Hi Dan,
Yes, of course, but I would hate to see the Tri-Ex product get a bad rap because
of poor business practices of their dealer, Mr. Kornreich. Also, I thought it
important
to note that at least in one case, First Call was able meet a customer
commitment.
This suggests that Mr. Kornreich's shameless behavior is probably driven by
his desperate reaction to a deteriorating business situation rather than a
premeditated
desire to commit fraud.
Perhaps I should have prefaced my statement about my inclination to purchase a
Tri-Ex
tower with qualification that I would not buy it from First Call Communications
unless
they mended their shady ways and produced a demonstrated track record of
meeting
customer commitments.
73 de Mike, W4EF............................
----- Original Message -----
From: "d" <wa2ndp@combase.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Cc: <K4XT@aol.com>; <wgcooper@airmail.net>; <w4pku@aol.com>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 6:29 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] set the record straight
> 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.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
> > Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
> > Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
> > Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
> > Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
> Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
> Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>
>
>
> --
> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
> Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
> Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
>
>
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|