Steve Helton wrote:
> We were dealing directly with Kenwood (Cheryl Daly
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]). I wrote
> numerous e-mails over many months. Let me be clear that it was only
> after we contacted the Attorney General's office and threatened
> Kenwood with legal action that they finally agreed to replace the
> "Lemon" with a new one. This was only after the unit had been to both
> the East coast AND West coast Kenwood repair facilities numerous times
> without success. We are still out between $200 and $300 from this
> event that Kenwood has refused to reimburse us for (for shipping cost
> back to Kenwood repeatedly). We were told we would be reimbursed (I
> have multiple e-mails to that effect) but it has never happened.
>
> We sold the unit and got most (not all) of the money that we
> originally paid for it back.
>
> My point is that if an agency like ours cannot rely on Kenwood then
> the average Joe does not stand a chance. They failed in their
> corporate responsibility. The other part of this problem is that a
> high profile tower owner gave us the top spot on their 350+' tower for
> this system and we kept having to go back to the tower over and over
> and over and over and over again. It caused us issues with the tower
> owner that we are just now overcoming.
>
> I might be willing to rethink my position on Kenwood if they would
> ever return all of the money we lost during the time we had their
> product. Maybe some of you dealers could tell us where to go within
> Kenwood to get our money back.
>
>
>
>
> *Capt. Steve Helton*
>
> *Communications Division*
>
> *Emergency Support Services*
>
> *Federal Emergency Management Agency*
>
> *Cincinnati CERT Task Force*
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>*
>
Now before you go get all huffy and upset ('cause there seems to be a
pattern here), please remember that you started this complaint on a
public list with your FEMA title slapped on your name, and now you have
me, the guy PAYING for your radios interested in your story -- are you
just completely mismanaging the funds you took from me in taxes? I'm
not trying to be mean here, but seriously... It just sounds like you
might have just mismanaged the whole situation.
I'm just an "average Joe" but I'd never let Kenwood or anyone else stomp
all over me like it appears you guys did.
-> You should have talked with the Attorney General much sooner than
"numerous" e-mails and "numerous" trips to both repair facilities.
-> You should have purchased through a reputable dealer who would be
able to cover your outage from stock.
-> If you're an Emergency Services group, where's your BACKUP repeater?!
-> And if you had even a hint of a possibility of a strained
relationship with your tower owner, by the time you made the third trip
to the tower you should have had another repeater of whatever model to
put up there to keep your tower folks happy.
-> Why didn't you escalate beyond Cheryl if she was non-responsive?
-> Why did you push so hard for a replacement if they weren't
responding? Why not demand a refund? Reaching into someone's wallet
pocket always gets their attention better than whining that they won't
fix something.
-> Did you demand written reports on the repairs as to exactly what was
wrong so you could see if something in your environment could be causing
the failures?
-> If you're truly purchasing for FEMA, were you in contact with other
local Federal agencies to ask them what types of repeaters they
recommended and could help with trades in true emergencies? Many
Federal agencies talk to the ones that have 2-way system test labs for
advice before purchasing, and some agencies are required to purchase
from a list of products that have been tested and certified.
-> Did you pay a professional to install the repeater so they could
provide a report of conditions at the site to Kenwood? Did that
professional test the feedline, the antenna and the rest of the system
beyond the repeater to make sure it met all specifications?
Color me skeptical of this whole story -- there's something else going
on here you're not telling us about.
Complaining to the "public" through a mailing list is probably not the
brightest of ideas at this point. Not with your title attached, anyway.
Back up ten steps, talk to the AG and sue the crap out of Kenwood if you
really think you have a case, Captain. Otherwise, you may want to
review your procedures for procurement of new equipment.
Purchase Orders don't get paid until a particular set of circumstances
are met in my industry (telecommunications)... why don't your purchase
orders have similar words?
Or just ignore me, I honestly don't really care. But, $200-$300 bucks
lost to learn how to improve your process (in the business world anyway,
who knows what you government guys do) is considered a very CHEAP
education. You can learn from it or just blame Kenwood forever... but I
think complaining about it to taxpayers might expose your every decision
you made to that same public's... scrutiny! Don't you?
--
Nate Duehr, [EMAIL PROTECTED] - WY0X
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