Re: Sure is quiet in here

[tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 9, 12:38=A0pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Apr 9, 10:03 am, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Apr 9, 9:43 am, Frank Olson
>
> > <use_the_email_li...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > On 09/04/2010 5:21 AM, tourman wrote:
>
> > > > On Apr 9, 2:35 am, Frank Olson
> > > > <use_the_email_li...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > >> On 08/04/2010 11:29 PM, Robert L Bass wrote:
>
> > > >>> Really?
>
> > > >>> "Frank Olson"<use_the_email_li...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote i=
n
> > > >>> messagenews:eOzvn.37016$u62.27367@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > >>>> On 08/04/2010 7:15 PM, Robert L Bass wrote:
> > > >>>>> Where is everyone tonight?
>
> > > >>>> Working! :-)
>
> > > >> Just got in. Big emergency. Boiler let go on the roof of a 20 stor=
y
> > > >> high rise. Lots of water found it's way down the main fire alarm r=
iser.
> > > >> I'll probably be working all weekend... :-)
>
> > > > RHC: Ouch !! Another reason for a small guy not to touch major
> > > > commercial accounts......who needs that hassle regardless of billed
> > > > hours
>
> > > It's not a "hassle". It's a challenge! It's all "time and material"
> > > too with the unfortunate insurance company on the hook - not that we
> > > would ever take advantage of the situation. I have to be able to look
> > > at myself in the mirror in the morning. :-)
>
> > RHC: Yes, I guess if you are part of a large company with loads of
> > resources, it's the proper place to be to serve these kinds of
> > clients. But not for a small two man company like mine. I have been
> > working hard over the last couple of years to get rid of about 10
> > large commercial clients that I made the mistake of taking on, that
> > are all a major service hassle. At the same time when I have to deal
> > with a bunch of small residential service calls, it never fails, they
> > call with some stupid request for either information they should have
> > on hand, or for some major changes that eat up my labour resources.
> > And it seems, no matter what I charge them (still being fair of
> > course), they never learn how to change codes, keep track of users for
> > their reports, or respond properly to alarms caused by untrained, new
> > employees.
>
> > That's not a "challenge", that's a "hassle".....-
>
> As I mentioned to you so many years ago Robert, service gets to be one
> of those things that you have to ..... but hate to tolerate.
> Commercial is the worst. Through the years, as some of my clients have
> grown from small companys to large, I've sometimes had to find reasons
> to let them go. One example ..... I had a company that started out
> simply, by providing document copying service. Just a few copy
> machines. Through the years the company grew. The owner came up with
> the idea of providing in-house copying for giant corporations like
> Gruman Aircraft, among others located in NY City. He leased copy
> machines and set up sort of "mini " companies inside these giant
> corporations, providing document pickup and delivery to various
> buildings and departments. This graduated into photo copying diagrams
> and plans on huge sheets of paper. This graduated into hand delivering
> documents and correspondence to other branches and suppliers and doing
> humongus mailings and thence to =A0package mailings. As the company grew
> over a period of 8 to 10 years, so did their security needs. Hundreds
> of copy machines, Automated, and computerized mailing machines.
> Loading dock security. I was spending sometimes days at the locations
> trying to trouble shoot and do addons. I stuck with it because the
> owner had become more of a friend than a customer. Ultimately, he sold
> the business to a much larger company for millions of dollars. I saw
> this as an opportunity and as soon as the new owers took over, I sent
> them a cancellation notice. The alarm company who took it over thought
> I was crazy to give up such a lucrative account. I was making up to
> $5000.00 a year just on service and upgrades. But, to me, it had
> become a burden I no longer wanted to deal with. Trying to get
> department managers to maintain security and train their new employees
> about arming and codewords. No one would respond when the alarm would
> trip. Placing skids of material in front of motion detectors. Plastic
> wrap in the warehouse blowing around in front of the PIR's when the
> heaters would come on. Then covering the PIR's so they wouldn't trip.
> Constantly!
> What a relief it was to get back to what I liked the best.

RHC: Hahaha....yeah how true that all is. I've had the same experience
with a company that makes bomb and security equipment that is sold all
around the world. Over the years they have all become more like
friends than customers. I've even tried to get them to go with other
alarm companies over the years with my encouragment, but as soon as
they got horrendous quotes to make a few changes, (one of which I made
by simply dialing in to the panel), they decided it was wise to stay
with me. I also have the home systems for all the executives and a lot
of their workers, and only took the business system at the beginning
as a favour (PC 1555 that grew to a 70 zone PC 5020 over the years
with five partitions and 8 keypads etc.....). So its kind of tough to
abandon them. I did have Chubb call me up once wishing to take the
system over. Once I described it's complexity, they said they weren't
interested....can't even give the damn thing away...:)

Just gonna have to grin and bear it until they build a new building at
which time I'm gone. My forte is small to medium sized residential
systems and that is where I'm going to try to maintain my account
base.

I did manage to give away one of my early commercial accounts that
sold fitness equipment. They were always doing stupid things like
pushing pallets of hardware up against motion detectors, smashing door
contacts and NEVER heeding my advice on preventing false alarms. Once
I gave them away, they became so pissed at me they refused to pay $300
they owed me. I still figure I got the best end of the bargain....:)))

Isn't business strange sometimes....:))