[TenTec] My First Ten-Tec - Marketing

[Al Gulseth]

Rick,

Interesting - and at risk of starting a "flame war", I see somewhat of a 
parallel between the Ten-Tecs and a certain brand of automobile I like (which 
I suspect you see a lot of in Deutschland). To wit, I have begun to view the 
analog Ten-Tecs of the '70s and '80s as parallels to the Mercedes-Benz 
diesels of the same era. Neither tend to have all the "whistles and bells" 
that Americans like, and both have their quirks. But, like you mentioned, 
both companies have 25+ year old products still in daily service (including 
my '85 MB diesel wagon with almost 400K miles on the original drivetrain) and 
still support these products. Meanwhile, other brands discontinue spare parts 
and support within a few years, essentially forcing the product owner to 
replace the item (even if they don't want to.)

So - a new marketing slogan? "Ten-Tec - the Mercedes-Benz of Ham Radio"

73, Al

On Thu July 5 2012 10:26:36 am Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> Intimidating?
> Of course not.  That's a good experience, not a bad one.
>
> Intimidating is when your radio has a problem (and I have had personal
> experience with both Yaesu and Kenwood), and the service department denies
> your radio has a problem, sends it back unrepaired, and charges you
> postage. (Eventually I repaired them myself, even though they were still in
> guarantee).
>
> Intimidating is when your 5 year old radio needs spare parts and the
> factory service no longer supplies them.  You're left on your own to try
> and find substitutes on the open market.
>
> I only left Icom out because I have not personally experienced this with
> them.  Most likely they are the same.
> Of course we can't let these guys off the hook.  Intimidating is when you
> 7800 has a problem, which you know from the Internet lots of other people
> are having too, and they charge you $1800 to fix it ... and it is nothing
> to do with the finals.  My buddy had this problem and he knows several
> others who had it.  EACH TIME YOUR RADIO GOES TO REPAIR, IT COSTS YOU THE
> PRICE OF AN EAGLE TO GET IT FIXED?  NOW THAT'S INTIMIDATING!
>
> The Japanese manufacturers make good radios, but their attitude and ethics
> are very poor, while their responses to their customers are typically very
> arrogant. That's intimidating!
>
> It is really funny.
> Lots of people laugh at the quality of Ten-Tec.
> They blow these radios off because the knobs don't turn with the same
> precision as most of the Japanese radios.
> Yet why is it that most of the 25 year old Ten-Tec radios are still
> running, while most of the 10 year old JA radios are not?
> Just what is the definition of quality?
>
> I don't expect the current series of radios to still be running in 25
> years, because they now have too many outsourced components and Ten-Tec has
> no control over the supply stream.  However I believe Ten-Tec will do
> everything it can to fix a customer's radio as long as it's possible.
>
> AND the sad part is, once this trend appears, the bright marketing guys of
> the JA companies will probably advertise that their quality is remaining
> stable while Ten-Tec's quality is going down!  (like advertising coming in
> second place, but not saying that it was only a 2-man race).  ;-)
>
> As you can see, I am very passionate about service.
> Maybe that's because I'm the service manager of a company.
> I hope this post hasn't intimidated anyone who owns a YaeKenCom.
> If so, I apologize.
>
> 73
> Rick, DJ0IP