[TenTec] Fw: Ten Tec Service / How I am mishandling customer relations and a specicial thank you to K5TN

Sun Mar 5 12:05:47 EST 2017

> Mike N8WFF, as Founder and Net Manager of the 9 Weekly TEN-TEC Nets that 
> we
> started 5 years ago, I want you to know that the thousands of people who 
> check into our nets each week are behind you in your efforts to bring the 
> TEN-TEC Name and Company back to its rightful place among the elite 
> Amateur Radio companies in the world.
>
> When we started the TEN-TEC Nets 5 years ago, Jack Burchfield K4JU was 
> President and Jim Wharton NO4A was Vice President of the TEN-TEC Company. 
> I knew them both personally, having spent time with Jack Burchfield in his 
> office in Sevierville and working with Jim Wharton at the TEN-TEC Hamfests 
> in Sevierville and working with Jim Wharton at the TEN-TEC Booths in 
> Dayton for several years.
>
> When Jack Burchfield sold the Company to RKR/RFC, little did he know that 
> those new buyers would run the TEN-TEC Company into the ground, leaving 
> many of their Parts Suppliers hanging and this is just one of the many 
> things that contributed to the demise of the TEN-TEC Company. I know more 
> than what I am allowed to post here.
>
> I am the proud owner of a TEN-TEC Orion II and a TEN-TEC Omni VII and I 
> want to see TEN-TEC succeed.
>
> Cheer up! What has happened in the past and is water over the dam and I 
> want all TEN-TEC Users and Owners to know that Mike N8WFF has told me 
> personally on the phone, that he is using his own money to get the TEN-TEC 
> Company back on it's feet again and we all need to be patient and support 
> his efforts.
>
> Mike, thank you and be assured that I and the Members of the TEN-TEC Nets 
> are behind you 100 percent and appreciate all you are doing to make the 
> TEN-TEC Company succeed. God bless you and your family Mike.
>
> John, K3UR
>
> John D. Occhipinti, K3UR
> Net Manager, ten_tec Amateur Radio Nets
>
> QRZ Page:  http://www.qrz.com/db/k3ur
>
> Group Owner, ten_tec Amateur Radio Net Group
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ten_tec_radio_net/
>
> SoundCloud: 
> https://soundcloud.com/john-occhipinti-k3ur/sets/brotherjohns-most-popular
>
> Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/john.occhipinti.14
>
> You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Dishop via TenTec" <tentec at contesting.com>
> To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
> Cc: "Mike Dishop" <n8wff at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2017 6:20 AM
> Subject: [TenTec] Ten Tec Service / How I am mishandling customer 
> relations and a specicial thank you to K5TN
>
>
>> A couple of days ago I made a post about being part of the solution 
>> rather than part of the problem and how anyone could step up and make a 
>> difference. Out of the 400+ thousand hams, one person took me seriously 
>> and sent me a check to help support Ten Tec. That gentleman's call is 
>> K5TN and to you sir, THANK YOU from the top and bottom of my heart. I'm 
>> not cashing your check and will send it back, but of everyone in the 
>> world who reads these forums, YOU put your money where your mouth is. It 
>> is nice to know that our company has one absolutely true friend and 
>> supporter. It is nice to know that ONE person really wants to be part of 
>> the solution instead of part of the problem. Thank you sir.
>>
>> OK, lets talk CUSTOMER SERVICE
>>
>> When I was quite a bit younger, I worked for a huge conglomerate that 
>> shut down the R&D department that with 5 people had driven more 
>> innovative features that made the company products sell than any other 
>> branch of the operation, and they shut it down. I questioned the wisdom 
>> of eliminating this department and the talented team that really 
>> delivered. My boss explained to me that what good was all the future 
>> development in the world if the company had to shut down and go out of 
>> business today? I learned a lesson here that I want to share with you. 
>> What good is all the customer relations in the world if the company has 
>> to close?
>>
>> I've explained more than one time what I'm doing and why again and again. 
>> Despite this I am repeatedly forced to spend my valuable time on this. 
>> Why?
>>
>> I've explained why you can't talk to service. I've posted photos of our 
>> new PCB assembly facility and we are still servicing every radio we have 
>> made if we can get the parts. It costs me a lot of money to keep Ten Tec 
>> open each month. The only way I can do that is to take care of the 
>> commercial customers FIRST. They are the reason the company is open. 
>> Fortunately, that cash flow is allowing me to reintroduce the other 
>> products one at a time. The Eagle is next. Right or wrong, expensive or 
>> not expensive, there are people who want to buy Ten Tecs and that is a 
>> good radio. It isn't about what you can buy from Japan, China or 
>> elsewhere. It is about buying what you want. Ford trucks are generally 
>> cheaper than Chevy trucks. So why do people buy Chevrolet trucks? The 
>> truck is easier to work on for one. The drivetrain is more robust. At the 
>> same time some say the Ford has a stronger frame. If you don't buy a car 
>> based on the decision of price only, why should you buy a radio? You guys 
>> keep your radios longer than you keep your cars usually, and you spend as 
>> much time or more using your radio than you do driving, so shouldn't you 
>> buy WHAT YOU WANT and not worry so much about if the Eagle is 1600-1700 
>> as compared to an Icom 7300 at 1300? My goodness if you pimp out a K2 and 
>> make it do everything an Eagle does you spend 2300 dollars! And the K2 is 
>> far below the Eagle on the Sherwood chart! Should they quit offering the 
>> K2 or lower their price? Doesn't the better performing Eagle deserve to 
>> sell for at least as much? After all they are both designed and made in 
>> America. Should all the K2 owners dump them and buy Eagles because the 
>> Eagle is less expensive?
>>
>> Someone said our customer service was "sub par". Robert went into full 
>> retirement end of last month. I'm sure he appreciated that comment. It 
>> probably will be worse than it was now that he is gone until I do 
>> something else.
>>
>> Ten Tec is wholly owned by me sinve January 1 2016. To have sub par 
>> customer service I would have had to have sold you a radio. To whom have 
>> I sold a radio? What do I owe you? Fact: I am repairing the radios that 
>> the other people sold you. I don't owe you anything. I have no obligation 
>> to you to answer your email you or sell you my parts. I'm supporting you 
>> because we are working on a new transceiver so that all the 
>> infrastructure will be there to continue on when it is ready. Maybe at 
>> that time we will have the cash flow supported by new sales to support 
>> the expensive and free customer service you want.
>>
>> The company isn't going to close as long as our expenses do not exceed 
>> our revenue. Think about that. this is the coldest and hardest fact of 
>> business that has to supersede EVERYTHING else and all discussions of if 
>> I am doing a good job or if customer service is good or not good. Anyone 
>> who thinks anything other than this most basic tenant of business is a 
>> fool. I'm not going to spend money I don't have. So if you KEEP sending 
>> in your radios for repair (PLEASE EVERY BIT HELPS) and keep buying parts 
>> from us (PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH THE EMAIL) and keep ordering the products 
>> that we do have (PLEASE WE DO WANT YOUR BUSINESS) then we can get this 
>> thing back on track. Look people I'm doing this all by myself. I need 
>> time. We have moved in 12 calendar months from having stacks of 
>> unrepaired radios from RKR and no parts to build radios and no machinery 
>> to build them with to now having maybe a back log of 10-20 radios at any 
>> given time and usually nothing over thirty days, having moved into a cost 
>> effective and efficient facility in TN, setting up the new surface mount 
>> building in OH where we built THOUSANDS of boards in house last year for 
>> TEN TEC, and delivered HUNDREDS of new radios to customers, in addition 
>> to R&D on a new transceiver, all in one year. ONE YEAR. What did YOU do 
>> in your last year?
>>
>> How can I improve customer service now? The next thing I am working on 
>> short term is our TEN TEC web store. I'm learning a little bit about how 
>> to do this myself. I even was able to post two news articles over on the 
>> Alpha RF Systems site. If you go there and click on the NEWS tab you can 
>> see my two articles, the first about the amps we are building in Colorado 
>> and the next about the SMD assembly facility in Ohio. I asked Boyd to 
>> take photos about the final assembly, repair and alignment center in 
>> Tennessee and when he gets those to me I will make a similar article for 
>> you to see on the TT website.
>>
>> So what I am going to do next is make it so we can send repair invoices 
>> as a email to you where you can log in to your web cart, buy the repair 
>> and pay for it by checking out securely with your credit card. We have 
>> been testing this on the Alpha site for 4 months and it is working great! 
>> I'm also going to put what products we have like microphone cords, 
>> microphones, speech processors, etc and it will show real time inventory 
>> of units in stock! Next I will try to put dial string and PTO kits and 
>> batteries and little common items like that in the store and I hope this 
>> will stop the personal emails for dial strings.
>>
>> Now of course the month I'm going to spend doing this is going to delay 
>> the launch of every other product by one month but who cares about that? 
>> We will have better customer service! Before I get this done I have to 
>> work on the corporate tax return due this month.
>>
>> A special thank you to those of you who are patient, understanding, and 
>> support my efforts in this herculean task. Rick, Bob, Ron, and the rest 
>> of you who are regular contributors and who try to help people understand 
>> what we are doing - I really appreciate it.
>>
>> To those of you who are being critical you are not criticizing Ten Tec. 
>> You are criticizing me and I take it personally. I didn't make this mess 
>> or gut the company. I'm the guy keeping it alive and putting it back on 
>> track. What right at all do you have to criticize me? Do I come in to 
>> your house and criticize how you live your life, how you raise your kids, 
>> or judge you for why your wife left you? If I did that you would say to 
>> me "What in the heck do you know about me or my life or my house?" You'd 
>> tell me "There are perfectly valid reasons for the choices I made". So 
>> why do I deserve to be treated differently?
>>
>> If you don't like what I'm doing, if you can't say something nice, then 
>> why not just keep your mouth shut? What business is it of yours? If you 
>> bought a transceiver from RKR or RFC you didn't buy it from me. If you 
>> have a beef, have your beef with them, not me. Are you upset that I 
>> bought the assets of what was left? I'm sick and tired of reading this 
>> drivel over and over again in our forum. I am now going to formally 
>> appeal to the moderators and owners that whenever this negative stuff is 
>> posted in the future that you just delete it and don't even send it out. 
>> I believe I speak for us ALL that it is counter productive and that we 
>> are ALL tired of hearing that the sky is falling! I started this journey 
>> a year ago October and TEN TEC is still here, radios are being repaired 
>> in a timely manner and radios are going out the door. When I respond to 
>> this stuff I am wasting my time and it is just another lost hour that a 
>> new radio isn't designed. You may not have anything better to do but I 
>> do.
>>
>> I need those of you who support TEN TEC to step up and start ripping to 
>> shreds these jerks on eham and QRZ who raise this crap every three 
>> months? People who spread lies and negativity damage the company and 
>> jeopardize people's jobs. When somebody starts grinding their axe it is 
>> just like a little duck farting under water, but when I respond and 
>> defend myself I get criticized and told I should handle things this way 
>> or that way. It doesn't matter what I say, there is criticism. So I 
>> generally just don't say anything at all, and then I'm criticized for 
>> being non responsive. I loose no matter what I do. I unloaded on somebody 
>> who was spreading out and out libel and then was told that customers are 
>> going to question if I have the sanity to run a company and don't want to 
>> buy from me!
>>
>> I know my own course. I know what I have to do. I know what I can do with 
>> what I have to work with. I'm going to do what I have to do and that is 
>> the way it is until something changes. It is going to take as long as it 
>> takes me. All the criticism in the world isn't going to change things. 
>> The only thing that is going to change things is money. Time is money. It 
>> takes time to make money. As I make money I do what I can do to bring TEN 
>> TEC back into the amateur market one step at a time.
>>
>> Just remember that every disparaging and negative remark delays the 
>> introduction of a new product by a day. If you get ripped to shreds on 
>> Monday, how good are you at YOUR job the rest of the day? You know what 
>> my problem is? I can't walk off the job. I have people with families who 
>> depend on me. Good people who are hams just like you. Those are the 
>> people you hurt when you spout your hate, negativity, jealousy or just 
>> stupid opinion for whatever reason or motivation you have. I don't want 
>> to hear it any more. No one here on the forum wants to hear it. This 
>> needs to stop and it needs to stop immediately.
>>
>>
>> 73 DE N8WFF
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>