[TowerTalk] X9 or C31XR

[Jeffrey R Davis]

Dick Flanagan wrote:

>[PURELY SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION ALERT]

>The more and more I read about the "new Cushcraft," the more I
>appreciate what Force 12 has brought to the amateur antenna
>marketplace.  Thanks, Tom!

>[END PURELY SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION ALERT]

I'd like to confirm Dick's impressions:

[IRRITATED FORMER CUSTOMER ALERT]

I recently received a Cushcraft 17B2 which had some hidden damage, which
probably occurred in shipping. Namely, the balun case was crunched. My plan
was to order a replacement balun from Cushcraft and add it to the damage
claim to the transport company.

JEFF TRIES TO PLACE AN ORDER OVER THE PHONE
So I called up Cushcraft and waded through about 7 layers of menus, only to
be told that I didn't have the option of giving my order to a human being
person, only to either leave a voice mail or place the order via the web
site. By the way, the message went further to explain that their "goal" was
to respond to voice mails within 3 days. Some goal.

JEFF TRIES TO PLACE AN ORDER OVER THE WEB
So I dutifully went to the web site to try to place the order. I don't know
whether the problem was my system or theirs, but I kept getting error
messages trying to order the balun using the web site. I gave up after
three tries and decided to call again, but take a different path through
the menu system.

JEFF TRIES TO FIND A HUMAN BEING TO TALK TO
What I did was follow the warranty path - after all, it was a brand new
antenna and had a broken piece when I opened the box. I don't know for sure
that it was damaged in shipping - maybe it came from the factory that way.
But my real motive was to speak with a live human being who could help me
place an order.

JEFF THINKS CUSHCRAFT IS A GREAT COMPANY
So I get through the 7 menu layers and behold, a human answers the phone -
a human who wanted to be very helpful. After explaining the situation, he
offered that they would do a warrantly replacement. I'm thinking "what a
great company, they really stand for making sure I end up with a good
product, even if it wasn't necessarily their fault".

JEFF DISCOVERS HE IS NOT CONSIDERED TRUSTWORTHY
Unfortunately for my perceptions, the helpful person at the other end soon
realized that I was talking about the balun, which costs all of $60. Now to
get warranty replacement, I would have to send the damaged balun in first;
only then would they ship a replacement. I explained that I had a whole
tower project schedule I was trying to manage, and didn't want to have to
the whole project waiting for a two way exchange. I asked if I could give
them a credit card number for the balun if they didn't trust me and credit
the card when the damaged balun arrived. The helpful person at the other
end explained that, unfortunately, this would require an "executive
decision" and that he would get back to me.

JEFF IS DISILLUSIONED
The now sheepish helpful person who called me back had to explain that the
"executive" he spoke to not only wouldn't accept my credit card, he
wouldn't even treat it as a warranty. No big deal, I wasn't expecting
warranty in the first place, but so much for my perception of a "great
company".

DISILLUSIONED, UNTRUSTED JEFF FINALLY PLACES AN ORDER WITH A HUMAN BEING
Fortunately, the helpful person WAS empowered enough to take my credit card
number for a replacement balun order!

Regards,

Jeff - N0DY



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