I am Mr. Trunk Slammer

["Roland" <roland@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Today for a time I was feeling like I was Mr. Trunk Slammer. I am standing
by to do a download of a DSC 1864 for a takeover of a Moose Z1100. I am
happy that at least the Z1100 is going. So a tech says can you download the
panel via an Uplink. Well of course I can't. Well get a laptop and get over
here and program it since there is a ton of custom text and we are going on
overtime. So I go to the laptops. Acer? Nope, no serial port and I don't
want to fool around with a USB to serial adapter. IBM stink Pad? Serial port
available but the battery isn't charged. Yes! Brand new Dell 820 with a
serial port and good battery. Okay! So I download the DLS software, install
it, and then try to find a PC-Link. Well for some reason there are none to
be found. Off to the parts house I go. Get the PC-Link, and off to the
customer. I hook up the laptop. I (try) to connect the PC to the PC-Link
panel adapter. It won't go on the panel. I am pushing as hard as I dare. It
still won't work! I give up and call tech support feeling like an idiot. Why
can't I do something this simple? I talk to tech support and tell them this
item is brand new out of box and yet it appears there are pins inside the
adapter that look snapped off and appear to be blocking the male pins on the
PC-1864 board. Let me put you on hold Pedro the tech support guy says. Then
He comes back and says "what you have is a manufacturing defect." "The panel
adapter portion was put on backwards." "We thought we got them all, but one
or two must have slipped by." I have been in the business long enough to
know when I am being lied to. I knew he was lying. The Richard M. Nixon lie.
The "It's your baby" lie. I called the parts house. It is getting near
closing time. They say they will put a new one for me outside if they leave
before I get there. I say fine. However I said before I take the time to
drive over there please check your stock to see if they are bad too. Well,
all of the dozen or so PC-Links he had in stock all were bad save one. I got
the one good one.  If it was Bosch instead of DSC I would have seen a tech
bulletin, probably got $75 bucks and maybe a new panel or two for my
trouble. DSC's idea is you're damn lucky we gave you a new part without
checking the manufacturing date, even though we just gave it to you. DSC is
cheap and available, but still does everything it can factory wise to make
dead certain it stays at the bottom of the heap. Time after time DSC seems
bent on making the installer look foolish by being forced to disappoint the
customer by missing the time widow for installation, thus taking the
customers time and the installers time and puting the profit for the job in
the tank. I guess that is one way to know you putting out garbage at
everyone's expense except yours. Many installers like DSC because they know
it. This may be the last straw for DSC here. We don't move enough DSC for
them to gave a rat's ass, but if you drop enough dealers one by one DSC
could join the likes of Franklin, Vertex, Sescoa etc. Some of us can hope.