (as told to First Call) went from two to four weeks than six to eight
> six than 10 plus. QST, CQ and other magazines we advertised in were 5
> weeks behind the real up- dated delivery time. Tri Ex tower sales at
> First Call grew and grew but the Visalia factory making the towers
> tried to expand to keep up but did not have the experience of handling
> such growth faulted terribly and all their people were let go. Will
> Burt in the mean time was making crank up towers and had everything
> including fixures,jigs and tooling moved to Ohio They are presently
> up and running in a building dedicated to making only CRANK UP LATTICE
> TOWERS. Production is in progress and Will Burton is very much on
> their way to catching up to fill all past orders plus establishing a
> real inventory both for amateur radio and tower trailers. The tower
> specifications did not change and this to the customer means your Tri
> Ex is the strongest telescoping tower on the market today.
>
> First Call with 16 years of experience in crank up towers had done its
> best to work with each customer and there were many. First Call and
> staff related to each customer truthful information it had or was told
> about the delivery of their tower FROM THE FACTORY.. It came to a point
> however that people at the Visalia facory did not tell the truth not
> only about delivery but what was actually shipped out. This was a
> horrible time for everybody but we did the best we could and worked very
> closely with each customer and every customer to make them whole. I
> completely understand the anger some people have but consider where the
> problem started from. WE ARE NOT THE MANUFACTURER
>
> What a few people are posting are terrible things said about First
> Call. Lets face it, nobody likes long delays in getting a tower
> delivered. OK, I agree but we do not make towers in the back yard,
> we're 3000 miles from the factory and all these insults and lies
> repeated on Towertalk are not fair to us or to Tri Ex customers. First
> Call never made up the delivery schedule, this was done at the factory.
> Most of you know where the problem is so go after the manufacturer or
> whats left of them and give them "a piece of your mind" as some
> customers have. From reading the postings it appears the previous
> Visalia Tri Ex tower manufacturer is "home free" and ALL BLAME for
> EVERYTHING is with its dealer, First Call. If this was true, we
> wouldn't be selling towers since 1985. Please, lets cut out the insults
> and tell us (not on a Towertalk posting but direct) how we can help
> you. Give us your suggestion(s) to making things better especially in
> your particular case. (Please send your e mail to
> firstcall@cyburban.com) We will do what we can and respond directly
> off Towertalk as I don't want to open up a continuous dialog for the
> purpose of entertaining people.
>
> Will Burt is starting to deliver Tri Ex towers now and all orders will
> be filled as they come rolling off production. No one will lose money
> as it is a matter of transition and Will Burt getting up to speed. We
> ask you, the tower customer to bear with us and understand how
> difficult this change over and last few months were with the previous
> company in Visalia.
>
>
>
> AGAIN, we at First Call Communications have been utterly frustrated,
> took the brunt of everything for the last couple of months but the
> solution is very much in hand. New and updated technology has been
> added to each tower coming out of Will Burt and we invite everyone
> interested to give us a call to discuss this topic and the delivery
> schedules. . Our website (firstcallcom.net) is being updated to
> reflect what Will burt will be bringing you in the way of Tri-Ex and
> Tri-Ex tower trailers.
>
> We hope our posting means something especially for those people who are
> upset and frustrated. We hope to prove to you our devotation and
> loyalty as we start the year 2000.
>
> As they say, "time will tell".
>
> '73
>
> Joel Kornreich
> First Call Communications,Inc.
> January 20,2000
>
> P.S.....We're answering each posting seperately but wanted to comment
> about one January 19 e- mail in particular. The person that posted the
> e mail stated that "First Call did the same thing when they
> represented U S Tower some time ago"
> Well, this person is 100% correct for we sold more towers than U S Tower
> could keep up with and deliveries for a period exceded 14-16 weeks.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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